Boon

Effects currently present on the character are indicated by their status icons:

• Boons appear in the top row
• Conditions – bottom row
• Other effects – middle row

A boon is a type of effect that provides a positive buff to the recipient, playing a major role in combat. Each boon provides a different positive effect, from increasing the character's movement speed and damage to reducing the recharge time of their skills. Player characters primarily apply boons by using skills and traits as well as some equipment, such as relics and sigils. Certain boons may be more common to some professions than others, characterizing their playstyles and thematic roles.

The attribute Boon Duration is derived from Concentration, and both of these attributes can be increased by skills, traits, equipment through its attribute combinations, and bonuses from upgrade components. Boons can be stacked by re-applying them: might and stability stack in intensity and the rest stack their duration.

NPC enemies may also gain boons, which can be removed or stolen from them. Conditions are the primary negative counterpart to boons' positive effects. Some abilities convert boons on enemies into conditions, and vice versa – on allies.

In the user interface, boons are displayed via orange-colored icons that appear to the right of the health orb, on the top row of active effects. The white outline surrounding the icon indicates the time left before the boon expires. Hovering the mouse cursor on the boon's icon will also show a tooltip with the remaining time. A flashing icon indicates that the boon will expire within 5 seconds.

List of boons

Some skills and traits directly convert boons to specific conditions on enemies, and vice versa – on allies. Below is the list of boons as well as conditions each of them is converted into.

Icon	Name	Description	Converted into
	Aegis	Block the next incoming attack; stacks duration.	Burning (1 stack, 3 s)
	Alacrity	Skills recharge faster.	Chilled (3 s)
	Fury	Critical Chance increased; stacks duration.	Blinded (5 s)
	Might	Increased outgoing damage; stacks intensity.	Weakness (5 s)
	Protection	Incoming damage decreased by 33%; stacks duration.	Vulnerability (3 stacks, 8 s)
	Quickness	Skills and actions are faster.	Slow (3 s)
	Regeneration	Gain health every second; stacks duration.	Poisoned (6 s)
	Resistance	Nondamaging conditions currently on you are ineffective; stacks duration.	Chilled (3 s)
	Resolution	Incoming condition damage decreased by 33%; stacks duration.	Confusion (3 stacks, 5 s)
	Stability	Cannot be knocked down, pushed back, pulled, launched, stunned, dazed, floated, sunk, feared, or taunted.	Fear (1 s)
	Swiftness	Movement speed increased by 33%; stacks duration.	Crippled (10 s)
	Vigor	Endurance regeneration increased by 50%; stacks duration.	Bleeding (2 stacks, 8 s)

Mechanics

Stacking boons

Primary article: Effect stacking

Gaining a boon while it is already applied will increase its effectiveness, either increasing its intensity or prolonging its duration.

Two boons,  Might and  Stability, stack in intensity up to the maximum 25 times, with each stack multiplying the original effect. For example, a stack of Might grants +30 to both Power and Condition Damage. 5 stacks of Might increase its strength 5 times to the total of +150 Power and Condition Damage.

All other boons stack in duration, and most of them to the limit of 30 seconds, except for  Swiftness and  Aegis. Reapplying the boon while already affected by it will add to the current duration of the boon. For instance, having 15 seconds of  Protection and reapplying with one that lasts 10 seconds will increase the duration to 25 seconds. If you then reapply with another one that lasts 10 seconds, the resulting duration will be 30 seconds, since the maximum duration of the boon is reached.

Boons that stack in duration will start using the strongest application before using the others regardless of when it was applied.

Boon distribution priority

Boons that are given to other allied characters are distributed in the following order based on proximity. This also applies to both healing and overflow healing.

Priority	Ally	Group
1	Players	Party/subgroup
2		Squad
3		Allied players
4	NPCs	Your kennel (pets, minions, illusions)
5		Allied players’ kennels
6		All other allies

Boon distribution in more complicated scenarios occur in the following order:

1. Number of Allied Targets — This property determines how many allies, including the player, can be affected by a skill.
2. Group — The ally's group relative to the boon provider determines who may receive boons. This is assessed in the order listed in the above table, with allies within the same party/subgroup having the highest priority. This continues until the skill target cap has been reached. For example, if the boon provider uses a skill that targets five players and their subgroup contains only four players total, one squad member (next priority) will be pulled in as the fifth target.
3. Proximity — The distance between the ally and the boon source determines who will receive boons. For example, allies closest to the center of a circular skill area of effect (AoE) are prioritized. Similarly, allies closest to the start of a conal skill AoE are prioritized. For point blank AoEs, allies closest to the boon provider are prioritized.

This distribution process can influence how squads are organized. If support skills have a maximum target cap of five players, it may be beneficial to organize players into subgroups of five players to maximize boon coverage and uptime. Squads with low boon coverage may instead opt to form larger subgroups to spread out boons to a wider group instead of only to a few. In some unique setups for smaller squads, boon providers can be placed in their own subgroup. In the previous two cases, proximity to the boon source has a more noticeable effect. Sub-group prioritization is locked in (snapshotted) when a player enters combat, with a warning provided in the chat box when a change occurs to the player's subgroup.

Special cases

When  Regeneration or  Vigor have a non-integer duration (e.g., 3.5 seconds), the full seconds of their effects apply as normal, and the fraction of a second will apply the same fraction of their effect. For example, if Regeneration is applied for 3.5 seconds at 130 heal per second, it will apply 3 ticks of 130 heal over the first 3 seconds, followed by 1 tick of 65 heal as the boon ends.

Related skills

To see the skills which relate to a specific boon, refer to the page on that boon. The following is a list of skills that relate to boons in general.

Skills that remove boons

Weapon skills that remove boons

•   Wastrel's Ruin — Strike your target and remove boons. Damage and boon removal are increased against foes not using skills.
•   Savage Slash — Unleashed Ambush. Attack in an area around you, creating a spore under each enemy struck.
•   Unleashed Overbearing Smash — Quickly strike the ground, blinding nearby enemies. If this strikes an enemy, follow up with a leaping strike that removes boons.
•   Larcenous Strike — Dual Wield. Stab your foe and steal boons from them. Deals increased damage if it hits a foe with no boons.
•   Shattering Assault — Finisher. Strike foes in front of you and remove boons from them, then enter stealth. Remove additional boons from weakened foes.
•   Mind Spike — Stab your foe and rip a boon off of them. Does additional damage when the target has no boons.
•   Phantasmal Berserker — Phantasm. Throw an illusionary greatsword at your foe, removing boons from struck enemies. Create a phantasm that whirls through foes.
•   Phantasmal Lancer — Phantasm. Dash at your foe, removing boons from them. Leave a phantasm at your initial location that will launch a spear at your target, dealing heavy damage and crippling targets. If your phantasm strikes a crippled target, immobilize them instead. If you have Clarity, summon an additional phantasm.
•   Unholy Feast — Cripple nearby foes and remove their boons. Release an Unholy Burst on foes below the health threshold.
•   Spinal Shivers — Chill your target and remove up to three boons, dealing extra damage based on the number of boons removed.
•   Extirpate — Perform a wide swing that removes boons from foes. Gain soul shards and might for each target struck.

Healing skills that remove boons

•   Natural Healing — Meditation. Lose boons and conditions, then heal yourself.

Utility skills that remove boons

•   Banish Enchantment — Legendary Demon. Deal damage, apply chill, and remove boons from your foe.
•   Break Enchantments — Meditation. Strike foes around you and remove their boons. Deal more damage to foes that lose a boon.
•   Deploy Mine — Gadget. Deploy a remote-controlled mine that damages nearby foes and removes a boon.
•   Detonate — Detonate your mine to damage foes and remove a boon from them.
•   Throw Mine — Gadget. Throw out a remote-controlled land mine that damages, knocks back [sic], and removes a boon from nearby foes.
•   Binding Shadow — Cantrip. Reveal yourself if you are stealthed and remove boons from your target after a short delay. If the foe is your marked target, they are also immobilized.
•   Disenchanting Bolt — ...
•   Null Field — Glamour. Create a field of energy that rips boons from foes and cures conditions on allies.
•   Arcane Thievery — Manipulation. Send conditions you have to your foe and steal their boons. Successfully hitting your target inflicts slow on them while granting you quickness.
•   Phantasmal Disenchanter — Phantasm. Summon an illusion that removes boons from targets it hits. This attack deals increased damage against foes without boons.
•   Well of Senility — Well. Creates a well that steals memories from foes, damaging and chilling them. When it expires, foes still inside the well have boons removed from them.
•   Signet of the Locust — Signet Passive: Your movement speed is increased. Signet Active: [sic]Strike and remove boons from nearby foes. Heal for each foe you strike and for each boon removed.
•   "Nothing Can Save You!" — Shout. Damage foes around you, converting their boons into vulnerability. Your next few attacks become unblockable. Deal additional damage and gain additional unblockable attacks when striking foes within melee range.

Elite skills that remove boons

•   Winds of Disenchantment — Meditation. Create an area of calm in which foes have reduced incoming boon duration and lose boons every interval. Enemy missiles entering this area are blocked.

Profession mechanic skills that remove boons

•   True Nature — Legendary Dragon. Consume. Strip boons from nearby enemies.
•   Slicing Maelstrom — Primal Burst. Slice nearby enemies, removing boons and gaining adrenaline per boon removed. Deal more damage if your target has no boons.
•   Breaching Strike — Burst. Strike your target and remove boons. Deal more damage if your target has no boons.
•   Rending Vines — Your pet strikes nearby enemies with vines, removing boons. Disabled or defiant enemies are also slowed. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt, and fear.
•   Throw Unstable Reagent — Creates a spacial fluctuation that pulls foes to the center, making them vulnerable and removing their boons.

Skills that lengthen boons

Weapon skills that lengthen boons

•   Sand Squall — Apply protection to you and your allies, then increase the duration of all boons currently existing on you and your allies. Gain magnetic aura.

Utility skills that lengthen boons

•   Signet of Inspiration — Signet Passive: Grant swiftness and an additional random boon every ten seconds. Signet Active: Extends the duration of all boons on yourself.

Profession mechanics that lengthen boons

•   True Nature — Legendary Dragon. Consume. Increase the duration of allies' boons. Remove conditions from allies.

Skills that transfer boons

Weapon skills that transfer boons

•   Larcenous Strike — Dual Wield. Stab your foe and steal boons from them. Deals increased damage if it hits a foe with no boons.
•   Heat Sync — Give might and fury to yourself, then spread boons you have to allies.

Utility skills that transfer boons

•   Arcane Thievery — Manipulation. Send conditions you have to your foe and steal their boons. Successfully hitting your target inflicts slow on them while granting you quickness.

Skills that convert conditions into boons

Bundle skills that convert conditions into boons

•   Epilogue: Eternal Oasis — Tome. Purify your allies with the waters of Amnoon and increase the healing they receive.

Utility skills that convert conditions into boons

•   Contemplation of Purity — Meditation. Convert the conditions you are suffering from into boons.
•   Clarified Conclusion — Final Charge. Recite the concluding passage, converting corruption into enhancements for your allies and aiding them in recovery.
•   Elixir C — Elixir. Drink Elixir C, converting all conditions into boons.
•   Well of Power — Well. Target area pulses, converting conditions on allies into boons and granting might.

Elite skills that convert conditions into boons

•   Spirit of Nature — Spirit. Summon a spirit at a target point and convert conditions on allies into boons. The spirit will slam the ground and then shake, granting boons to nearby allies.

Profession mechanic skills that convert conditions into boons

•   Toss Elixir C — Elixir. Toss Elixir C, converting conditions into boons for allies.
•   Nefarious Favor — Shade. Your shades convert a condition on nearby allies into a boon. Targets affected by this ability can only be affected once per cast.

Common skills that convert conditions into boons

•   Hunker Down — Empower your turtle with a shell of energy, converting incoming damage to ammo and incoming conditons to boons

Skills that convert boons into conditions

Primary article: Condition#Skills that convert boons into conditions

Related traits

To see the traits which relate to a specific boon, refer to the page on that boon. The following is a list of traits related to non-specific boons.

Traits that remove or steal boons

• Dispelling Force (Spellbreaker) — Dazes, stuns, pulls, knockdowns, knockbacks, and launches remove boons.
• Enchantment Collapse (Spellbreaker) — Removing a boon from a foe causes all nearby foes to lose additional boons.
• Corrupting Vines (Untamed) — Rending Vines corrupts boons into conditions instead of removing them. Unleashed Ambush skills remove boons from enemies. Cannot affect enemies more than once per skill.
• Rending Shade (Shadow Arts) — Steal boons from enemies you strike with stealth attacks. Striking a boonless foe with a stealth attack inflicts fear on nearby foes.
• Bountiful Theft (Trickery) — Stealing grants you and all nearby allies vigor. You rip boons from your target and grant them to nearby allies. Grant additional boons to allies if your target has no boons.
• Shattered Concentration (Domination) — Shatter skills also remove a boon on hit.
• Vicious Expression (Domination) — You and your illusions deal increased strike damage to foes without boons. Disabling a foe removes boons from them. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt, and fear.
• Blurred Inscriptions (Inspiration) — Signets have improved active effects, and activating one grants you distortion.
• Mirage Mantle (Mirage) —  Ambush[sic] skills are improved.
• Signets of Suffering (Spite) — Signets steal health and remove boons from affected foes. Siphon healing is reduced for each target struck beyond the first.

Trait skills that remove or steal boons

•   Lesser Spinal Shivers — Chill your target and remove up to three boons, dealing extra damage based on the number of boons removed.
•   Spiteful Spirit — Cripple nearby foes and convert their boons into conditions. Gain resolution for each foe you strike. Converts additional boons on foes below the health threshold.

Traits that add benefit to boon removal or corruption

• Loss Aversion (Spellbreaker) — Removing boons from a foe deals damage and gives you adrenaline.
• Attacker's Insight (Spellbreaker) — Gain Insight when disabling foes or removing boons. Full Counter refreshes all burst skills on hit. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt and fear.
• Enchantment Collapse (Spellbreaker) — Removing a boon from a foe causes all nearby foes to lose additional boons.
• Blighter's Boon (Reaper) — Gain life force when you apply a boon to yourself or remove a boon from an enemy. If you are in reaper's shroud, gain health instead.
• Nourishing Ashes (Scourge) — Gain life force when you inflict burning, and remove or corrupt a boon.
• Feed from Corruption (Scourge) — When you remove or corrupt a boon from an enemy, gain barrier.

Traits that benefit from boons

• Altruistic Healing (Valor) — Heal yourself when you grant a boon to an ally.
• Inspired Virtue (Virtues) — Virtues apply boons to allies when activated. Deal increased strike damage for each boon on you.
• Resilient Spirit (Salvation) — Periodically gain barrier for each unique boon you have.
• Shared Empowerment (Herald) — When applying a boon to an ally, also apply might to nearby allies.
• Reinforced Potency (Herald) — Gain concentration and deal increased strike damage for each active boon you have.
• Elevated Compassion (Herald) — Heal allies when you grant them boons. Grant boons to allies when your upkeep cost is equal to or higher than the threshold. An ally can only be affected by this skill once per interval.
• Empowered (Tactics) — Deal increased strike damage for every boon on you.
• Compounding Chemicals (Alchemy) — Heal yourself when you grant yourself a boon. Remove a condition from yourself when you use an elixir skill. Gain increased concentration.
• Bountiful Hunter (Nature Magic) — You deal increased strike damage for each boon affecting you. Your pet deals increased strike damage for each boon affecting it.
• Fortifying Bond (Nature Magic) — When you gain a boon, it is shared with your pet.
• Premeditation (Deadeye) — Deal increased strike damage for each unique boon you have; concentration is increased.
• Bountiful Power (Arcane) — Deal increased strike damage for each boon on you.
• Blighter's Boon (Reaper) — Gain life force when you apply a boon to yourself or remove a boon from an enemy. If you are in reaper's shroud, gain health instead.

Traits that lengthen boons

Not to be confused with Boon Duration

• Vassals of the Empire (Vindicator) — Dodging now grants boons to allies and strikes foes when landing.
• Essence of Speed (Soulbeast) — Gaining quickness increases the duration of other boons affecting you.

Traits that convert conditions into boons

• Pure of Voice (Honor) — Shout skills convert conditions to boons on allies.
• Purity of Purpose (Alchemy) — When you would cleanse a condition from an ally, convert it into a boon instead. This can affect multiple targets simuntaneously.
• Prismatic Converter (Holosmith) — Deactivate Photon Forge converts conditions into boons based on your heat level.
• Auspicious Anguish (Chaos) — Convert damaging conditions to boons whenever you gain Distortion or become disabled. This trait can only trigger when disabled once per interval. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt, and fear.

Trait skills that convert conditions into boons

•   Lesser Elixir C — Elixir. Quaff an elixir, converting conditions into boons.

Traits that improve Conditions Converted to Boons

• Comeback Cure (Alchemy) — Grant regeneration when you remove a condition from an ally.
• Shrouded Removal (Death Magic) — Lose a condition when you enter shroud and every few seconds while you remain in shroud. Gain carapace when removing conditions from yourself.

Traits that convert boons into conditions

Primary article: Condition#Traits that convert boons into conditions

Related equipment

This is a list of equipment related to non-specific boons. To find equipment which affects a specific boon, refer to the article about that boon.

Relics that convert conditions into boons

• Relic of Leadership — Convert conditions into boons on nearby allies after using an elite skill.

Relics that benefit from boons

• Relic of the Herald — Gain concentration after granting a boon to an ally
• Relic of the Monk — Increase healing effectiveness to allies after granting a boon to an ally.

Upgrade components that grant boons

Sigils

• Superior Sigil of Luck — 75% chance to gain a random boon on killing an enemy.

Upgrade components that remove or steal boons

Sigils

• Superior Sigil of Absorption — Steal 3 boons when interrupting a foe.
• Superior Sigil of Nullification — Remove a boon with a flanking strike or when they are defiant.

Upgrade components that increase boon duration

Primary article: Boon Duration

Trivia

• Boons replace the enchantments from the original Guild Wars and are designed to simplify the buff system.

See also

• Boon Duration
• Effect

References

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Effects (stacking)