Element Reactions

What it is

Effects leave short marks on what they hit: frozen, windswept, pulled, wet, shadowed, bleeding and more. Hit a marked target with the right element and you set off a reaction: bonus damage, and its name flashes up in bold. Reactions are the biggest free damage boost in the game. There are eleven, and every element takes part in at least one.

A reaction breaks through a resistance (not an immunity), so a Shatter lands in full on a creature that shrugs off plain fire. See Creature Affinities.

Reaction	Needs	What it does
Shatter!	Fire on a frozen target	That hit deals +60%, and the target thaws.
Conduct!	Storm on a wet target	That hit deals +50% and arcs to up to two more enemies within 5 blocks for 4 damage each.
Wildfire!	Fire on a windswept target	Every other enemy within 3 blocks catches fire for 4 s and takes 3 damage.
Implode!	A blast (Explode, Meteor, Primer) where an enemy is pulled	The blast is 50% wider and hits 30% harder.
Collapse!	Repel on a pulled enemy	Repel deals double damage.
Overload!	Storm on a burning target	That hit deals +30%, and every other enemy within 3 blocks takes 4 damage and is thrown back. The fire goes out.
Fracture!	Earth on a frozen target	That hit deals +40%, and the target is cracked for 5 s: every spell, anyone’s, hits it 20% harder.
Blight!	Life on a shadowed target	It and up to 5 more enemies within 4 blocks take 3 damage and Poison for 5 s. You heal 1 for each.
Unweave!	Arcane on a target with two marks or more	Every mark is used up, and the hit deals +30% per mark (up to four: +120%).
Rupture!	Wind on a bleeding target	That hit deals +50% plus 4 more through armour, and you heal 2.
Elapse!	Time on a burning, poisoned or withering target	All the damage those still had to deal lands now, half again as hard (3 to 16), and they end.

Healing from Blight and Rupture comes at most once a second.

How to get it

Every player can set off reactions. Effects in a spell happen in the order you thread them, and a mark counts the moment it’s made. So the easiest reactions happen inside one spell: put the marking effect first, then the reacting one.

Reaction	Try
Shatter	Bolt · Chill · Ember or Bolt · Frost · Fire
Conduct	Fight in the rain, or Bolt · Undertow · Shock
Wildfire	Nova · Windcut · Ember or Bolt · Push · Fire
Implode	Bolt · Pull · Explode
Collapse	Bolt · Pull · Repel
Overload	Bolt · Ember · Shock
Fracture	Bolt · Chill · Pelt or Bolt · Frost · Aftershock
Blight	Bolt · Blind · Venom or Bolt · Hex · Venom
Unweave	Bolt · Chill · Push · Harm
Rupture	Bolt · Rend · Windcut or Bolt · Bleed · Windcut
Elapse	Bolt · Fire · Countdown or Bolt · Venom · Countdown

The first time you set off each one, it goes in your Grimoire and gives 150 mana toward your next Heart Circle. Each also has an advancement.

How to use it

Marks

A marked creature shows a small halo or drips in the mark’s colour, so you can see a frozen husk is ready to Shatter before you hit it.

Mark	Lasts	Left by (for example)	Used by
Frozen	about 4 s after Frost, 2 s after Chill	Frost, Chill, Coldsnap, any harmful frost on a wet creature	Shatter, Fracture
Windswept	2.5 s	Push, Windcut, Repel, Levitate, Tremor	Wildfire
Pulled	2.5 s	Pull, Gravity Well	Implode, Collapse
Wet	while in water or rain; 5 s after Tidebreath or steam	Water, rain, Tidebreath, steam	Conduct
Soaked (counts as wet)	about 5 s	A popped Bubble, Undertow, Mire	Conduct, Flash Freeze
Burning	while it burns	Any fire that sets it alight	Overload, Elapse
Shadowed	up to 8 s	Hex, Blind, Wither, Umbra	Blight
Bleeding	about 4 s	Bleed, Rend, Cleave, Dismantle	Rupture
Cracked	5 s	A Fracture	(every spell hits 20% harder)

• Every mark above also counts toward Unweave. Harm leaves an exposed mark for 3 s that counts too.
• A reaction uses up its mark, except wet from water or rain. Frozen can feed Shatter or Fracture, and burning can feed Overload or Elapse: whichever comes first takes it.
• Runes that move you never mark you.
• Blades leave marks too. A swordsman’s elemental strikes can leave their element’s mark. See Aura marks.

Each rune’s tooltip in the Cord screen says which mark it leaves and which reaction it sets off.

Being wet

On a wet creature
Storm	conducts: +50%, arcing to two more enemies
Fire	hits 25% softer
Frost	freezes it solid at once, ready for Shatter or Fracture

Fire in water boils it into steam that blinds and wets everyone inside. Storm landing in water shocks everything standing in it. More on Magic in the World.

Wet works both ways. Tidebreath leaves you wet, so an enemy’s storm spells conduct on you.

Spell collisions

When your bolt meets an enemy caster’s bolt in the air, both burst. Two different elements make a burst of 5 damage within 2.5 blocks. Some pairs set off a reaction instead: 8 damage within 4 blocks.

Bolts	Reaction
Fire and Frost	Shatter
Frost and Storm	Conduct
Fire and Wind	Wildfire
Arcane and Void	Implode
Fire and Storm	Overload
Earth and Frost	Fracture
Life and Void	Blight
Blood and Wind	Rupture
Fire and Time	Elapse

Your first collision earns the Spell Collision feat.

Tips and counterplay

• Practise on a Training Dummy: its numbers show the bonus at once.
• Marks are short. Put the reacting effect in the same spell, or follow up fast.
• Order matters. Bolt · Fire · Frost does nothing special; Bolt · Frost · Fire Shatters.
• Chain them. Collapse leaves its target windswept, ready for Wildfire. A Fracture cracks the target so the next hit lands harder still.
• Rain helps. In the rain everything is wet: every storm hit conducts and every frost spell freezes solid.
• On Reaction fires the rest of a spell only where a reaction just went off: Bolt · Frost · Fire · On Reaction · Burst · Explode.
• Prismatic Burst (a fused rune) uses up every mark on its target at once for extra damage.
• Fighting with friends? Two casters hitting one foe with two elements can set off Unison. See Playing Together.