Spells and Combat Arts

Spells and Combat Arts are where you get most of your effectiveness from. They consume power when cast. Melee classes receive Combat Arts, while spellcasting classes receive Spells. (A few "hybrid" classes receive both.)

Spells vs. Combat Arts
What's the difference between a Spell and a Combat Art? Not much:
 * Spells must be cast while standing still. Your spellcasting may be interrupted when your enemy attacks you; your Focus skill affects your chance of being interrupted when under duress.
 * Combat arts have shorter cast times than spells, and can be cast while on the move. They can only be interrupted by a stun.
 * Most bard spells are considered to be "Songs", and can be cast while on the move just like Combat Arts.

Otherwise, we can talk about Spells and Combat Arts interchangeably. For the rest of this section, we'll just call them "Spells".

The Knowledge Book
Your spells and combat arts are found in your Knowledge book. Open it by pressing K. You can browse your spells in here, and sort them in various ways to make finding them easier. When you point at an icon, a tooltip will pop-up with a brief description of the spell. For more details about the spell, right-click on the icon and choose "Examine".

Types of Spells
There are several types of spells and combat arts that you may have in your Knowledge Book. The background color of the spell's icon tells you its type.

Casting Spells
You can cast your spells and arts directly from the Knowledge book, just by clicking on the icons in the book. But it's a much better idea to drag your most useful spells to your Hotkey Bar. That way, you can cast them while your Knowledge book is closed. If you run out of space, you can open another Hotkey Bar (and another...).

Cooldown Timers
When you cast a spell, you'll quickly learn that there's a cooldown timer on each. The icon goes dark, and slowly fills back up as the timer counts down. If you click an icon before it has refreshed, then the spell will be queued as your next action, and will be cast automatically when the timer expires.

Stop Casting
You can stop casting a Spell that is in the process of casting. Either press Escape to cancel the casting, or move a few steps to interrupt your casting. (You can't stop casting a Combat Art in this manner - only Spells can be stopped in mid-cast.)

Learning Spells
Each time you gain a level, you learn a couple of new spells. Your new spells will enter your Knowledge book automatically each time you level up; there's no need to visit a trainer to learn them (until level 50). Most spells are replaced every 14 levels, so you'll accumulate a few hotkey bars worth of spells before you start replacing your old ones.

The Apprentice/Adept/Master levels
EQ2 allows you to upgrade most of your spells. You do this by finding spell scrolls and scribing them in your Knowledge book. Just as you might find better equipment on your adventures, sometimes you'll find items that teach you a better version of your spells.

You receive basic versions of your spells automatically when you level; these are called "Apprentice I". Each spell has eight more ranks that you might conceivably find in the world. Each rank is slightly more powerful than the previous. An Adept I spell is a common upgrade, while a Master I spell is a rare and precious upgrade.

The most practical way to improve your character's performance in combat is to upgrade your spells. You can purchase minor spell upgrades from merchants in the city, but you can buy better spell upgrades from other players through the broker system. You'll get meaningful upgrades at a reasonable price by buying Apprentice IV and Adept I spells.
 * Tip: Other players with the right tradeskills can make spells for you. Any Artisan can make low level spell-teaching items; tier 2 (level 10-19) items can be made by Scholars; and at tier 3 and beyond, Sages craft spells (scrolls) for mages and priests, Alchemists create spells (essences) for fighters, and Jewelers make spells (runes) for scouts.

Buffs
Buffs are beneficial spells that are persistent: they stay active when you cross zones and even when you log out. Almost all buffs in EQ2 last forever, and don't need to be recast until you die. Almost all buffs require you to group with a friend in order to share them. Buffs are shown in two windows on your game screen:
 * Maintained Spells Window: These are buffs that are produced by you.
 * Spell Effects Window: These are all effects that currently reside on your character, in a sorted list.  Every buff in the Maintained Spells Window is also listed here.

Stances
Melee classes receive special buffs called Stances. You should always have a Stance active if you're one of these classes - so make sure you select one. You'll get to choose between an Offensive Stance or a Defensive Stance, but only one of them can be active at a time. Once activated, your Stance stays active until you change it (or die).

Concentration
There's a limit to how many buffs you can maintain. You have 5 Concentration slots; these are the five bars shown below your character's name on the game screen. Melee classes generally don't run out of Concentration slots, but priests and magicians can run out. Concentration Slots force you to choose which buffs are most important to you and your group. Generally, the choice is between buffing yourself or buffing your friends ; you probably won't run out when you're alone and only buffing yourself.

Heroic Opportunities

 * Main Article: Heroic Opportunities

Heroic Opportunities are combinations of spells that produce a bonus effect during combat. The bonus effect can be a buff on yourself, or a harmful effect on your enemies.


 * You gain the ability to perform Heroic Opportunities at level 5, when you receive your Starter Ability: Lucky Break for Scout classes, Fighting Chance for Fighter classes, Arcane Augur for Mage classes and Divine Providence for Priest classes. You can use this Starter Ability anytime after combat has begun.
 * When a Heroic Opportunity is in progress, your spell icons will flash to indicate which spells can advance the Heroic Opportunity. Use the flashing spells, and you'll eventually complete the Heroic Opportunity and see a bonus effect.

Heroic Opportunities can make a big difference to your combat performance, even though the bonus effect is random. In general, the less capable your class is at fighting alone, the more significant Heroic Opportunities will be to your combat success. Fighter classes rely least on Heroic Opportunities, while Priest classes rely most on Heroic Opportunities.

For more details on performing Heroic Opportunities, see the Combat Mechanics User Guide.

Pets

 * Main Article: Pets

Certain classes get pets that can help you in combat. Your pet must be summoned by casting the appropriate spell. Once it's been summoned, your pet follows you on your adventures, and helps you in combat. The Pet Window appears on your screen, giving you a good view of your pet's Health and Power, and some hotkeys that help you to control your pet. For details on how to control your pet, see the Combat Mechanics guide.

Types of Pets
Among the pet classes, there is some variety as to the types of pets. Let's take a quick survey of them. (This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, it's just an overview.)


 * Summoner pets: Conjurers and Necromancers summon powerful pets and can control how they behave. As you gain levels, you'll gain more types of pets.  Your first pet is the type you'll usually want to solo with - a Warrior pet.  The later types of pets (Scout and Mage pets) are preferred when you join other players in a group, as they cannot survive the attention of an enemy for long.
 * Illusionist pets: these pets are controlled by the caster in the same manner as Summoner pets, but the illusionist only gets one type - the pet is an illusionist too, and casts similar spells as the player. The illusionist's pet must be treated with care, as it isn't a Warrior pet, and cannot tank on the illusionist's behalf for long.
 * Coercer pets: the Coercer either charms a monster of his choice, or makes a "virtual copy" of a monster. Either way, the pet is fully controllable, just like a Summoner pet.  The type of pet is dictated by the monster that it came from: some monsters are Warriors, others are Mages, etc.
 * A few other classes can learn to charm certain creatures (Furies can learn to Charm Animals, Necromancers can learn to Charm Undead, etc.) and their charmed pets are equivalent to the Coercer pets.
 * A charmed monster continuously tries to resist its servitude. When the charm spell breaks, you get a two-second warning, as your vision briefly flashes yellow.  Then you have an angry monster to deal with!
 * Shaman pets: Mystics and Defilers can earn a spirit dog pet through the Achievement system. This pet is unable to take any serious damage, but if the Shaman can keep it alive, the pet will significantly enhance the Shaman's (and his group's) performance.  The Shaman pet is fully controllable like a Summoner pet.  The pet dog can be dramatically enhanced by purchasing further achievement abilities.

Upgrading Your Pet
Since your pet is an integral part of your class, getting a better pet is hugely important for your combat performance. Each time you gain a level and receive a new pet spell, your first priority should be to upgrade the pet spell - ahead of any other equipment or spell upgrades.

As a rule of thumb:
 * The Apprentice I pet that you receive by default is a poor match for any enemy that you take on, and will force you to select enemies below your level.
 * The Apprentice IV or Adept I version of the same pet is a significant upgrade, and will be a good match for most enemies at your level.
 * The Adept III or Master I version of the same pet is a powerful upgrade, and will seriously outpower any enemy that you take on.

For those who charm creatures, upgrading your charm spell will significantly reduce the rate at which the monsters break your charm spell. This may make it feasible for you to charm higher-level creatures, who will perform better on your behalf.