User:NtCarlson/Guide to Elementals

From bg3.wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Minor Elementals[edit | edit source]

Elementals[edit | edit source]

Conjure Elemental Conjure Elemental when used with a 5th level spell slot can summon one of four types of elementals: Air, Earth, Fire, or Water. All four types have the same general kit:

  • A basic melee attack that inflicts a status effect without a save.
  • A multiattack that is stronger when attacking targets inflicted with the above status effect.
  • An area of effect attack that inflicts a different, often unique, status effect.
  • A bonus action 18m teleport that can be used at will.

The air elemental deviates from this and winds up being the weakest type as a result.

Stats[edit | edit source]

Elemental HP Icon.png hit points Armour Class Armour Class
(w/ Mage Armour Mage Armour)
Initiative Initiative Attack ability Spellcasting ability Damage immunities Damage resistances
Air Elemental Air Elemental 90 15
(18)
5 Strength (16) Intelligence (6) Damage TypesPoison Damage TypesPhysical (non-magical), Damage TypesLightning, Damage TypesThunder
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental 126 17
(17)
-1 Strength (20) Intelligence (5) Damage TypesPoison Damage TypesPhysical (non-magical)
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental 102 13
(16)
3 Dexterity (17) Intelligence (6) Damage TypesFire -
Water Elemental Water Elemental 114 14
(15)
2 Strength (18) Strength (18) - Damage TypesPhysical (non-magical), Damage TypesAcid

The reason for the different impact of Mage Armour Mage Armour is that some elementals have more than 10 base AC. Earth Elemental has 18 (with a -1 Dexterity modifier) and Water Elemental has 12 (with a +2 Dexterity modifier). Mage Armour increases the base AC to 13 so it doesn't help the Earth Elemental at all, and only gives 1 AC to the Water Elemental.

The spellcasting ability is used to determine the save DC on the area of effect attack. This value defaults to Intelligence and only for the Water Elemental was this default changed. This means the AoE attacks for the other 3 elementals will have pitiful DCs.

Basic attacks[edit | edit source]

With the exception of the Air Elemental, all the elementals have a basic melee attack that inflicts a 2 turn status effect without a save, so long as the attack hits. This status effect is required to unlock the full power of the corresponding multiattack ability.

Elemental Attack Attack bonus Damage Inflicts Additional properties
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental Soil-Clogged Slam Soil-Clogged Slam 9 2d6 + 6Damage TypesBludgeoning Prone Prone Creates a small pool of mud centered around the target
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental Smouldering Touch Smouldering Touch 7 2d6Damage TypesFire Burning Burning -
Water Elemental Water Elemental Slam Slam 8 5Damage TypesBludgeoning + 2d6Damage TypesCold Chilled Chilled Creates a small puddle of water centered around the target

Instead of a melee attack, the Air Elemental gets Gushing Air Gushing Air. This is a ranged attack with two projectiles that can be targeted separately like Eldritch Blast Eldritch Blast. The damage per projectile is 2d6+1Damage TypesThunder and is halved on a DC 15  Dexterity saving throw. This attack does not inflict the condition required for the improved multiattack damage.

Multiattack[edit | edit source]

All elementals have a 2-hit multiattack that doubles the damage dice when targeting enemies inflicted with certain conditions. These multiattacks have a once-per-turn cooldown, so if you opt to Haste Haste your elemental, it can still only multiattack once.

Elemental Attack bonus Target condition Normal damage Damage vs. targets inflicted with target condition
Air Elemental Air Elemental 6 Shocked Shocked 2d4 + 3Damage TypesSlashing + 2d4Damage TypesLightning 4d4 + 3Damage TypesSlashing + 4d4Damage TypesLightning
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental 9 Prone Prone 2d4 + 5Damage TypesBludgeoning 4d4 + 5Damage TypesBludgeoning
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental 7 Burning Burning 2d4 + 3Damage TypesBludgeoning + 2d4Damage TypesFire 4d4 + 3Damage TypesBludgeoning + 4d4Damage TypesFire
Water Elemental Water Elemental 8 Chilled Chilled 2d4 + 4Damage TypesBludgeoning + 2d4Damage TypesCold 4d4 + 4Damage TypesBludgeoning + 4d4Damage TypesCold

The Earth Elemental doesn't deal any elemental damage on its multiattack and doesn't receive additional physical damage to compensate. On paper, this makes its version of multiattack the weakest, but that title actually belongs to the Air Elemental.

Air Elemental's multiattack requires the Shocked Shocked condition, which is extremely rare. Aside from Air Elemental's extremely unreliable area of effect attack, the only way for players to inflict the condition is with The Jolty Vest. This essentially locks Air Elementals out of receiving the improved damage on their multiattacks.

The other three conditions can be consistently applied in numerous ways, either by party members or by the elemental itself. This is particularly true of Burning Burning and Prone Prone which have a huge number of sources. If you plan for it, you can reliably get the improved multiattack damage with the other elementals.

Also note that Chilled Chilled inflicts vulnerability to Damage TypesCold damage, so Water Elemental's multiattack damage is even better.

Area of effect attacks[edit | edit source]

All four types of elementals have an area of effect attack that use saving throws instead of attack rolls. Unlike the basic and multiattacks, these attacks differ quite a bit between elemantal types.

Elemental Attack DC
(Save)
Damage Range Area Additional effect
Air Elemental Air Elemental Primordial Gales Primordial Gales 10
(STR)
2d6Damage TypesLightning Self AoE: 4 m / 13 ft (Radius) Inflict Shocked Shocked for 2 turns
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental Seismic Strike Seismic Strike 9
(CON)
4d6Damage TypesBludgeoning Self AoE: 4 m / 13 ft (Radius) Inflict Trembling Legs Trembling Legs for 3 turns and push back 3 m / 10 ft
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental Erupting Cinder Erupting Cinder 11
(DEX)
4d6Damage TypesFire 18 m / 60 ft AoE: 3 m / 10 ft (Radius) Creates a Fire Fire for 1 turn that inflicts Burning Burning without a save
Water Elemental Water Elemental Winter's Breath Winter's Breath 16
(CON)
4d6Damage TypesCold Self AoE: 6 m / 20 ft (Cone) If the target was Burning Burning, inflict Brittle Brittle for 3 turns

The Air and Fire Elementals have the two standout abilities here. Winter's Breath Winter's Breath is the only of these attacks that has a reasonable DC. The other three attacks use the wrong spellcasting ability modifier and have an artificially low DC as a result. It also applies the unique Brittle Brittle condition that has no other source. This condition applies vulnerability to Damage TypesThunder and Damage TypesBludgeoning, neither of which have any other source of vulnerability (aside from Frozen Frozen which only works for a single attack). Since Burning Burning is such a readily inflicted condition (for example by a Fire Elemental), setting up the combo to inflict Brittle Brittle is very doable and has unique payoff.

Erupting Cinder Erupting Cinder is also quite strong. It has a very long range and can still be useful despite its low saving throw DC. Standing in a Fire Fire surface always inflicts Burning Burning, so enemies will still burn even if they make their saving throws. Importantly, note that the burning surface created by this attack has a radius of 2 m / 7 ft which is smaller than the attack itself (3 m / 10 ft). Thus, you should try hit targets in the center of the area rather than the periphery.

Seismic Strike Seismic Strike also inflicts a unique condition, Trembling Legs Trembling Legs. Unlike Brittle Brittle, however, the payoff of inflicting the condition is fairly minor. It gives a modest 2.5 m / 8 ft movement speed penalty and a -1 Dexterity penalty which may or may not translate to -1 AC.

The worst of the bunch is Primordial Gales Primordial Gales. Not only does it do half the damage of the other attacks, it is also the only way for the Air Elemental to inflict Shocked Shocked necessary to use its full-powered multiattack. With a saving throw DC of 10, this means the Air Elemental will likely not be able to inflict it at all, severely crippling its damage potential.

Myrmidons[edit | edit source]