Sword Skills

«Sword Skills» (剣技) are both «Sword Art Online's» and «ALfheim Online'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.

In ALO, an update created modified Sword Skills. 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» (予備動作) for a skill, such as raising a sword above 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. In SAO, a sword skill consumes an amount of SP, Spirit Points. The SP gauge is located under the player's HP bar.

After a skill is completed, the user is temporarily rendered rigid in a state called a «Post-Motion» (技後硬直), 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. However, anyone who can exploit the small window in time before the start of the Post-Motion can chain the completed sword skill into a second successive one. This exploitation named Skill Connect is most effectively used with two weapons although it can also be used with one.

After a Sword Skill has been used, the skill enters a «Cooling» (冷却) 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.

Translation


Name Difference
