Sorry for the noob question, but how do i get skills for my heroes?

Hi, i'm new to the forums and the game. I'm still working on finishing the campaigns and getting all the heroes i need. I've been trying to get all the skills for my warrior build, but i've been wondering how i go about getting skills for my heroes?

Am i suppose to play a mesmer, necro, etc? Or is there another way to unlock them?

I have the feeling i either have to roll a <insert profession> and get the skills that way, or farm for gold like a mofo cause all the skills cost 1 plat now.

Heroes can use any skills you have unlocked.

http://www.guildwiki.org/Unlock

So would the most cost/time efficient way be to roll a low level of that profession and level it for a bit and get the abilities?

http://www.guildwiki.org/Hero_skill_trainer in most cities and outposts of Nightfall will teach your heroes skills in return for hero skill point which you get in various ways. You can also unlock skills that all heroes can then use through Balthazar faction that you earn by PvP in Fort Aspenwood or Jade Quarry if you have Factions. I did this and it was fun for me.

You can also buy unlock packs for the skills of each campaign in the company store. Only your heroes can use these skills, but you can also use them if you find or buy a Tome. Tomes are either common or elite. They are rare drops often found in chests in dungeons and other inconvenient places, but do drop as general loot now and then.

Once you have all skills unlocked it is easy to forget what a tedious process it was. All of us been there done that. GW 2 has greatly streamlined the skill system.

Indeed.. most people know that rolling every profession in the game at least once to unlock the skills is the best way to go about getting all the skills you need for your heroes. But mostly having one of every profession gives you a better understanding of the game, and how professions interact with each other. Almost every person who has played this game for 3+ years has at least one of every profession (except maybe Paragon and Ranger)

As stated above, I would get whatever skills are available from the hero skill trainer. Then you should change your secondary profession to match whatever hero you wish to get skills for and buy them from the regular skill trainer or capture them from the appropriate boss if it is an elite. I don't think you need to keep creating and leveling different professions just for hero skills unless you were going to make another profession anyways. Yes, it does take gold but it is easier to get the gold than take the time to keep creating new professions.

It can be quite cost efficient and rather painless to roll new characters in Factions or Nightfall of each profession; learn the free skills in the tutorial quests and buy some skills for less than 1 platinum from the skill trainers in the starter cities.

Once you've done that, you should have enough skills unlocked to get by to earn some money for unlocking skills deeper in the campaigns the normal way.

Thanks for all the tips everybody

I think I got lots of skills from playing some lightweight PvP, like Jade Quarry, occasionally. It yields lots of faction that can be used to buy skills. Another option is the Zaishen training arena, but this is limited to 2000 faction, or 2 skills, per day.

I did a lot of farming at the Zaishen Challenge to get my heroes up to snuff. Unlike when I started, Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry are always populated and offer a good way to get Balthazar Faction in a hurry.

The best advice I can add is to focus on one hero profession at a time. You definitely want your healers (monks and rits) to be a priority. Getting a necro with minion master skills is also high priority, as is getting a ritualist with Signet of Spirits. After that I would focus on mesmers, rangers, warriors, elementalists, paragons, and dervs in that order (put paragons last if you are caster, but put them higher if you are a paragon or ranger yourself).

Of course in Nightfall you have required heroes for missions, so try not to let any of them fall too far behind.