Healing, Utility, and Elite Skills: Guild Wars 2 Beginner Guide

📊 The skill bar and weapon skills 🌿 Traits and the build panel

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Healing skills use slot 6, utilities use slots 7, 8, and 9, and elites use slot 0. If you are new to the layout, see the skill bar guide first.

6 Healing skills: more than healing

When choosing a healing skill, check both its healing and additional functions such as evasion, blocking, or condition removal. Timing it for an incoming attack can restore your health while protecting you from further damage.

Example healing skill	Profession	Additional functions and when to use it
Healing Signet	Warrior	Passively restores health each second while unused: 344 base at level 80 in PvE, increased by Healing Power. Activating it grants a direct heal and Resistance, but the passive healing stops while it recharges.
Defiant Stance	Warrior	Converts incoming strike and condition damage into healing for 4 seconds in PvE and WvW, or 3 seconds in PvP. Use it just before a burst of damage. Agony and falling damage are not converted.
Shelter	Guardian	Blocks attacks for 2 seconds while healing you. Useful for restoring health while stopping a large attack. Unblockable attacks bypass the block.
Withdraw	Thief	Evades while rolling backward and heals you. Removes Chilled, Crippled, Immobilized, and Torment. Check the space behind you and time it to an attack.
Ether Feast	Mesmer	Each clone adds healing and removes one additional condition. Three clones allow four conditions to be removed in total, so maintaining clones improves your heal.
Glyph of Elemental Harmony	Elementalist	Grants a boon based on your attunement: fire gives Might, water gives Regeneration, air gives Swiftness, and earth gives Protection. Choose the attunement for the boon you need.
Mantra of Solace	Firebrand	A three-charge heal that restores your health and grants boons to nearby allies. The final charge is stronger. Used by firebrand support builds.
Consume Conditions	Necromancer	Removes all your conditions and heals more for each condition type removed. After use, you gain 5 stacks of Vulnerability for 4 seconds.
Signet of Malice	Thief	Passive: heals you when your attacks hit enemies. Works well with repeated hits or multiple targets. Condition damage ticks alone do not trigger it.

789 Utility skills: check the skill type

Check the effect and the skill type, such as Shout, Signet, or Stance. Traits and relics that improve a type can add effects such as condition removal or boons. Runes provide attribute bonuses.

🗣️ Shout

Used to support allies or impair enemies over a wide area. Available to professions and specializations including guardian, warrior, tempest, and reaper. Some shouts are instant; others have a cast time.

🔵 Signet

Provides a passive effect while available. Activating the signet disables its passive while it recharges, unless an applicable trait preserves it.

⚡ Stance

Grants temporary effects to the user. Found on warrior, soulbeast, weaver, and other skills; use the active window for its offensive or defensive benefits.

🪤 Trap

Placed on the ground and triggered by enemies entering it. Used by dragonhunter and ranger. Relic of the Dragonhunter increases your damage against foes hit by traps.

🌀 Well

Creates an area with effects that pulse over time. Necromancer, chronomancer, and specter use wells for effects such as conditions or healing.

✨ Glyph

Used by elementalist and druid. Effects change with the caster’s attunement or form.

📖 Mantra

Charge-based skills used by mesmer and firebrand. Mesmer mantras have an additional effect when prepared; firebrand mantras have a stronger final charge. Firebrand mantras prepare automatically in PvE.

🧪 Elixir

Used by engineer and harbinger. Drinking or throwing an elixir grants boons, with options for supporting yourself or allies.

🧿 Venom

Thief skills that add effects to the next few hits and share them with nearby allies. Depending on the venom, effects include conditions, healing, or petrification.

💀 Corruption

Necromancer skills that apply a condition to the caster in exchange for their effects.

🧘 Meditation

Used by guardian, spellbreaker, and evoker. Depending on the skill, they provide healing, defense, movement, or control. Cast times also vary.

🛠️ Kit (Engineer)

Replaces weapon skill slots 1–5 with a new set. You can equip and stow kits during combat.

💡

Keeping signet passives: elementalist’s Written in Stone trait lets signets retain their passive bonuses while recharging.

0 Elite skills: powerful effects with longer cooldowns

Elite skills can provide damage, support, crowd control, or survival, depending on your profession and build. Read the tooltip to check its recharge and decide what role it will serve in combat.

Type	Examples	Features
Transformation	Lich Form (Necro), Rampage (Warrior), Tornado (Ele)	Replaces slots 1–5 with transformation skills. Access to normal healing and utility skills is also restricted, so check your health and the next mechanic before transforming.
Elite signet	Signet of Rage (Warrior)	Passively generates adrenaline during combat, providing value even while you leave it unused.
Group support	Time Warp (Mesmer), "Feel My Wrath!" (Guardian)	Provides boons such as Quickness to nearby allies. Other effects, such as Fury, vary by skill. Choose according to your party’s boon needs.
Revival	Battle Standard (Warrior)	Battle Standard revives downed allies in range when it lands, then periodically grants boons. It does not revive fully defeated players.
Crowd control	Signet of Humility (Mesmer), "Chilled to the Bone!" (Reaper)	Signet of Humility turns one enemy into a moa or damages its defiance bar. “Chilled to the Bone!” stuns and chills nearby enemies.
Invulnerability	Renewed Focus (Guardian)	Renewed Focus grants 3 seconds of invulnerability and recharges virtues. Firebrand restores its pages. Dodging or swapping weapons interrupts the skill.

🔗 How runes, sigils, relics, and traits affect skills

A build combines the attributes from runes, triggers from sigils, special effects from relics, and modifications from traits. Together, they can change what you get from using a skill.

📦

Rune changes with Secrets of the Obscure
Some six-piece rune bonuses previously provided special interactions with skill types. These effects are now handled by relics. Equipping six matching superior runes unlocks six tiers of attribute bonuses. Relics provide special effects in a separate slot, so you can combine Scholar runes’ Power and Ferocity with a Trooper relic’s condition removal on shouts.

📌

The examples below show how skills and traits work together. Choose combinations that fit your build and the content you play.

🌿

Trait: Pure of Voice (Honor)

Converts one condition on each ally affected by the shout into a boon: Burning to Aegis, Chilled to Alacrity, and Fear to Stability.

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Relic: Relic of the Trooper

Removes one additional condition from each ally affected by the shout.

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Runes: Superior Rune of the Trooper

Six runes provide +225 Toughness and +175 Vitality. They do not provide Healing Power or Concentration, so they do not increase healing or boon duration.

Result

Grants Stability and Resolution to up to five allies, including yourself. Pure of Voice converts one condition to a boon, then the Trooper relic removes another condition. Only you receive the stun break. Stability protects against applicable control effects while stacks and duration remain.

🌿

Trait: Signet Mastery (Arms)

Using a signet grants a stack of +100 Ferocity for 60 seconds, up to five stacks. Lesser Signet of Might has a separate trigger: striking an enemy below 50% health.

💎

Relic: Relic of the Alliance

Using a signet reduces the remaining recharge of other signet skills by 1.5 seconds.

⚡

Sigil: Sigil of Battle (on weapon swap)

Swapping to this weapon in combat grants 5 stacks of Might for 12 seconds. Its 9-second internal cooldown means swapping every 5 seconds will not trigger it every time.

Result

Activating Healing Signet provides healing and Resistance, plus Ferocity from Signet Mastery and recharge reduction from the Alliance relic. Its passive healing stops while it recharges. The Battle sigil activates separately on a weapon swap in combat.

💎

Relic: Relic of the Dragonhunter

Marks enemies hit by traps for 5 seconds. Increases strike damage and condition duration against those enemies by 10% each.

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Traits: Big Game Hunter and Dulled Senses (Dragonhunter)

Big Game Hunter increases strike damage against enemies tethered by Spear of Justice: 25% in PvE or 15% in WvW and PvP. Dulled Senses applies Crippled when you disable an enemy; it does not add damage against chilled or immobilized enemies.

👑

Runes: Superior Rune of the Scholar

Six runes provide +175 Power and +225 Ferocity. Their old damage bonus while above 90% health is no longer part of the rune.

⚡

Sigil: Superior Sigil of Vision

Swapping to this weapon in combat makes attacks critically hit for 3 seconds, with a 9-second internal cooldown. This does not negate Weakness’s glancing effect or allow skills that cannot critically hit to do so.

Result

Traps apply the Dragonhunter relic’s mark, Spear of Justice’s tether activates Big Game Hunter, and weapon swaps trigger Vision. Meet each condition separately to combine their effects. Scholar runes continuously add Power and Ferocity.

🌿

Trait: Cleansing Water (Water)

Removes one condition from allies you grant Regeneration to. “Wash the Pain Away!” itself does not grant Regeneration, so pressing this heal alone does not trigger the additional cleanse.

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Trait: Tempestuous Aria (Tempest)

Using a shout grants Might to nearby allies: 2 stacks in PvE. The multiple healing pulses of “Wash the Pain Away!” trigger this Might only once.

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Relic: Relic of the Monk

Granting a boon to an ally adds a 3-second stack of +1% healing to allies, up to ten stacks. Tempestuous Aria’s Might can build stacks, but you must keep supplying boons to maintain them.

⚡

Sigil: Sigil of Transference

Increases healing to other allies by 10%.

Result

The shout heals allies, removes conditions, and grants Might through Tempestuous Aria. Keep supplying boons to maintain Monk stacks; Transference increases healing to allies. Cleansing Water’s extra removal requires a separate source of Regeneration.

⚡

Sigil: Sigil of Energy (on weapon swap)

Changing attunement in combat restores 50% endurance, or 25% in PvP. The 9-second internal cooldown is shared across all four attunements. Rapidly switching again does not restore endurance each time.

⚡

Sigil: Sigil of Battle (on weapon swap)

Changing attunement in combat grants 5 stacks of Might for 12 seconds. Its 9-second internal cooldown is shared across all four attunements.

🌿

Trait: Healing Ripple (Water)

Heals nearby allies when you attune to water, making that attunement change a party healing trigger.

Result

Attunement changes can activate weapon-swap sigils. Track the individual 9-second internal cooldowns of Energy and Battle, and time Healing Ripple’s heal for your switch to water.

💎

Relic: Relic of Isgarren

Successfully evading an enemy’s attack marks that enemy with the Eye of Isgarren, increasing your strike damage and condition duration against it by 10%. Evading an attack with Withdraw also triggers it.

💎

Alternative relic: Relic of the Daredevil

Dodge rolling in combat or successfully evading an attack makes your next hit a critical hit. Withdraw must actually evade an enemy attack to trigger this; simply rolling backward with the skill does not.

🌿

Trait: Escapist’s Fortitude (Daredevil)

Successfully evading an attack heals you and removes one condition, with a 1-second internal cooldown.

Result

Withdraw itself heals, removes its listed conditions, and moves you backward. If it also evades an attack, Escapist’s Fortitude and your equipped relic add their effects. Choose either Isgarren or Daredevil; you cannot equip both relics.

💎 Relics and their triggers

You can equip one relic in its separate slot, independently of your rune set. You cannot equip several of the relics below at once.

Relic	Trigger	Effect
Relic of the Monk	Granting a boon to an ally	+1% healing to allies per stack for 3 seconds, up to ten stacks (+10%). Requires ongoing boon application.
Relic of Fireworks	Dealing strike damage with a weapon skill whose base recharge is at least 20 seconds	+7% strike damage for 6 seconds, or +10% in PvP. Activating it again refreshes the duration.
Relic of the Dragonhunter	Hitting an enemy with a trap	+10% strike damage and +10% condition duration against the marked enemy for 5 seconds.
Relic of the Trooper	Using a shout	Removes one additional condition from each affected ally. An option for shout support builds.
Relic of Isgarren	Successfully evading an attack	Marks the enemy whose attack you evaded, increasing strike damage and condition duration against it by 10% for 6 seconds.
Relic of the Flock	Using a healing skill	Heals you and nearby allies, converting excess healing from the relic itself into barrier. Internal cooldown: 10 seconds, or 20 in WvW.
Relic of the Water	Using a healing skill	Removes two conditions from you and nearby allies. Internal cooldown: 20 seconds.
Relic of the Pack	Using an elite skill	Grants Superspeed, Might, and Fury to you and nearby allies. Internal cooldown: 30 seconds.
Relic of the Alliance	Using a signet skill	Reduces the remaining recharge of other signet skills by 1.5 seconds.