Elemental Gauge Theory

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You technically don't need to read all of this! This section is a summary into the inner workings of the theory behind Genshin's Elemental Combat system, which has been applied to Seven Elements. You may click off this page if you don't want to read further.

Introduction

In Genshin Impact and Seven Elements, when you apply an element through an attack, most people think that the element is applied as-is; thinking of applied elements as two states of applied and not applied. In reality, there is a system beneath the simple application of elements that allows you to take advantage of certain characters over the others.

When you apply an element through an attack, a certain amount of Gauge Units corresponding to that element are applied to the target. Each attack has a certain amount of Gauge Units that it can apply, which can differ across attacks. Simply put, this can be thought of as the amount of the applied element.

When an Element is applied to an enemy that isn't inflicted with an Element, the Element is considered an Aura Element or an Elemental Aura. When a reaction is triggered against an enemy already afflicted with an Aura Element, the element that sparked the reaction is the Triggering Element. Geo and Anemo cannot apply any Auras, and as such, cannot be Aura Elements (unless otherwise specified, i.e. Anemo Hypostasis, Geo Hypostasis).

Elemental Auras and the Aura Tax

In the Elemental Gauge Theory, elements are represented as gauges, hence the name Elemental Gauge Theory/Gauge Unit Theory. This gauge represents how much of an Element is currently applied, and when referred to, are called 1-unit, or 1U for short.

The values for each gauge are dependent on the attack that inflicted the Element. For instance, Furina's Elemental Skill: Salon Solitare, is a 1U Hydro Attack.

When an Element is applied as an Elemental Aura, it is taxed due to the Aura Tax, which states that if an elemental attack is being used to apply an Elemental Aura, the amount of Gauge Units it has is reduced by 20%. For example, if a Hydro Aura is created by Furina's Elemental Skill: Salon Solitare, a 1U Hydro Attack, the applied Gauge Units onto the attacked target will be 0.8U due to the Aura Tax.

It is also important to note that when Elemental Auras are applied from multiple sources, they do not stack on top of each other. Instead, the Elemental Aura is simply refreshed. When an Elemental Aura is refreshed, the Elemental Application with the highest Gauge Units is used as the new Gauge Unit value. Additionally, refreshing an Elemental Aura will not exempt it from the Aura Tax.

For instance, if a target currently has a 1U Hydro Aura and they are attacked with a 2U Hydro Attack, the Hydro Aura will now be a 2U Hydro Aura with its current Gauge Units being 1.6U due to the Aura Tax.

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To visualize the elemental gauges better, you may enable Developer > Show Elemental Gauges in the Seven Elements config, and may optionally enable Developer > Show Gauge Ruler too!

Triggering Elements and Elemental Reactions

When a valid Triggering Element is applied to a target that has an Elemental Aura, an Elemental Reaction is triggered and a portion of the Elemental Aura's gauge is consumed.

The amount of Gauge Units consumed are dependent on the attack that triggered the Elemental Reaction. For example, if a 1U Electro Attack is applied onto an entity with the Pyro aura to trigger the Overloaded reaction, the Pyro aura is reduced by 1 Gauge Unit.

Each Reaction has its own Reaction Cost, also known as the Reaction Coefficient. The Reaction Coefficient is a factor that amplifies how much Gauge Units are consumed from the Elemental Aura when a reaction is triggered. For example, if Furina's Elemental Burst: Let the People Rejoice, a 1U Hydro Attack, reacts with a 1U Pyro Aura, Hydro Vaporize (also known as Forward Vaporize) is triggered, which has a Reaction Coefficient of 2. This means that 2U of the Pyro aura are consumed, consuming all of the Pyro aura.

Aura Decay Rate and Decay Rate Inheritance

An Elemental Aura decays over time until it is depleted, where the decay rate in (s/U) is given by the function:

$$D(x)=\frac{\text{Base Duration}}{\text{Initial Gauge}}=\frac{35}{4x}+\frac{25}{8}$$

where, $x={\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Elemental Attack}}$ .

When an Elemental Attack with higher initial Gauge Units is applied on top of an Elemental Aura with a lower amount of initial Gauge Units, the resulting aura will inherit the decay rate of the previous Elemental Aura.

However, Decay Rate Inheritance does not apply to the Pyro aura.

Advanced Mechanics, Simultaneous and Underlying Auras

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This section is a follow-up and assumes you have read and know the concepts from the Elemental Gauge Theory section.

This section contains the more special cases of elements that aren't handled by the standard system of Aura Elements and Triggering Elements.

Simultaneous Auras

Normally, a target is only afflicted with a single Elemental Aura. However, there are instances where this may change and multiple simultaneous Elemental Auras may coexist with one another. The best example of this is the Cryo and Dendro auras, both of which do not react with each other, resulting in both coexisting as Elemental Auras.

This concept applies to only a couple of elements and reactions, being Hydro and Electro (Electro-Charged), Burning, Quicken and Frozen, with some of these using the Underlying Aura subsystem.

Underlying Auras

An Underlying Aura is a special type of Simultaneous Aura, having its element "lying under" another aura. This allows Elemental Auras of higher priority to effectively hide Elemental Auras with lower priority. As such, when the Aura that hides these Underlying Auras is fully consumed, the Underlying Auras are exposed, allowing for them to be triggered with.

Hydro and Electro (Electro-Charged)

Unlike standard Elemental Reactions where the Elemental Aura being consumed by the Triggering Reaction, when Electro-Charged is triggered, it allows both Electro and Hydro to coexist as Elemental Auras. While both of these elements exist on a target, Electro-Charged deals one tick of DMG per second, consuming 0.4U from both auras. Additionally, both auras will still continue to decay naturally while Electro-Charged is being triggered.

When a third Element is introduced, it can react with both Electro and Hydro at the same time, allowing you to trigger two reactions at once. For instance, applying the Pyro aura on a target with both the Hydro and Electro aura allows both Overloaded and Vaporize to be triggered at the same time.

Burning

When Burning is triggered, much like Electro-Charged, both Pyro and Dendro auras coexist with one another. However, the Dendro aura will now decay at a special rate, while the Pyro aura decays naturally. In addition to this, a Burning aura is created on the target, which coexists with both Pyro and Dendro auras.

The special Dendro consumption rate (gauge units/second) is:

$$D(x)=\text{max}(0.4,{\text{ Natural Decay Rate}}_{\text{Dendro Aura}}\times 2)$$

Do note that this Dendro consumption rate is applied per-tick while the Burning aura is active, not per "reaction" like the Electro-Charged reaction.

Burning also applies 1U of Pyro (2 sec ICD) per tick. The Burning aura coexists with the Pyro and Dendro auras, but also has a higher priority over them, allowing them to be Underlying Auras. In addition to this, the Burning aura and the Dendro aura maintain the Burning state, and as such, will end if either aura is depleted.

Quicken

Quicken is triggered like a normal reaction, the only exception being its ability to generate a new Elemental Aura: the Quicken aura. This Quicken aura can trigger most Dendro reactions, except another Quicken reaction.

For instance, if Hydro is applied onto a Quicken aura, it triggers Bloom and it may also trigger Electro-Charged.

Quicken Aura Gauge

$${\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Quicken Aura}}=\text{min}({\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Origin Aura}},{\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Trigger Element}})$$

Quicken Aura Duration

$${\text{Duration (Seconds)}}_{\text{Quicken Aura}}={\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Quicken Aura}}\times 5+6$$

Applying Electro onto a Quicken Aura triggers Aggravate, but this Electro aura is allowed to co-exist with the Quicken aura as an Underlying Aura. Likewise, applying Dendro onto a Quicken aura triggers Spread, and this Dendro aura is also allowed to co-exist with the Quicken aura as an Underlying Aura.

Due to the coexistence of Electro and Dendro with the Quicken aura, it is possible to trigger another Quicken reaction while the Quicken aura is active.

Freeze

The Frozen state created by the Frozen Elemental Reaction is maintained by the Freeze aura.

The Freeze aura, while being a sibling element to Cryo:

• Cannot react with Hydro to trigger Frozen again.
• Triggers Shatter upon being hit with a Geo attack or a Heavy Weapon.

Freeze Aura Gauge

$${\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Freeze Aura}}=2\times \text{min}({\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Origin Aura}},{\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Trigger Element}})$$

Freeze Aura Duration

$${\text{Duration (Seconds)}}_{\text{Freeze Aura}}=2\sqrt{5\times {\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Freeze Aura}}+4}-4$$

Hydro and Cryo may be applied as Underlying Auras to the Freeze aura, allowing you to trigger another Frozen reaction while the Freeze aura still exists.

The Freeze aura may be extended by triggering another Frozen reaction, which at that point, introduces a new factor: decay, which prevents the concept of "perma-Freeze".

When the Freeze aura is reapplied, the duration that the entity is frozen and unfrozen for is now recorded, and are both used in our Decay Time Modifier.

$$\text{Decay Time Modifier (DTM)}=\text{max}(0,{\text{Time}}_{\text{Frozen}}-2\times {\text{Time}}_{\text{Unfrozen}})$$

The new duration of the Freeze aura is provided by the new formula:

$${\text{Duration (Seconds)}}_{\text{Freeze Aura}}=\sqrt{20\times {\text{Gauge}}_{\text{Freeze Aura}}+(\text{DTM}\times 4{)}^2}-\text{DTM}-4$$

Once the Decay Time Modifier reaches 0, both ${\text{Time}}_{\text{Frozen}}$ and ${\text{Time}}_{\text{Unfrozen}}$ are discarded.

Hydro-Freeze Double Aura

    Not to be confused with the Underlying Hydro aura possible in Freeze.

Hydro may coexist with the Freeze aura. This double aura interaction is only achieved if a Cryo attack (the Triggering element) doesn't consume the currently applied Hydro aura (the Aura element). This interaction cannot happen in the reverse order.

This specific interaction creates a Freeze aura that coexists alongside the Hydro aura. However, you may only trigger Swirl against this double aura, as explained here. Applying Pyro or Electro will only trigger their associated Freeze reaction, while Geo will trigger Shatter before triggering Hydro Crystallize.

Cryo-Dendro Double Aura

Unlike all the other double aura interactions mentioned up to this point, the Cryo-Dendro double aura is the simplest and most unique, as it is simply the byproduct of Cryo and Dendro not having a reaction with each other.

When triggering reactions against this double aura, the Cryo reaction is prioritized over the Dendro one, allowing you to trigger the Dendro reactions with the same Hydro element at a lesser Dendro gauge consumption. This mechanic allows the original Dendro aura to last longer while still being able to react with the other elements.

This is actually the interaction that allows the "Fridge" mechanic to work, which takes advantage of the Frozen > Bloom Reaction priority to trigger more Bloom reactions with the same Dendro aura.