Element reactions
Mixing elements in a Burst Element or a Meteor: steam, firestorm, glacier, paradox, molten metal, prism.
When several elements explode together, they react: steam blinds, fanned fire spreads, water and ice freeze everything solid, light and darkness tear each other apart. There are seven reactions. They trigger in a Burst Element and in a Meteor (a Grand Art that crashes down as a giant Burst).
The condition: one fifth
An element only counts toward a reaction if it makes up at least one fifth of the elements in the explosion (held elements and cores together). With 10 elements, you need 2 of each; with 50, you need 10.
System Call. Generate Aqueous Element. Generate Thermal Element. Burst Element.
This incantation (one aqueous, one thermal) triggers steam. With nine thermal elements and a single aqueous one, the aqueous makes up only a tenth: no reaction.
The seven reactions
| Reaction | Elements | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Steam | Thermal + Aqueous | everyone hit is blinded 4 s |
| Firestorm | Thermal + Aerial | blast radius ×1.4 |
| Glacier | Cryogenic + Aqueous | long freeze (far beyond a normal freeze) + Slowness IV 8 s; nearby water freezes |
| They counter each other | Thermal + Cryogenic | damage ×0.3 |
| Paradox | Luminous + Umbra | damage ×2.5; the caster takes 20 % of the damage, never losing more than half their remaining health |
| Molten metal | Metallic + Thermal | damage ×1.4 |
| Prism | Crystal + Luminous | damage ×1.25 + blindness 4 s |
Reactions stack and their multipliers multiply. Thermal + metallic + aerial, for instance, gives molten metal (×1.4) widened by a firestorm (radius ×1.4).
What the rest of the mix does
In a mixed explosion:
- the dominant element (the most numerous) delivers the main blow: its damage, its multiplier, its full effect;
- every other element present (at least one fifth) adds its side effect, slightly weaker: burning, freezing, pushing, darkness, weakness…;
- on a tie, the order Thermal, Cryogenic, Aerial, Luminous, Umbra, Metallic, Crystal, Aqueous decides the dominant one.
Side effects never reach your allies; the main blow does hurt them — unless it is luminous, in which case it heals them.
Where reactions do not apply
- Discharge: each element flies on its own, in its own element; a core flies as its dominant element. No reaction.
- Adhere: only the dominant element acts.
- Pillar, Tempest, Dome, Rain: no reaction, but a Pillar also applies the side effects of the other elements present, and the Rain fires arrows of every merged element.
See Discharge, Burst Element and Adhere and Merge Element and Grand Arts.