Stoneshard Update – Electromancy

An upcoming early access update for Ink Stains Games’ turn-based RPG Stoneshard is going to introduce a new magic school to the game – Electromancy. And as such, we now have this Steam announcement outlining all the new electricity-based spells and passive skills accompanying them.

Check it out:

Hello everyone!

Let’s start with some context. Unlike other archetypes, mages have been neglected in terms of new content for quite a while. There are multiple reasons for this: before new magic could be added, we had to introduce a number of additional mechanics first, which wasn’t possible while the focus was on building more important and global systems. It also didn’t help that developing new magic requires much more resources than weaponry and utility trees. But now the time has come, and we finally can give magic the attention it deserves. Therefore, meet Electromancy!

We envisioned Electromancy as something in between Pyromancy and Geomancy: it’s capable of dealing high damage to multiple targets while providing ample opportunities for weakening your foes and manipulating their positioning.

The key mechanic of Electromancy is the so-called Resonance, which can be applied by the ability tree’s first two spells. This effect in particular distinguishes Electromancy’s AoE spells from those of pyromancy – they target specific targets rather than set areas, allowing you to affect enemies standing on opposite sides of the battlefield. Let’s have a better look at each spell’s function and the overall structure of the ability tree[…]

Active Abilities

Jolt

The main Electromancy spell that acts as a foundation for the entire ability tree. It allows you to zap your target with a bolt of electricity, dealing a bit of damage and applying it with the effect of “Resonance”, which reduces Shock, Control, and Movement Resistances while also increasing Cooldowns Duration. It’s a simple spell, but its importance shouldn’t be understated – most high tier Electromancy abilities require at least one Resonating target before they can be used.

The varied debuffs applied by Resonance make “Jolt” a great addition even to melee builds, especially if they use one and two-handed maces, spears or just rely on Stuns, Dazes, Immobilization, and Knocking enemies back.

Impulse

“Impulse” is especially useful to hybrid characters – or when enemies catch you off guard and creep too close for comfort. It deals Shock Damage to adjacent enemies with a chance to Knock them back, applying Stagger if they remain in place.

Additionally, it has a chance to apply each affected target with the effect of “Impulse” – essentially, it’s a stronger version of Resonance which debuffs the same stats. Other than that, “Impulse” deals some damage every turn with a chance to Knock enemies back, reducing the possibility of them closing the distance again.

Short Circuit

This spell is one of the main offensive tools available to an apprentice electromancer. It does some damage to all Resonating enemies within Vision – the damage scales with the number of Resonating targets. The spell also has a chance to Daze each affected target.

If two Resonating targets are adjacent, “Short Circuit” deals double damage to them.

Static Field

“Static Field” is an AoE spell with an interesting twist. The center of its zone of effect isn’t a targeted tile, but rather all Resonating enemies – each of them receives a harmful aura of sorts. Each turn, “Static Field” deals Shock Damage to its main target (and everyone adjacent to it) with a chance to Immobilize. If the main target moves to a different tile, “Static Field” moves with it. And since damage from multiple instances of “Static Field” adds up, this spell becomes especially deadly when its targets are huddled up.

Ball Lightning

Casting this spell creates a ball lightning on a targeted tile, which deals damage to anything within a two tile radius with a chance to pull targets towards it. Enemies adjacent to the ball lightning receive slightly more damage, and if you somehow push them into it (or if the ball lightning pulls them in by itself), they receive double damage.

Unlike the previously described spells, “Ball Lightning” doesn’t require Resonating enemies to be used, but its duration is increased by a couple turns for each Resonance within Vision.

Chain Lightning

Obviously, we had no other choice but to include this spell into Electromancy. “Chain Lightning” deals a large amount of damage to a targeted enemy and then jumps towards a nearby Resonating target, damaging it as well. The number of additional targets is limited only by the number of Resonating enemies, although they can be damaged only once per cast.

On top of its main effect, “Chain Lightning” reduces the ability tree’s active Cooldowns by a couple turns per each affected target. It also has a chance to apply Stagger.

Tempest

And finally, “Tempest” – the ultimate Electromancy spell. Casting it summons lightning strikes that hit three random enemies within Vision, instantly finishing them off if their Health is lower than 20% (but not if it’s higher than a certain flat number). The spell hits Resonating targets first.

Each lightning strike removes Resonance with a chance to transform it into Stun – the Stun Chance scales with the number of remaining Resonance turns. The bonuses for removing Resonance don’t end here: each successfully Stunned enemy summons an additional lightning to strike one of the survivors.

Passive Abilities

Residual Charge

Allows Electromancy spells to enchant your weapon for a few turns, adding Shock Damage to your physical attacks and letting them reduce Shock Resistance on hit.

Additionally, natural lightning strikes that occur within Vision grant your character a long-lasting bonus to Electromancy Power.

Potential Difference

Grants “Impulse” a chance to deal double damage to any target it Knocks back and a chance to Immobilize these targets.

Unlimited Power

Grants different bonuses depending on your character’s current energy: each remaining percent of their Max Energy grants a small bonus to Electromancy Power, and each missing percent – a bonus to Energy Restoration.

Conductivity

“Conductivity” allows “Static Field” to drain energy from enemies and transfer it to your character, which is invaluable for maintaining your reserves.

Resonance Cascade

Casting Electromancy spells has a chance to activate Resonance on a random non-Resonating target within Vision. If there’s no valid target, it has a chance to prolong Resonance duration on a random enemy.

Chain Reaction

“Chain Reaction” reduces Shock Resistance of every target struck by Electromancy spells – the power of this effect depends on the number of Resonating targets.

Recharge

This passive grants bonus Energy Restoration for each Resonating enemy – killing them reduces Cooldowns Duration and spells’ Energy Cost.

That’s all for now – we hope you liked what you saw! Make sure to stay tuned: in the next devlog we’ll announce the next major update’s title and release date. We might also tell you a few things about changes to the magic system and reveal a new ability tree, Magic Mastery.

Until next time!