Hints

Hints are in-game tips that pop up as you discover new aspects of the game.

List of hints

There are a total of 87 known hints, under the following categories:

• Combat: 6 hints
• Events & Tasks: 3 hints
• Items & Equipment: 16 hints
• Map: 3 hints
• Movement & Camera: 5 hints
• PvP: 7 hints
• Skills & Traits: 26 hints
• Social: 3 hints
• Story: 4 hints
• WvW: 5 hints
• Other: 9 hints

Combat

Defeated

You may either wait for someone to revive you, or you may rally at any waypoint on your map M for a small fee.

Downed

Defeat an enemy with your downed skills! If you do so before you lose all of your downed health, then you'll rally back to your feet.

Downed Penalty

You've taken a downed penalty! The more this penalty accrues, the less health you'll have when downed, making it harder for you to rally.

Out of Range

Your target is out of range! When you're too far away to use a skill, the hotkey under it will turn red.

Revive

When you're close to them, revive a fallen ally with F.

Weapon Swap

Press ` to switch weapon sets. Equip different weapons to use different skills and find a combination that suits your play style.

Events & Tasks

Events

You've found an event! As the world changes, events in your range will display here.

Meta Events

In areas like this, events tell a story. Keep an eye on the space to see the story progress!

Renown Rewards

You have gained renown with a character!

Grateful characters will send you a letter with a cash reward. You can even visit them to spend karma on unique items!

Items & Equipment

Bundles

You've picked up a bundle! Bundles change your skills and interactions with the world.

Click the Drop Bundle button ` to go back to your weapon skills.

Crafting

Visit a crafting trainer in one of the major cities to learn a craft. You may have two crafts active at any time.

Crafting Disciplines

You've learned a crafting discipline! Crafting gives both character and crafting experience, which increases your discipline rating and unlocks more recipes. Experiment in a crafting station's Discovery Pane to find new recipes.

You can have up to two active crafting disciplines. Talk to a crafting master to activate their discipline. Deactivated disciplines can be reactivated for a small fee, and no progress is lost when a discipline is deactivated.

Crafting Refinement

Refining materials is a great way to gain crafting experience, and the only way to make components that can be combined into finished items. Try experimenting with components in the Discovery Pane on a crafting station to find new recipes.

Laurels

You've earned a laurel! Earn more by completing daily and monthly achievement categories. You can spend this currency at laurel vendors in each of the major cities.

Equip

You have found new equipment! Open your Hero panel H to equip it.

Broken Equipment

A piece of your armor has broken. Until repaired, it will give you no benefit. Characters with [Repairs] after their name can help you.

Damaged Equipment

A piece of your armor is damaged. Characters with [Repairs] after their name can help you fix it.

Gem Store Purchase

When you purchase something from the Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store, it is delivered by global mail. Any character on your account can claim it.

Looting

Sparkling objects have loot for you!

Click them and select what you want to claim, or turn on Auto Loot in the General Options.

Pick-Up Tab

Items and profits you receive from the Trading Post will be available for pickup here. You must be near a Black Lion Trading Company NPC in order to pick up your items and profits.

Resource Nodes

Equip a gathering tool F to harvest crafting materials from resource nodes. Any in range will be marked on your compass.

Salvage Kits

Use salvage kits to break down items into crafting materials.

Weapon Swapping

Equip an alternate weapon set in the Hero panel, and then use the swap button ` next to your skill bar to switch between the two.

Upgrade Components

Use upgrade components to improve your weapons, armor, and accessories in the Hero panel H.

Weapon Sets

Equip a second weapon set. Use the Swap Weapons button next to your skill bar to change sets. When you swap weapons, your skills will also change.

Map

Map Travel

Use these markers to instantly travel to places on your world map M.

Waypoint

You have unlocked a waypoint. For more information, open your world map by pressing M.

Waypoint

You have unlocked a waypoint!

Instantly go to any unlocked waypoint just by clicking on it on your world map. The greater the distance, the larger the fee. Some may even be "contested" by events, which block travel until they're resolved.

Movement & Camera

Dodge

Quickly double-tap a movement key or press the Dodge button to dodge. While dodging, you are invulnerable.

Endurance

You need more endurance. Wait for it to regenerate before dodging.

Jumping

Jump or swim up by pressing Space.

Movement

Use the W, A, S, and D keys to move your character.

Underwater

Once under, your weapon set will automatically update for underwater combat.

PvP

Trebuchet

Bombard clustered enemies or demolish buildings with the trebuchet! Press and hold "Fire Trebuchet" to shoot further.

Finishing Opponents

User F to finish off your downed opponent!

PvP Glory and Rank

You have gained a new rank!

Talk to a Glory NPC to spend your earnings!

PvP Joining Games

Join a PvP game by talking to the PvP Browser NPC, or join tournaments through the Tournament Master.

PvP Returning to Lobby

To get to the PvP Lobby, open your PvP panel, and select "Go to the Heart of the Mists."

PvP Returning to PvE

To return to PvE (Tyria), open your Hero panel, go to the PvP tab, and select "Leave the Mists."

PvP Tutorial

Now you're in PvP!

Your traits and skills are preset, but you can reset them in the lobby while out of combat. You also have PvP items and armor, and you can get new items from PvP vendors.

Skills & Traits

Warrior Adrenaline

Press F1 to unleash your adrenaline in a devastating attack.

Your adrenaline builds up in three stages of power.

Elementalist Attunement

You have more skills available! Press F2 to switch your elemental attunement.

Boons

You've received a boon! Boons are helpful states that you and your allies give to each other.

Combos

You've performed a combo!

To combo, use a finisher skill through a field skill. You may combo by yourself or with your allies.

Conditions

You've been inflicted with a condition! Conditions are harmful states that you and your enemies can inflict on each other.

Healing

Use this skill 6 to heal yourself.

Levelling Up

You've leveled up and gained a skill point! Spend these points on new abilities in the Skills and Traits panel.

Necromancer Life Force

Enter deathshroud form F1 when you have low health. Every foe you kill increases your lifeforce bar, which lets you stay longer in deathshroud.

Ranger Pet Charm

Approach any juvenile creature and press F to charm them.

Ranger Pet Controls

Order your pet to heel, use special abilities, and attack your target by using the pet controls F2.

Ranger Pet Panel

Open your Pet Management panel to equip different pets, rename them, and view their statistics.

Ranger Pet Swap

Call in a new pet F4, and your current pet will be healed and ready for action.

Mesmer Shatters

Shatter your illusions with F1 and create additional effects.

Switching Skills

To swap out a skill, click the arrow just above it. You cannot change skills while in combat.

Using Skills

To use a combat skill, click the skill bar below, or press the number keys.

Unlocking Skills

Defeating opponents with different weapons will unlock new skills with those weapons.

Thief Steal

Steal from the enemy! Use F1 to shadowstep to a foe and steal one of their skills. Your steal skill F1 will change based on what was stolen.

Engineer Tool Belt

When you equip different healing and utility skills, they also change your tool belt. Press F1 to use the first one of your tool belt skills.

Traits

Click the Hero button H to assign trait points.

Each time you level up, you gain trait points you can spend to improve yourself.

Elite Skills

You can now buy elite skills in the Hero panel H! Equip an elite skill by clicking the arrow above the elite skill slot and selecting the skill you want from the list.

Trait Points

Spend trait points in the Hero panel H. Each point put in a trait line improves two of your base attributes. Five points invested earns you a minor trait. At ten points, you open a major trait slot for a character-altering trait. To assign more than 10 points, visit a profession trainer.

Skill Points and Utility Skills

Buy new healing and utility skills with skill points in the Hero panel H. You gain a skill point every level, and you can also earn them by completing challenges. Once purchased, equip by clicking on the arrow just above a skill slot on your bar.

Second Utility Skill Slot

Buy new healing and utility skills with skill points in the Hero panel H. Equip a skill by clicking on the arrow just above a skill slot on your bar.

Final Utility Skill Slot

Buy new healing and utility skills with skill points in the Hero panel H. Equip a skill by clicking on the arrow just above a skill slot on your bar.

Guardian Virtues

Grant virtues to your allies with F1. While they recharge, your virtues will not affect you.

Weapon Skills

Different weapon types grant different skills.

Double-click weapons in your inventory I to equip them and find your favorite fighting style.

Social

Mailbox

You have mail! The mailbox icon will update when you have unread messages.

Click here to open your mail, no matter where you are.

Mailbox Is Full

Your mailbox is full!

You must delete a letter before you can receive more mail.

Party Invite

Someone invited you to a party! Click Accept to join, or click Decline to refuse.

Story

Exiting Story Areas

After completing an area, click this icon to instantly return to the entrance. Or, you may use the world map M to travel elsewhere.

Personal story and Objectives

Wondering what to do next? Check the upper-right corner of the screen for your personal story goal. Next, follow the objective markers on your compass and world map to the next part of your story.

Personal Story

Go to the Personal Story tab in your Hero panel H for details about your story.

My Story

Move your mouse over any goal, and it'll be highlighted on your compass.

WvW

Learning about WvW

Not sure what to do?

Speak with the Instructor (near your starting location), and they can tell you many useful things about World-versus-World.

Discovering WvW

Your world is engaged in a fierce battle for power in the Mists! Press B to see how your world fares against the enemy, and to see current bonuses!

Score

Taking and holding objectives will score points over time. Open the Scoreboard B to view the current state of World-versus-World.

Supply

Use supply to repair gates and walls. Also use it to build siege engines for defending or assaulting objectives.

Traveling to WvW

To join the battle, click on [Go to World vs. World] and then click on the name of the map you'd like to fight in.

Other

Achievements

You've earned an achievement! Go to the Achievement tab on your Hero panel H for more information.

Marking Achievements for Tracking

You can flag individual achievements to track your progress. Marked achievements will show up in the achievement tracker on the right side of the objective list.

Achievement Chests

You have earned an achievement chest. Click on the chest to claim your reward.

Achievement Tab

The achievement tab tracks all of the achievements earned across all of the characters on your account.

Completing achievements grants you achievement points, which increase your achievement score and, in some cases, grant you titles to wear.

Completion Threshold

You only need to complete a subset of the achievements listed to complete your daily or monthly category. The number required for completion is shown here.

Environment Objects

Press F while near an environment object to pick it up.

Hint Panel

Open the Hint Panel for information and tips on various aspects of the game.

Talk to a Character

Interact with non-player characters in the world by pressing F when you get close to them.

Tougher Challenges

Fight higher level monsters if you're looking for a tougher challenge. Fighting higher level creatures will also result in a better chance at getting rare loot.

History

• Previously hints could be viewed by clicking on the "Hints" button, that was located at right-most side of the upper-left toolbar. The button was removed after the September 2014 Feature Pack.
• The currently retired Hint Completion achievement would be awarded for completing all in-game hints. Occasionally, the achievement would be awarded even with one or two hints missing, but there did not seem to be a reliable pattern for which.

Notes

Bug:

Using an Experience Scroll to skip to level 20 will also prevent hints that appear before level 20 from appearing.

• To see the Ranger Pet Swap hint, you are required to let your pet die and not swap it. After a few seconds the hint will appear.
• Certain types of game-generated messages count against your mailbox limit, but do not count towards the Mailbox Is Full hint. You may need to delete any such messages to see the hint.
• Prior to the May 28, 2013 patch, a bug existed that could block progress of the retired hint achievement. The noted patch fixed the bug, detected all retroactive progress, and awarded the achievement accordingly.
• Some hints, such as Elementalist Attunement, are profession-specific; however, these hints can be seen simply by creating a character for a particular profession and completing the skill requirement. These requirements can be done within the first five minutes of creating the character.