Understand Cloudforged
Useful when…
- Elemental reaction damage for a bow wielder who can repeatedly trigger the Energy-decrease condition.
- A build that benefits from the bow's Elemental Mastery secondary stat and temporary additional Mastery.
What triggers the bonus?
At refinement 1, after the wielder's Elemental Energy decreases, they gain 40 Elemental Mastery for 18 seconds. The effect can reach two stacks. The bow also has Elemental Mastery as its secondary stat.
When is Cloudforged a fit?
It can suit a bow wielder whose damage benefits from Elemental Mastery and who can activate the Energy-decrease effect often enough to benefit from its duration and stack cap. If the character's normal combat pattern does not reduce Energy, the secondary stat remains but the temporary stacks will not be dependable. The effect applies to the equipped character, not the party.
How do the bow alternatives differ?
Alley Hunter rewards being off-field and loses its built-up damage bonus after the wielder spends more than four seconds on-field. Amos' Bow improves Normal and Charged Attack damage, adding more based on arrow flight time. Aqua Simulacra grants HP and increases the wielder's damage while opponents are nearby, whether on-field or off-field. These bows use field time, attack type, or nearby opponents as their conditions rather than decreasing Energy.
What investment is sensible?
Ascension advances the weapon through stages 0–6. Refinement raises the Elemental Mastery gained per stack from 40 at refinement 1 to 80 at refinement 5; the 18-second duration and two-stack maximum are unchanged. The listed refinement material is Cam and Cables of Law, plus Mora, rather than a duplicate weapon copy. Refinement is most relevant when the Energy condition is regularly met and the wielder makes use of the added Mastery.
Limitations and tradeoffs
- The temporary bonus requires Elemental Energy to decrease.
- The effect lasts 18 seconds and is capped at two stacks.
- Elemental Mastery is useful only to damage or effects that benefit from it.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming any Skill or Burst use triggers the effect without an actual decrease in Elemental Energy.
- Counting more than two stacks or expecting stacks to last longer than 18 seconds.
- Treating the Elemental Mastery bonus as a party-wide effect.