📅 Progression Guide
Days 1–3: Getting Your Feet Under You
Your first objective is survival, learning, and establishing a foundation. Don’t worry about being optimal — worry about understanding the systems.
Checklist:
- Complete the starter quest chain from the New Player NPC in Britain
- Set your skill locks correctly — understand what you want rising and what can fall
- Train your primary weapon or magic skill on training dummies to at least 30
- Visit the bank and deposit anything valuable
- Buy basic armour from player vendors or NPC shops
- Farm Britain Cemetery for starter gold (easy undead, 10–20 minutes from Britain)
- Ask questions — the community at Britain Bank is generally helpful to genuine new players
Week 1: Building the Foundation
You understand the basics. Now build toward real capability.
Checklist:
- Primary skills reaching 50–60
- Move from Britain Cemetery to Despise or Spirituality Dungeon
- Accumulate 50,000+ gold (your first significant savings)
- Set up your macro hotkeys — all survival macros should be working
- If crafting: reach GM in one primary craft
- If taming: begin taming training; get Animal Taming to 70+
- Consider joining a guild for community support
Month 1: Starting to Thrive
You’re no longer a beginner. You’re working toward mastery.
Checklist:
- Primary skills at 70–80
- Mid-tier dungeon farming (Shame, Covetous, Deceit)
- 100,000–300,000 gold saved
- Crafted or purchased proper armour set matching your resist needs
- If taming: Animal Taming at 80+; bonded first strong pet
- Working toward a house (start researching housing areas)
- Understanding the Auction House and player vendor economy
Month 2–3: Becoming Dangerous
Your character is approaching its final form. The game fully opens up.
Checklist:
- All primary skills at 90–100 (Grandmaster)
- House purchased and set up
- High-tier dungeon farming (Destard, high Shame)
- Significant gold reserve — able to replace gear without panic
- Considering first Power Scrolls for key skills
- PvP capable if that’s your path — practicing in Faction Warfare or guild wars
- Working toward a Champion Spawn run for Power Scrolls
Long-Term Goals (3 months+)
These are the benchmarks of a truly established Outlands character:
- All skills in your template at 100 (Grandmaster), working toward 115–120 via Power Scrolls
- House fully furnished and operational with vendors
- Regular Doom Dungeon runs or equivalent high-end farming
- Known reputation on the shard — players recognise your name
- Guild membership with real relationships
- For Tamers: Greater Dragon bonded and properly developed
- For Crafters: Regular Exceptional Valorite or Barbed production
- Financial security: millions in the bank, able to replace any gear loss without flinching
📊 The Skill System
This is the entire design philosophy of Ultima Online compressed into one mechanic. There are no character levels. There are no experience bars. There are no classes. There is only your skill set — a collection of skills you’ve earned by using them, capped at 700 total points.
Skill Fundamentals
- Each skill ranges from 0.0 to 100.0 (and up to 120 with Power Scrolls)
- Your character has a 700 total skill point cap — you can never exceed this sum across all skills
- Skills train by use — you get better at swordsmanship by fighting with a sword, better at Magery by casting spells
- The game presents no path, no quest to unlock skills, no level requirement — everything is use-based
The Skill Lock System
Every skill in your skill window has a state indicator:
| State | Symbol | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Raising | ↑ (up arrow) | Skill gains from use |
| Falling | ↓ (down arrow) | Skill decreases (allows other skills to rise) |
| Locked | 🔒 (lock) | Skill is frozen — will not gain or lose |
Why this matters: When the total of all your skills reaches 700, nothing set to ↑ can rise further unless something else is set to ↓ and can fall. New players frequently hit 700, lock everything, and then wonder why they can’t progress — their skills have nowhere to go.
The workflow: When you want to train a new skill, identify one you don’t need right now, set it to ↓, and set the target skill to ↑. As the target rises, the other falls. Swap when done.
Skill Gain Rates
Skill gain is not linear. Rough breakdown:
| Skill Range | Gain Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0–50 | Fast | Can reach 50 in a few hours |
| 50–70 | Moderate | Training dummies and weak creatures |
| 70–85 | Slow | Requires relevant creatures/activities |
| 85–100 | Very Slow | Requires optimal training targets |
| 100–120 | Requires Power Scroll | Content-locked — not just time |
The last 5 points to Grandmaster (100) can take many hours of active play. This is intentional — a Grandmaster is genuinely rare and commands respect.
Power Scrolls
Certain rare scrolls allow skills to exceed 100, up to a maximum of 120. These drop from:
- Champion Spawn bosses
- High-difficulty dungeon content
- Rare creature kills
Power Scrolls are among the most valuable items in the game — a 110 Swordsmanship scroll can be worth hundreds of thousands of gold. They are not required to play effectively, but they represent a significant competitive advantage at endgame.
Skill Overview Table
Skill cap: 700 base (720 with Skill Mastery). Skills marked ⚠️ are inactive/unused in Outlands.
| Skill | Category | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Swordsmanship | Combat | Hit chance with swords and axes |
| Mace Fighting | Combat | Hit chance with maces and clubs |
| Fencing | Combat | Hit chance with spears, daggers, kryss |
| Archery | Combat | Hit chance with bows and crossbows |
| Wrestling | Combat | Unarmed combat; required for Arcane builds |
| Tactics | Combat | Bonus damage multiplier for all physical attacks |
| Anatomy | Combat | Bonus damage multiplier; allows diagnosis |
| Parrying | Combat | Chance to block with a shield or weapon |
| Healing | Combat | Effectiveness of bandage healing |
| Poisoning | Combat | Apply poison to weapons |
| Magery | Magic | Cast power for the classic spell circle system |
| Evaluate Intelligence | Magic | Spell damage bonus for Magery spells |
| Meditation | Magic | Passive and active mana regeneration |
| Resist Spells | Magic | Reduces damage and duration of enemy spells |
| Necromancy | Magic | Dark spells — life drain, undead forms, wraith form |
| Spirit Speak | Magic | Powers Necromancy; communicate with the dead |
| Chivalry | Magic | Paladin magic — holy damage, healing, enemy debuffs |
| Arcane | Magic | Outlands-exclusive. Arcane Staff combat; builds Arcane Buildup for spell/resist bonuses. Requires Magery + Wrestling. |
| Animal Taming | Taming | Ability to tame and bond with creatures |
| Animal Lore | Taming | Shows pet stats; boosts Veterinary effectiveness |
| Veterinary | Taming | Heals pets with bandages; requires Animal Lore |
| Herding | Wilderness | Move creatures around; mild combat utility |
| Tracking | Wilderness | Detect and follow creatures or players |
| Musicianship | Bard | Required base skill for all bard abilities |
| Peacemaking | Bard | Pacify creatures; stop them attacking |
| Provocation | Bard | Force creatures to fight each other |
| Discordance | Bard | Weaken a creature’s skills and stats |
| Blacksmithy | Crafting | Create metal weapons and armour |
| Tailoring | Crafting | Create leather and cloth armour and clothing |
| Alchemy | Crafting | Brew potions (heal, strength, explosion, etc.) |
| Carpentry | Crafting | Create furniture, staves, shields, wooden items |
| Tinkering | Crafting | Create tools, traps, jewelry, gears |
| Inscription | Crafting | Scribe spell scrolls; bonus spell damage |
| Cooking | Crafting | Cook food for stat-boosting meals |
| Mining | Gathering | Extract ore and gems from mountains |
| Lumberjacking | Gathering | Chop wood; +damage bonus wielding axes |
| Fishing | Gathering | Fish from water; chance for rare item drops |
| Cartography | Exploration | Decode and use treasure maps |
| Camping | Misc | Increases carry weight/item capacity; Hike fast travel; campfire logout; damage bonus |
| Hiding | Stealth | Become hidden from sight |
| Stealth | Stealth | Move while hidden |
| Detect Hidden | Stealth | Reveal hidden creatures and players |
| Stealing | Rogue | Steal items from other characters |
| Snooping | Rogue | Peek inside other players’ packs |
| Lockpicking | Rogue | Open locked chests and doors |
| Arms Lore | Knowledge | Evaluate weapon and armour quality |
| Forensic Evaluation | Wilderness | Examine corpses; identify player killers |
| Focus | Supporting | Boosts passive mana and stamina regeneration |
| Begging | Misc | Request gold from NPCs; minor use |
| Item Identification | Misc | Identify unknown items |
| Taste Identification | Misc | Detect poison in food and drink |
Stats
Three stats define your character’s physical capability. Unlike skills, stats raise slowly and require deliberate effort to push to their caps.
The Three Stats
Strength (STR)
- Determines your maximum Hit Points
- Affects carrying capacity — how much weight you can carry
- Higher Strength lets you wear heavier armour without a stamina penalty
- Raised by: physical combat skills (Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Wrestling, Tactics, Anatomy, Healing), heavy crafting (Blacksmithy, Mining, Lumberjacking, Carpentry), and Camping
Dexterity (DEX)
- Determines your maximum Stamina
- Affects attack speed — higher DEX = faster swings
- Affects bandage healing speed — caps out at 100 DEX
- Raised by: ranged and agile skills (Archery, Stealing, Hiding, Stealth, Poisoning, Lockpicking), bard skills (Musicianship, Provocation, Discordance, Peacemaking), Tailoring, Tracking, and Camping
Intelligence (INT)
- Determines your maximum Mana
- Essential for every caster template
- Raised by: all magic skills (Magery, Evaluate Intelligence, Meditation, Resist Spells, Necromancy, Spirit Speak, Chivalry, Arcane, Inscription), Alchemy, Animal Lore, and Camping
Stat Cap
| Stat | Individual Cap | Total Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 100 | — |
| Dexterity | 100 | — |
| Intelligence | 100 | — |
| All combined | — | 225 |
New characters begin with 160 stat points distributed at creation. The remaining 65 points are gained through play.
Raising Stats
Stats raise passively as you use skills linked to them. The process is slow by design — here is how to push them efficiently:
Fastest method — Camping near a fire: Camping raises all three stats (STR, DEX, and INT) simultaneously. To use this:
- Craft or buy Kindling (use a dagger on a tree)
- Double-click the kindling to start a campfire
- Stand near the fire for its full 10-minute duration — you gain stats the whole time
- Your Camping skill must be set to UP (raising) in the skill menu, even if it is already at its cap
- Repeat. This is the single most time-efficient stat-raising method available to new characters
Training Hall on Shelter Island (AFK-safe): The Shelter Island starter area has a Training Hall with Battle Trainers you can attack repeatedly. Hitting them raises combat skills and stats simultaneously. This is explicitly listed as an AFK-safe activity — set up a simple attack macro and let it run while you are away.
The arrow adjustment system: Once your total stats approach 225, you can no longer freely gain a stat without losing one elsewhere. The character status window shows arrows (↑ ↓) next to each stat:
- Set a stat to ↑ to gain it
- Set a stat to ↓ to allow it to drop as the other rises
- Set a stat to — (locked) to prevent it changing at all
- This lets you deliberately shift your stat spread as your build evolves — for example, rebalancing from a STR-heavy new player spread to a INT-heavy caster spread
General tips:
- Never lock all three stats at once — you will stop gaining entirely
- Raise the stat your template needs most first; the others can follow
- Food buffs provide temporary stat bonuses but do not raise your permanent cap
- Equipment (rings, bracelets, special armour) adds to your effective stat total without spending cap points — stack these early
Raising Stats
⚔️ Character Templates
A “template” is your chosen combination of skills. Think of it as a class you build yourself. The community has named common combinations, but there are no rules — experimentation is encouraged.
Key rule: Your 700 skill points are your entire budget. Every point in one skill is a point you can’t put elsewhere. Great templates make deliberate tradeoffs.
🗡️ Warrior Templates
Pure Swordsman — The beginner’s foundation. Self-sufficient, straightforward, effective from day one.
Swordsmanship 100 — Hit chance with swords/axes
Tactics 100 — Bonus damage
Anatomy 100 — Bonus damage + healing effectiveness
Healing 100 — Bandage self-heal
Parrying 100 — Block chance with shield
Focus 80 — Passive mana/stamina regen
Resist Spells 80 — Reduce incoming spell damage
Lumberjacking 40 — Bonus damage with axes only
────
Total: 700
Play as: An armoured frontliner who fights sustainably. Your bandage self-heal makes you nearly inexhaustible against PvE content. Lumberjacking gives axes a significant damage bonus — consider specialising in axes once you understand the system.
Paladin — Adds holy magic to the warrior formula. Exceptional PvE survivability.
Swordsmanship 100
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Healing 100
Chivalry 100 — Holy magic: heals, buffs, holy damage
Parrying 80
Focus 80
Lumberjacking 40
────
Total: 700
Play as: A durable, self-sufficient fighter with supplemental magic. Chivalry spells like Divine Fury, Close Wounds, and Enemy of One add layers of effectiveness that pure warriors lack. Sacred Journey provides emergency teleportation.
Mace Brawler — Stamina drain specialist. Terrifying in PvP.
Mace Fighting 100 — Maces cause stamina damage on targets
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Healing 100
Parrying 100
Focus 100
Resist Spells 100
────
Total: 700
Play as: A grinder who wears opponents down. Maces reduce a target’s stamina on every hit, slowing their attack speed dramatically. In extended PvP fights, a mace fighter who maintains pressure eventually faces an enemy who can barely swing back.
Fencer with Poison — Fast weapon + deadly toxins. One of the strongest PvP templates.
Fencing 100 — Daggers, kryss, spears
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Healing 100
Parrying 100
Poisoning 100 — Apply poison to weapons
Focus 100
────
Total: 700
Play as: Apply Greater Poison to your kryss, get in close, and let the damage over time do work while you apply pressure. The combination of fast fencing weapons and persistent poison is one of the highest-ceiling offensive templates in the game.
Bushido Warrior — Advanced melee requiring skill to master. Exceptional ceiling.
Swordsmanship 100
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Bushido 100 — Japanese combat art; Lightning Strike, Momentum Strike
Healing 80
Parrying 100
Focus 80
Ninjitsu 40 — Transformation abilities
────
Total: 700
Play as: A high-skill melee fighter with access to devastating special moves. Lightning Strike guarantees a hit and boosts damage. Momentum Strike hits multiple targets in a chain. Ninjitsu adds utility (Mirror Image, Shadowjump). High skill cap — poorly played Bushido is mediocre, well-played is excellent.
🏹 Archer Templates
Classic Archer — Ranged DPS with escape options. Safe playstyle.
Archery 100 — Hit chance with bows
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Healing 100 — Bandage heal between shots
Focus 100
Parrying 80
Resist Spells 80
Hiding 40 — Fade from view to reposition
────
Total: 700
Play as: Maintain distance, rain down arrows, bandage when safe. Hiding allows you to break combat and reposition, making you extremely hard to pin down in PvP. Works exceptionally well in wide-open dungeon areas.
Bushido Archer — The apex archer template. Complex, powerful.
Archery 100
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Bushido 100 — Moving Shot, Lightning Strike with bow
Healing 80
Parrying 80
Focus 100
Ninjitsu 40
────
Total: 700
Play as: Bushido with bows gives access to Moving Shot — allowing you to fire while running — and Lightning Strike, which guarantees a hit. This makes the Bushido Archer one of the hardest templates to escape from and one of the hardest to hit back.
Poisoning Archer — Apply poison via arrows for persistent damage.
Archery 100
Tactics 100
Anatomy 100
Healing 100
Poisoning 100 — Poison coats arrows
Focus 100
Parrying 80
Hiding 20
────
Total: 700
Play as: Every arrow is potentially a poison delivery mechanism. Greater Poison on arrows means targets are constantly fighting the DoT while also dodging your direct damage. Effective harassment template in PvP.
🔮 Mage Templates
Classic Battle Mage — Reliable, proven, effective in all content.
Magery 100 — Full spell access
Evaluate Intel. 100 — Spell damage bonus
Meditation 100 — Mana regeneration
Inscription 80 — 10% spell damage bonus from spellbook
Resist Spells 100 — Reduce incoming magic damage
Focus 80 — Additional mana regen
Wrestling 80 — Prevents disarm, allows unarmed attacks
Healing 60 — Bandage fallback
────
Total: 700
Play as: A pure spellcaster. Inscription’s 10% SDI bonus from a spellbook is significant. Wrestling prevents opponents from disarming you and losing your spellbook mid-fight. Energy Bolt and Explosion are your primary combat spells; Earthquake for area damage; Energy Vortex for a persistent killer.
Necromancer — Dark magic mastery. High complexity, enormous payoff.
Necromancy 100 — Dark spell system
Spirit Speak 100 — Necromancy support skill; communicate with dead
Magery 100 — Full support spells (recall, gate, heal)
Evaluate Intel. 100
Meditation 100
Resist Spells 100
Focus 100
────
Total: 700
Play as: A hybrid caster who shifts between forms. In Lich Form, your mana regeneration doubles, you become undead (immune to poison, affected by holy damage), and your magic is significantly enhanced. In Wraith Form, your melee attacks drain mana from opponents. Pain Spike ignores all resistances. Corpse Skin removes enemy resistances. One of the highest-skill-cap templates in the game.
Mysticism Mage — Newer, excellent AOE and support. Strong in 2026 meta.
Mysticism 100 — Elemental magic system
Focus 100 — Mysticism's support skill (replaces Meditation)
Evaluate Intel. 100
Magery 100
Meditation 100
Resist Spells 100
Inscription 100
────
Total: 700
Play as: A caster who excels at area control and raw magical output. Rising Colossus summons a powerful elemental that fights independently. Cleansing Winds heals nearby allies in an AOE — exceptional for group play. Hail Storm and Bombard provide strong direct damage options.
Spellweaver — Scales with allies. Weak alone, devastating in groups.
Spellweaving 100
Focus 100
Evaluate Intel. 100
Magery 100
Meditation 100
Resist Spells 100
Inscription 100
────
Total: 700
Play as: A force multiplier. Spellweaving gains power from Arcane Focus circles — groups of weavers who empower each other before content. Alone, Spellweaving is strong; with 3–4 other weavers empowering each other, it becomes one of the most powerful magic systems in the game. Wildfire creates enormous AOE fire fields. Arcane Empowerment temporarily boosts your entire group’s output.
🐉 Tamer Templates
Taming is the most powerful and most demanding playstyle in Outlands. Your pets do the actual killing while you direct and heal them. A skilled tamer is nearly unstoppable in PvE content.
Classic Tamer — The standard. Extremely powerful in PvE.
Animal Taming 100 — Required to tame and control pets
Animal Lore 100 — Pet information; boosts Vet effectiveness
Veterinary 100 — Heal your pets with bandages
Magery 100 — Recall, recall scrolls, support spells
Evaluate Intel. 80
Meditation 100
Musicianship 80
Peacemaking 80 — Pacify creatures threatening you
────
Total: 740 (trim to 700 by reducing support skills)
Play as: Direct your Greater Dragon into enemies, stand back, heal it with Veterinary when its HP drops, and let it do the rest. Peacemaking provides insurance — if something threatens you personally, pacify it and let your pet deal with it. The power difference between a GM Tamer and any other template in top-tier PvE content is enormous.
Important: Building a tamer requires patience. Animal Taming is one of the slowest skills to raise. Plan to spend weeks getting to 100. The payoff is worth it.
Tamer/Mage — Full offensive magic support on top of taming.
Animal Taming 100
Animal Lore 100
Veterinary 100
Magery 100
Evaluate Intel. 100
Meditation 100
Resist Spells 80
Focus 20
────
Total: 700
Play as: Your pet tanks and deals melee damage. You deal additional ranged magic damage from a safe distance. The combination of pet DPS and your spell DPS is overwhelming for most PvE content.
Bard Tamer — Bard utility plus taming power. Exceptional group support.
Animal Taming 100
Animal Lore 100
Veterinary 100
Musicianship 100
Provocation 100
Discordance 100
Magery 100
────
Total: 700
Play as: Provoke additional creatures onto each other while your pet handles the primary target. Discordance weakens high-tier bosses significantly. An incredibly versatile support role in group content.
🎶 Bard Templates
Bards use music to control and manipulate creatures. They are perhaps the most unique playstyle in UO — you deal no direct damage yourself, but you reshape the battlefield.
Classic Bard — Full bard utility suite.
Musicianship 100 — Base requirement for all bard skills
Peacemaking 100 — Pacify creatures; they stop attacking
Provocation 100 — Force creatures to fight each other
Discordance 100 — Weaken creature skills/stats by ~30%
Magery 80 — Recall, Gate, utility spells
Evaluate Intel. 80
Meditation 100
Resist Spells 60
────
Total: 720 (trim 20 points as needed)
Peacemaking: Target a creature and play — if you succeed, it stops all hostility and stands idle. Essential when something aggros you that you can’t fight.
Provocation: Target creature A, then target creature B, and play — if you succeed, A charges at B and they fight. You loot the loser. This is how bards farm dragon-tier content solo.
Discordance: Target a creature and play — if you succeed, its skills and stats drop by up to 30% for the duration. This is immensely powerful in group content. A discorded dragon is significantly easier to kill.
Play as: A solo bard can farm content far above their apparent “power level” by never fighting anything directly. Provoke the dragons onto each other, loot the bodies, repeat. A bard with a tamer ally is one of the most formidable PvM pairs in the game.
🔨 Crafter Templates
Crafters are the backbone of Avadon’s economy. Every piece of equipment comes from a player crafter. The best gear in the game — exceptional Valorite plate, barbed leather armour, runic-crafted weapons — comes from dedicated crafters who’ve mastered their trade.
Master Blacksmith / Miner
Blacksmithy 100 — Metal weapons and armour
Mining 100 — Ore extraction
Arms Lore 100 — Item quality evaluation; exceptional chance bonus
Tactics 60 — Enough to fight basic monsters while mining
Swordsmanship 60
Healing 60
Anatomy 60
Parrying 80
Focus 80
────
Total: 700
Play as: Mine your own ore, smelt it, and craft. Arms Lore significantly increases your chance of creating Exceptional items — the crafter’s goal. A GM Blacksmith with Arms Lore and Valorite ore creates gear that sells for serious gold.
Master Tailor / Leatherworker
Tailoring 100 — Leather and cloth armour
Meditation 80
Magery 80 — Recall to hunting grounds and back
Eval Intelligence 80
Hiding 80 — Stay safe while gathering
Stealth 80
Lockpicking 80 — Optional access to locked areas
Remove Trap 80
────
Total: 660 (add crafting-support skills as needed)
Play as: Gather leather from creature kills, craft armour for mages and archers. Barbed leather is the endgame material — it only comes from the toughest creatures.
Alchemist / Potion Maker
Alchemy 100 — All potion types
Magery 100 — Utility and emergency spells
Evaluate Intel. 80
Meditation 100
Inscription 80
Resist Spells 80
Focus 80
Mining 80
────
Total: 700
Play as: The economy requires constant potion consumption. PvP players burn through explosion pots and healing pots constantly. A dedicated alchemist with a supply of materials can make consistent, predictable gold selling to combat players.
🗝️ Thief/Rogue Templates
Classic Thief — Stealth, theft, and survival.
Stealing 100 — Steal items from packs
Stealth 100 — Move while invisible
Hiding 100 — Enter invisible state
Snooping 80 — Peek into other players' packs
Lockpicking 100 — Open locked containers and doors
Remove Trap 80 — Disarm trapped chests
Detecting Hidden 80 — Find hidden players
Arms Lore 60 — Evaluate items worth stealing
────
Total: 700
Play as: The social disruptor of Avadon. Thieves steal items directly from other players’ backpacks in PvP zones, loot unguarded chests, and slip through the world unseen. High risk — being caught stealing gives you criminal flagging and makes guards hostile. High reward — a skilled thief can acquire items worth enormous gold without ever fighting for them.
🗡️ Combat
How Melee Combat Works
UO combat is turn-based underneath but appears real-time. Each swing has a cooldown (the “swing timer”) determined by your weapon’s speed and your Dexterity. Higher DEX = shorter swing timer = more swings per second.
The hit formula involves:
- Weapon Skill — your chance to land the hit
- Tactics — damage multiplier (higher Tactics = more damage per hit)
- Anatomy — additional damage multiplier (stacks with Tactics)
- Opponent’s Parrying — their chance to block the hit
All three offensive skills (Weapon + Tactics + Anatomy) contribute to your total melee effectiveness. Running only one at high value and neglecting the others costs significant DPS.
Weapon Types
| Weapon | Skill | Damage Type | Special Trait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longsword | Swordsmanship | Physical | Versatile, reliable |
| Katana | Swordsmanship | Physical | Fast attack speed |
| Halberd | Swordsmanship | Physical | Dismounting (vs mounted) |
| Executioner’s Axe | Swordsmanship | Physical | Lumberjacking damage bonus |
| War Axe | Swordsmanship | Physical | Lumberjacking damage bonus |
| War Hammer | Mace Fighting | Physical | Heavy stamina drain |
| Mace | Mace Fighting | Physical | Stamina drain |
| Maul | Mace Fighting | Physical | Highest stamina drain |
| Kryss | Fencing | Physical | Fastest fencing weapon; poisonable |
| Spear | Fencing | Physical | Dismounting; long reach |
| Pitchfork | Fencing | Physical | Special moves |
| Short Spear | Fencing | Physical | Fast; poisonable |
| Bow | Archery | Physical | Standard ranged |
| Crossbow | Archery | Physical | Slower; higher damage |
| Heavy Crossbow | Archery | Physical | Heaviest damage; slowest |
Weapon Special Moves
Every weapon type has two special moves costing mana:
- Primary Special —
F8(default, configurable) - Secondary Special —
F9(default, configurable)
| Move | Effect |
|---|---|
| Armour Ignore | Hit ignores all armour resists |
| Disarm | Knocks weapon from opponent’s hand |
| Crushing Blow | Bonus damage; can stun |
| Concussion Blow | Reduces target Intelligence temporarily |
| Shadow Strike | Hit from hidden; remains hidden after |
| Infectious Strike | Applies poison on hit |
| Whirlwind Attack | Hits all nearby targets |
| Momentum Strike | Chains to additional nearby targets |
| Lightning Strike | Guaranteed hit; significant damage bonus |
| Moving Shot | Allows firing while running (Bushido Archers) |
Parrying
Parrying allows you to block incoming attacks. Requires a shield (or a weapon in some cases) and the Parrying skill. Higher Parrying = higher block chance. A blocked hit deals no damage.
The combination of high Parrying with a good shield is the primary source of physical damage reduction for warrior templates — more reliable than resistances alone against melee opponents.
Healing in Combat
Bandage Healing (most important):
- Drag a bandage onto yourself or double-click bandages and target yourself
- Requires Healing + Anatomy skills
- Heals over a few seconds (faster with higher Dexterity)
- Stack bandages — one queues when another is in progress
- Pro tip: Set a macro to “Use bandages → target self” — this is your most important macro
Potion Healing:
- Healing potions provide an instant heal — critical in tight situations
- Greater Healing Potions heal significantly more
- Set to a hotkey — accessing your pack manually in combat is too slow
Spell Healing:
- Heal, Greater Heal spells (Magery)
- Close Wounds (Chivalry) — fast and efficient
- Healing Stone (Mysticism) — deployable, heals on use
Armour & Resistances
Armour provides resistance to five damage types:
| Damage Type | Creatures That Deal It |
|---|---|
| Physical | Most melee creatures |
| Fire | Fire elementals, fire breath creatures, dragons |
| Cold | Ice creatures, undead |
| Poison | Poison elementals, some spiders, specific creatures |
| Energy | Some elementals, energy spells |
Each armour piece shows its resist values. The total from your equipped set is your protection profile. Match your resistances to the content you’re farming.
Armour Types:
| Armour | Craft Skill | Physical | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather | Tailoring | Low | No meditation penalty — mages/archers |
| Studded Leather | Tailoring | Medium | Slightly better than leather |
| Bone | Tailoring | Medium | Necromancer aesthetic, decent resists |
| Ring Mail | Blacksmithy | Medium | Budget melee option |
| Chain Mail | Blacksmithy | High | Good all-rounder |
| Plate Mail | Blacksmithy | Highest | Maximum physical protection; penalises Meditation |
Mage Warning: Metal armour imposes a Meditation skill penalty. Mages and any template relying on mana regeneration should stick to leather armour. The flexibility is worth the reduced protection.
🔮 Magic Systems
Outlands supports five distinct magic systems. Each has its own feel, strengths, and supporting skill requirements.
🔵 Magery — The Classic System
The backbone of UO magic. Eight circles of spells, from basic utility to endgame devastation. Magery is the most versatile magic system — it provides transport (Recall, Gate), healing (Heal, Greater Heal, Cure), combat damage, and utility.
Supporting skills: Evaluate Intelligence (spell damage), Meditation (mana regen), Inscription (10% SDI bonus from spellbook)
Reagent Requirements: Every Magery spell requires specific reagents consumed on casting. Carrying enough reagents is essential.
| Reagent | Common Uses |
|---|---|
| Black Pearl | Most offensive spells |
| Mandrake Root | Most offensive spells |
| Nightshade | Poison, some offensive spells |
| Garlic | Protection spells, some buffs |
| Ginseng | Healing spells |
| Spider Silk | Webs, some spells |
| Blood Moss | Movement spells, Recall |
| Sulfurous Ash | Fireball, offensive spells |
| Fertile Dirt | Rare; high-end spells |
Circle Breakdown:
| Circle | Key Spells |
|---|---|
| 1 | Clumsy, Feeblemind, Weaken, Night Sight, Magic Arrow |
| 2 | Agility, Cunning, Strength, Harm, Cure |
| 3 | Bless, Fireball, Magic Lock, Poison, Telekinesis, Teleport |
| 4 | Arch Cure, Arch Protection, Curse, Fire Field, Mana Drain, Paralyze |
| 5 | Blade Spirits, Dispel Field, Mind Blast, Paralyze Field, Summon Creature |
| 6 | Dispel, Energy Bolt, Explosion, Invisibility, Mark, Mass Curse |
| 7 | Chain Lightning, Energy Field, Flamestrike, Gate Travel, Mana Vampire, Mass Dispel, Meteor Swarm |
| 8 | Earthquake, Energy Vortex, Resurrection, Summon Air/Earth/Fire/Water Elemental, Summon Daemon |
Essential Combat Spells:
- Energy Bolt — fast, reliable damage
- Explosion — highest single-hit damage; brief delay
- Chain Lightning — AOE lightning; excellent in groups
- Earthquake — AOE physical damage around caster; knocks targets prone
- Energy Vortex — summons a hostile energy creature that pursues and attacks nearby targets
- Flamestrike — direct fire damage; strong against cold-vulnerable creatures
☠️ Necromancy — The Dark Art
Necromancy is UO’s dark magic system. It specialises in life manipulation, undead control, and transformations that shift your play into entirely different modes.
Supporting skill: Spirit Speak (required; allows communication with spirits and boosts Necromancy)
No reagents required — Necromancy spells use a different resource model.
Transformation Spells (the core of Necromancy):
| Form | Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|
| Horrific Beast Form | STR/DEX boost; claws that deal physical and poison; fast | Can’t cast spells |
| Lich Form | Massive mana regeneration; undead traits (poison immune); enhanced magic | Takes holy damage; can’t be healed by Chivalry |
| Wraith Form | Mana drain on melee hits; 25% physical resist; can move through objects | Can’t be healed by non-Necromancy sources |
Key Offensive Spells:
| Spell | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pain Spike | Direct damage ignoring all resistances — the ultimate penetration spell |
| Corpse Skin | Removes target’s fire and poison resistance — debuff that enables massive follow-up |
| Poison Strike | Significant damage plus guaranteed poison application |
| Strangle | Progressive damage over time that increases each tick |
| Blood Oath | Mirror damage back at attacker; target takes damage every time they hit something |
| Animate Dead | Raise a nearby corpse as an undead servant under your control |
| Summon Familiar | Summon a bound creature (cat, dark wolf, shadow wyrm…) |
Vampiric Embrace: The passive that makes Necromancy warriors terrifying. Each melee hit restores a portion of your HP. Combined with a fast weapon and high Tactics, a Wraith Form Necromancer heals faster from combat than most targets can damage them.
✨ Chivalry — The Paladin Art
Holy magic. Chivalry provides combat enhancement, self-healing, and some offensive capability against evil creatures.
Supporting skill: None — Chivalry stands alone. However, it synergises powerfully with Swordsmanship and Healing.
No reagents required — Chivalry spells consume Mana and Tithing Points (holy energy stored by performing virtuous acts or donating gold at shrines).
Key Abilities:
| Ability | Effect |
|---|---|
| Divine Fury | Brief DEX and attack speed boost; sets armour rating to zero temporarily |
| Close Wounds | Efficient instant self-heal; best standalone healing in Chivalry |
| Holy Light | AOE holy damage centred on caster; hits everything around you |
| Sacred Journey | Teleport to a shrine; emergency transport or tactical repositioning |
| Enemy of One | Designate one creature type; deal massive bonus damage to it for a duration |
| Consecrate Weapon | Temporarily convert weapon damage to the type target is most vulnerable to |
| Remove Curse | Dispel curses from yourself |
| Cleanse by Fire | Cure poison from yourself |
| Dispel Evil | Push back evil creatures |
| Exorcism | Destroy summoned creatures |
Enemy of One is the most powerful single ability in Chivalry for PvE — designate “Dragon” before entering Destard and your damage against dragons becomes extraordinary.
🔮 Arcane — The Outlands-Exclusive Art
Arcane is unique to UO Outlands and does not exist in retail UO. It transforms the Arcane Staff into a hybrid melee/magic weapon system.
How it works:
- You wield an Arcane Staff and build up Arcane Buildup by landing hits on enemies
- Buildup grants stacking spell damage and damage resistance bonuses
- At high buildup you unlock Stances and powerful Finishers via your Arcane Codex
Requirements to use effectively:
- 80+ Arcane, 80+ Magery, 80+ Wrestling (all three)
- Cannot use pets or bard skills (resets buildup)
- Must stand still 0.5s before firing spells
Template: Arcane (100) + Magery (100) + Eval Int (100) + Meditation (100) + Wrestling (80) + Resist Spells (80) + Anatomy (80) = 640 skill points
Why play Arcane? It rewards precise, stationary combat with extreme burst damage — the highest single-target spell damage ceiling in Outlands at the cost of mobility and flexibility.
➡️ The World