Gives each class a defining piece of its own identity in combat. As of Hotfix 2.0.2, every class commands seven abilities: the original five, plus two veteran abilities unlocked at Level 50 and Level 75 — across fourteen classes, nearly a hundred distinct timed actions that turn each class from a stat block into a playstyle. The new abilities appear in your Ability dropdown automatically when you reach their level; highlights include the Fighter's Unbreakable Line, the Archer's Windreader's Focus, the Tamer's party-wide Alpha Howl, and the half-cost-Artes finishers (Grave Tempo, Crescendo Finale, Oblivion Edge) that supercharge a Tier IV arte rotation.

How They Work

• Each ability has a real-time cooldown ranging from a few seconds (martial resource spenders) through 30 minutes (signature class-defining ultimate). Cooldowns are intentionally long — abilities are big moments, not button-mashes.
• Most abilities cost only time (a cooldown) — but signature spells cost MP (Holy Nova, Crystal Bolt, Soulrend, Wither and kin), and the martial spenders below cost their class resource.
• Open the ✦ Ability ▾ dropdown in combat. Available abilities are highlighted; abilities still on cooldown show seconds remaining; locked ones show their level requirement.
• Effects come in four flavours:
  • Stat buff (% boost to STR / ACC / DEX / DEF / INT for N seconds).
  • Flag buff (a one-shot or timed special effect — e.g. next attack will critical, all attacks crit for 30 s, counter when struck, immune to damage).
  • Instant heal (% of your maximum HP restored).
  • Instant TP gain (skip part of the build-up).
• Re-casting the same ability refreshes the duration rather than stacking infinite copies. The buff icon on your stat panel resets its countdown.

Fighter — The Frontline DPS

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Defiance	2 min	Instantly gains 250 TP.
10	Battle Roar	6 min	+20% Strength for 60 seconds.
15	Honed Focus	9 min	+25% Accuracy for 90 seconds.
20	Bloodfury	10 min	+30% damage but -20% defence for 90 seconds. Berserker stance.
35	Crimson Surge	25 min	Every attack critically strikes for 30 seconds.

Gladiator — The TP Engine

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Throwing Edge	2.5 min	Instantly gains 200 TP.
10	Crimson Frenzy	9 min	+30% crit chance for 60 seconds.
15	Coiled Stance	6 min	TP gain is doubled for 60 seconds.
20	Wide Cleave	7 min	Instantly gains 500 TP.
25	Vengeful Stance	9 min	Counter-attack when struck for 60 seconds.

Paladin — The Tank

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
10	Bulwark	9 min	+50% Defence for 30 seconds.
15	Shieldguard	6 min	The next enemy hit deals only 20% damage.
20	Sacred Mark	9 min	Your next spell will critical.
25	Aegis of Light	15 min	Instantly restore 30% of your maximum HP.
40	Adamant Will	30 min	Immune to all damage for 20 seconds. The Paladin's signature.

Lancer — The TP Specialist

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Skyleap	2.5 min	Instantly gains 250 TP.
20	Falcon Dive	4 min	Instantly gains 400 TP.
25	Wyrmstrike	7 min	+30% Accuracy for 45 seconds.
30	Dragon's Heart	15 min	+20% Strength for 60 seconds.
35	Cometfall	6 min	Instantly gains 600 TP. Fills a near-empty bar in one button.

Archer — The Marksman

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
10	Hunter's Eye	9 min	+25% Dexterity for 90 seconds.
15	Marksman	9 min	Your next attack will critical.
20	Silentstep	6 min	+30% Dexterity (evasion) for 30 seconds.
25	Storm of Arrows	9 min	Your next attack fires 3 arrows. Each rolls its own hit chance.
40	Eternal Aim	30 min	The next shot deals 2× damage and ignores the miss roll. Boss opener.

Rogue — The Burst Damager

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Shadowstrike	2.5 min	Your next attack will critical.
15	Misdirection	3 min	Your next attack deals +50% damage.
20	Wraithstep	6 min	+20% Dexterity (evasion) for 60 seconds.
25	Calculated Edge	9 min	Weapon Artes cost half TP for 60 seconds.
30	Killer Instinct	9 min	+30% crit chance for 60 seconds.

Pugilist — The Combo Striker

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Inner Fire	1 min	+25% damage on your next attack. Re-castable mid-fight; stacks with itself.
10	Centered Mind	6 min	+30% Accuracy for 60 seconds.
15	Phantom Step	6 min	+30% Dexterity for 60 seconds.
25	Riposte Stance	9 min	Counter-attack when struck for 60 seconds.
40	Storm of Fists	30 min	+2 follow-up strikes per attack round for 30 seconds. Burst window.

Death Knight — The Bloodlord

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Cleaving Bash	2.5 min	Instantly gains 200 TP.
10	Stalwart	9 min	+50% Defence for 90 seconds.
15	Soulgrip	9 min	+30% Strength for 60 seconds, but drains 5% of your max HP each combat round.
20	Doom Stance	6 min	+25% Strength for 60 seconds.
35	Hemobrand	15 min	50% of your damage dealt heals you back for 30 seconds. Self-sustain ultimate.

Magician — The Burst Caster

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
15	Runic Seal	9 min	Your next spell will critical.
20	Arcane Surge	9 min	+30% Intelligence for 60 seconds.
25	Soul Exchange	15 min	Swap your current HP and MP values. Emergency recovery.
30	Aether Ward	9 min	+40% Defence for 60 seconds.
40	Wellspring	30 min	All spells cost zero MP for 60 seconds. Nuke window.

Warlock — The Dark Caster

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
10	Bloodpact	6 min	Your next spell will critical.
15	Umbral Veil	9 min	+25% Intelligence for 60 seconds.
20	Soul Devour	9 min	+30% Intelligence for 60 seconds, but drains 5% max HP each combat round.
25	Curse Mark	6 min	Your next attack will critical.
30	Reckless Fury	9 min	+25% Strength for 60 seconds. Lets a Warlock weave melee burst.

Necromancer — The Hex Caster

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
15	Thornblood Aura	9 min	Attackers take 10% of damage dealt back to themselves for 60 seconds.
20	Hexed Gaze	9 min	+30% crit chance for 60 seconds.
25	Risen Echo	6 min	Instantly gains 300 TP. A Necromancer can melee-weave with the boost.
35	Wailing Chant	15 min	Your next spell will critical.
40	Soulburn	25 min	+40% Intelligence for 30 seconds. Highest INT buff in the game.

Tamer — The Companion

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Wild Call	4 min	Instantly gains 300 TP.
10	Beast's Bond	3 min	Instantly restore 15% of your maximum HP.
15	Unleash	6 min	Your next attack will critical.
25	Whispered Bond	15 min	+25% Intelligence for 60 seconds.
30	Pack Frenzy	9 min	+25% Strength for 60 seconds.

Minstrel — The Songweaver

The Minstrel's abilities are Songs — long-duration, party-wide buffs. Multiple Songs stack with each other, and the Harp's Grand Opus arte deals bonus damage per active Song, so a Minstrel builds toward a layered crescendo. Songs are learned automatically as class abilities as you level — there is nothing to buy, and no other class can perform them.

Lv	Song	CD	Effect
1	Ballad of Might	1.5 min	Party +15% Strength for 3 minutes.
10	Hymn of the Shield	1.5 min	Party +18% Defence for 3 minutes.
20	Chorus of Resilience	1.5 min	Party +20% Spirit for 3 minutes, raising the HP cap.
35	War Hymn of the Realm	3 min	The great rallying hymn. Party +25% Strength for 4 minutes.
40	Magnum Opus	10 min	A masterwork performance. Party +30% Strength for 8 minutes. All active Songs stack.

Hexblade — The Stack Detonator

Every landed hit builds a Hex Stack (up to 5, shown as a pip counter on the stat panel). Stacks are spent by the Crystal Blade artes and by Hex Surge — the rhythm of the class is build, detonate, rebuild.

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Soul Drain	3 min	Drain dark essence from the surroundings. Restore 15% of your maximum HP.
10	Hex Surge	2 min	Release all Hex Stacks — your next strike erupts with bonus dark damage scaled to your Intelligence and the stacks spent.
15	Cursed Blade	4 min	Enchant your weapon with a dark curse. Your next attack will critical.

Flag-Effect Reference

The class-ability system uses several named "flags" that change combat in specific ways while active. The dropdown shows them by name, but here's exactly what each one does under the hood:

• allcrit — every attack you make critically strikes.
• nextcrit — next single attack critically strikes; consumed on use.
• critup — +30% crit chance added to your normal roll.
• boost — +25% damage on next attack; consumed on use. (Pugilist's Inner Fire stacks with itself.)
• trickatk — +50% damage on next attack; consumed on use.
• bloodweapon — 50% of damage you deal heals you back.
• cover — next enemy hit reduced by 80%; consumed.
• invincible — all incoming damage is fully negated.
• counter — auto counter-attack on hit (60% STR).
• spikes — 10% of damage taken reflects to attacker.
• nextspellcrit — next spell critically strikes; consumed.
• freespells — all spells cost zero MP.
• convert — one-shot: swap current HP and MP values.
• barrage — next attack fires 3 shots; consumed.
• eagleeye — next attack 2× damage and guaranteed hit; consumed.
• hundredfists — +2 follow-up strikes per attack round.
• souleater — drains 5% max HP per round (side effect of HP-trade buffs).
• berserk — -20% defence (side effect of Bloodfury).
• tpgain2x — TP gained from hits and being hit is doubled.
• cheapws — Weapon Artes cost half the listed TP.

Patch 3.0 — Sixteen Classes

Mimic and Runesmith use the same Ability dropdown system as every other class, with their own named abilities gated by level and cooldown.

Mimic — The Echo Wielder

Ten of the Mimic's ability slots (Echo Slot 1 through Echo Slot 10) are dynamic — each fires whatever echo is currently equipped in that Echo Codex slot, so their effect changes as you re-slot your Codex. See the Mimic page for the full 45-echo catalogue. Two abilities are fixed and unique to the class:

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
25	Echo Mending	8 min	Draw life from absorbed echoes. Restore 15% of max HP.
50	Phantom Veil	10 min	Blur into the echoes. +30% Dexterity for 60 seconds.

Runesmith — The Rune Channeler

Lv	Ability	CD	Effect
5	Runic Ward	4 min	Channel inscribed armour runes. +25% Defence for 60 seconds.
10	Rune Channel	3 min	Draw on weapon rune resonance. +20% Intelligence for 60 seconds.
15	Detonate	—	Release all accumulated rune charge in a devastating burst. Not on a real cooldown — fires whenever charge reaches 100 (or 80 with the Apex Field rune inscribed).
40	Rune Surge	10 min	The runes ignite — Weapon Artes cost half TP for 60 seconds.
75	Rune Blast	15 min	Focus inscribed power into a piercing Earth lance — deals Intelligence-scaled Earth damage, ignoring 50% Defence.

Patch 3.3 — Ways of War (martial rework)

Seven martial classes had their signature abilities rebuilt as resource spenders on seconds-long cooldowns — the tables above show their pre-3.3 forms for history. The current loops:

Class	Resource	Spenders now
Fighter	Momentum (0–5)	Momentum Breaker (was Crimson Surge, 20 s) — spend all Momentum, +35% damage per point
Gladiator	Rage (0–100)	Wide Cleave (20 s) — needs 60 Rage, consumes all for a ×2.2 cleave
Paladin	Aegis	Divine Judgment scales with banked Aegis (costs MP, 24 s)
Lancer	Airborne	Skyleap (6 s) grants Airborne; Falcon Dive (6 s) — ×3.0 unavoidable plunge while Airborne
Archer	Marks (0–5)	Storm of Arrows (20 s) — one arrow per Mark, consumes all
Rogue	Combo Points	Shadowstrike (12 s) — +20% per point, +120% execute below 25% HP
Pugilist	Chi (0–10)	Inner Fire (12 s) heals 3% max HP per Chi; Storm of Fists (18 s) — extra strike per 2 Chi; the old +2-strikes buff lives on as Hundred Fists Drill (Lv 50)

Every class also gained veteran abilities at 50 and 75 (e.g. the Hexblade's Void Step, Dark Pact, Crystal Infusion and Oblivion Edge) — seven or more abilities per class in all. See Martial Class Systems for the full resource rules.