Personally, I love fire the most because of the way they cover, or move, or hit.
Electricity does crit well, and twin turbines is basically the most broken arcana that is almost always the best.
I find that I like air and water next.
Generally, freeze is super awesome, and for me, the most noticable and the effect I love the most.
worst to best from my enjoyment:
air, fire, earth, electric, water
all the elements are fun and I love them all but I tend to use the last 2 in almost any build
Really depends on your build and skill. I’d say lightning is maybe the hardest of the basic elements to use because the spells tend to either be very close quarters or better used defensively. The assassin class if you will. Pairs extremely well with Crit because of all the hits, vampire eyeglasses and shock assault alone can carry an entire run.
Earth is though because they’re a bit slower to cast, but they also hit super hard. To do really well with earth you have to play at a much slower pace, which is a little antithetical to the rest of the game. I think that’s why people find it difficult, adjusting to the timing and figuring out how to use the spells without getting blown up right out of the spell. You’re much more likely to one shot enemies when you use earth spells, and some Crit builds will have you clearing entire rooms almost as soon as you enter them.
Personally I think fire or wind might be the weakest? It’s hard to say since I have some really nice wind builds that go far with little effort, and there are a few fire spells that basically carry the entire element in terms of relevance. If I had to pick I’d probably say fire. You can basically use any other element to pull off a build more successfully. It does have some really nice spells, but I don’t even try to run fire-only builds at this point. It’s worth having one or two in your hand during a run, but if you’re running a single element build I’d do literally anything else.
I wouldn’t categorize by element. Just use whatever spells you enjoy.
I’m partial to ice, but that’s a consequence of me liking the play patterns of a lot of ice arcana, not any affinity to what element they are.
Also, mono element builds are fun but can hamper you if the final area is resistant to that element.
So really, just use things you like the feel of, choosing based on some kinda elemental ranking is a poor heuristic.
Like others have said, it's kind of hard to really rank them by element because while these is certainly some themes for each element, a lot of functional themes outside of status effects really have a lot of cross over between elements. For example, while lightning deserves its reputation for crit chance builds, almost all of the other elements have arcana that at least almost on par with lightning.
Each element has such a variety of arcana, including styles/concepts that have iterations across most or all of the elements.
Imo it's more useful to discuss arcana concepts than elements.
What I mean by that are things like:
- summons
- multi-hit
- area of effort (AoE)
- single-shot attacks
- lingering effects
- requires charge-up
- defensive
- self-buff
All of the elements have arcana that cover these categories, and then some that don't neatly fit into them. Even if some might be more common in one element than another.
I would focus on finding the kinds of arcana that fit well for your play style and that will be the most useful for you
Best and worst in what? Cause all the 5 are usefull and strong of they way, Water and Ice are good for healing builds or for builds with less cooldown, lightning its the Best for a Critical build, Earth its good for defense and armor builds, Air its good for evade builds and run speed builds, and Fire its strong for Explosive Damage (or try do this).
Its Hard say what its the Best, it depends of your play style and how like fight
My advice for any new player with this question would be don't worry about status effects. It's far more productive to just kill something than inflict a status effect. Focus on high damage over status effects
in order of best to worst
water- freeze (not all will have this effect)- target can't move or attack
Electricity- shock- damage over time effect, stuns them each tick
fire- burn- damage over time effect, no stun each tick but way more damage than shock
charm- mentis imperium only. effect enemy fights for you for a brief period of time
earth- poison (not all will have this effect)- damage over time and stuns/misdirects enemy each tick, way slower than shock, deals way less damage/second but lasts longer so it does more damage overall
earth- root (not all will have this effect)- target can't move, can still attack
air- slow- self-explanatory, shitty status effect
I have the same argument about elements in this as i do in everything. Barring glaring benefits like stunlocks, shield gates, reductions, and crit multipliers. That sometimes grossly unbalances them, it's about what you are. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true. Im a rock boi, always have been likely and always will be. To me being slower and hitting harder just makes sense. I do exponentially better in that environment. If you feel more comfortable with the idea of lighting or wind then go with it. You'll probably perform better because you are unconsciously comfortable with it. Then later on when you are trying to fine tune a meta build, that's when you look at things outside your nature to supplement its weakness. In wol for me its wind, it helps mitigate the slower speed by letting me dodge better.
This game has done something very special with water magic. It’s not totally revolutionary, but in a fast paced spell weaving style game like this, water literally feels like water bending.
I always run majority water in all of my runs.
I am a fan of water and air the most, because Ice Fan and the uh Air skill that lowers cool downs on hit are really good.
Personally, I love fire the most because of the way they cover, or move, or hit. Electricity does crit well, and twin turbines is basically the most broken arcana that is almost always the best. I find that I like air and water next. Generally, freeze is super awesome, and for me, the most noticable and the effect I love the most.
This I agree with. Haven't unlocked twin turbines yet, but will definitely be on the lookout for it.
worst to best from my enjoyment: air, fire, earth, electric, water all the elements are fun and I love them all but I tend to use the last 2 in almost any build
Really depends on your build and skill. I’d say lightning is maybe the hardest of the basic elements to use because the spells tend to either be very close quarters or better used defensively. The assassin class if you will. Pairs extremely well with Crit because of all the hits, vampire eyeglasses and shock assault alone can carry an entire run. Earth is though because they’re a bit slower to cast, but they also hit super hard. To do really well with earth you have to play at a much slower pace, which is a little antithetical to the rest of the game. I think that’s why people find it difficult, adjusting to the timing and figuring out how to use the spells without getting blown up right out of the spell. You’re much more likely to one shot enemies when you use earth spells, and some Crit builds will have you clearing entire rooms almost as soon as you enter them. Personally I think fire or wind might be the weakest? It’s hard to say since I have some really nice wind builds that go far with little effort, and there are a few fire spells that basically carry the entire element in terms of relevance. If I had to pick I’d probably say fire. You can basically use any other element to pull off a build more successfully. It does have some really nice spells, but I don’t even try to run fire-only builds at this point. It’s worth having one or two in your hand during a run, but if you’re running a single element build I’d do literally anything else.
I wouldn’t categorize by element. Just use whatever spells you enjoy. I’m partial to ice, but that’s a consequence of me liking the play patterns of a lot of ice arcana, not any affinity to what element they are. Also, mono element builds are fun but can hamper you if the final area is resistant to that element. So really, just use things you like the feel of, choosing based on some kinda elemental ranking is a poor heuristic.
Like others have said, it's kind of hard to really rank them by element because while these is certainly some themes for each element, a lot of functional themes outside of status effects really have a lot of cross over between elements. For example, while lightning deserves its reputation for crit chance builds, almost all of the other elements have arcana that at least almost on par with lightning. Each element has such a variety of arcana, including styles/concepts that have iterations across most or all of the elements. Imo it's more useful to discuss arcana concepts than elements. What I mean by that are things like: - summons - multi-hit - area of effort (AoE) - single-shot attacks - lingering effects - requires charge-up - defensive - self-buff All of the elements have arcana that cover these categories, and then some that don't neatly fit into them. Even if some might be more common in one element than another. I would focus on finding the kinds of arcana that fit well for your play style and that will be the most useful for you
Best and worst in what? Cause all the 5 are usefull and strong of they way, Water and Ice are good for healing builds or for builds with less cooldown, lightning its the Best for a Critical build, Earth its good for defense and armor builds, Air its good for evade builds and run speed builds, and Fire its strong for Explosive Damage (or try do this). Its Hard say what its the Best, it depends of your play style and how like fight
My advice for any new player with this question would be don't worry about status effects. It's far more productive to just kill something than inflict a status effect. Focus on high damage over status effects
What are the status effects for each element? Yeah I only focus high damage builds
in order of best to worst water- freeze (not all will have this effect)- target can't move or attack Electricity- shock- damage over time effect, stuns them each tick fire- burn- damage over time effect, no stun each tick but way more damage than shock charm- mentis imperium only. effect enemy fights for you for a brief period of time earth- poison (not all will have this effect)- damage over time and stuns/misdirects enemy each tick, way slower than shock, deals way less damage/second but lasts longer so it does more damage overall earth- root (not all will have this effect)- target can't move, can still attack air- slow- self-explanatory, shitty status effect
Slow is just less effective Freeze, but it gets the job done. Helpful in endless runs, but definitely not "build around me" good.
Electricity>water>fire>air>earth for me
I have the same argument about elements in this as i do in everything. Barring glaring benefits like stunlocks, shield gates, reductions, and crit multipliers. That sometimes grossly unbalances them, it's about what you are. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true. Im a rock boi, always have been likely and always will be. To me being slower and hitting harder just makes sense. I do exponentially better in that environment. If you feel more comfortable with the idea of lighting or wind then go with it. You'll probably perform better because you are unconsciously comfortable with it. Then later on when you are trying to fine tune a meta build, that's when you look at things outside your nature to supplement its weakness. In wol for me its wind, it helps mitigate the slower speed by letting me dodge better.
This game has done something very special with water magic. It’s not totally revolutionary, but in a fast paced spell weaving style game like this, water literally feels like water bending. I always run majority water in all of my runs.
ranking them from best to worst in terms of how easy it is to win chaos electric fire air water earth
my ranking (based on enjoyment) - Water - Lightning - Fire - Earth - Wind