Attribute Point Distribution
Originally Published by Ensign
This article will focus upon the math of the attribute system, and how to get the most out of it. If you want a more general overview of the different attributes and what they do, check the individual class pages of your favorite Guild Wars fansite. If you just want to jump to the protein-based foodstuffs of your choice of this article, you can skip down to the 'analysis' part below.
Fundamentals
First off, each character will have (up to) nine attributes - five from their main class, and four from their secondary. Some make your skills better, some grant other special abilities, but all of them help you focus your character by making them more powerful in given areas. More powerful? Sounds like something to min-max. Each character receives 5 attribute points at each level from 2 to 10, 10 attribute points per level from 11 to 15, and 15 attribute points per level from 16 to 20. In addition, there are two quests later in the game with a reward of 15 attribute points each, for a maximum of 200 attribute points in total. Each of your nine attributes has a base value of 0 to 12, with linear returns on each point - going from 11 to 12 has as much benefit as going from 0 to 1. The number of points that you need in order to increase an attribute point scales up quickly, however, so while that first attribute level only costs you one point, the second costs you two more, and going from level 11 to level 12 costs you twenty attribute points. The complete table:
| Attribute Level | Attribute Points to Gain Level | Attribute Points Spent Overall |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 6 | 21 |
| 7 | 7 | 28 |
| 8 | 9 | 37 |
| 9 | 11 | 48 |
| 10 | 13 | 61 |
| 11 | 16 | 77 |
| 12 | 20 | 97 |
From this table, we can see that it takes 20 attribute points to get to attribute level 12 from level 11, and that it takes 97 attribute points overall to achieve that level. A level 12 attribute and a level 10 attribute would take 158 attribute points, and so on. Using these fundamentals, you can figure out many different ways that you can arrange your attribute points. The question, then, is how do we choose which arrangement is best for our character?
Objective
Loosely, our objective when arranging our attribute points is, for a given character and set of goals, what is the arrangement of attribute points that gives me the most powerful character when it comes to achieving those goals? We want to arrange our attribute points in such a way that we get the greatest effect possible out of each of them. How do we do this?The first thing we do is also the most obvious - we figure out which attributes actually further our goals, and just concentrate on those. If you want to design a Pyromancer who can also heal her party, you want to focus all of your attention on Energy Storage, Fire Mastery, and Healing - the rest of your attributes do not further your goals, and are subsequently ignored. Are you designing a Necromancer who uses Blood Magic and Curses to cripple an enemy before engaging them in melee? He'll put all of his points into Soul Reaping, Blood Magic, Curses, Melee Defense, and the Weapon Mastery of your choice, and ignore the rest. Attributes that affect skills that we are not going to use, or that have effects that don't benefit our character, are ignored, because points put into them would not affect the effectiveness of our character.
The real interesting question is how you divide your attribute points between the attributes that are useful? I've come up with two principles for this.
The first is that you want to have as many attribute levels in your meaningful attributes as possible. While the different attributes have different levels of usefulness to your character, in general adding one level to a single attribute is not worth subtracting two levels from another. If this is not the case, then you're likely leaning upon one or two attributes for almost all of your power, or you have attributes that you really don't care about - so you might want to reconsider your build at this point, dropping superfluous attributes from your build to focus upon what you really want.
The second principle addresses the fact that some attributes will be more useful than others - while you want as many attribute levels as possible, builds that focus those levels into fewer attributes are likely stronger builds. This means that if you're making a choice between having two level eight attributes, and having a level ten and a level six attribute, you generally want the latter, putting more of your attribute levels where they'll be maximally useful.
Based upon these principles, we can narrow down the set of potential distributions into ones that are likely to be the most useful for our character.
Analysis
What follows is a list of 'optimal' attribute distributions for characters using between two and seven attributes, followed by a few comments by me. Each level will have two tables of the various attribute level distributions possible - the first one with the maximum possible number of attribute levels for that character, and the second with one less attribute level, but many more choices which may fit your character better. Also listed will be the number of 'extra' attribute points that each particular build will have, just sitting dead as they can't help you pump up any of your attributes.With no further ado:
| Attribute Levels (24 total) | Dead Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 12 | 6 |
Not much to see here, you get two maxed attributes and little to spare (a level three attribute at best). Move along.
| Attribute Levels (31 total) | Dead Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| Attribute Levels (30 total) | Dead Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| 12 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| 11 | 11 | 8 | 9 |
Almost strictly better than going with two attributes - you lose two levels from one of your maxed attributes going from two to three, but you gain a fully-functional level eight attribute in the process. The 'optimal' 11/10/10 configuration is excellent, with three high level attributes at are virtually indistinguishable from maxed out, level 12s. Makes two attributes look pretty silly, doesn't it?
| Attribute Levels (36 total) | Dead Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| 10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Attribute Levels (35 total) | Dead Points | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| 11 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| 11 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
Your last chance at a reasonable build with a maxed out attribute - eights and sevens are eminently reasonable for most attributes you'll use frequently. Lots of choices with two high level (10+) attributes. The last arrangement on this table is particularly appealing if you're considering a focused character at the three level, but want to splash in a bit of a fringe passive, like Toughness or Elemental Resistance - you get three high level attributes, and a fourth that's just bordering on respectability.
| Attribute Levels (41 total) | Dead Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 |
| 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| Attribute Levels (40 total) | Dead Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| 11 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| 10 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
Lots of nice arrangements here. Unlike the previous arrangements, you gain four choices here that use up every single point you're given, which may be a selling point for those of you who would see that last attribute point sitting there, mocking you. The 10/10/7/7/6 lineup is a standout as the only one that has two double-digit attributes, and all three other attributes are at useful levels, too. Five attributes is a bit of a turning point, game-wise - you start getting fewer and fewer levels with each additional attribute from this point on, and getting level 10+ skills becomes increasingly painful, so I'd treat this as a baseline for all characters to deviate from.
| Attribute Levels (45 total) | Dead Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Attribute Levels (44 total) | Dead Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 10 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| 10 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 5 |
Lots and lots of boring choices here - long strings of perfectly useful but unimpressive nines, eights, and sevens - and a few options that give you a standout skill, but at the cost of marginalizing one or more of your attributes into six range. Not a bad place for a 'jack of all trades' type character that needs several solid, but unimpressive attributes to do their job.
| Attribute Levels (49 total) | Dead Points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2 |
| 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| Attribute Levels (48 total) | Dead Points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
As boring as boring can get, with seven sevens being noteworthy for how vanilla it is. The only way to get even a single noteworthy (9) attribute level without dropping at least a few attributes down into obscurity (4,5) is to stick yourself with four marginal, level six attributes - and with this many attributes in use, just how much use are you going to get out of each one, anyway? This is the point of no return - I wouldn't bother even touching that seventh with all but the most obscure build, and it is all downhill from here.
Endnotes
Most characters will find they are most useful when they have four, five, or six attribute levels, and there are quite a few effective choices at each level, so you still have your work cut out for you.Any comments/criticisms/etc are welcome. I can be reached at ensign@pyen.com. I hope you've found this useful, and thanks for reading.
Peace,
-Charles Ensign
ensign@pyen.com
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