Casting Symbol

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 spells have no Casting Symbol at all.
 * Some 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 spells have the "wrong" casting symbol, for example Life Attunement has the "ankh" symbol of a Healing Prayers spell although it is a Protection Prayers spell.

Signets
Signets have the same "rosette" symbol for all professions and attributes: The only known exception is Signet of Humility, which uses the same animation as Fast Casting and no attribute Mesmer spells.

Nature Rituals
Nature Rituals have two casting symbols:

1. A symbol that appears at the very end of activation, which is identical for all Nature Rituals:

2. A symbol that is unique above the character with a spinning ring appearing around the middle of the character at the start of casting:

Other Ranger Skills
The casting symbols for Run as One, Rampage as One, and Never Rampage Alone all start with the Two Paws, which come together to form either the Paw and Foot or Paw and Arrow:

Chants
The character uses his generic casting animation, during which he/she grows a pair of glowing transparent wings appear on the character's back, flap once and then disappear.

Other Skills
Most "other" skills (especially those that activate instantly) have no Casting Symbol at all:


 * "Plain" Skills
 * Attack Skills
 * Stances
 * Shouts (While Warrior shouts display chat popup with phrase of that shout.)
 * Preparations
 * Traps

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. For example, the Mantras used by Mesmers (which are Stances) show the same glowing symbol above the user's head as the symbol shown in the skill icon.