WARNING - This thread isn’t made for new players or those that seek guidance on how to use said class, please look for proper threads regarding it such as class overviews and build guides. Design Breakdown is a design discussion thread only and has no purpose to help players on practical aspects of the game.
Starting another Design Breakdown this time not with one nor two, but three classes to cover - Pyromancer, Cryomancer and Psychokino. At first this was supposed to be a duo breakdown but it felt like Pyromancer has some points to discuss regarding Psychokino and it would miss the chance, as it is too much information to be covered (and read) there’ll be a day difference from each release and then the clash will be added later. In case this is your first time on a Design Breakdown topic go to this link for some basic information.
Pyromancer - RANK 2 - ATTACK
“Pyromancers use successive hitting fire magic to fight against multiple enemies.”
Hitting multiple enemies is a big part of the class but it isn’t as accurate as hitting multiple times, after all the class is based terrain and damage over time which aligns with the fire thematics as the element needs something to manifest on. It doesn’t seem like there’s much on the thematic field over the element itself yet it wouldn’t be surprising if the costume also carried some source behind it.
Fireball (D) - Relief
This is a fantasy staple as fire magic is often portrait as fireballs be that by wizards or magical creatures, however those don’t keep the shape after the attack is delivered. A point to address here is how the particles don’t work at all on lower settings and also that after the explosion it will retain the same particle and intensity even tho it loses all offensive value. The deployment animation is a legacy from the old Fireball as it was casted at close range and it doesn’t work as well with the new targeting.
Back in the old days this used to be a really fun skill that served as a deadly trap by dealing multiple hits to all enemies around, currently it is just a bomb that explodes into contact and deals damage to surroundings, and due powerful synergy with Linker forced it to be changed as it melted everything with no hassle. Along with that it used to have a pushing mechanic that any melee hit would move it forward, it was a really fun feature that didn’t worked as it couldn’t anchor on enemies which contributed to this last version. Changing the approach made the skill lose all the identity value it had and also removed its tactical value as a single hit isn’t as threatening than having constant damage, the Flare interaction is interesting but doesn’t really work as each faded Fireball can only hit one enemy at time instead of exploding again, even with overheats it isn’t really effective. Just as other skills with 5 OH Fireball doesn’t benefit much from it as it takes too long to deploy them and having power scattered only slows down the whole process, it’s still useful when used directly at enemy location but doesn’t seem that effective compared to higher rank skills that are faster and stronger.
As the major issue was to stack Fireball a clever way to work around it is by having a debuff applied to enemies on touch that limits them to receive only one hit from it even if multiple objects are in contact. The current version is functional but it lacks something to sell it out as no matter how good the skill is it will feel boring.
Fire Wall (E) - Counter Lead
Due fire’s natural characteristics of consuming it can spread easily and, on narrow places, it makes difficult to cross even short distances, even when it is possible it comes with risk and is likely to get the crosser harmed. The visuals seems to lack polish as the upper part of the fire cell seems broken, but that may be due optimization issues or by running it on lower quality, and depending on the angle some cells can hide missing ones giving the impression that the wall is still up and this gets worse with overheat and overlap.
Fire Wall used to be a skill that allowed players to adjust the cells at will but didn’t really work as it lacked a floor and took so long to reach an acceptable cell count. Here we have some misinformation on the skill itself as it doesn’t deal 5 hits when entering a cell, instead each cell can deal 5 hits before disappearing and, as much as the final result is the same, it isn’t friendly for those that don’t know about the skill nuances. The current version fix the cell problem as it’s fixed at 8 and changes the format to a straight line, each cell can deal up to 5 hits based on enemy ADR (kindly corrected by Satoru) and goes up to a total of 40 hits per cast that rises to 120 with overheats. In theory it sounds quite powerful but as long straight line it is hard to really make use of it specially as the wall is 90º degrees from the character, it wouldn’t be much of an issue if the enemies were hold back by the fire wall as they can cross it and that’s only addressed at c3 with the new attribute. The only way to really make use of Fire Wall would be by using it against large monsters yet that is render useless as each cell takes enemies ADR, bosses that would take the most of it takes only 8 hits ber use if they take all cells. It also feels disappointing to have as impressive looking to disappear in the blink of an eye as a crowd walks by, what defines this skill is how it has tactical use but those mechanics stand in the way for it. There’s also a debuff that can be applied to enemies that enter the cell but it only serves as a Flare source and can be overwritten by Flame Ground.
Regardless of how the skill is executed those cells should last long enough to be a threat, it could be more effective to change it from straight damage to a burning debuff that refreshes on enemies inside the cells. This approach benefits less from concentrating walls but can be better for consistency and also allows it to deal damage to more enemies without being abusive with infinite hit cells.
Enchant Fire (F) - Complement
Among Pyromancer’s kit this seems to be the only one without a strong connection with the element itself. It’s interesting to see that the basic attack changes into fire bolts for wizards yet that could be extended to at least archers as well as flaming arrows were used in real combat.
Enchant Fire was taken down drastically with the Pyromancer update, it used to be an useful party buff that granted some Fire Property Attack and an extra line which is quite helpful for more attack oriented characters but now requires Spiritual Chain to be shared. By making use of elemental properties the skill is useful for damage over time and basic attacks, however as it lacks floor it requires too much commitment to get to noticeable values which won’t even top 1k at max level with dedicated investment. It just doesn’t make sense to prevent this skill to be applied to party when elemental properties higher point is with basic attacks and wizard is the class tree that does it less, as much as this helps Pyromancer with some extra damage it doesn’t do much for the amount of points required to reach it.
Here it can be interesting to change the approach of the skill as a whole and have the elemental property with full power from scratch, it’s way more beneficial for Pyromancer to have Enchant Fire to have a chance to burn enemies when using basic attacks and have either damage or duration increased with level. By taking this route it makes sense to have it as a self buff only and can also be useful for party members when shared, this also empowers Flare indirectly as it helps to spread burning and raises the chance to apply it.
Flare (B) - Relief
Intentionally or not this seems like a reference to a famous anime which a character does ignite enemies by snapping its fingers, regardless it does fit the skill mechanic perfectly as it has screen range and is directed to burning enemies.
Flare is an overall good relief skill but misses the chance to make full use of Pyromancer by dealing only one hit regardless of how many burning skills are applied to the enemies, it could also be delivered as extra damage but on a single damage line and if that is done it is nowhere communicated.
Flame Ground (D) - Lead
This skill represents heat and how it overbearing power can be seen, it gets a wide area that consumes the enemy life slowly and constantly.
Flame Ground used to be a ground targeted but it seems like it was changed as it was hard to keep enemies inside it and now it is takes the caster location with at least double the radius, that isn’t the most elegant way to fix it. The issue tho is that having a basic skill with that much coverage trivializes the power it has, in early stages of the game that can be enough to kill all enemies on the first hit which may make players question why to bother with other skills at all, and along with the low cooldown it can be enough to destroy low and mid level areas with no hassle.
A more elegant way to address this issue is by having Flame Ground to expand over time, instead of having a fixed size it can start small and grow by each hit interval and spread like real fire, and as a matter of fact the current skill size is way beyond rank 2. Not only that would make the skill way more impressive but will also align it back to the rank placement as screen wide is way too much for a basic rank 2. That also allows it to go back area targeting which is more natural for a fragile class such as wizard.
As the starting circle we get a basic functional kit that is focused on having damage spread through the field, there’s no direct attack here with the exception of Flare that requires a burning effect to be used. Both Fire Wall and Fireball are skills that use trapping mechanics yet they don’t really support this use as traps need to last long enough and have to apply proper punishment to those that trigger it, instead they are more into marginal use which waste their potential as threats.
Another factor to notice is that, aside for Enchant Fire, all skills have their damage increased with level and even being distinct enough from each other don’t feel interesting to level. On the practical side Flame Ground is noticeably ahead along with Flare that can be used in its prime in combo, this is further expanded at c2 with the diffusion attribute on Flame Ground as it decreases Fire Property Resistance and lingers even after the skill expires.
Fire Pillar (B) - High Lead
It may be a stretch but it seems like Fire Pillar tries to be the burning bonfire, the way it works as a fire prison resembles witch trials as they’d burn alive without a chance to escape, yet that may not be the real inspiration for it. The ascending motive is well executed as enemies are dragged upwards just as heat raises naturally.
As the only skill with control capability on Pyromancer it is acceptable to be delivered as a fake stun as fire raises. The issue tho is how it just feels like an improved version of Flame Ground, as it deals more damage and last longer, but that doesn’t seem much of a problem as they can be used together and that can be seen as the old Flame Ground had the same size. There’s also this Fire Pillar debuff that stacks up to 10 times which seems would be likely to increase the damage received from it yet it doesn’t have any information available on what the real effect is nor what the stacks do.
It may be interesting to have Fire Pillar as a shorter duration skill with even more damage condensed as the current 10s of control is too much for Pyromancer, that could also help to get those skills more distinct.
With a single skill added it doesn’t make the class play that much different. Fire Pillar does a great job to secure Flame Ground damage as it lasts longer than it and has this fake bind component and prevents enemies to escaping it at all, along with that it also allows Flare to take advantage of it, and impressively that’s enough to sustain the circle by itself.
Despite that it may be better for this circle to snatch one of c1 skills as the 5:1 distribution puts too much weight on on side and also prevents skills to be expanded, Fireball, Fire Wall and Enchant Fire are all great candidates for it being the latest the most appropriated for mirror match of Cryomancer. Fireball and Fire Wall have more potential to be improved overall and can even recover some of the old components with this delayed placement such as having multiple hits back or cell count increased with level.
Hell Breath (A) - Grand Lead
At medieval europe people believed dragons lived across the land and that they could breathe fire, later on this same concept was brought to world war I with flamethrowers, and that itself is enough to justify it.
Hell Breath makes great use of channeling, it is satisfying as it deals damage in short intervals and can be redirected at will for the whole duration, not to mention it negates physical damage. Having the debuff to increase fire damage wraps the class when using Flame Ground and/or Fire Pillar along. It’s nowhere stated but the channeling lasts up to 10 seconds and seems to be uninterruptible.
It feels like having Hell Breath extended duration instead of damage factor could be more interesting for what the skill does, as a channeling it can be a skill that doesn’t need to be maxed to get the full potential damage and work in lower levels for builds with more skill rotation. That won’t necessarily make it better but it’s another way to approach it.
Hell Breath is a solid conclusion for the class that comes with a twist, this time the fire source isn’t on the terrain itself but turns the caster into the source as an terrain object. Along that there’s also the Fire Wall knockback attribute that gives the skill some real use opposed to a questionable damage source.
Conclusion
Pyromancer used always had a solid identity but as damage over time is a slow damage execution, that in this case has conditions, it is hard to balance to be satisfying at low ranks and useful at endgame. Flame Ground is a great example of a skill that was lackluster and with the wider area was changed into skill that melts all beginner’s content. It also feels like Enchant Fire and Fireball requires some extra attention, they do have their use but at their current state it doesn’t feel like they do much. Regarding Pyrite, it may be more interesting to get it to Enchant Fire as buffs work better for catalyst use than actives and even Hell Breath being worthy of such it feels more like a nuisance.
Using fire to deliver a damage over time works but going for growing power can be more effective, the real deal with this element is how it consumes everything it can and destroy it and that isn’t done. In their defense it would be even harder to balance for a starting class with skills that grow and spread yet the theme isn’t fitting for higher ranks, taking those in mind it was the wisest decision to have it on this direction.
| C 1 | C 2 | C 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | B | A | B |
| Theme | B | A | A |
| Gameplay | C | A | A |
| Cohesion | D | C | B |
| Point Distribution | C | C | C |
| Dropout | C | B | A |
The discussion doesn’t end up here. If you haven’t read Cryomancer’s and Psychokino’s go take a look at the overall points at least as those are shorter to read and going deep on skills isn’t that necessary, it’s too much to ask to read all them so if you’re already aware of the classes just skip to the end.
