Skill

«**Skills**» (スキル, *Sukiru*?) are abilities that a player can use in a game.

## Skills in Sword Art Online

### Skill Leveling

In «Sword Art Online», skills can be leveled up to increase the effects of the skills, as well as unlock mods and new abilities. Skill levels are independent of player levels. A skill's level is increased via usage of the skill.

### Skill Slots

In general, skills must be equipped in a limited amount of skill slots. Players are given two initial slots with a slot gained every two levels until level 20 before the rate changes to ten levels. The max number of slots is 40. Skills may be trained up to level 1,000, at which it is considered as «**Complete**» (完全習得コンプリート, *Kanzen ShūtokuKonpurīto*?) and will remain complete even if the skill is swapped out. Otherwise, an incomplete skill's proficiency level is reset to the nearest lower multiple of 50, unless a special item is used to store the skill; for example, a player who swaps out a skill with 999 proficiency will have its progress reset to 950. It is rumored that there is an almost unlimited number of skills in Sword Art Online.

### Types

There are various types of skills in Sword Art Online, including «Combat Skills», «Hobby Skills», «Support Skills», and «Weapon Skills». Certain skills that require a loose set of prerequisites are known as «Extra Skills» while skills that are used by only a single player are called «Unique Skills». «Weapon Skills» also unlock the use of special, system-assisted weapon techniques known as «Sword Skills» which deal more damage than normal attacks albeit at a cost. Players have also dubbed some of their techniques as «Outside System Skills», though they are not actual *skills* system-wise.

### Mods

Certain skills in Sword Art Online also have Mods (モッド, *Moddo*?). Mods can either be special bonuses that increase the effectiveness of the skill (e.g. decreasing Sword Skill cooldown time, increasing the range of the player's detection, etc.), or various abilities (e.g. the Tracking mod for the Searching skill). Some mods can be stacked to increase their effects, however, stacking a mod uses up a slot; for example, «One-Handed Sword» has the skill mod «Increase Critical Hit Chance» which can be stacked up to five times, indicated by a Roman numeral, with each stack further increasing its bonuses. A player obtains one mod slot per 50 levels of skill proficiency, totaling 20 slots upon skill completion.

### Composition

**Composition** (編成コンポジション, *HenseiKonpojishon*?) or **composite effect** (複合効果コンポジットこうか, *Fukugō KōkaKonpojitto Kōka*?) refers to the combined effect produced with multiple skills. A composite effect is unlocked when two or more compatible skills reach a certain level. For combat skills, a composite effect may result in unlocking a new Sword Skill that makes use of two weapon types. Certain crafting and life skills may also have composite effects. The various compositions available in the game are not listed by the system, thus players have to discover these themselves.

### Weapon Skills

In Sword Art Online, there are several different classes of Weapon Skills, each of which unlocks the use of Sword Skills in that category. There are generic weapon skills such as those in the «One-Handed Sword» and «One-Handed Curved Sword». Then, there are additional weapon skills that can be unlocked after fulfilling a certain set of conditions. For example, in the sword category, the «One-Handed Sword» skill must be trained quite a bit before «Rapier» and «Two-Handed Sword» appears on the weapon skills list.

There are *exactly* ten «Unique Skills», which are an assortment of weapon, support and/or combat skills unique to a single player. By the end of *SAO*, all ten skills have owners. They are all unlocked at varying times throughout the game with Kirito being the first to obtain one, that skill being «Dual Blades», and Sanya being the last to obtain one, that skill being «Primordial Runes».

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Comes in levels of I-V.
2. ↑ Unique skill mod; all attacks are guaranteed to attack twice.
3. ↑ All attacks have a chance to inflict bleed; this debuff will stack.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Allows for the instant swapping of a weapon in hand with one in the inventory.
5. ↑ System name as given by Material Collection 03.
6. ↑ Allows for the equipping of a standard that grants buffs in proportion with the skill proficiency level.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Material Collection 01: Skill Collection.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 3
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 2
4. ↑ Volume 13, *End to Eternity*, Part 1
5. ↑ Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 1
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Volume 1, *Memories of Evil*, Part 9
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Volume 1, *The Torch's Inheritance*, Part 4