Maintenance script: UI Lua API import (WAR 1.4.8)

2026-10-16T19:42:46Z

UI Lua API import (WAR 1.4.8)

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{{LuaApi|group=Ability}}
Returns the description text of an ability at a given upgrade rank.

<pre>
description = GetAbilityDescription(abilityId, upgradeRank)
</pre>

== Arguments ==
;abilityId : <code>number</code> – Id of the ability. It is converted to a 16-bit integer.
;upgradeRank : <code>number</code> – Upgrade rank to describe. It is converted to an 8-bit integer. The stock UI passes 0 when it has no rank.

== Returns ==
;description : <code>wstring</code> – Description text, or <code>L""</code>.

== Details ==
* The text comes from the <code>abilitydesc</code> string table, with its placeholders filled in by the client. The result is cached per ability and rank.
* <code>L""</code> is also returned when the player's ability data is not loaded.
* If there is no player object, or the Lua state is not available, the function returns nothing.
* The function needs at least two arguments and only reads the last two.
* The stock UI wraps it in <code>GetAbilityDesc(id, upgradeRank)</code> (<code>easystem_strings/source/stringutils.lua</code>), which defaults <code>upgradeRank</code> to 0.

== Errors ==
None besides the generic ''Invalid Parameters'' message when an argument is not a number.

== Example ==
From <code>easystem_strings/source/stringutils.lua</code>:
<pre>
function GetAbilityDesc( id, upgradeRank )
if( id == nil ) then
ERROR(L"Invalid params to GetAbilityDesc (id, upgradeRank): id is nil")
return L""
end

upgradeRank = upgradeRank or 0

return GetAbilityDescription (id, upgradeRank)
end
</pre>

== See also ==
* [[API:GetAbilityUpgradeRank|GetAbilityUpgradeRank]]
* [[API:GetAbilityRequirements|GetAbilityRequirements]]
* [[API:GetAbilityData|GetAbilityData]]

API:GetAbilityDescription - Revision history

Maintenance script: UI Lua API import (WAR 1.4.8)