Affinities, Elementals & Status

ERTE tries to encourage strategic gameplay, so now there are different combinations between Affinities, elemental damage types, and status inflicted.

Afftinites

Affinities now have a higher direct impact in gameplay, specially the physical ones. They no longer are just stats value changes, but modify weapons performance heavily. 

Physical Affinities

The four physical affinities (Heavy, Quality, Keen, Occult) alter infused weapons Weight, conditioning your build. They also affect other weapon parameters weight related, either in a positive or negative way. This way, the heavier the weapon, the slower it will perform but also the harder it will hit. These are the pros and cons for each physical affinity:

Heavy Affinity:

Pros:

Highest Poise damage increase.

Highest Guard Repel increase when blocking.

Highest Attack Base Stamina (ability to break enemies blocking) increase.

Highest Guard Boost increase when blocking.

Highest Physical Negation increase when blocking.

Cons:

Highest Weapon Weight increase / slowest attacks chains.

Highest Weapon Weight Rate score (slowest attacks chaining).

Lowest Criticals (Visceral Attacks, Backstabs) damage.

Highest Stamina Consumption increase when attacking.

Quality Affinity:

Pros:

Moderate Poise damage increase.

Moderate Guard Repel increase when blocking.

Moderate Attack Base Stamina (ability to break enemies blocking) increase.

Moderate Guard Boost increase when blocking.

Moderate Physical Negation increase when blocking.

Cons:

Moderate Weapon Weight increase.

Moderate Weapon Weight Rate score (slower attacks chaining).

Moderate Criticals (Visceral Attacks, Backstabs) damage reduction.

Moderate Stamina Consumption increase when attacking.

Keen Affinity:

Pros:

Moderate Weapon Weight reduction

Moderate to low Weapon Weight Rate score (faster attacks chaining)

Moderate Criticals (Visceral Attacks, Backstabs) damage increase

Moderate Stamina Consumption reduction when attacking

Cons:

Moderate Poise damage reduction.

Moderate Guard Repel reduction when blocking.

Moderate Attack Base Stamina (ability to break enemies blocking) reduction.

Moderate Guard Boost reduction when blocking.

Moderate Physical Negation reduction when blocking.

Occult Affinity:

Pros:

Highest Weapon Weight reduction / fastest attack chains.

Lowest Weapon Weight Rate score (faster attacks chaining).

Highest Criticals (Visceral Attacks, Backstabs) damage increase.

Highest Stamina Consumption reduction when attacking.

Cons:

Highest Poise damage reduction.

Highest Guard Repel reductionwhen blocking.

Lowest Attack Base Stamina (ability to break enemies blocking).

Highest Guard Boost when blocking reduction.

Highest Physical Negation reduction when blocking.

Elemental Affinities & Elemental Damage

All status can be stacked now, so you can keep applying them after the first proc without interruption.

Magic

FP restoration when hitting enemies with a Magic infused weapon.

Fire

Adds a lingering burn effect that inflicts pure Fire damage over time. Combines very well with Rot.

Magma (New Affinity replacing  vanilla Flame Art)

Emites a magma puddle that inflicts area of effect fire damage when hitting enemies. Combines very well with Rot.

Lightning

Increases dramatically the Stamina Attack Rate (Stamina damage inflicted to enemies), breaking shields and weapon guards with ease. Combines very well with Frostbite.

Sacred

HP restoration when hitting enemies with a Sacred infused weapon.

Status Affinities

Bleed

No longer inflicts % damage, only absolute value. Bleed is still effective against low and mid tier enemies, but no longer deletes subbosses and bosses. Blocking with shield negates most Bleed build up.

Frost

No longer inflicts % damage, only absolute value. Increased damage negation debuff after the proc. It main effect is the increase in damage taken when hit with Lightning elemental attacks. Blocking with shields negates most Frostbite build up.

Poison

Dramatically increased damage from vanilla (triple damage per tic) but decreased duration (three times less). Now Poison kills way faster, but you have to keep inflicting it against enemies with huge hp pools in order to make it effective. It also reduces Bleed resistance, creating a deadly combination.

Other Special Elemental and Status:

Scarlett Rot

Reduced damage inflicted from vanilla but highly increased duration. It main effect now is the debuff on resistances against all types of elemental and status, specially against fire. When infected with Scarlet Rot, fire damage taken increases from 1.5 to 2.0 times.

Ghostflame

Inflicts Frostbite build up over time, in a similar way as Bloodflame does with Bleed. This means it builds frostbite even when blocking Ghostflame attacks.

Bloodflame

Same as vanilla, it inflicts Bleed build up over time, ignoring guards.

Destined Death

It works same as Fire, inflicting damage over time, but this damage is pure Holy instead of Fire. Some special Destined Death attacks also inflicts a 10% max HP reduction.

Blackflame

It inflicts damage over time, and this DoT is a pure HP tick down, is not affected by elemental resistances. The damage is a mix between an absolute value and a % of max HP per tick, so the higher the HP pool, the more damage it inflicts, and viceversa.

Ancient Lightning

Same as Lightning, it incrases dramatically Stamina Attack Rate against enemies, and besides that, it also debuff enemies attack power greatly for a while.