Elements and orbs
Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind and Vorpal: what each element does, how to give your weapon one with an orb or Element Imbue, how to defend against them, and how rain and snow change them.
- Fire burns, Ice freezes, Lightning stuns, Wind launches, Vorpal cuts through defence.
- Carry an orb for an element in every battle, or imbue one into your weapon at a Forge.
- Rain and snow make Fire weak and Lightning strong.
Tap an underlined word to see what it means.
An element adds an extra effect to some of your attacks: burning, freezing, stunning, launching or cutting through defence. There are five, always listed in this order, each with its own icon.
The five elements
| Element | What it does | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Sets the target on fire: Life drains over a short time. | A burn cannot finish anyone off; it stops at 1 Life. Much weaker in rain or snow. |
| Ice | Freezes the target in place for a moment. | Only works on a target standing on the ground. A Musou breaks the ice. Stronger and longer in snow. |
| Lightning | Stuns the target for a while. | In rain or snow every Lightning hit stuns. The stun clears after 10 combo hits, and mashing buttons shakes it off sooner. |
| Wind | Knocks targets higher and further. Against players and officers it also slows them and stops them jumping for a while. | Great for scattering crowds. |
| Vorpal | Ignores defence: every hit does at least a guaranteed amount. Drains the target's Musou, and can defeat an ordinary soldier in one blow. | Costs the attacker some Musou per hit on DWO Reborn. |
Which attacks carry the element
Not every attack: mostly charge attacks, especially C6 and the attacks set by your emblems, plus a few other moves. Ordinary normal attacks almost never do. Each weapon page lists which of its attacks carry an element.
Two separate chances
An element from an orb, or from standing in a base of the same element, fires on every attack that carries it. An element imbued into the weapon fires only some of the time, more often the more stages it has. Even when Ice or Lightning fires, the freeze or stun does not always take hold; stronger orbs make it more likely.
Getting an element: orbs
The easiest way is an orb, carried as your battle item. You choose battle items in Battle Preparations before the battle; an orb gives its element to your weapon for the whole fight, and it fires every time.
| Orb | Where to get it | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Rank 1: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind and Vorpal Orb | The Merchant in the Market. | 400 gold each |
| Rank 2: Inferno, Blizzard, Blitz, Tornado and True Vorpal Orb | Craft from two of the matching Rank 1 orb at any Cauldron (every character knows these recipes). Also one of the rare rewards for winning a quest or Melee. | Two Rank 1 orbs |
| Rank 3 (Ultra) orbs | Not sold on DWO Reborn at the moment. | - |
If you carry an orb of a different element from the one imbued in your weapon, the orb wins and the imbue does nothing for that battle.
Getting an element: Element Imbue
Element Imbue puts an element permanently into a weapon, in up to five stages, at a Forge. It needs a Rank 2 orb and some Ore. A weapon holds one element at a time: imbuing a different one replaces the old one.
- Go to a Forge: the Shared Forge in the Market, or a Forge in your own house.
- Choose Element Imbue and pick the weapon (you can imbue the weapon you are carrying).
- Choose a Rank 2 orb of the element you want (Rank 1 orbs cannot be used for imbuing). The window shows how likely it is to succeed and the Ore needed.
- Confirm. On success the weapon gains a stage of that element and its model takes on the element's colour.
| Where | Gold | Ore | If it fails | Success rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forge in your house | None | Some Ore (the window shows how much) | You keep the orb | Higher |
| Shared Forge in the Market | 200 x the weapon's rank | Some Ore (the window shows how much) | Sometimes you keep the orb | Much lower |
A weapon's element wears down as you use it. When its element durability reaches zero the weapon loses a stage. The Blacksmith's Element Repair restores it for Ore.
Defending against elements
- Wards cancel one element completely while carried: Thermal Ward (Fire), Ice Ward, Blitz Ward (Lightning), Wind Ward and Vorpal Ward. They cost 800 gold each at the Merchant and add some stats too.
- Gear imbued with an element at a Loom sometimes cancels that element when you are hit; more imbued pieces help more. Capes carry no element.
- Some Advance+ abilities make you immune to elements while they run.
Weather: rain and snow
| Weather | Fire | Ice | Wind and Lightning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear | Normal | Normal | Normal |
| Rain | Much weaker | Normal | Stronger; every Lightning hit stuns |
| Snow | Much weaker | Stronger, with longer freezes | Stronger; every Lightning hit stuns |
- Weather is picked at random when a battle starts, and sometimes changes during it.
- A Rain Amulet (Merchant, 400 gold) makes it rain for the whole battle. In PvP, one player carrying it makes the whole match rain.
- Rain and fog also shorten how far your minimap can see.
- Townsfolk mention when rain or snow is coming: leave your Fire weapon at home.