ArcaneWard Experimental

Arcane Ward 1.2.3 Experimental

1.2.3 playtest fixes

This build is a focused correction pass from live testing. Each wand now owns its spell school: Fire uses the vanilla Staff of Embers projectile/animation, Frost uses the vanilla Staff of Frost rapid-fire projectile/animation, Lightning uses the Dundr-style blast, and Blood uses the Staff of Frost channel animation with Blood damage/lifesteal VFX. Wands are LMB-only and do not require a Focus to determine their spell.

Wand visuals again use only the intended half-size StaffShield model; the inherited full-size model/light is hidden so the glow follows the orb correctly. Fire remains orange and Blood remains the default red. Fire/Frost/Lightning damage scales from a deliberately modest Elemental Magic baseline toward the existing endgame ceiling.

The Arcane Nord Shield is now 25% smaller, the Greatshield is 20% larger than its previous experimental size, and their material/texture sets are swapped while retaining their respective shield meshes.

Groundbreaker now supplies pickaxe damage/tool tier/skill during the Sledge MMB terrain strike. Returning Hammer/Spear throws reserve their carried weight while airborne and retry re-equipping after return so temporary inventory removal should no longer create pickup/overweight surprises or leave the weapon unequipped. The Hammer flight visual also receives an additional configurable 90-degree roll.

The ZNet diagnostic log from the prior test showed orphaned vfx_BloodHit views and old Frost-chill cosmetic views. 1.2.3 no longer clones either networked VFX root for local cosmetics; it creates network-free local particle systems instead. The same release also tightens the remaining local projectile/lightning cosmetic paths so they are sanitized before activation rather than allowing a cosmetic clone to retain network/gameplay components.

> > Use a separate Thunderstore/r2modman profile. Do not enable stable Arcane Ward and Arcane Ward Experimental at the same time. The two packages intentionally share many in-game prefab IDs for character/world continuity, and co-loading them can cause duplicate registrations.

This experimental branch exists for playtesting new features, mechanics, balance changes, and redesigns while Arcane Ward is actively developed and matured. Features may change substantially before reaching stable. Back up important worlds/characters and report anything broken, exploitable, unclear, or unfun.

Focus redesign

Arcane weapons get their magical identity from the equipped Focus.

• Fire Focus — Fire empowerment and Fire parry effects; trains Elemental Magic. Fire bubble/VFX identity is orange.
• Frost Focus — Frost empowerment/control and Frost parry effects; trains Elemental Magic.
• Lightning Focus — Lightning empowerment/control. Funded hits add small knockback, parries produce a stronger outward discharge, and hits against already-staggered enemies re-stagger them with the full Himminafl lightning-strike VFX. Trains Elemental Magic.
• Blood Focus — funded hits add Blood/Spirit damage and lifesteal; parries restore more health. Blood uses the original red visual identity.

All four Focuses use the Wishbone physical model/utility slot, but the vanilla Wishbone treasure/silver detection effect is explicitly removed. The four user-supplied Focus icons are embedded directly into the mod.

Focus weapon effects are funded per enemy hit. Physical damage always lands regardless of Eitr. Each enemy that receives Fire/Frost/Lightning/Blood empowerment costs Eitr independently; if Eitr runs out during a cleave, remaining enemies receive physical damage only and no Focus VFX/effect.

Blood defaults to +2 Spirit damage and +1 HP per funded enemy hit, doubled to +4 damage / +2 HP for two-handed melee. Blood parries restore 5 HP, or 10 HP with a two-handed melee weapon. Blood uses a guaranteed-local blood particle burst that borrows the vanilla vfx_BloodHit material without cloning its networked root.

Blood Magic progression

Blood Magic gains a tiny amount of skill-use from HP actually restored, not merely from a heal being requested. The default is 0.01 skill-use per HP actually gained. Healing clipped by maximum health only counts the HP that was genuinely restored. Blood Wand damaging ticks also grant a very small additional use amount so the spell can still train while the player is at full health.

Wand casting

The former Ward/Staff-of-Protection visual items are repurposed as main-hand Arcane Wands. Direct spells use primary attack (LMB). Arcane Wands intentionally have no MMB/secondary attack.

Each Wand has a fixed spell school; the equipped Focus does not change a Wand's spell:

• Arcane Fire Wand: LMB fires the vanilla Staff of Embers projectile/VFX with the vanilla staff attack animation.
• Arcane Frost Wand: hold LMB for the vanilla Staff of Frost rapid shard channel. Frost damage retains Valheim's normal frost slowing behavior.
• Arcane Lightning Wand: LMB fires the Dundr-style close-range lightning blast.
• Arcane Blood Wand: hold LMB for the high-Eitr Blood Magic lifesteal channel. Releasing LMB ends it immediately, and it also stops when the next Eitr tick cannot be funded.

The Arcane Fire Wand is recolored orange. The Arcane Blood Wand keeps the original StaffShield red color. The Blood Wand spawn ID is ArcaneBloodWand. It also uses a dedicated custom Blood Wand inventory/crafting icon.

Blood Wand defaults