Blood Magic is the enabler for most of the in-class synergies, yes (beyond the more general idea that if you draw more cards than you have energy to play, anything that costs 0 is decent). Other than Blood Magic, there's a few things like Twig giving extra ignite and Become the Storm giving them lightning element. And there are some out-of-class synergies too, like you noted with Dead Branch (not sure how much else there is, at least in terms of base game relic synergies).

I see. Read the Flames is similar to Cut Through Fate. You trade out the damage, switch the order of scry and draw, and add Fading Ember to your draw pile in order to gain one more draw.

Fading Ember is like a shiv alternative. All the synergies that I can think of (except Dead Branch) require Blood Magic first. Am I missing something there?

@drewmarc: Good to hear you've enjoyed my other mods as well :). I enjoyed making them.

For Fading Embers, I'd say it's more that Circle of Embers can be really strong block in the late game for an ignite-focused deck (enough to be worth the Fading Ember it puts into your deck), and Read The Flames is good throughout the entire game (draw and scry is a powerful combination). You don't want too many copies of either, but they can be a key part of a winning run. If you want to start somewhere, try taking Read The Flames when you see it -- I think it's a strong card.

For the totems, I'd agree that Earth is the most generally useful. Ice and Fire are expensive and usually don't give immediate benefit, but have their niches that they're powerful in once you get going. Lightning I've found can be one way to get enough block for the late game, particularly if you have a lot of Thunders.

I've enjoyed most of your mods (I see there's one I haven't tried yet), so thanks for all of your hard work.
I'll try to get Fading Embers to work, since you were able to do so on A20. Would it make sense to make them add fire element? That way, you can find them with Fireball, or discard them with Ashes to Ashes.
I was surprised that lightning was better, by the way. I had gone in thinking that Ignite was stronger than Shock unless you could do *a lot* of damage anyway. I still think that's true, but lightning is so much more versatile.
I wonder how people find the totems, by the way? I like Ice in theory--more energy is good--but 3 energy without getting anything that turn is a hard ask. Lightning and Fire are kind of meh. Fire has potential, but there aren't a lot of ways to gain energy, and fire can already draw cards fairly well. Earth is the best of the lot. The fact that it's the cheapest goes a long way in making it good. Too bad there are so few common earth cards

@drewmarc: Glad you're enjoying the mod! Playing at A20 I've found that Twig is a very strong boss relic -- the block makes a lot of Lightning cards much stronger and there's a ton of synergy for it. It can be tricky to get enough block with a heavy Lightning deck without Twig, though. Anyway, I plan to make an update in the next month or two with small balance adjustments, including slightly weakening a few Lightning cards.

Fading Embers are generally a downside, yes. Though it's situational; early on, for example, a Fading Ember will often be better than another Strike or Defend, and later on they can be okay if you have synergy and/or a good amount of draw. I've found that each of the cards that makes Fading Embers has a role to play, some more limited than others.

For Consult the Stars, thanks for reporting that, since it's definitely a bug. I looked into it and it's set as a buff instead of a debuff. I'll fix that in the next update I make.

I really like this mod so far (on Ascension 15). One thing I've noticed is that everything lightning tends to be better than anything fire. Lightning has 1) damage 2) extra energy 3) card draw 4) Stormfront to play all those powerful Ethereal cards. With World Twig, it also has block.

Fire does get damage and card draw, but it also has negative card draw in the form of those pesky Fading Embers. Are those low tempo cards meant to be a downside? Even with Blood Magic making them give +2 block, I actively avoid them.

I also ran into a bug, though I don't know if it's fixable. If you have Orange Pellets and play Consult the Stars after playing a power and an attack, Orange Pellets doesn't remove the debuff of having to pick an element. Again, it might not be fixable, since you are presented with a menu afterwards, but I thought I'd mention it.

The character concept is neat, but feels overtuned. I've played through three games, and every one of them I've rocked the heart with barely a single point of damage taken - frequently with the latter statement being true throughout the 3rd act.

@Sagil: That's intended. Take a look at Sadistic Nature in the compendium.

Ignite, Shock and Chill don't trigger Sadistic ability.

Nice character, love the new mechanics which offer lots of different strategies and synergies. Ignite and shock do feel more powerful than chill and resonance, but as you said may change at higher ascension level (which I haven't reached yet). Thanks for the work.

Can confirm that A20's still quite challenging with the character. Got decked by Darkglade's Silent Orchestra in act 1 convincingly even after picking up 2 Massive Hammers early.

Hi all,

I've deleted a comment that was a rant about the mod. I'm always happy to hear people's experiences with my mods and I don't have a problem when people comment that the mod wasn't for them or describing parts of the mod they didn't like. You can see one such comment below.

Where I draw the line is when people get rude, insulting, or disruptive, and the comment I deleted was all three. This isn't the place for that and the best thing to do with trolls on the internet is to avoid engaging with them.

Hope everyone continues to enjoy the mod and all the other great works people have put out for StS on the Steam Workshop, whether or not they fit perfectly into Spire's lore and art style :).

@Dangerosul: kind of a weird take. Do you post the same rant on every Skyrim mod that doesn't fit in TES lore?

@Shadeshinobi1: Glad you're having fun! The Electric Strike/Thunder interaction is intentional. It's one of the many little synergies Thunder has.

Your other comments mostly line up with my playtesting. Volt Cyclone's a good card for sure and the Shaman is strong on low ascensions.

I will note that chill gets more important at high ascensions where damage numbers are higher and scaling is faster. That's when the Shaman stops being able to rely on offense to solve everything and starts having some trouble blocking. And being percentage-based means that the value of chill grows throughout the game; it can have a huge impact against the A20 endgame gauntlet.

Also, discarding Thunder with Electric strike returns it to your hand after the attack resolves, netting you a free draw. Not sure if that's a bug or just neat synergy.

Have played two runs with the character, one ending at the Heart and Darkglade's Ruina act 4&5 for the other, and just plain had fun with the character. From the runs, most of the chill cards didn't seem impactful and volt cyclone stands out as very powerful being a large source of shock for the cost (being AoE to boot).

This character straight melts bosses on low ascension but I imagine A16+'s harder hallway fights give this lad some trouble.

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I'll be honest, watching the numerous small numbers feels like busywork. It looks like a fun concept, and I usually like stuff like this, so I am surprised I felt bored with this one.

I love the use of the Magic the Gathering art!

it sounds cool :)