Sword Skills (Spell Blade Online)

«Sword Skills» are «'s» combat movements that are assisted by the system. Most Sword Skills are named in English, the only exception being Katana and certain Martial Arts category skills, which are named in Japanese, but written in the English alphabet.

Sword Skills were later reintroduced into «Spell Blade Online» with minor modifications (although these were added later). One of these changes was the addition of six elemental damage properties: Fire (火), Water (水), Earth (地), Wind (風), Darkness (闇), and Holy (聖), which supplement the usual physical damage. Another change allowed players to create their own skills.

Mechanics
Sword Skills are activated when a player performs the appropriate «Pre-Motion», literally preparation motion for a skill, such as raising a sword atop one's shoulder. As soon as the system recognizes the motion, the player's weapon begins to glow in a color specific to a Sword Skill. The player can then allow the system to take over and automatically complete the skill at a speed that is normally near impossible for a player to achieve and dealing much more damage than a regular sword swing. . After a skill is completed, the user is temporarily rendered rigid in a state called a «Post-Motion», literally post-technique stiffening, during which the user is made vulnerable to any counter-attacks. The higher the level of the Sword Skill used, the longer the «Post-Motion» period is.

After a Sword Skill has been used, the skill enters a «Cooling» period, which is displayed as a cooling icon at the bottom of the player's view. Until this period ends, the same Sword Skill cannot be used, however, any other learned skills that are not in a cooling period can still be used.

The number of available Sword Skills and their type depends on the Weapon Skills that the player has trained.

Acquisition
Acquiring new sword skills is achieved through the weapon proficiency system which is used to estimate one’s proficiency with their chosen weapon. The easiest way to increase weapon proficiency is to have it equipped. However, this is a very inefficient way of increasing proficiency as since one doesn’t actually use their weapon in combat. Plus, the speed at which this proficiency increases by is maddeningly slow. To actually increase weapon proficiency, one needs to use their weapon in combat.

Proficiency is measured in points from 0 to 1000. For example, walking through town with a weapon equipped for thirty minutes will passively increase weapon proficiency by five points. However, using it in combat will double the time gained if below the threshold of 500 points (e.g., using a one-handed sword in a battle for five minutes will gain the player ten points of proficiency). Upon passing this threshold, the system stops assisting and proficiency is built by the player themselves. Proficiency from here increases by 0.1 per second. (This is just the baseline. Proficiency can heavily fluctuate depending on the player’s level and the monsters they are fighting.) An exception to the proficiency system is duels. Weapon proficiency does not increase when a duel is in effect.

After reaching 1000 points, the system will classify that weapon’s proficiency level as «Complete» and will not be able to increase any further.