Skill animation

Skill animation refers to the graphical animation that a character makes while performing a skill.

If you watch a foe or ally closely while he is activating a skill you can tell a lot about the skill he is using, without even checking him on the Skill Monitor.

The animation has up to 4 parts:
 * 1) the movement animation of the caster
 * 2) a "casting symbol" appearing above the caster's head (optional)
 * 3) an "aura" around the body of the caster (optional)
 * 4) an "aura" around the body of the target

Movement Animation
For each skill there is a movement animation, the basic type of animation depends on the type of skill and the duration of casting:
 * If the skill is activated on another or on the character himself/herself.
 * How long the cast time for the skill is: Very Fast (less than 0.5 seconds cast time), Fast (more than 0.5 seconds, less than 2 seconds), Medium (more than 1 and less than 3) and Long (3 seconds activation or longer).

Each of the eight professions displays a different way of portraying these four combinations, some classes displaying more variety than others:
 * Warrior:
 * Female:
 * Male:
 * Ranger:
 * Female:
 * Male:
 * Necromancer:
 * Female:
 * Male:
 * Elementalist:
 * Female:
 * All skills that cast in 0.5 seconds or faster are performed by a quick move of the hand so that the left palm is pointing towards the target (or forward if the target is the caster).
 * Skills slower than 0.5 seconds that target the caster herself: The elemenatlist will rise in the air, bow forward then arch her back and land back gracefully.
 * Skills that target others and are slower than 0.5 seconds but no slower than 2 seconds: The elementalist rises in the air, thrusts her weapon forward pointing to the target.
 * Skills that are 2 seconds (whether on others or self): The elementalist floats in the air holding her arms straight until a second or so is left in the cast time then she either brings her arms down and performs a thrusting motion as if throwing something at the target (if the target is someone else) or arches her back if the target is herself.


 * [[image:Ele_Very_Fast.jpg|thumb|85px|Under 0.5 cast]] || [[image:Ele_fast.jpg|thumb|70px|more than 0.5 sec on others]] ||[[image:Ele_Slow_Self.jpg|thumb|120px|more than 0.5 on self]] || [[image:Ele_Slow.jpg|thumb|85px|more than 2 seconds]]
 * }
 * Male:
 * Monk:
 * Female:
 * All skills that cast in 0.5 seconds or faster are performed by a quick jab of the equipped weapon forward.
 * All other skills, whether on self or others, are actually same animation which begins with the monk holding his weapon behind her back while extending her left arm forward with the palm facing forward and the index and middle fingers adjacent and pointing up. Then the monk wraps her staff around to her left side and brings it back to her right side. If the skill was targetting others, she concludes by pointing to them with her weapon. If it was self-targeting, she pulls the weapon behind her back (head pointing down) and points her left hand towards her chest. The longer the skill duration, the longer the animation becomes.
 * Male:
 * Identical with female animations.
 * Mesmer:
 * Female:
 * All skills that cast in 0.5 seconds or faster are performed by a swift point of the weapon/wand.
 * All skills that cast longer than 0.5 seconds and shorter than 2.0 seconds cause the Mesmer to point her weapon, then perform a backwards spin, ending with the weapon again facing at the target.
 * Male:
 * All skills that cast in 0.5 seconds or faster cause the Mesmer to perform a fast pose with the weapon hand extended and the off hand poised upwards, similar to a fencing maneuver.
 * Assassin:
 * Female:
 * Male:
 * Ritualist:
 * Female:
 * Male:

Casting Symbols
The Casting Symbol is a symbol that appears above the head of the caster. Typically it appears during the whole process of activation.

The Casting Symbol is optional and the type depends on type of the used skill:

Spells
For Spells (including hexes and enchantments) the casting symbol usually indicates the linked attribute, for example most Healing Prayers spells have the "ankh" symbol, most Divine Favor spells have the "vortex" symbol, etc.

However, there are exceptions from this rule:
 * Some few spells have no Casting Symbol at all.
 * Some few spells have a unique casting symbol, for example Vampiric Gaze has a green skull instead of the typical red blood-dripping ring of a Blood Magic spell.
 * Some few spells have the "wrong" casting symbol, for example Life Attunement has the "ankh" symbol of a Healing Prayers spell altough it is a Protection Prayers spell.

Signets
Signets have the same "rose" symbol for all professions and attributes:
 * [[Image:SignetCastingSymbol.jpg]]

Glyphs
Glyphs have the same "rune ring" symbol for all Elementalist attributes:
 * [[Image:Glyph animation.png]]

Nature Rituals
Nature Rituals have two casting symbols:
 * 1) a symbol that is unique (actually, it might be part of the "aura", see next paragraph)
 * 2) a symbol that appears at the very end of activation, which is identical for all Nature Rituals:


 * [[Image:NatureRitual_Symbol.jpg]]

Other Skills
Most "other" skills (especially those that activate instantly) have no Casting Symbol at all:
 * "Plain" Skills
 * Attack Skills
 * Stances
 * Shouts
 * Preparations

Again, there are exceptions from the rule. There are plain Skills and Stances that use the Casting Symbol of their linked attribute or a unique symbol.

Caster/Target Aura
The "aura" is some kind of visual effect that appears around the body of the caster (optional) and/or the target.


 * The auras are unique for each skill.
 * They are usually nicely animated: Swirling, rotating, pulsing, sparkling, flashing, ... there are countless variations.
 * In case there is an aura for both the caster and the target, these two auras are usually different.

Caster Aura

 * Many spells do not have a caster aura.
 * Most non-spell skills have a caster aura (instead of or in addition to a Casting Symbol).
 * The caster aura appears either during the whole process of activation (typical for non-spell skills) or at the end, right before or right after the activation is complete (typical for spells).
 * In case of a self-targeting skill the target aura appears on the caster, blending in with the caster aura.
 * All shout skills can be easily identified by a balloon above their user's head.

Target Aura

 * Virtually all skills (including non-spell skills) have a target aura of some kind.
 * The target aura appears upon "impact" of the skill, i.e. after successful activation.