Summary
The mechanics of RPG games vary as wildly between titles as their narratives or graphical styles do. How a game flows, how player characters move through the world, and what they can do to interact with the world - it might seem subtle, but these things contribute to a title’s identity as muchas the settingor the combat.
Almost every game that featuresmagic or sci-fi techin the last two or three decades has featured fire as an element that can be manipulated and weaponized, but each game frames fire through different mechanics. Maybe this has some primordial link to humanity’s past - where fire was the first thing to spark human creativity and ingenuity, and where flames were the first thing to give light to storytellers at night as they made monsters out of the shadows. For players who want the catharsis of wielding something as beautiful and dangerous as fire, these RPGs have excellent builds to focus on.
Pyromancy was one of the concepts that madeDark Soulssuch a unique and iconic title - functioning differently from other magic systems in the series and bringing an excellent layer of horror and mystery to the world of Lordran. Fire, a representative element of Chaos, gave players some of the best spells (and worse bosses) in the entire series.
Pyromancies would continue to be a fixture in the series through toElden Ring, but while the scope of what forces were able to manipulate fire increased within every game,Dark Souls 1had a more focused approach that also allowed for some incredibly diverse pyromancy builds or hybrid builds.
2Dragon’s Dogma 2
Many Enemies Are Weak To Fire
Thereare many vocationsthat can utilize magic either on their own or in tandem with weaponry inDragon’s Dogma 2. This game is a treat for fans of the original title who want to see the many fantastic ideas in DD1 get expanded upon, and the increase in magic’s utility and power is no exception.
There are many elements for players to utilize inDragon’s Dogma 2- and among them, fire has a lot of uses in terms of both crowd control and pinning down the weak points for some of the strongest enemies players can find.
It’s incredibly easy to make a fire-focused build inThe Elder Scrolls Onlineas one class in particular, the Dragon Knight, is built around focused DPS with fire damage. Players looking to take the Dragon Knight in a damage-oriented direction (as it also makes quite a good tank) will invariably supplement their weapon skills with fire.
The Dragon Knight has been a staple of ESO since its conception, in those first few years when the game didn’t know if it wanted to be a Premium MMO, subscription-based, or some kind of gacha game for miscellaneous loot. ESO has come a long way since then, and the Dragon Knight remains an incredibly powerful class.
Among theElder Scrollsgames,Skyrim’s magic system is among the most simple and streamlined, but some incrediblypowerful mage characterscan still be built around one of the three major elements in the game’s damage mechanics - fire, frost, and lightning. Fire in particular is a great option for builds that maximize damage over time.
Spells like fire cloak or fireball (when is fireball not a good spell in any game?) are excellent choices for creating as much chaos and destruction among enemies as possible.
D&Dis a game where magic is truly a force of nature. As long asthere’s a Barbarianor Fighter nearby to soak up enemy attention, spellcasters can unleash some truly cataclysmic spells onto the battlefield.
Not all elements can be easily built around inBaldur’s Gate 3,but fire is common enough among conjured entities, enchanted items, and high-level spells to build it into a great arsenal for spellcasters.
Similar toBaldur’s Gate 3, a versatile fire build can be created inDragon Age: Originsby combining spells with enchanted gear that augments fire damage, culminating in an incredibly powerful wizard character.DAO’s magic system is so expansive that it’s easy to focus on fire almost exclusively to dismantle foes.
This all-time classic provides the most in-depth magic system among any of theDragon Agegames, and while fire builds in other titles later in the series would require supplementing with different elemental schools, players could focus on magic utility spells to support their fire attacks.
Pyromancies don’t have their own separate school inElden Ringas they did in the Souls trilogy, but they fall very neatly into the two schools of sorceries or incantations as possibilities for players to create a build around.
Whether they utilize dragon breath spells, mysterious fire sorceries, or themore specialized magma spells, there are plenty of fiery avenues for players to take their build down.
Rounding out this topic is a game with a truly unique take on magic that allows for some highly unconventional builds. There’s an almost alchemical component toOutward’s magic, where smaller ingredients must come together and be consumed in order to create something more explosive.
Fire is treated as a volatile force of magic in this game, where small sparks must be struck within magical circles and in tandem with magical components to create bouts of flame or huge fireballs.
