Flight arguments
Fly Straight, Fly Spiral, Fly Arc, Orbit, Scatter, Return, Enlarge and Compress Element: change a volley's path and size.
Between the shape and Discharge, a few more words change the way the volley flies: straight or corkscrewing, lobbed over a wall, circling around you, fanned out, like a boomerang; bigger or smaller. These are the flight arguments. There are eight: four motions (only one at a time) and four modifiers (which stack).
System Call. Generate Aerial Element. Generate Aerial Element. Form Element, Arrow Shape. Fly Arc. Enlarge Element. Discharge.
Arguments are spoken in any order, between the first Generate and Discharge, and only while you hold elements (otherwise: "There is no element to form.").
Motions
Without a motion, elements chase the creature you aim at when you say Discharge (48 blocks, in a narrow cone around your gaze) or the target of a Trace. A motion replaces that behaviour; if you say several, only the last one counts.
| Incantation | Effect |
|---|---|
Fly Straight |
straight ahead, where you look. No chasing — even a traced target is ignored. |
Fly Spiral |
corkscrews around its path, each element offset from the others; keeps chasing the target. |
Fly Arc |
leaves upward, then falls back like a mortar shell: over walls and shields. Only aims once past the apex, with turns 1.8 times tighter. Flies 1 s longer. |
Orbit |
does not leave: the elements circle as a ring around you for 12 s and strike anything that comes close (each creature at most once per second). Goes through everything, ignores blocks, never hits you. |
Modifiers
| Incantation | Effect |
|---|---|
Scatter (or Scatter Element) |
the volley leaves as a 70° horizontal fan from end to end (needs at least two elements or cores). If there is a target, each element then turns toward it; with Fly Straight, the fan stays open. |
Return |
boomerang: turns back at 45 % of its flight (or when hitting a wall), goes through 4 more creatures, strikes again on the way back what it hit going out, then vanishes when it reaches you. Never hits you. |
Enlarge Element |
one step bigger (2 at most): heavier, slower, stronger. |
Compress Element |
one step smaller (2 at most): faster, weaker, and it pierces one more creature per step. |
Size steps
Enlarge and Compress offset each other: one of each brings you back to normal size.
| Step | Size | Damage | Speed | Extra piercing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
−2 (Compress ×2) |
×0.59 | ×0.66 | ×1.3 | +2 |
| −1 | ×0.77 | ×0.81 | ×1.14 | +1 |
| 0 | ×1 | ×1 | ×1 | — |
| +1 | ×1.3 | ×1.23 | ×0.88 | — |
+2 (Enlarge ×2) |
×1.69 | ×1.52 | ×0.77 | — |
What ignores them
Flight arguments only affect volleys released by Discharge in a thrown shape. They have no effect on:
- placed shapes (
Shield,Wall,Vortex) — see Element shapes; Burst ElementandAdhere— see Discharge, Burst Element and Adhere;- Grand Arts — see Merge Element and Grand Arts.
The one exception: Genesis requires all eight arguments to have been spoken at least once in the incantation (its third stanza).
Useful combinations
| Combination | What for |
|---|---|
Needle Shape + Scatter + Fly Straight |
sweep a crowd with a wide fan |
Arrow Shape + Fly Arc |
hit an archer hiding behind a wall or a shield |
Crescent Shape + Orbit |
a spinning guard of blades around you, 12 s |
Spear Shape + Compress Element ×2 |
a thin spear that goes through 5 creatures in a row |
Sword Shape + Return |
hit the same target twice, going out and coming back |
Serpent Shape + Fly Spiral |
a whirling volley that still sticks to its prey |