Discussion: Incarnations

Today we have a special guest: Deranged who will be sharing with us his knowledge of the Incarnation Magi Series!


ShiShui: Introduce yourself Hunter!

Deranged: Hi, I'm Deranged, the clan master of Dragon Project Singapore. I'm currently a student in a local university (Singapore), and I enjoy playing games in my free time. I got into Dragon Project since Global launch and have been playing since!

ShiShui: To start off.. Can you tell us a little bit about the Incarnation Series Magi?

Deranged: 
Thunder incarnation: 20% lightning damage & 10% lightning magi charge rate
Water incarnation: 20% water damage & 10% water magi charge rate
(Earth and Fire incarnation is not out yet)


ShiShui: Is it true they are very broken?

Deranged: These magis are incredibly broken in the right scenarios, and were released in JP Dragon Project as bonus magis that players could obtain after pulling 3 times in a specific magi banner. However, it was capped to only 1 incarnation magi per element per player (while in Global, we can get an unlimited amount with gems).


ShiShui: So how do they work?

Deranged: These magis do not work the same way as the elemental % on your armour. These magis affect your base elemental attack directly, which then stacks multiplicatively with your armour %, making it much better in many scenarios. The following is an illustration of the damage calculation

E.g.
1000 water attack + 100% water % from armour abilities (1000)x(1+1) = 2000 water attack

Adding 1 incarnation (20% of 1000 base water attack) :
(1200)x (1+1) = 2400

As seen from the above example, elemental attack from incarnations are amplified by armour elemental % just like base elemental attack from the weapon.


ShiShui: I see! Are there specific weapons that works better with the Incarnations than others?

Deranged: As incarnations increases the elemental attack, this makes it extremely good for weapons that rely on elemental damage, as compared to passive magis such as iron mastery which can only increase physical attack (e.g. skyfall damage is mostly elemental)

On the other hand, as incarnations give a percentage of your elemental attack, its effect on magi damage is not as prominent on weapons with low elemental attack due to alternative passive magis that provide a flat increase in physical damage. The following is an example with an explanation of how magi damage is calculated,

For Anubis bow with 489 base water attack:
20% incarn gives 97.8 water attack
Iron mastery gives a flat 87 physical attack
Fiery bow rite gives flat 150 physical attack

For magis, all physical attack are converted to elemental attack for magi damage (armour elemental % is applied on the sum total of physical+elemental attack from magi + weapon)

Magi damage is indifferent to whether the attack provided by the passive magi is physical or elemental. Do note that physical attack does not scale up with elemental % on armour except with magis.

Thus, incarnations are only marginally better than iron mastery for magi damage for weapons with low elemental attack and worse off compared to alternatives like fiery bow rite for heat bows and DB mastery for heat DBs. (sakura DB an exception with higher elem attack)


ShiShui: Wow! I understand now! So.. the incarnation's effect on magi damage is limited to a certain extent..

Deranged: While it may not be the best choice in increasing magi damage for such weapon types, the boost that incarnations provide to lockdown/overdrive damage is amplified by armour elemental %, unlike physical attack from magis like iron mastery. Thus, incarnations are still a great choice for heat bows and heat DBs unless the situation calls for heavy reliance on magi damage. Even so, the 10% magi charge rate that incarnations provide often makes it more effective than fiery bow rite/DB mastery. (a balance might be required situationally, to charge a magi at its fastest rate while being able to dish out just enough damage to take out the behemoth)

In addition to the damage, incarnations also provides a 10% magi charge rate for same type attack magis. Charging magis faster does more than just increasing damage. It also enhances the utility of magis such as Jupiter's descent (paralysis) and Frozen water rush (freeze) with more frequent casts.

All in all, it is a top tier passive magi for most weapon types


ShiShui: Can you tell us specifically which weapon complements the incarnation and which does not?

Deranged:
Excellent-best passive generally
SnS (heat+soul+burst)
Spear (heat+astral+soul)
DB (soul+astral) astral reliant on atk magis
GS (soul+burst)
Bow (soul)

Very good-top tier choice
DB (heat)
Bow (heat)

Bad-compared to enchantments
GS (heat)

Note: Incarnations are ineffective for Heat GS due to a unique mechanic for pulverise where pulverise damage scales mostly on elemental defense instead of elemental attack. Efficacy on yet to be released weapon types like soul bow are inferred and may be subject to change.


ShiShui: I definitely learnt alot from this discussion Deranged! Thank You so much for sharing with us!

Deranged: No problem, happy to share this with everyone :D