Hero skill unlocks and SOC...

Hey guys,

I just started Nightfall the other day and have finally unlocked Melonni (dervish hero). I'm playing a Monk/Mesmer combination here and I'm kind of relatively new to the Nightfall area.

For this reason, I'm curious as to the best/easiest way to unlock skills for Melonni since I haven't got a Dervish character and don't actually intend to start up a Dervish (or paragon since I don't like switching between two PvE characters on the trot).

I've heard of Hero Skill Trainers, was going to use them too until I was informed you only get a limited amount of Hero Points to use so they're only a temporary solution. Any other way outside of grinding Balthazar faction to unlock the skills in PVP or starting a new Dervish character? =(

Also random question that's been bugging me: Can a hero equip and use a Signet of Capture? I presume no, would be interesting if they could I guess.

Thanks for any help =D

Change to a /Dervish secondary, and buy the skills you want. While this burns through your skill points pretty fast, it's the quickest easiest solution. Save points though... you'll have to do it later for a Paragon as well.

There is no easy or quick way to make a good dervish hero with no skills. Luckily when NF came out, dervish was the first new character I made, so I bought/capped lots of useful skills I knew all my dervish heroes in the future would use.

My suggestion is, until you are convinced to make a dervish (they're really really fun!!), gain faction, hero skill points, or skill points of your own, give Melonni a different skillset. When I was playing my dervish, yet required to take Melonni, I made her D/Mo and gave her all smiting and condition removal skills. What the heck, why not.

You could do some RA or general PvP and use the balth faction you gain to purchase skills. If you change to dervish secondary you can buy them in PvP and they will be available in PvE for heroes. You shouldn't have too many to get if you are just looking to give a hero a basic build.

If you need skills for heroes only, your best bet is simply gaining Balthazar faction and unlocking skills. Even if you were to completely rework the skillbar, if you start with a plan, you only need about 10000 faction to unlock 7 skills and an elite.

If you are low level, fight a bit in the Ascalon and Yak's bend arenas. If you have Factions, Fort Aspenwood and Alliance battles are a way of quickly acquiring both balthazar and choice of Kurzick and Luxon faction. I have no experience with the isles, though, so that might work even better.