My take on Elementalist

[Kael_Thor]

This is my take on a Elementalist class for FFXIV.
I like element using classes, and so I wanted to make one that uses all six. The end result became a dps that can provide some healing. It is not a full healing class, but it can help when in a pinch.

This is my first class for FFXIV, and I wouldn't be surprised it its overpowered, but I think it's cool and wanted some feedback, so I decided to post it here.


Base class: None (Lorewise an offshoot/combination of conjurer and thaumaturge?)
Role: hybrid(dps+support) (counts as dps in duty finder)
Weapon: Elementalist staffs (staffs with a crystal from each element as a focus)

Starts at lvl 30. Over the course of the lvl 30 class quest, character gradually attunes to four of the elements, learning about and becoming able to shift elemental polarity to match the element, embodying that element and becoming able to use that element. Over the course of the other class quests, the character attunes to and learns about the final two elements and how the six elements interplay with each other and everything in Eorzea, before finally(lvl 50) having to prove him/herself before the Conjurer's guild as worthy to wield all six elements.


Abilities
Level 1 Element I: Deals unaspected magic damage with potency 80 to target. When embodying an element, the spell changes to the corresponding elemental spell.

Level 2: Pollution: Corrupt the surrounding aether around your target, dealing unaspected magic damage with potency 40 for 18s. When embodying an element, the aspect is changed to that element and the spell counts as a spell of that element.

Level 4 Embody Earth: 45 sec cooldown. Attune elemental polarity to Earth, changing certain spells to their Earth version. Earth spells have a chance of placing Heavy Earth on the target, causing their physical attacks to deal 10 % less damage for 5 sec. Upon attuning to Earth, MP regen is greatly enhanced for 20s as long as you remain attuned to Earth. Effect ends upon reuse or activation of another Embody ability.

Level 6 Embody Lightning: 45 sec cooldown. Attune elemental polarity to Lightning, changing certain spells to their Lightning version. Lightning spells have a chance of overloading the target, dealing damage over 5 sec. Mana Regen stops while in Lightning stance, MP refreshing statuses have no effect. Effect ends upon reuse or activation of another Embody ability.

Level 8 Embody Water: 5 sec cooldown. Attune elemental polarity to Water, changing certain spells to their Water version. While attuned to water, elemental spells heal the target rather than doing damage, the INT attribute is switched with the MND attribute. Upon attuning to Water, MP regen is greatly enhanced for 20s as long as you remain attuned to Water. Effect ends upon reuse or activation of another Embody ability.

Level 10 Benic: Change a damage over time effect on the target into a heal over time effect instead. Duration and potency of the effect is the same as that of the original effect. Cooldown: 120 sec.

Level 12 Element II: Deals unaspected magic damage with potency 40 to target and enemies near it. When embodying an element, the spell changes to the corresponding elemental spell.

Level 15 (Job Quest) Elemental Blast: Instant. Deals unaspected magic damage with potency 70 to an enemy. When embodying an element, potency is increased to 100, damage type changes to the element, and the spell counts as a spell of that element for attunement purposes.

Level 18 Typhoon: Infuses all party members with the power of air, increasing movement speed and evasion by 10%. Duration: 10s.

Level 22 Geo-Boost: Increases the potency of your spells by 10%. Duration: 12s. Cooldown: 90 sec

Level 26 Earth Wall: Increases target's defence by 20%. Duration: 10s.

Level 30 (Job Quest) Embody Fire: 45 sec cooldown. Attune elemental polarity to Fire, changing certain spells to their Fire version. Fire spells have a chance of burning the target, dealing damage over 5 sec. Mana Regen stops while in Fire stance, MP refreshing statuses have no effect. Effect ends upon reuse or activation of another Embody ability.

Level 34 Element III: Deals unaspected magic damage with potency 140 to target. When embodying an element, the spell changes to the corresponding elemental spell.

Level 35 (Job Quest) Embody Wind: 45 sec cooldown. Attune elemental polarity to Wind, changing certain spells to their Wind version. Wind spells have a chance of placing Disrupting Wind on the target, causing their magical attacks to deal 10% less damage for 5 sec. Upon attuning to Wind, MP regen is greatly enhanced for 20s as long as you remain attuned to Wind. Effect ends upon reuse or activation of another Embody ability.

Level 38 Element Fury: Instant. 30 sec cooldown. An attack that delivers 6 different 25 potency elemental attacks to a single target simultaneously, each aspected to a different element. Current active embodiment gains one stack.

Level 40 (Job Quest) Embody Ice: 45 sec cooldown. Attune elemental polarity to Ice, changing certain spells to their Ice version. Ice spells apply Frozen Defence, increasing target's damage taken by 10% for 10 sec. Hypothermia applies after the vulnerability wears off, rendering the target immune to Frozen Defence for 1 min. Mana Regen stops while in Ice stance, MP refreshing statuses have no effect. Effect ends upon reuse or activation of another Embody ability.

Level 42 Element Cloak: Shields and empowers targeted ally with your embodied element, increasing their resistance towards that element and making their attacks deal additional damage of that element. Only one party member may have receive this benefit at a time. If you change Embodiment while this ability is active, the target's benefit changes as well. Duration: 10s.

Level 45 (Job Quest) Elemental Terrain: Covers the designated area in the element of the currently active embodiment, dealing damage to any enemies who enter. Additional effect dependant on embodied element: Fire: Reduce enemies' determination. Earth: Heavy enemies. Ice: Slow enemies. Water: Allies gain Regen. Wind: Blind enemies. Lightning: Reduce enemies' evasion. Duration: 20 sec.

Level 46 Water Veil: Increases target's magical defence by 20%. Duration: 10s.

Level 50 Element Rush: Use the element of the current active embodiment to travel a short distance forward.

Level 50 (Job Quest) Eorzea's Fury: Summons the elemental fury of Eorzea to wreck havoc on the enemy. 10 sec channeled ability that delivers one attack with potency 50 per Elemental Attunement stacks to all enemies in the area of the ability, consuming the stacks over the channelled time. If Water stacks are consumed, Eorzea's Fury heals allies in area for 25% of the damage dealt per Water stack.

Level 52 Focused Resolve: Refresh duration of all current elemental attunement stacks.

Level 54 Expanded Focus: Cast your next Element I, Element II or Element III as a combined spell of your current attunement stacks. Duration 10 sec. Cooldown: 120 sec.

Level 56 Ascendance: Take in the elements and become their embodiment. Increases damage and healing done by 5%. Can only be executed with at least one Elemental Attunement stack at four. Does not consume the Attunement stacks. Duration 15 sec.

Level 58 Polarity Shift: Place a buff on the target that for a short duration switches healing and damage. If the target is an ally, any damage taken will heal the target instead. If the target is an enemy, any healing received will deal damage instead. Only available during Ascendance. Duration: 10 sec. Cooldown 300 sec.

Level 60 Flare of Eorzea: Deals elemental damage of all six aspects to target and all enemies near it. Can only be executed while under the effect of Ascendance. Ascendance fades upon execution.


Elemental Spells:
Earth I: Deals earth damage with a potency of 140. MP cost*: 6. Additional effect: Grants Earth Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Earth spells by 10% per stack.

Earth II: Deals earth damage with a potency of 60 to target and enemies near it. MP cost: 10. Additional effect: Grants Earth Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Earth spells by 10% per stack.

Earth III: Deals earth damage with a potency of 200. MP cost: 14. Additional effect: Grants Earth Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Earth spells by 10% per stack.


Lightning I: Deals lightning damage with a potency of 180. MP cost: 12. Additional effect: Grants Lightning Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Lightning spells by 25% per stack.

Lightning II: Deals lightning damage with a potency of 100 to target and enemies near it. MP cost: 16. Additional effect: Grants Lightning Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Lightning spells by 25% per stack.

Lightning III: Deals lightning damage with a potency of 240. MP cost: 20. Additional effect: Grants Lightning Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Lightning spells by 25% per stack.


Water I: Restores target's HP. Cure potency: 400. MP cost: 6. Additional effect: Grants Water Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the healing done by water spells by 10% per stack.

Water II: Restores own HP and HP of all nearby party members. Cure potency 300. MP cost: 26. Additional effect: Grants Water Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the healing done by water spells by 10% per stack.

Water III: Restores target's HP. Cure potency: 650. MP cost: 15. Additional effect: Grants Water Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the healing done by water spells by 10% per stack.


Fire I: Deals fire damage with a potency of 180. MP cost: 12. Additional effect: Grants Fire Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Fire spells by 25% per stack.

Fire II: Deals fire damage with a potency of 100 to target and enemies near it. MP cost: 16. Additional effect: Grants Fire Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Fire spells by 25% per stack.

Fire III: Deals fire damage with a potency of 240. MP cost: 20. Additional effect: Grants Fire Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Fire spells by 25% per stack.


Ice I: Deals ice damage with a potency of 160. MP cost: 8. Additional effect: Grants Ice Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Ice spells by 10% per stack.

Ice II: Deals ice damage with a potency of 80 to target and enemies near it. MP cost: 12. Additional effect: Grants Ice Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Ice spells by 10% per stack.

Ice III: Deals ice damage with a potency of 220. MP cost: 16. Additional effect: Grants Ice Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Ice spells by 10% per stack.


Wind I: Deals wind damage with a potency of 140. MP cost: 6. Additional effect: Grants wind Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Wind spells by 10% per stack.

Wind II: Deals wind damage with a potency of 60 to target and enemies near it. MP cost: 10. Additional effect: Grants Earth Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Wind spells by 10% per stack.

Wind III: Deals wind damage with a potency of 200. MP cost: 14. Additional effect: Grants wind Attunement for 15 sec, increasing the damage of Wind spells by 10% per stack.
*MP cost is based on a lvl 1 character. As the lvl goes up, the MP cost of spells increases.


Traits
Level 8 Enhanced Intelligence I: Increases Intelligence by 2.
Level 14 Enhanced Intelligence II: Increases Intelligence by 4.
Level 16 Maim and Mend: Increases base action damage and HP restored by 10 % and allows for the stacking of a second elemental attunement.
Level 20 Enhanced Benic: Reduce cooldown to 90 sec.
Level 24 Enhanced Geo-Boost: Increases damage to 20%.
Level 28 Maim and Mend II: Increases base action damage and HP restored by 20 % and allows for the stacking of a third elemental attunement.
Level 32 Enhanced Intelligence III: Increases Intelligence by 6.
Level 36 Enhanced Earth Wall: Increases duration to 20 seconds.
Level 40 Maim and Mend III: Increases base action damage and HP restored by 30 % and allows for the stacking of a forth elemental attunement.
Level 44 Heavy Typhoon: Movement speed and evasion are increased by 20%.
Level 48 Enhanced Water Veil: Increases duration to 20 seconds.

Cross class skills:
Conjurer: Protect, Raise, Stoneskin
Thaumaturge: Surecast, Blizzard II, Swiftcast
Arcanist: Virus, Eye for an Eye

[Sandpark]

Sounds a bit like GW2 Elementalist but I like it. SE ripped most spell lines from Black Mage and gave them to other classes/jobs. At least with your idea I can have what my opinion of Black Mage has always been. It's fun playing Elementalist in GW2 btw. So if that was your inspiration I am not knocking it.

So sick of DOTS. I want a glass cannon burst damage elemental wielder..

I don't notice many dots, is that your intention? If so I love it.

[Kael_Thor]

Sounds a bit like GW2 Elementalist but I like it... It's fun playing Elementalist in GW2 btw. So if that was your inspiration I am not knocking it.

So sick of DOTS. I want a glass cannon burst damage elemental wielder..

I don't notice many dots, is that your intention? If so I love it.

I'm glad you like it^^
I like GW2 Elementalist as well, and I might have been unconsciously inspired by it.
As for dots, I wanted each element to have a purpose. Water is the healing element, Earth and Wind are supportish elements, Ice, Fire and Lightning are the dps elements. Ice is more supportish in that it allows others to do more damage, in addition to the caster him/herself, but Fire and Lightning are the Boom elements. Thus only those two could really have dots and I couldn't give them too many. The Dot class is Arcanist and Summoner, I didn't want to 'intrude' upon that.

[Eloah]

Okay, I'm not to sure how to start and explain that what you created is great in theory, but feels a bit jumbled in execution.

I wrote some things down, that I hope do not sounds too harsh, as i do really like this idea. I can't at the moment but I'd love to retool it jut for fun.

The first thing I will state is that while having a Job that uses the Elements as a "base" design remember that FFXIV doesn't have a true element system so anything that deals with elemental resistance or damage is almost worthless, sorry to say; so skills like Element Cloak wouldn't do much but decrease incoming damage.

The second thing is that while being able to change/alter your elemental affinity is good, you have to remember that you have to keep it balanced, since most players will find the best affinity to use and possibly harass those who prefer to play with any other affinity. GW2 has specializations that use each element they have which is why their system can work, FFXIV as of right now have no specializations.

Also while the idea of Element I/II/III changing depending on your affinity is good, you have the spells themselves too "diverse" the coding changes that would be required to change each skill design would make the job to confusing and a bit hard to play. That being said having each tier being similar but having a different effect for say the AoE is fine or should be anyway. Remember you want to keep things interesting but simple.

You don't mention the attunement stacks until after every ability is listed, and they aren't really mentioned in the abilities either. We don't really get an idea of their purpose or what they are really for. Additionally, you have 6 attunements total, which might be a little much. 1 arching attunement or 2 attumements, one Umbral one Astral might be a bit better. As i stated before, people will look for the best abilities to use and right now your Fire skills are winning.

While the Water moves acting as healing spells is good, the potentiates are a bit off. Cure is 400 potency on any class/job that uses it but if the job has a poor mind stat the overall cure is rather low. So if this Elementalists Water/Cure spells mimic the other healers potencies the cures wont do much if their mind is too low. Additionally, you can cross class form 3 other classes, so probably Arcanist is out.

And lastly the Embody skills are a bit confusing. You indicate that they can be "reused", but any reusable skill has a short CD, these are 45 seconds long, the GW2 counter part only has a 10 sec CD. Also the buffs they give for using them appear to be too short and might not offer any real benefit to the fight. Additionally while the attunements and the skills that can be used change for a GW2 Elementalist, they also change depending on their weapon, FFXIV only offers one weapon, so that would play a different part in the FFXIV version.

Now I may of said all of this and it might seem mean or disheartening, but I really do like the idea, and I think it could work really well, it just might need some fine tuning so that it fits into what FFXIV is, but also is something new to experiment with.

PS. while I have never played GW2 I did watch several play-throughs of elementalists and looked up their skills to gauge what you were trying to present

[Keramory]

I wish they would just put the elemental wheel back into the game, give BLM (among the other classes) their old spell list and that would be that. One Garuda abuse and they rip it all away...

I do like the idea however of a class/job that actually uses all the other classes. Regardless of what they're trying to do now, the very absolute core of this game is to level several classes and jobs. Yes the original intent was to combine it all, which didn't go over well as a whole, but theres no reason to make good use out of a very valid option, for the more hardcore players.
I get the reasoning behind trying to stray away from it (same reason they took out the elemental wheel all together), they didnt want class favoritism (a silly notion, there always will be). However again, theres absolutely no reason to give a valued Onion Knight class into the game, as long as its not overpowered to the point of demanding every player have it to join a party.

[Eloah]

Valid Point

A cool way to incorporate this idea is to give us a Mime job and have it be a slight mix of mechanics form each job. Oh that's a neat idea I should play with. basically you can have it that in order to unlock Mime you need to have every Job up to that point leveled to the max, 60, 70 whatever. There can be some base moves, abilities and impute skills, like all job skills up to level 20, 40, 60. You could choose to either be a Magical Mime or a Melee Mime, and the mechanics would vary based on the skills chosen, magical or melee. A Magical Mime could follow a similar mechanic to BLM with the Umbral/Astral cycle and a Melee Mime could have a similar Mechanic to monks. oh the possibilities, XD.

[Kael_Thor]

I'll be going through your points more or less one by one and replying to them.

I wrote some things down, that I hope do not sounds too harsh, as i do really like this idea. I can't at the moment but I'd love to retool it jut for fun.

Not sure what you mean by retool, but criticism is always welcome. It is why I posted this in the first place :P
I am glad you like the idea, and no, you weren't too harsh^^

The first thing I will state is that while having a Job that uses the Elements as a "base" design remember that FFXIV doesn't have a true element system so anything that deals with elemental resistance or damage is almost worthless, sorry to say; so skills like Element Cloak wouldn't do much but decrease incoming damage.

I'm not so sure. We have elemental resistances, and we can increase that through materia. Elemental Cloak would be a short term increase. Take for instance Ifrit. Put Elemental Cloak on someone and Ifrit's attacks does less damage to them, almost as if that person melded Fire materia to their gear.

The second thing is that while being able to change/alter your elemental affinity is good, you have to remember that you have to keep it balanced, since most players will find the best affinity to use and possibly harass those who prefer to play with any other affinity. GW2 has specializations that use each element they have which is why their system can work, FFXIV as of right now have no specializations.

I agree with this, and it is one of the things I struggle with, finding a way to make each of the elements balanced. I essentially wanted them Fire and Lighting to be high dps, Wind, Ice and Earth to be high utility and Water to be healing. The goal was for a player to be forced to switch elements relatively often, similar to how Thaumaturges have to switch between Ice and Fire. Side note: I didn't actually model my class after the GW2 Elementalist, at least not on purpose:P

Also while the idea of Element I/II/III changing depending on your affinity is good, you have the spells themselves too "diverse" the coding changes that would be required to change each skill design would make the job to confusing and a bit hard to play. That being said having each tier being similar but having a different effect for say the AoE is fine or should be anyway. Remember you want to keep things interesting but simple.

I see Element I/II/III to be similar in button design to a Ninja's Ninjutsu button, I.e it changes according to the situation. The different effects are perhaps a bit too different though, making remembering what each do difficult, I'll admit that.

You don't mention the attunement stacks until after every ability is listed, and they aren't really mentioned in the abilities either. We don't really get an idea of their purpose or what they are really for. Additionally, you have 6 attunements total, which might be a little much. 1 arching attunement or 2 attumements, one Umbral one Astral might be a bit better. As i stated before, people will look for the best abilities to use and right now your Fire skills are winning.

I use the word "attune" far too much, in hindsight. Attunement stacks are something you get from your spells, hence why I described them under each spell, similar to how Astral Fire and Umbral Ice is something you get from Fire and Ice spells as a thaumaturge. I am actually describing the effects of the attunement stacks more than Astral Fire and Umbral Ice is described for thaumaturges. I had no idea of the actual effects of those two until my research for my class lead me to a Thaumaturge guide.
The stacks represent a deepening connection to that element, making spells of that element better for a short time.

While the Water moves acting as healing spells is good, the potentiates are a bit off. Cure is 400 potency on any class/job that uses it but if the job has a poor mind stat the overall cure is rather low. So if this Elementalists Water/Cure spells mimic the other healers potencies the cures wont do much if their mind is too low.

Yes, I know about this, and it was by design. I didn't want to make a fully fledged healer, I wanted to give the class the option of healing some if required. That is why Embody Water switches Int and Mnd, it is essentially Cleric Stance but reversed. Elementalist wouldn't be as good as a real healer, but would be good enough to help in damage heavy phases, or if the healer died/DCed or is crowd controlled.

And lastly the Embody skills are a bit confusing. You indicate that they can be "reused", but any reusable skill has a short CD, these are 45 seconds long, the GW2 counter part only has a 10 sec CD. Also the buffs they give for using them appear to be too short and might not offer any real benefit to the fight.

The Embody abilities were originally called Stance, Fire Stance for example, but I decided, for reasons I can't remember, to rename them. They would function similarly to a tank's stances or Cleric Stance, in that you activate one, which gives you access to certain abilities. Press Embody Fire and your Element spells change to Fire spells, who each have a chance to apply a short duration burn, and your MP regen stops.

The wording is clunky, and I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it but essentially the Embody abilities enter you into a stance of that element, where your abilities become of that element. When you activate another Embody ability, you enter the new stance, your spells change to the new element and you loose the benefits and penalties of the 'old' stance. The cooldown is so long to stop the elementalist from essentially becoming a Thaumaturge, only going between Fire for pure dps and one of the utility elements for mana regen before switching back to Fire for more dps.
The buffs are short because they can be reapplied. Take Embody Earth for instance. Upon activating that ability, the Elementalist attunes to the Earth element, changing her elementally neutral spells into Earth spells. Each of these spells have a chance of applying Heavy Earth, which decreases the physical damage the debuffed target does for a short time. That duration is so short because each Earth spell could reapply the debuff, meaning you could theoretically keep the target debuffed indefinitely. Additionally the Embody Earth also greatly increases MP regen for 20 seconds after activation, as long as the stance isn't changed. That means that if you change out of Earth 'stance' 10 seconds after entering it, you won't get the full duration of the increased MP regen. This works similar to Thaumaturge's Astral Fire and Umbral Ice. In Umbral Ice, your MP regens much faster, but if you switch to Astral Fire you loose this increased MP regen.
The Embody abilities are essentially the core of the class, they allow the player to tailor themselves to each fight. "My target deals only magic damage, that means that Wind is a good idea to make my target do less damage, while Earth isn't as useful." Picking and choosing which element is best to use in a given situation should be part of the fun, and challenge, with the class, but I don't think I managed that quite right:P

I should perhaps find a different name for the Embody abilities and attunement stacks. Perhaps change Embody to Attunement, and call the stacks something like 'shards' or 'connection' or something similar.

I do like the idea however of a class/job that actually uses all the other classes.

I'm not sure my class does this though. My aim was for a class that uses all the elements, not all the other classes. Still you do have a valid point.