Templated skills

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Templated skills allow blind firing (free aim) without a target while in action mode. If a player moves into the path of the attack they can be struck.[1][2][3][4]

One of the differences between tab and action combat mode is you can launch projectiles in action combat mode as a blind fire option, and if a target or if something moves in the way between the time of that projectile launching and impacting either its max distance, or a piece of terrain, or another target, it's possible that players might move into that projectile.[3]Steven Sharif
  • Some templated skills may have template indicators, but in general will require the player to assess the correct range for the skill.[6]
If it is a templated ability, which means it's skill-based to use, you'll need to get a feel for those distances; and that's some skill-based learning where you get an idea for what those distances are. Some of those will have template indicators but they'll be very in-world and immersive. We're not utilizing more UI-centric looking indicators, but generally the AoE templates are meant to be skill-based.[6]Steven Sharif
Q: Why did you move away from arrows being projectiles?
A: We are still using projectiles, but we are using a locking mechanism in tab-targeting for those projectiles to home to the target should you have a valid angle in that perspective. The action side of that is that you can blind-fire projectiles.[1]Steven Sharif
Skill Icon Base skill
Air Strike Air Strike New.png Leap a great distance forward and into the air while firing three projectiles in a line along the path, each dealing area damage and rooting targets hit for 3 seconds. Rotation control is enabled during cast.[8] The root effect is nature based.[9]
Ball Lightning Ball Lightning Icon.png Creates a large ball of highly charged electricity that travels slowly forward, dealing rapid periodic lightning damage to enemies it overlaps with and applying 1 Electrified stack to targets with each hit.[10][11][12]
Blizzard Blizzard.png Channel a massive blizzard around you, raining a barrage of hail shards upon your enemies while channeling. Each shard impact deals ice damage in a small area around it. All enemies in the blizzard also acquire 1 stack of Chilled periodically. Activate the ability again to end the channel early.[13][14][10]
Cone of Cold Cone of Ice.png Blasts a cone of cold in front of the caster, dealing ice damage and applying 1 stack of Chilled to each enemy hit.[10][15][16]
Consecrating Wave Consecrating Wave.png Send forth a cone of radiance that deals radiant damage to all enemies while healing the ten nearest allies.[17][18]
Divine Flare Divine Flare.png Place a targeted area heal on the ground that heals all targets within after several seconds. Total healing is split between all targets hit.[19][20]
Fissure Mage Spell 7.png Call forth a line of jagged earth spikes in front of the[sic] you, dealing earth damage and applying 10 stacks of Stagger to each enemy hit along its path while launching them upwards.[21]
Grapple Grapple Icon.png Takes aim for a moment before hurling a hooked chain in a line, damaging the first target it contacts and immediately pulling them to the caster. The target suffers a tapering snare for 3 seconds.[22][23]
Hunt of the Bear Hunt of the Bear.png Call forth the spirit of the bear, imbuing yourself with increased physical mitigation.[24]
Hunt of the Raven Hunt of the Raven.png Call forth the spirit of the raven, imbuing yourself with increased physical penetration.[25]
Hunt of the Tiger Hunt of the Tiger.png Call forth the spirit of the tiger, imbuing yourself with 10% increased critical damage.[26]
Inciting Strikes IncitingStrikesIcon.png Slashes twice in a forward cone while adding additional threat.[27]
Longbow basic attack Bow basic attack.png A slower, powerful, longer range basic ranged attack. Tapping the basic attack button will shoot normally. Holding the basic attack button will charge the shot (and root the player) to cause added damage.[28][29][30]
Magma Field (Lavastorm).png Erupts the earth at target location, forming a boiling pool of lava that deals fire damage to enemies per tick while periodically applying a stack of Burning to enemies within the area.[31]
Mark of the Bear Mark of the Bear.png Marks the target, reducing their mitigation by 25%.[32]
Mark of the Raven Mark of the Raven.png Marks the target, triggering bonus damage every time the target is hit. The lower the health on the target is, the higher the damage.[33]
Mark of the Tiger Mark of the Tiger Icon clean.png Marks the target, increasing critical chance versus the target by 50%.[34]
Meteor (Meteor Shower).png Conjures a massive flaming rock before sending it hurling toward target location. Upon impact, it deals major fire damage while knocking foes flying, and then continues to roll forward for its remaining distance, dealing additional fire damage while applying stacks of Burning to enemies along its path.[35]
Piercing Shot Piercing Shot.png Fire a projectile that travels in a straight line, piercing through and damaging all enemies in its path.[36]
Quake Quake.png Held ability: Cast a powerful earthquake that deals more damage the longer it was charged and applies 10 stacks of Staggered to all enemies around the caster. If the spell was fully charged, this applies Tripped instead of Staggered.[37]
Raining Death Raining Death reskin.png Fires a dense rain of arrows 20 meters ahead, dealing high damage. Deals more damage to more distant targets.[38]
Shield Assault ShieldAssaultIcon.png Bashes the target with your shield, dealing damage and applying the shaken condition. If the target is already suffering from the shaken condition, stun the target instead.[39]
Shortbow basic attack Copper Shortbow Icon.png A fast, low power, short range basic ranged attack. Holding down the basic attack button will repeatedly fire.[29][30]
Snipe Snipe New.png Charge a powerful ranged attack, dealing large damage after charging for 3 seconds. Deals 300% physical damage.[40]
Tremoring Bellow TremoringBellowIcon.png Releases a thundering shout in a forward cone, applying the staggered condition on enemy targets. Also stomps the ground dealing damage around the caster and tripping enemies affected by the snared condition.[41]
Vine Field Vine Field reskin.png Summons 3 fields of grabbing vines, one at the target location every .5s for 1.5s. Targets hit are damaged for 10% physical damage and snared for 3s, reducing their movement speed by 40%. Targets that have more than 10s of snare duration are rooted. This effect can only trigger once per target.[42]

Hybrid combat

Ranger hybrid combat in Alpha-2.[43]

Our desire has always and continues to be how we can create a mixture of tab target abilities and skill-shot oriented positional, directional-based ability usage and make something cohesive in that design. And I think that what we're achieving with that regard may not fully feel like an action-oriented game, but we've always intended to be more hybrid-oriented, leaning towards tab target. So you're going to see a mixture of abilities that require the targets and that don't; and then you're going to have an option as the player's perspective to utilize an action camera mode, which utilizes a soft target lock feature and our reticle.[44]Steven Sharif

Hard-locked friendly player target.[45]

Hybrid combat refers to the choice between tab and action combat in Ashes of Creation.[44][46][47][48][49][50] A toggle button (default Z, but can be re-bound to another key) allows the player to switch between action and tab combat modes.[44][51][52][53][54]

  • The action mode camera is tied to the to the player's reticle (crosshair).[55][44][4][56]
    • There will likely be a hotkey that when held down will allow free camera movement in action mode.[56]
    • In future the user will have the ability to choose from different reticle appearances.[55][57]
  • Targeted skills require either a soft or hard locked target.[44][4]
    • Soft locking is when the reticle moves over a valid target while in action mode.[55] The targeting plate will appear slightly grayed out to indicate that this is a soft-lock target. If the reticle moves away from the target or the target moves away from the reticle, the target is lost.[4]
    • Hard locking is when the player uses right-mouse on a soft-locked target in action mode, or when the player selects a valid target in tab mode. The targeting plate will not be grayed-out to indicate that a hard-lock target is selected. Unlike soft locking, if the target moves out of the reticle, the target is not lost. Tab will still cycle between hard-locked targets in action mode based on proximity priority.[58][4]
Q: Is the development team moving away from action combat, or is action combat more prevalent with the melee classes, and the healing/range classes are more tab-target other than AoE spells?
A: We have not moved away from our hybrid approach to the development of Ashes of Creation's combat; and specifically to reiterate: that approach is incorporating elements of skill shots, fast and reactive gameplay that is situationally relevant, and incorporates the camera mode of both tab-targeting as well as action combat reticle. That's something that is still in progress. We haven't moved away from that however. To note, our approach of that hybridization is going to incorporate things like templated skill-shots, directionally relevant activated abilities, along with the ability to dodge to roll projectiles that can impact collision. Those are elements of action combat that are present.[59]Steven Sharif

Templated and targeted versions of skills will have different characteristics.[60][51][61][62][63]

Skill progressions, skill point allocation is determined by the player. The player will be able to choose either more tab-target oriented skills or more action-based skills and customize their playable experience to what accommodates their preference. From a balancing standpoint for us developers, we need to make sure that certain abilities house certain functions so that there's a balance between skill shots and tab-target abilities.[62]Steven Sharif
  • Targeted skills will be greyed out if the target is not within a valid range but templated skills will generally require the player to assess the correct range for the skill.[6]
info-orange.pngSome of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.
  • It may not be possible to be able to fully spec into just action or tab targeted skills. There might be a 75% cap on choosing skills from any one type.[62]
  • For the purposes of balance, certain skill types will be either tab or action oriented skills.[65]
    • Hard CCs may be housed in action oriented skills because they are skill shots that are more difficult to land.[65][62]
    • Softer CC's would be housed in tab-targeted abilities.[65]
As an example: Let's say you're playing a ranged class. You could have an action-oriented power shot in your skill tree or you could have a single target power shot that ramps up and does more damage.[63]Steven Sharif

Spell/projectile collision

There are player and spell/projectile collision mechanics in Ashes of Creation.[67][5][68]

  • Inertia and momentum physics will help prevent blocking doorways/access points. This is based on a character's direction and movement speed, and can be used to push people out of the way.[69][68]
  • Specific ranged skills will have a pushback effect but this is not inherent to all ranged abilities.[71]
  • Player collision inherently limits the number of individuals that can be affected by AoE skills.[67]
Not all projectiles can be body-blocked. Some potentially can, but there will be certain abilities and effects, like a shield wall, that can that can be brought up and that will obscure line-of-sight to the target as well; and it will restrict some of those attacks from occurring.[5]Steven Sharif

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Livestream, December 19, 2023 (1:18:49).
  2. 2.0 2.1 Livestream, September 30, 2022 (52:33).
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Livestream, September 30, 2022 (48:10).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Video, September 30, 2022 (17:00).
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Livestream, December 19, 2023 (1:20:09).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Livestream, January 27, 2023 (1:11:07).
  7. Livestream, April 28, 2023 (55:55).
  8. Air Strike New Description.png
  9. Video, September 30, 2022 (15:28).
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Video, September 29, 2023 (11:29).
  11. New Ball Lightning Description.png
  12. Video, April 28, 2023 (7:15).
  13. Video, April 28, 2023 (9:22).
  14. Blizzard Description2.png
  15. Cone of Cold Description2.png
  16. Video, April 28, 2023 (11:22).
  17. Video, July 28, 2023 (17:32).
  18. Consecrating Wave Info Panel.png
  19. Video, July 28, 2023 (18:26).
  20. Divine Flare Info Panel.png
  21. Fissure Description2.png
  22. Video, March 31, 2023 (9:55).
  23. Video, January 27, 2023 (10:27).
  24. Hunt of the Bear Description.png
  25. Hunt of the Raven Description.png
  26. Hunt of the Tiger Description.png
  27. Video, January 27, 2023 (6:41).
  28. Livestream, September 30, 2022 (26:42).
  29. 29.0 29.1 Video, September 30, 2022 (19:32).
  30. 30.0 30.1 Video, September 30, 2022 (10:44).
  31. Magma Field Description2.png
  32. Mark of the Bear Description New.png
  33. Mark of the Raven Description.png
  34. Mark of the Tiger Description.png
  35. Meteor Description2.png
  36. Piercing Shot Description.png
  37. Quake Description.png
  38. Raining Death Description.png
  39. Video, January 27, 2023 (5:07).
  40. Snipe Description New.png
  41. Video, January 27, 2023 (7:28).
  42. Vine Field Description.png
  43. Video, September 30, 2022 (17:03).
  44. 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 44.4 44.5 Livestream, April 28, 2023 (53:58).
  45. Video, May 31, 2023 (11:20).
  46. Livestream, April 7, 2023 (49:45).
  47. steven-hybrid.png
  48. Livestream, August 27, 2021 (1:16:04).
  49. Livestream, June 25, 2021 (22:34).
  50. Livestream, November 16, 2017 (30:45).
  51. 51.0 51.1 Livestream, June 25, 2021 (27:43).
  52. steven-combat-revamp-update-2.png
  53. Livestream, August 28, 2020 (1:15:39).
  54. Livestream, April 30, 2020 (1:09:51).
  55. 55.0 55.1 55.2 Livestream, December 19, 2023 (1:15:00).
  56. 56.0 56.1 Livestream, March 26, 2021 (59:21).
  57. Livestream, June 25, 2021 (26:11).
  58. Livestream, September 30, 2022 (49:16).
  59. Livestream, August 31, 2023 (2:22:01).
  60. 60.0 60.1 60.2 60.3 Livestream, September 30, 2022 (41:06).
  61. Newsletter, 2018-08-7
  62. 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (PM) (37:57).
  63. 63.0 63.1 63.2 63.3 63.4 63.5 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:07:59).
  64. Livestream, August 28, 2020 (1:12:50).
  65. 65.0 65.1 65.2 65.3 65.4 65.5 Podcast, August 4, 2018 (1:11:05).
  66. steven-action-tab-attack-range.png
  67. 67.0 67.1 Livestream, December 19, 2023 (1:52:02).
  68. 68.0 68.1 collision.jpg
  69. Interview, March 27, 2020 (15:20).
  70. Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:30:52).
  71. Livestream, December 19, 2023 (1:17:45).