Skill Macro and Animation Cancel in Aion 2

01Why use a macro

The macro looks like a minor detail, but it enables one of the most important functions in the game: Animation Cancel.

It runs actions in sequence and, combined with the basic attack, speeds up skill usage. It's a built-in game feature: no external tool needed.

02How to set up the macro in-game

In the skills menu there's a Skill Macro option. There you add several skills from your bar.

A bar slot can hold several encapsulated skills, but the macro shows only one of them. When you add the slot, the macro uses the whole set, with an interval of about 10 ms between them.

On the example assassin, the macro has a single skill added, but it fires four.

The Skill Macro window shows two slots in sequence, Insignia Burst and Quick Slash, with the skill bar right below

03Skill priority order

Macro skills are used from the bottom up. The lower a skill sits in the list, the higher its priority when it's available.

The lowest-cost, instant-cast skill should come last in the usage order. If it were placed first, it would be prioritized whenever available and get in the way of the others.

This way, a single button triggers four skills in sequence. You don't need to include every skill on the bar.

The skill description shows Instant Cast Time, the criterion for deciding which skill goes last

The skill bar with rows 0 to 3 highlighted illustrates the priority order

04Setting the macro hotkey

The macro has its own button, set in the keybind settings. In the example, it's on the mouse side button.

That way, just holding the left button (basic attack) makes the character cycle through several skills.

On the keybinds screen, the Skill Macro row is where you set the macro button

05Animation Cancel with the basic attack

The macro works best alongside the basic attack. Hold the left mouse button and the macro button at the same time.

With Animation Cancel active, black shadows appear at the character's feet. Each macro skill takes advantage of the basic attack's cancel, and the character hits much faster.

Without the basic attack, skills fire one after another, but much slower.

During the attack, black shadows around the feet indicate Animation Cancel is active

06Results with buffs

With all damage buffs active, the macro combo becomes very fast and deals a lot of burst damage.

According to the creator, any class that sets up the macro to Animation Cancel with the basic attack should reach a similar result.

07Other classes' macros and the ideal level

Questlog collects macros registered by content creators, by class. There are examples for Gladiator, Spirit Master, and Ranger, all based on using the basic attack together with the macro.

You can improve it even further with an external tool, but the in-game macro already covers the essentials. Set it up from level 16, when all skills are already available.

Questlog's Skill Planner opens a content creator's macro for Gladiator

The Skill Planner lists creators' macros by class, here the Gladiator one