Dire Flame duration increase worth it?

[Salem Graves]

The game is not very clear on what exactly Duration Increase does while leveing up. Is that something I should pick up for Dire Flame? (It's the style I've been specializing in.)

[Snorkel]

I believe it increases the time your opponent will remain "immolated". Them being on fire for longer sounds like something you want!

[JH1000]

What Toasted said.

You always want to level up Chi cost first, then duration. It's useless to level up damage for magic as it should only ever be used for the effect + harmonic combo initiation.

Generally:

Magic: lower Chi cost, then duration increase; nothing into damage
Martial Styles that inflict ailments: speed increase, then duration increase; nothing into chi damage
Martial Styles for damage: speed increase, damage increase, Chi damage increase
Weapon Styles: lower Focus cost, then speed increase, then damage increase

Anything that inflicts ailments should usually just be used for harmonic combo initiation. Weapons deal much more damage and so do martial arts that don't inflict ailments.

Also, unless you really want to stick with fire, ice is much better because the freezing is really broken and the harmonic combo initiated by it produces a Chi orb which is much more useful than health.

[Salem Graves]

Originally posted by Cifer:

What Toasted said.

You always want to level up Chi cost first, then duration. It's useless to level up damage for magic as it should only ever be used for the effect + harmonic combo initiation.

Generally:

Magic: lower Chi cost, then duration increase; nothing into damage
Martial Styles that inflict ailments: speed increase, then duration increase; nothing into chi damage
Martial Styles for damage: speed increase, damage increase, Chi damage increase
Weapon Styles: lower Focus cost, then speed increase, then damage increase

Anything that inflicts ailments should usually just be used for harmonic combo initiation. Weapons deal much more damage and so do martial arts that don't inflict ailments.

Also, unless you really want to stick with fire, ice is much better because the freezing is really broken and the harmonic combo initiated by it produces a Chi orb which is much more useful than health.

Thanks for the tips. I've pretty much just solely been using Dire Flame and have already maxed damage and reduced it's cost. I haven't figured out how the harmonic combos work yet, the game hasn't really explained them to me.

[JH1000]

You use an attack that inflicts statuses (heavy attack for magic and most martial styles, normal works too for Storm Dragon for example), then you use the right click attack of any martial art that doesn't inflict statuses. As long as you do it while the green circle indicating the status ailment is still around the enemy while your second attack hits, they will die in one hit and leave behind an orb depending on what you used to initiate the combo with.

I really suggest reading one of the gamefaqs guides about the combat mechanics and skills. It makes the game a lot more interesting if you know what you actually can do.

[Salem Graves]

I haven't actually seen my Dire Flame causing any type of status effect with the left or right mouse button attack, am I doing something wrong? I have level 3 in the duration bit.

[JH1000]

Duration level doesn't matter. I forgot, it's the area attack that causes the affliction for Dire Flame (left and right mouse at the same time). That is why it is not a very good magic. The AoE attacks usually take a long time to activate, and magic is usually just good for harmonic combos. That means that the useful part of Dire Flame takes ages to activate and you will mostly get interrupted.

Which type of attack (light, heavy or area, sometimes more than one type) inflicts a status is different for every martial or magic style. You have to look it up or try it out. You will see a green circle around the enemy/enemies.

[Salem Graves]

Oh.. I didn't know there was an attack where you hold both mouse buttons. Thanks for the tips.