Elemental Stacking

[Arkana]

I saw on another post that it is very much possible to stack different elements with the weapons elements + elemental charm + consumable, but it was only done with separate elements. What I'm asking is, if I use Phoenix Tail + Impen Charm + Imperial Pitchfire, would that increase the firedamage or would it end up doing nothing?

I've been thinking of making a fire based build around this idea and weapon, liike some kind of Ghost Rider-esc build, but I don't know if it would be a complete waste of time or not.

[Klendt]

They stack just fine. There's nothing especially unique about elemental damage. As far as the game's concerned, it's just the weapon's total attack power (all the damage types summed up), and then the charm and the weapon buff's damage values are derived from that and added up with their own damage type for purposes of enemy defense. Stacking up one element is, in fact, the intended method for players to have an easier time with certain bosses that have glaring weaknesses - a certain witch being an obvious example where more fire is only a good thing. Witches are meant to be burned, aren't they?

[Arkana]

Originally posted by Old King Klendt:

They stack just fine. There's nothing especially unique about elemental damage. As far as the game's concerned, it's just the weapon's total attack power (all the damage types summed up), and then the charm and the weapon buff's damage values are derived from that and added up with their own damage type for purposes of enemy defense. Stacking up one element is, in fact, the intended method for players to have an easier time with certain bosses that have glaring weaknesses - a certain witch being an obvious example where more fire is only a good thing. Witches are meant to be burned, aren't they?

Thanks for the confirmation, and I never even thought about using fire on a witch! XD

I'd like to ask though, for my fire based build idea, which do you think would be better for it, Phoenix Tail or Branding Iron?

[Klendt]

The phoenix tail is definitely the more versatile weapon thanks to its moveset, reach, and slightly higher maximum damage, as well as more even damage distribution, but the fact that its scaling is split amongst three different stats, each with equal weight, with an end damage that's roughly an even split between physical and fire damage, means it's not quite such a good specialist tool as the branding iron.
The branding iron is almost exclusively a magic-scaling weapon, and though its moveset may be lacking in the same sort of utility as the phoenix tail, its fire damage is the absolute highest and purest in the game once you've invested enough points into the Magic stat.

Interestingly, *both* weapons' physical damage is split between blunt damage and slashing damage, so even though they both have some physical component, you should only concern yourself with whether or not the target is vulnerable to fire, not whether or not the physical component would be appropriate, which is something you would have to consider if you were dealing with an ordinary sword or hammer versus a hard or soft enemy.

Edit: oh, also, a small irony worth mentioning is that even though the Phoenix Tail is a higher ranked weapon and needs a "more endgame" item to transmute it, it can be obtained earlier if you make your way to the secret Floating Castle stage and farm the crypt keeper near its entrance.

[Arkana]

That was a real help. I think that I'll be using the Branding Iron for my build since I can concievibly get it a lot earlier by bell glitching my way to Siam Lake for the Diamond and Long Jumping my way to the Dome for some whisperman ashes. Speed run strats to make the weapon and I'll got through the rest normally.