Area of effect as seen in-game at the Isle of the Nameless
Birdseye view of the testing circle
Click to enlarge and read the legend
Attack range, skill reach and/or area of effect.
Range chart
| Revelent text or description | Reference to known ranges | Image legend | ||
| Danger zone radius | Testing circle radius | Additional description | ||
| selection and enchantment maintenance | slightly greater than radar range | black | ||
| spirit passive effect, soul reaping | ~ 2.3 | half radar range | orange | |
| longbow*, flatbow*, spirit attack skill | ~ 1.35 | cyan | ||
| wand*, staff*, recurve bow* and targeted spell (1) | ~ 1.2 | magenta | ||
| shortbow*, NPC aggro range | ~ 1 | danger zone radius | blue | |
| within earshot (2) | 1 | 6 | white | |
| in the area or location | ~ 1/3 | 4 | 4th testing circle radius | purple |
| near or nearby | 3 | 3rd testing circle radius | red | |
| adjacent, melee, touch (3) | 2 | 2nd testing circle radius | yellow | |
| adjacent to target/foe | 1 | 1st testing circle radius | green | |
* Projectile weapons (bows, spears, staffs and wands) ranges on the minimap are approximate as their distances are measured 3-dimensionally (whereas the map is 2-dimensional) and are subject to line of sight.
Notes
(1) Some skills (enchantment spells in particular) do not target anything, affect the whole party, and do not specify range : those skills have selection range.
(2) During the Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event, the earshot range was temporarily increased to the entire danger zone. This change has not been reverted.
(3) Some non-spell (and non-signet) skills target a unique foe without any indication of range : those skills generally have touch range.
In some game updates, ArenaNet has referred to compass range, which appears to be the same as radar range.
Tips
- To tell how large the Area of Effect of a certain skill is, check the skill description wording and compare the range to the danger zone or innermost circle in the range circles on the Isle of the Nameless : see table and images above.
- For a visual reference in the heat of battle, it is useful to note that the shadow cast by your character is roughly the same size as the innermost testing circle (i.e. adjacent to self).
- Automatic path-finding mecanisms direct your character closer than the intented ranged action strictly requires to succeed, a behavior more noticeable in melee : the difference is estimated to rejoin the adjacent to target distance (innermost testing circle).
Disclaimer
The Guild Wars official website as well as the game manual for Guild Wars Factions contain a section on range information measured in feet. That information is internally inconsistent (notably that Touch range is much shorter than Melee range, and that Flatbow range equals aggro circle range) and should be disregarded.