Active Skills
Manually-activated abilities used in combat for damage, crowd control, mobility, healing, or team utility.
What are Active Skills?
Active abilities are manually cast with keys 1, 2, 3 (some heroes have a passive or semi-passive on 3). They unlock at 600 / 1200 / 2100 / 3600 soul thresholds and upgrade with Ability Points costing 1 / 2 / 5. They have cooldowns and can be interrupted by stun, silence, or displacement.
Mechanics
Instant: takes effect immediately on press, e.g. Bebop's Sticky Bomb.
Channeled: hold a cast bar, e.g. Kelvin's Arctic Beam lets you walk slowly; Dynamo's Singularity roots you.
Charged: stores multiple charges, e.g. Grey Talon's Charged Shot, Dynamo's Kinetic Pulse.
Upgrades: each active has 3 tiers, usually reducing cooldown, increasing damage, or adding effects.
Soul unlocks: Boon levels 0 / 2 / 4 / 6 unlock the four ability slots; the ultimate only at level 6.
Counterplay: silence and stun disable active abilities; stuns also stop channeled casts.
Hero Examples
Abrams β Shoulder Charge
Tank
Abrams charges forward, dragging enemies; hitting a wall stuns them. It is his core engage/escape and combos into Seismic Impact (4) for wall-stun into slam.
Haze β Sleep Dagger
Assassin
Haze throws a dagger that puts an enemy to sleep; non-Haze damage wakes them early. It is a great pick-off setup for team focus fire or a solo assassination.
Seven β Lightning Ball & Static Charge
Mage
Lightning Ball (1) sends a slow orb that damages over time; Static Charge (2) stuns after a delay. The combo is orb β stun β primary fire cleanup.
Dynamo β Kinetic Pulse
Support / Initiator
Dynamo's Kinetic Pulse knocks up and slows nearby enemies. Combined with Quantum Entanglement (2) to bring an ally in, it sets up a perfect Singularity (4) chain.
Tips
- β’Prioritize upgrading your core active: engage for tanks, burst/cc for assassins, wave clear for mages.
- β’Watch cast times and projectiles: Seven's Static Charge has a delay and needs lead aiming.
- β’Cooldown management wins fights; avoid all-inning when your key abilities are down.
- β’Chain crowd control: Haze Sleep Dagger into Abrams Shoulder Charge can lock a target for seconds.
- β’Respect enemy counter-abilities; hold your engage until silences or strong dashes are used.
FAQ
Q: Can active abilities be interrupted?
A: Yes. Stuns and silences disable them; channeled abilities are interrupted by stuns.
Q: How do you get Ability Points?
A: One point per Boon level, up to 32 total. Upgrades can be refunded within a 10-second window if no abilities were used.
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