Skills

Skills

File:Skills.jpg

In UO Dark Ages there are no character levels. Your character grows entirely through the skills you choose to use. Every action you take in the world — swinging a sword, casting a spell, mining ore, picking a lock — trains the corresponding skill and makes you more capable over time.

Master your skills and you master Britannia. Neglect them and you will struggle to survive.

How Skills Work

Every skill has a value from 0 to 100. As you use a skill the game rolls a chance to increase it based on your current level. The closer you are to 100 the harder it becomes to gain. Skills gain fastest when you are being challenged — too easy and you won't gain, too hard and you will fail without reward.

• 0–30 — Gains quickly, very forgiving
• 30–70 — Steady gain with regular use
• 70–100 — Slow and deliberate — requires focused training
• 100+ — Requires a Power Scroll from a champion spawn to break the cap

Opening your skill list in game with K shows all your current skill values, their lock states and your total skill usage.

Skill Locks

Each skill has a lock state that controls whether it can gain or lose:

• Up Arrow — Skill is set to gain
• Down Arrow — Skill is set to lose (used to make room for other skills)
• Lock — Skill is locked and will not move in either direction

Managing your locks is essential once you approach the skill cap. Lock skills you want to keep and set others to down to free up points.

Skill Cap

Your character has a total skill cap of 700 points. This is the maximum combined total of all your skills. Once you hit the cap, gaining in one skill will cause another to drop — the game will automatically lower whichever unlocked skills are set to go down.

Individual skills are capped at 100 by default. Power Scrolls obtained from champion spawns can raise individual skill caps to 105, 110, 115 or 120.

Plan your template carefully. A focused character with 5–6 skills at 100 is far more effective than a spread character with 20 skills at 35.

Skill Categories

⚔️ Combat Skills

The backbone of any warrior build. These skills determine how well you fight, how hard you hit and how well you survive in battle.

Skill	What It Does
Swordsmanship	Wield swords, broadswords, katanas and viking swords
Mace Fighting	Wield maces, war hammers, war axes and clubs
Fencing	Wield daggers, spears, kryss and war forks
Wrestling	Unarmed combat — also provides a passive hit chance bonus with no weapon equipped
Archery	Fire bows, crossbows and repeating crossbows from a distance
Tactics	Directly increases the damage you deal in melee and ranged combat
Anatomy	Increases damage dealt and improves the effectiveness of Healing
Parrying	Chance to block incoming attacks with a shield or two-handed weapon
Healing	Bandage yourself and others to restore Hit Points — essential for any melee character
Focus	Passively regenerates both stamina and mana over time — useful on any template
Throwing	Gargoyle-only ranged combat skill — hurl weapons at enemies from a distance

🔮 Magic Skills

Command the forces of magic. From devastating offensive spells to protective enchantments and dark necromancy — magic is one of the most powerful and complex paths in Britannia.

Skill	What It Does
Magery	Cast spells from eight circles of power — from simple light spells to devastating Energy Vortex and Meteor Swarm
Evaluate Intelligence	Increases the damage of your offensive spells — essential for any offensive mage
Meditation	Regenerate mana passively over time — active meditation also works but interrupts on damage
Resist Spells	Reduces the duration and effect of harmful spells cast on you — critical for PvP
Necromancy	Cast dark spells from the Necromancer spellbook — animate dead, drain life, transform into monsters
Spirit Speak	Channel energy from the dead — works with Necromancy and can heal wraith form HP
Chivalry	Harness holy power — cure poison, heal, smite enemies and remove curses with the Book of Chivalry
Bushido	Master samurai techniques — Evasion, Confidence, Momentum Strike and Lightning Strike
Ninjitsu	Shadow arts of the ninja — Animal Form, Mirror Image, Shadow Jump and Surprise Attack
Spellweaving	Weave nature-based spells — powerful but requires Arcane Focus from a focus group
Mysticism	A powerful magical school — spells include Purify, Enchant, Sleep, Bombard and Rising Colossus

🗡️ Stealth and Rogue Skills

Move unseen. Strike without warning. Take what you want. The rogue path demands patience and skill but rewards those who master it with incredible power and freedom.

Skill	What It Does
Hiding	Conceal yourself — standing still and breaking line of sight will cause you to vanish
Stealth	Move while hidden without revealing yourself — requires Hiding 80+
Snooping	Peek inside another player's backpack — a requirement for stealing from others
Stealing	Take items from players or NPCs — the riskiest and most notorious skill in the game
Lockpicking	Open locked chests and doors using a lockpick — higher skill opens harder locks
Remove Trap	Disarm traps on chests and containers before they fire
Poisoning	Apply deadly poison to your weapon — enemies hit will suffer ongoing damage and penalties

🔨 Crafting Skills

The economy of UO Dark Ages is built entirely by players. There are no NPC merchants selling weapons and armor outside Haven. If you want the best gear in Britannia, you either earn enough gold to buy it from a player crafter — or you become one yourself.

Skill	What It Does
Blacksmithy	Forge weapons and armor from metal ingots — the most essential crafting skill on the shard
Tailoring	Craft leather and cloth armor, robes and clothing — pairs with Animal Taming for leather supply
Carpentry	Build furniture, wooden weapons, wooden shields and lockable containers
Tinkering	Create tools, traps, clocks, sextants and mechanical items — also required for many other crafts
Alchemy	Brew potions from reagents — heal potions, explosion potions, strength and agility brews
Inscription	Copy spells into blank spellbooks and create powerful scroll versions of spells
Bowcraft/Fletching	Craft bows, crossbows and all types of ammunition
Cooking	Prepare food that restores stamina and provides temporary stat buffs
Cartography	Create and read treasure maps — higher skill allows reading higher level maps leading to buried treasure
Imbuing	Infuse magical properties onto weapons, armor and jewelry — the most powerful item enhancement skill in the game

⛏️ Resource and Gathering Skills

Raw materials don't gather themselves. These skills feed the entire crafting economy and can be extremely profitable in a player-driven shard.

Skill	What It Does
Mining	Extract ore from mountains and cave floors — smelt it into ingots for Blacksmithy. Higher skill unlocks rarer metals
Lumberjacking	Chop trees for boards used in Carpentry and Bowcraft — also increases damage with axes in combat
Fishing	Cast your line in any water — catch fish for food, message in a bottle treasure maps and rare items

🎵 Barding Skills

The bard is one of the most unique and powerful support classes in Ultima Online. Using music to manipulate creatures and players, a skilled bard can turn entire battles in their favor without swinging a single weapon.

Skill	What It Does
Musicianship	Required for all bard skills — play instruments to activate barding abilities
Provocation	Turn one creature against another — make monsters fight each other while you watch
Discordance	Weaken a target creature's skills and stats — essential for taming high-end creatures
Peacemaking	Calm aggressive creatures or players engaged in combat — stop a fight before it starts

🐉 Animal and Pet Skills

Tamers are one of the most powerful and expensive playstyles in UO Dark Ages. A skilled tamer with a powerful pet can take on dungeon bosses that would destroy a solo warrior. It takes patience and dedication to master — but the payoff is immense.

Skill	What It Does
Animal Taming	Tame wild creatures to fight beside you — higher skill unlocks more powerful and exotic pets
Animal Lore	View your pet's full stats and control its commands — also increases your maximum followers
Veterinary	Heal your tamed animals using bandages — essential for keeping expensive pets alive
Herding	Direct animals and herd them from place to place — niche but useful for certain playstyles

🔍 Utility and Miscellaneous Skills

These skills don't fit neatly into one category but can be invaluable depending on your playstyle and goals.

Skill	What It Does
Tracking	Sense the presence of nearby players, creatures and NPCs — shows direction and distance
Detecting Hidden	Reveal hidden players and find concealed traps in your surroundings
Forensic Evaluation	Examine a corpse to determine how it died and identify the killer — used in the justice system
Item Identification	Identify the magical properties of unidentified items found in the world
Arms Lore	Evaluate the quality and condition of weapons and armor — also gives a small damage bonus
Taste Identification	Detect poison in food, drink or containers before consuming them
Begging	Ask NPCs for gold or items — rarely used but occasionally useful for roleplay
Camping	Set up a campfire to log out instantly from anywhere in the world

Skill Count

UO Dark Ages contains all 58 skills from Ultima Online:

Category	Count
Combat	11
Magic	11
Stealth and Rogue	7
Crafting	10
Resource and Gathering	3
Barding	4
Animal and Pet	4
Utility and Miscellaneous	8
Total	58

Building Your Template

A template is the combination of skills that defines your character. Unlike most MMOs there is no class lock — you can combine any skills you want. The 700 skill cap is the only limitation. Here are some classic starting templates:

Warrior (Swords/Tactics)

Swordsmanship 100, Tactics 100, Anatomy 100, Healing 100, Parrying 100, Resist Spells 100

Mage

Magery 100, Evaluate Intelligence 100, Meditation 100, Resist Spells 100, Wrestling 100, Inscription 70

Tamer

Animal Taming 100, Animal Lore 100, Veterinary 100, Magery 100, Evaluate Intelligence 100, Meditation 100

Stealth Thief

Stealing 100, Hiding 100, Stealth 100, Snooping 100, Lockpicking 100, Remove Trap 100, Arms Lore 100

Crafter (Blacksmith)

Blacksmithy 100, Mining 100, Tinkering 100, Arms Lore 100, Item Identification 100

Bard

Musicianship 100, Provocation 100, Discordance 100, Peacemaking 100, Magery 100, Evaluate Intelligence 100, Meditation 100

Tips for Skill Training

• Buy up to 30–40 first — NPC trainers in Haven sell skill training to jump-start slow early gains
• Stay in your gain zone — You gain fastest when you are challenged but not failing constantly
• Don't spread thin — A character with 6 skills at 100 destroys a character with 20 skills at 35
• Lock what you keep — Use skill locks to protect the skills you've invested in
• Train actively — Macros can help with passive skills but nothing beats actively using your skills in real situations
• Power Scrolls — Hunt champion spawns to push skills past 100 once you're established

See Also

• Starting Classes
• Stats
• Gender
• Combat Basics