What does each part of the screen show?
UI Layout: What Each Part of the Screen Does
Start with the skill bar at the bottom center, the minimap at the bottom right, and the Content Guide at the top right. You can learn the rest as you play.
- Skills 1–5: left side of the skill bar
- Health / endurance: center of the skill bar
- Content Guide: top right
- Minimap: bottom right
- Party interface: top left
- Boon and condition icons
- Clock on the minimap
- Chat tabs
- Detailed UI sizing
Screen layout diagram
This diagram shows the default arrangement of the Guild Wars 2 interface.
(top left)
(top right)
(bottom left)
(bottom right)
Keys 1–5
Endurance
/ elite
What each area does
Weapon skills
These five skills are determined by your equipped weapon. Changing weapons changes the available skills. Use them with number keys 1–5 or by clicking their icons.
Health orb and endurance bar
The red orb is your health (HP). When it empties, you enter the downed state. The orange bar above it is endurance. Each segment pays for one dodge, and it refills over time.
Healing (6) + utility (7–9) + elite (0)
Choose these skills independently of your weapon. The default skills are fine while you are learning. Change them in the Hero panel (H) → Build tab.
Effects currently on your character
Small icons appear above your utility skills. Boons use orange icons in the top row; conditions use red icons in the bottom row. The white outline shows the remaining duration. Hover over an icon to read its name and description.
A guide to what you can do next
The top right shows your current story, renown hearts, and event objectives. Click an objective to see its location on the map. Change or disable Content Guide suggestions in F11 → General Options → Content Guide.
Your location and nearby terrain
The map sits at the bottom right by default. Scroll over it to zoom, or drag its right edge to move it to the top right. Your position and facing direction are shown in white, story objectives in green, and event areas in orange. The minimap clock can show local, server, or Tyrian time, depending on your settings.
Your party members’ status
When you join a party, your party members’ health and profession icons appear at the top left. Press P to open or close the party panel.
Messages and game notifications
Press Enter to start typing. Chat tabs can separate nearby chat, whispers, and party messages. Drag the empty space to the right of the tabs to move chat to the top left.
Resize and move the interface
F11 → Graphics → Interface Size Choose Small, Normal, Large, or Larger. Larger settings increase the size of UI elements and change the minimap’s maximum size. For a 4K display, start with Large or above.
F11 → Graphics DPI Scaling follows your Windows display scaling. A Windows setting of 150% can make the UI look large. If it is too large, turn off DPI Scaling and adjust Interface Size yourself.