Elementalist – Elemental Magic Expansion
The elementalist doesn’t specialize in specific elements, but chooses to bring the tools to wield them all. Unafraid of a little close combat, the tools include restorative effects, improving armor, movement, and AP management utilities. This mod includes 56 skill books, with several additional skills being available under specific statuses, and several skills who’s functionality changes slightly depending on attunement. The tools to wield all four elements together in a new way have finally arrived.
Attunements
Core to the elementalist are their attunements, which improve their efficacy with elemental spells of a given type. Attunements grant allies an aura they can use to clear statuses or maintain for resistances, reflection, and a buff representative of the element. The elementalist themselves also unlocks an overload for their attunement:
- Fire overload summons a tornado of flame, burning enemies and leaving a fire surfaces in it’s wake
- Water overload revitalizes allies in the thick of the fight.
- Earth overload ensures armor survives a few more hits before being depleted.
- Air overload summons a tempest that drops bolts of lightning on enemies.
Attunements that are recast before their durations expire will gain infinite duration. If not recast, the attunement decays into a weaker version that also has infinite duration. Unmemorizing the attunement will remove all attunement statuses from that character.
Elemental attunement has no overload or aura, and does not have an infinite duration version, strong or week. It can stack with other attunements but is solely a duration-based personal buff.
Skills
All spells are located at base-game merchants and are part of level lists, unlocking more books at level 4, 9, 12, and 16
Additionally, there is a new vendor named Cleric the Cleric who will sell skillbooks from any of my class mods you’ve installed! Their locations are listed in the shared resources mod description.
Each of the four base elements has been given a suite of skills with some unique effects. Notably each one has it’s own attunement, two weapon skills, and a ward providing the basis for a well-rounded combatant. Ultimately, the number of elemental skills available have been almost doubled!
For a complete list of descriptions check out the Skill List[docs.google.com] with lists for all my class mods (WIP, Elementalist is complete).
Skill Types
- Glyphs have various effects dependent on the element they interact with. Energy chooses an attunement based on the surface you touch, but Glyph of Storms drops elemental bolts based on your attunement.
- Ether skills grant you AP dependent on having an elemental surface nearby.
- Weapon skills are melee, and while they scale off weapon damage and the attribute your weapon utilizes (finesse for daggers, etc.) they will be consistant in dealing the damage type the skill is associated with. This gives even warriors and scoundrels access to reliable magic damage. Steam Surge and Polaric Leap also give elementalists access to positioning tools. All weapons skills are affected by elemental affinity, so using movement skills can greatly improve action economy.
- Wards create defensive zones by strengthening allies’ defenses, weakening enemies’ ability to deal damage, or healing allies.
- Two new active defense skills in Static Field and Double Dragon give the elementalist some area control outside of laying down surfaces.
- Twist of Fate gives the elementalist a much-needed low-cost teleport skill in their own wheel house.
Statuses and Combos
On top of general skill and status combos, the elementalist has access to three new resistance-altering statuses:
- Scald – Reduces water and fire resistances. In the future, access to new skills will combo further with Scald to great effect.
- Ashen – Primarily used to reduce fire and earth resistance, Ashen has the special property of Scalding enemies or applying Iron Mist if made wet or electrified by shock or stun.
- Iron Mist – Reduces air and lightning resistance, but is a great conductor for Shell Shock and eventually Blinding Surge to get more bang for their buck in terms of output and control.
- Rust – Reduces water, earth, and physical resistance. Is applied to the character if they are surrounded in Iron Mist and Wet.
Tips
- Keep in mind the surfaces you can create and move to. Make elemental surfaces work for you with skills like Ether Renewal and talents like Elemental Affinity.
- When using elemental attack skills, investing in the ability based on your weapon’s damage type is just as effective as investing in your skill’s ability. For example: when using Ring of Earth with a Pyro Staff, 5 points of Geomancer produces the same damage as 2 points of Pyro and 3 points of Geomancer. When it comes to those attack skills, the only attribute that matters is your weapon’s: A strength sword using Ring of Earth gains NO BONUSES from intelligence, just Strength, Warfare (if it’s a physical damage weapon), and Geomancer.
- While the intention is to cycle elements, there is still something to say for specializing in one or two and using the spare points for Two-Handed,Huntsman, and Scoundrel.
Rivellon could always use more Elementalists.
Credits to ArenaNet for icons used in the mod.
