Do I need an ability on both my bars to get the passives and level up the skill line?

BO_Jim

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

toxiclies

I think it's only active for the bar you're currently using, same with the skills, you can't level up a skill if its on the other bar.

Unfadingsilence

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

leepalmer95

Unfadingsilence wrote: »

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

Not really, depends how you level.

I usuallt have buffs and aoe's on my bar back and make sure i'm on my front bar when i actually kill things.

E.g. Endless hail/ liquid lightning etc... back bar with buffs and i'd have 1 of each skill front bar.

Unfadingsilence

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Unfadingsilence wrote: »

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

Not really, depends how you level.

I usuallt have buffs and aoe's on my bar back and make sure i'm on my front bar when i actually kill things.

E.g. Endless hail/ liquid lightning etc... back bar with buffs and i'd have 1 of each skill front bar.

Yes you can do that but if you forget to switch bars it's game over on getting the experience for it if you are trying to just grind up something is good to have things on both bars just to make sure you get the experience

Unfadingsilence

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Unfadingsilence wrote: »

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

Not really, depends how you level.

I usuallt have buffs and aoe's on my bar back and make sure i'm on my front bar when i actually kill things.

E.g. Endless hail/ liquid lightning etc... back bar with buffs and i'd have 1 of each skill front bar.

And his questions was if he had it on his first bar and he was on his other bar would it still lvl up

MLGProPlayer

Unfadingsilence wrote: »

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

You don't need it on both bars. It just makes things go faster.

mrdiamond666

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Unfadingsilence wrote: »

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

Not really, depends how you level.

I usuallt have buffs and aoe's on my bar back and make sure i'm on my front bar when i actually kill things.

E.g. Endless hail/ liquid lightning etc... back bar with buffs and i'd have 1 of each skill front bar.

Heres another noob question. How do the bars work? Does it really matter which is the 1st bar and the 2nd? I'm running DPS dual weld on 1 character, and mag/stam build on another. And due to respecing, i kind of lost count of which is my 1st bar and which is my 2nd bars. Still trying to figure out this game (this is my very 1st mmorpg, only started ESO at the end of April when they had the free ESO trial, I bought it within 2 days of trying it) TY.

starkerealm

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

Passive effects from active abilities (and toggles) turn off the instant they're no longer equipped. (This also includes passives that require you to have something slotted. If it's not slotted, the ability stops.)

For example, Werewolf Transformation has a Stamina Regen bonus. That's only active if you have it slotted on your current bar. Switch to your other weapon, and the buff goes away.

Whenever you get XP, any equipped skills get some XP advancing them (assuming they're not waiting to be morphed, or maxed out. They need to be on the current bar to get that XP payout, but you don't need to use them.

There's a quirk here. You can slot abilities that you cannot use, and advance them by earning XP while they're equipped. The classic example was Werewolf abilities. You could slot them on your human bars, and level them up that way, but you couldn't use them. Normally this kind of thing will only happen with mismatched weapon skills. That said, there isn't, usually, much point to doing this.

Most skill lines advance based on equipped skills and items. So, if you want to level up Restoring Light, you'll need to have active abilities from restoring light on your bar when you earn XP. This is a fixed value for each slotted skill. Meaning if you have one skill slotted, you'll get one amount (about 14% of the XP earned, if I remember correctly), but if you have two, you'll get twice as much, three will triple the amount instead of one skill slotted. Up to six times as much if every active ability and your ultimate is from that skill line.

With armor, each piece of armor equipped will contribute XP to its skill line. With weapons, if it's equipped, it will provide XP to its skill line. As with class skills, weapons will advance based on equipped skills. (In theory, this will let you advance the skill line for a weapon you don't have equipped, as I mentioned above, but I've never tested this.)

Passives do not contribute to skill line progression at all. Full stop. If you take a passive in restoring light, it will not affect that skill line's advancement.

World skill lines (Soul Magic, Legerdemain, Vampire, and Werewolf), Guild Skill lines (Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Undaunted, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood), crafting skill lines and your racial skill line all have different ways of leveling up. These are not affected by slotted abilities at all. (Partial exception with Werewolf because you need to use its tranform to actually level the skill line.)

But, all of that said, when you have one bar active, the other bar does not exist, so far as the game is concerned. You don't gain XP on those skills, you don't advance those skill lines. If you want to advance Restoring Light, you'll need to have one of those on the bar you're using, to gain XP.

@leepalmer95's describing a slightly more advanced technique where you back bar a lot of things you're using, and then switch back and forth to micromanage the XP gain. A lot like the quirk I described earlier.

I mean, there is more to this, but the really simple answer is, yeah, you need to slot stuff on the skill bar you're using to benefit from it.

Also, if you go back and roll up a Sorc or Warden, be aware their toggles shut off if you switch to a bar without that ability slotted.

BO_Jim

Thanks for the comments and feedback everyone I'm still pretty new to this game and I'm loving the amount of detail and complexity there is to making a decent build, but it's easy to get lost in all those details. You're advice has been much appreciated!

GreenhaloX

Hey, it's cool.. we were all noobs once upon a time..

Ok, so, It doesn't matter what bar (main or backup) you're on, only those skills on the bar you are currently on will get the XP increase (after a kill or when getting a quest completion or dropping a daily, etc.) So, make sure you're on that bar of those skills you want leveled. You can slot the Restoring Light skill tree on both bars, but it will only get the XP or level on the bar you currently have out. I do that when wanting to level up an ultimate faster. I'll have it on both bars. So, it doesn't matter what bar I am on (after a kill, quest completion or after dropping off the daily,) I will always get the XP increase for that ultimate. I rarely double slot other skill for leveling, otherwise. However, what I do when leveling is mostly using the front bar when killing adds/mobs/bosses and then switch to the back bar for quest completion and/or dropping off the dailies. It's pretty much an attempt to balance out both bars' skillsets for leveling. Likewise.. if you're doing a sorc with a pet (daedric summoning), you would have to slot it on both bars anyways.

Skills usage-wise on what bar. Well, the front bar will normally give more damage or juice, and you want to slot your primary skills (more damage inducing ones) on the front bar. Take a StamDK, for example; it doesn't matter if you're using a 2H (greatsword, axe, mace, whatever) or DW. For 2h, you should slot the most damage inducing skills, such as Wrecking Blow, Crit Rush, Executioner, Beast Trap and shield (Igneous or Bone Shield.) The backup bar is usually the bow, and here is where you would want your DoT (damage over time) skills; such as Endless Hail, Choking Talons, Noxious Breath, etc., and a self-healing, either Green Blood or Vigor. For DW, it's the Rapid Strikes, Shrouded Daggers, Deadly Cloak and/or Steel Tornadoes, etc. Again, with DW, the back bar is also normally the bow. You normally start by laying down those DoTs from the back bar and then pommel with those primary damage inducing skills from the front bar. If needed, rotate back to the DoTs when the timer runs out and press repeat as needed.

Kozai

GreenhaloX wrote: »

However, what I do when leveling is mostly using the front bar when killing adds/mobs/bosses and then switch to the back bar for quest completion and/or dropping off the dailies. It's pretty much an attempt to balance out both bars' skillsets for leveling.

This is a good way to level skills you aren't actually using regularly in your fights, perhaps they are more specialized, or for an alternate build like tanking, which you don't really need while doing solo PvE content. If you want to get even trickier, you can have a front bar with everything you need to kill stuff in PvE, and a back bar with all things you are leveling, and lay down some DoTs with the front bar then switch to the back bar just before things die to get the XPs there, just using light and heavy attacks there.

Alternate builds can be a reason to slot "dead" skills you may not be able to use at the moment. I've got a Warden right now who has a couple of Sword and Shield skills on a back bar where her weapon is actually a staff. I might want to make her a tank at some point, slotting those will level both the Sword and Shield skill line and those skills, even if I can't use them in the fight. For most PvE content it isn't like you need all 10 skills to get through it, and you never know when the next set of buffs and nerfs to powers may make you decide to change what you want to do with a character.

feyii

mrdiamond666 wrote: »

leepalmer95 wrote: »

Unfadingsilence wrote: »

BO_Jim wrote: »

Hi guys! got a bit of a noob question here. So supposing I want to get the passives and level up the Restoring Light skill tree, but I only have skills for that tree on my first bar, will the passives for that skill line still be active when I switch to my second bar?

You need the ability on both bars if you are trying to lvl it up

Not really, depends how you level.

I usuallt have buffs and aoe's on my bar back and make sure i'm on my front bar when i actually kill things.

E.g. Endless hail/ liquid lightning etc... back bar with buffs and i'd have 1 of each skill front bar.

Heres another noob question. How do the bars work? Does it really matter which is the 1st bar and the 2nd? I'm running DPS dual weld on 1 character, and mag/stam build on another. And due to respecing, i kind of lost count of which is my 1st bar and which is my 2nd bars. Still trying to figure out this game (this is my very 1st mmorpg, only started ESO at the end of April when they had the free ESO trial, I bought it within 2 days of trying it) TY.

It doesn't matter which bar is which as long as you remeber to switch to the correct one for the skills you want to use. However, you can easily find out which bar is which. Just look at your skills page, where you select the skills for each bar. It should tell you the number of your currently active bar.

tunepunk

A good way to level your skills is when your are doing regular questing. If you keep skills that you want to level up on one bar. Change to that bar before you hand in the quest and those skills will go up faster.

starkerealm

mrdiamond666 wrote: »

Heres another noob question. How do the bars work?

The simple, abstract, approach, is to think of your bars as six additional slots for gear/spells/whatever, specifically for your active abilities (and your ultimate).

The abilities on your other bar (and the weapon) aren't currently equipped or accessible.

mrdiamond666 wrote: »

Does it really matter which is the 1st bar and the 2nd?

Yes and no. The bars are fully interchangeable, mechanically. When we talk about a, "back bar," we're usually talking about whichever bar you're not using as your primary.

Note the phrase: "using as."

It's fairly common for players to have one weapon (and bar) that they use primarily. This can be pn either slot, it doesn't matter, but, whichever one that is will be their front bar, while their second weapon set, and associated bar will be their, "back bar." This is strictly a terminology thing based on how people play the game. Mechanically there's no difference between your first and second bar.

If you're a sorc, one of your ultimates (Overload) will create a third bar while active. It follows the same rules as the normal bars, it's just a third one you can pick from. Finally, werewolf also has a unique bar while active, but that one's kinda a bad example, because it can only use certain abilities, and there's no crossover for these in human form.

Often times, the back bar functions as a repository of buff abilities you want to gain access to. For example you may stick Momentum/Rally on your back bar, switch from DW to a 2h, turn on Momentum, then switch back to your DW bar. Momentum, and your 2h would be your back bar, while the DW would be your front bar.

When you get into advanced character builds, choosing to put something on your front bar or back bar can become a significant choice. But, for your current purposes not really.

mrdiamond666 wrote: »

I'm running DPS dual weld on 1 character, and mag/stam build on another.

Something worth knowing is that hybrid builds (that is to say: characters that are split between magicka and stamina) become increasingly difficult to play as you progress through the game. It's not impossible to run them, but it is difficult, and as a result, most of the community looks down on them. This is because your weapon damage scales with your max stamina, and your spell damage scales with your max magicka.

There are some exceptions to this. Some hybrid builds really do work, but they tend to be difficult to play. Also, tanks will frequently use split builds, because they're less concerned with damage, and more concerned with utility and consistent access to resources.