Merge Element and Grand Arts
Fuse your elements into cores, then unleash them as Pillar, Meteor, Tempest, Dome or Rain: the arts of a hundred-command incantation.
Ten fingers, ten elements: that is the limit of an ordinary art. To go further, you fuse what you hold into a core that rises to circle above your head, free your fingers, and start again — ten times, twelve times. Once enough elements are merged, a Grand Art shape releases them all at once: a beam falling from the sky, a meteor, a giant whirlwind, a dome, a rain of arrows. A full incantation runs past a hundred and fifty commands: that is intended.
Merge ElementMerge Element
Merge Element fuses all held elements (at least two) into a core, which rises to orbit above your head. Your fingers are free: generate again, merge again.
- How many cores you can keep depends on your System Control Authority: 1, then one more every 10 levels, 12 at most.
- While you hold a core, the incantation gives you 24 s between two commands instead of 12.
- While you hold a core, each element draws the Sacred Power of 24 chunks around you instead of 8: a Grand Art drains a whole valley.
- Merging resets the shape: the next elements start again as orbs.
Possible refusals: "Hold at least two elements to merge them." or "You cannot keep more than N cores (System Control Authority N)."
What one incantation can hold
| SCA | Held elements | Cores | Possible total | Grand Art | Genesis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | 2 | 1 | 4 | no | no |
| 11 to 20 | 3 | 2 | 9 | no | no |
| 21 to 30 | 4 | 3 | 16 | no | no |
| 31 to 40 | 5 | 4 | 25 | yes | no |
| 41 to 50 | 6 | 5 | 36 | yes | no |
| 51 to 60 | 7 | 6 | 49 | yes | yes |
| 61 to 70 | 8 | 7 | 64 | yes | yes |
| 71 to 80 | 9 | 8 | 81 | yes | yes |
| 81 to 90 | 10 | 9 | 100 | yes | yes |
| 91 to 100 | 10 | 10 | 110 | yes | yes |
| 101 to 110 | 10 | 11 | 120 | yes | yes |
| 111 and up | 10 | 12 | 130 | yes | yes |
"Possible total" counts full cores plus full fingers. Default server settings.
A plain shape on cores
Spoken on cores, a plain shape (Arrow Shape, Dragon Shape…) makes each core a giant of that shape, launched along with the elements still held. A core of 10 arrows hits like about 7 arrows in one; from 8 elements, it explodes in an area on impact. See Element shapes.
Grand Art shapes
A Grand Art shape requires at least one core and at least 20 elements in total (cores and fingers). It then fuses everything into a single spell, released by Discharge on the target: the traced unit (Trace and Unit IDs), otherwise the creature you aim at up to 96 blocks, otherwise the ground where you look.
Pillar Shape — a beam falls from the sky onto the target and stays. A magic circle first draws itself on the ground (1.75 s to flee), then the beam strikes four times per second everything standing in its column.
- Radius: 2 blocks + 1 per 25 elements (2.8 for 20; 9 at most).
- Duration: 3 s + 1 s per 60 elements.
- Damage per hit: 2 + elements ÷ 12 (3.7 for 20; 7 for 60), × power and element multiplier.
- The other elements present add their effects. You are not hit — except by a Solus Pillar, which heals you.
Meteor Shape — a mass crashes down from the sky and explodes. After the warning circle (1.75 s), it bursts like a Burst of all merged elements, with their reactions.
- Blast radius: 7.1 blocks for 20 elements, 10.7 for 60, 14.2 for 120.
- Damage at the centre: 14.7 for 20 elements, 33 for 60, 57 for 120 (at power 1).
- It is the only Grand Art where reactions apply.
Tempest Shape — a giant whirlwind lands on the target and swallows everything around: it pulls, spins, lifts, and inflicts its element twice a second.
- Radius: 3 blocks + 1 per 15 elements (4.3 for 20; 14 at most); it pulls from up to 1.8 times that radius.
- Duration: 10 s + 1 s per 20 elements.
- Damage per hit: 1 + elements ÷ 20 (2 for 20; 4 for 60), × power and multiplier.
Dome Shape — a dome closes around you (it stays where you stood).
- It stops other people's projectiles crossing its wall.
- Hostile creatures coming close are pushed back and suffer its element; those caught inside are slowed (Slowness II) and driven outward.
- A Solus Dome heals you and your allies inside by 1 health per second.
- Radius: 4 blocks + 1 per 18 elements (5.1 for 20; 16 at most).
- Duration: 15 s + 1 s per 10 elements.
Rain Shape — a circle opens in the sky, 36 blocks above the target (1.25 s warning), and arrows rain from it for 3.5 s: each one of an element drawn at random among those you merged, in proportion.
- Radius: 3 blocks + 1 per 25 elements (3.8 for 20; 12 at most).
- About 70 arrows (140 from 108 elements), each dealing 5 × power and multiplier.
The Grand Art's name
At Discharge, the Grand Art's name appears in large purple letters for every player within 128 blocks, with the caster and the number of elements as subtitle. It is made of the dominant element's epithet and the shape: Solus Pillar, Abyssal Meteor, Frost Tempest…
| Dominant element | Epithet |
|---|---|
| Thermal Element | Flame |
| Cryogenic Element | Frost |
| Aerial Element | Gale |
| Luminous Element | Solus |
| Umbra Element | Abyssal |
| Metallic Element | Iron |
| Crystal Element | Crystal |
| Aqueous Element | Tidal |
A first Grand Art
At SCA 31 (5 held elements, 4 cores):
System Call.
Generate Luminous Element, Five Times. Merge Element.
Generate Luminous Element, Five Times. Merge Element.
Generate Luminous Element, Five Times. Merge Element.
Generate Luminous Element, Five Times. Merge Element.
Pillar Shape. Discharge.
Twenty merged elements, a Solus Pillar — and 160 points of Sacred Power drawn from the land. Possible refusals: "A Grand Art shape needs merged cores (Merge Element)." and "A Grand Art needs 20 merged elements; you hold N."
Beyond the Grand Arts, one incantation remains: Genesis.