There are 3 different types of skill you can purchase from the 'Instructor' - Sword, Magic and Upgrade.

Remember to buy your skills from the Instructor in the village you started off in as they have moves for your class that the other instructors do not have. Only the Port Lux instructor holds new skills.

Press K to bring up your Skill menu, here you can see what rank your skill is currently at (Master), how much till it ranks up (21/57), the progress bar showing your current xp till you level up (Sword EXP), and Skill Points available to level up your current skills (Sword Skill Point).

Raising Magic Skill is exactly the same as raising Sword Skill, Upgrade skill however is slightly different. Upgrade skills only rank up when youve ranked up your Sword or Magic skills so if you had Master in Sword skill you would have Master in Upgrade - if you then got A.Master in magic you would then have A.Master in Upgrade. Always remember to purchase your Upgrade skills as they can make you character better and can add stuff like HP every time your skills hit a new rank.

To upgrade or remove your skills simply just click on the skill icon + to level it up - to remove a level.

(if at level 1 - will remove the skill)

The higher ranked level skills you deduct a level from, the higher the cost in Alz.

You can also buy or make equipment called 'Adept' which makes levelling up your skill faster, the more skill points on the item the faster it will take to level so try to get a full decent adept set.

Combo's can seem very tricky at first, once youve managed to perfect it though you can always make it so you at least get an 11 hit combo.

Firstly you want to get your combo bar in the right place, theres 2 places you can have it either just above your character or at the very top of the screen. To change its position go into your options, choose the 'Game' tab and tick / untick 'Combo UI on top', personally i prefer it unticked.

Now the combo bar is where u want it, its time to start practising using it. Combo Mode uses 10% of your SP bar so make sure you have enough SP before starting (the yellow bar underneath your blue magic bar which goes up by attacking enemies/dummies or dancing).

You can only use magic or sword skills when doing combo's, normal attack will not work. As im sure you are aware, everytime you use a sword or magic skill attack you have to wait a short amount of time before you can use it again (cool down time) so when combo'ing make sure you are not using a move thats hasnt cooled down yet, if you do it will cancel the combo.

Once you start Combo Mode you will notice the combo bar appear and a green / yellow bar inside it will fly across to the right, what you need to do is press a magic or sword attack as it gets inside the 2 lines at the right side of the bar - if done correctly you will get a Bad, Good, or Excellent and it will fly across again and so you have to press a different sword or magic attack - if done wrong you will get a Miss! To always get 'Excellent' make sure you press an attack as it lands on the right line.

The more you combo the smaller the 2 lines will get until you get to the 11th combo, then it will stay the same size and its all about keeping your cool and trying not to slip up.

For a more detailed combo guide click here

At Level 50 you can start to create your own items click here to view the crafting guide

As your adventuring through the levels you'll come across different types of core drops - Low Cores - Medium Cores - Upgrade Core (Highs) - Upgrade Core (Highest) and Force Cores. You can always tell if a core has dropped as it will make a 'bling' sound as it falls to the ground, something i love to hear

Cores basically add stats to your weapons and armours - low, med, high and highest upgrade cores add +'s to your equipment making them stronger or more defensive (stats go upto +7), whereas a force core adds a special attribute to slotted equipment like HP + 50.

Below is an explaination of each core so you know how to use them properly and not waste them.

Be careful when using cores on equipment which is +4 or higher,

if fail to upgrade to +6 your item will go back down to +3
if fail to upgrade to +7 your item will go back to Zero.

Low Core:
Low cores are used for increasing stats on low grade equipment (Citrine/Shadow Steel/Aramid), they cannot be used on higher grade equipment like Titanium so if you want to practise using a core, practise with this one. Unequip your item your upgrading, right click on the Low Core and then left click on the item, if its successful it will tell you its now +1.
Medium Core:
Medium cores are used for increasing stats on Pherystin/Titanium or lower graded equipment and are used the same way as a Low Core.
Upgrade Core High:
Red cores are used for increasing stats on the high grade equipment (Topaz/Redosmium/Shineguard/Teragrace/Mystice) and shouldnt be wasted on lower graded weapon or armour.
Upgrade Core Highest:
Shining a bright white in appearance, can be used to upgrade Mythril grade equipment.
Force Cores:
Unlike the other cores you can only use force cores on items which are slotted and you have to go to the 'Core Alchemist' to use them. Just like Upgrade cores Force cores come in different grades - Low, Medium, High and Highest.

Slotted Shadowtitanium Daikatana

When speaking to the Alchemist, click on 'Upgrade' to upgrade your weapon and then a new menu will appear. The Item space is to put the weapon or armour inside you want upgrading, the core space is to put your force core inside - i also put inside a low core as it will increase its chance of bieng successful (note: you can put 2-3 force cores inside and can get a chance at getting a level 2 upgrade but its completely random what you get), the Catalyst space is where u have to put another slotted weapon / armour inside and this determines your special upgrade.

Below is a list of the level 1 enchantments and how to get them.
Attack + 4 :
Item = Any Sword | Catalyst = Blade or Katana
Item = Crystal or Orb | Catalyst = Blade or Katana
Item = Gloves | Catalyst = Blade or Katana
Attack Rate + 50 :
Item = Any Sword | Catalyst = Gloves
Item = Crystal or Orb | Catalyst = Gloves
Item = Gloves | Catalyst = Gloves
Critical Damage Increase :
Item = Any Sword | Catalyst = Great Sword or Daikatana
Item = Helm | Catalyst = Great Sword or Daikatana
Item = Crystal or Orb | Catalyst = Great Sword or Daikatana
Defence + 2 :
Item = Boots | Catalyst = Suit
Item = Helm | Catalyst = Suit
Item = Gloves | Catalyst= Suit
Item = Suit | Catalyst = Suit
Defence Rate + 20 :
Item = Boots | Catalyst = Boots
Item = Helm | Catalyst = Boots
Item = Gloves | Catalyst = Boots
Item = Suit | Catalyst= Boots
HP + 50 :
Item = Boots | | Catalyst = Helm
Item = Suit | Catalyst = Helm
Magic + 4 :
Item = Any Sword | Catalyst = Crystal or Orb
Item = Crystal or Orb | Catalyst = Crystal or Orb
(As level 2 enchantments are random, it doesnt matter about catalyst.)

original here

Hotkeys on your keyboard:
F1,F2,F3,F4 = Changes your skill bar (you can also do it from the little arrows near the BAR number)
Print Screen (Prt Sc, Prt Sc SysRq)= Takes a screen of the game in .jpg format, saved in C:\....\(GameMaster.com)\CabalOnline\Screenshots
Scroll Lock = If clicked one time takes off from your monitor all windows [also skillbar and HP/MP/SP bar], if clicked two times takes off also your character. Click again to have back everything.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,',м = Starts the skill positionated on the skill bar.
PageDown = Adjusts your camera view.
Arrow Keys= Changes view (while in free camera view).
+,- (numpad) = Zooms in/out.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 (num) = Starts the skill positionated on the skill bar.
/ (numpad) = Opens automatically the Chat with a slash, in the "W" (whisper) state.
Enter (numpad) = Opens the Chat.
Backspace = Deletes the last letter wrote in the chat field.
Tab = Shows the map (while you keep it pressed).
Caps Lock = Writes every letter in Caps automatically.
Shift= Writes every letter in Caps (while you keep it pressed).
Alt= Shows all titles and names (while you keep it pressed).
Spacebar = Picks up items from the floor.
Enter = Opens the Chat.
W,A,S,D = Moves your character up, left, down and right.
R = Shows Premium items.
T = Shows Quest panel.
U = Shows Soul Ability.
I = Shows Inventory.
O = Shows Option panel.
P = Shows Party panel.
H = Shows Help window.
J = Shows Jukebox panel.
K = Shows Skill panel.
L = Shows Mail window.
X = Shows your Temporary Inventory.
C = Shows Character panel.
B = Shows Buddy window.
N = Shows Maps window.

Note: some keys might be different on your keyboard, like "м". I used the italian keyboard as an example.

Other Keys is not used in the game, except for typing obviously.

Mouse actions:
Show details (when the cursor is placed over the objective).

Left click:
Drag and drop items.
Pick up items.
Select items/Characters.
Select answers on quests.
Move your character until the point clicked (if you click on the floor).

Right click:
Adjust camera (if in free view).
When clicked on a name or char, it automatically opens the Chat in "W" (whisper) position, with the name of the character clicked. You can use it also from chat.
+ Shift Separates stacked items (in inventory).
When used on items in inventory, automatically equips them.
When used on equipped Board summons it.
When used on Transmuter/Potions/Return stone actives it.
Used on Skill bar actives the skill.

Mouse wheel:
Zoom in/out

You have to know that in the open chat you can also use some commands, they ALL start with the slash symbol: /
In the list below, every word in caps means that you have to change the word with the correlated name.

Commands ingame:
/n TEXT = Writes in normal chat.
/w CHARNAME TEXT= Writes in whisper.
/p TEXT = Writes in party.
/g TEXT = Writes in guild.
/t TEXT = Writes in trade.
/l TEXT = Writes in shout (everybody on channel will see you).
/c TEXT = Writes in chat channel.
/follow (and select a char) = Follows the character.
/buddy CHARNAME = Requests buddy.
/party CHARNAME = Requests party.
/block CHARNAME = Puts in block list.
/dance = Starts dance 1.
/dance2= Starts dance 2
/sync = If used while dancing, automatically synchronizes your dance with the nearest dancer.
/bi1 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Bloody Ice [first warp].
/bi2 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Bloody Ice [second warp].
/ds1 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Desert Scream [first warp].
/ds2 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Desert Scream [second warp].
/gd1 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Green Despair [first warp]
/gd2 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Green Despair [second warp]
/pl1 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Port Lux [first warp]
/pl2 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Port Lux [second warp]
/fr1 (if warp is allowed) = Warps to Fort Ruina [first warp]