(POWER BALANCE) Earth

To date the least used set overall, Earth already builds itself upon shaky ground (har) by splitting its priority between Melee and Ranged rather dubiously, resulting in a set that, on one hand, has a unique ranged/melee energy builder and some 'interesting' low-tier gimmicks, but quickly peters out once you get to high-tier options. The set lacks a powerful, reliable ranged AoE, or really any good melee options once you get further down the line. Builds utilizing this framework, including the Mountain, are simultaneously confused by the nature of the set as well, as it's historically switched between using Ego/Concenration and Str/Enrage several times.

There's also the issue of how its current build gimmick, stagger, operates. Compared to most other debuff gimmicks of other sets - Bleeds on Bestial and Single-Blade, Ego Leech in Telekinesis, Clinging Flames on Fire, or really any of the energy projectors - most have certain criteria that make them fairly easy to manage: elements such as debuff refreshers, quick-stacking attacks, skills that can reapply the debuff if there is a rupture associated with it... Earth and Stagger lack this, and frankly the set in whole isn't sure if it wants to try and keep maintaining it using its abilities, or to try and hastily break the stacks to try and generate slightly more damage on Faultline or a stun on Cave-In.

Main Goals:
Earth as DPS - Bury 'Em
As a DPS set, Earth first needs to define its boundaries for melee and ranged attacks. Get itself those strong fundamentals - its 'haymaker', or its 'lightning arc', or its 'force cascade', the attacks that will define how the set fights at the highest level - and with that in place, then define all the middle-damage utilities that'll help out the set - similar to how, for example, telekinetic shards or telekinetic wave remains useful to both Ranged and Melee TK builds, as it stacks/maintains debuffs necessary to its operation, and has advantages and abilities that enable it to work well with either distancing type.

That aside, Earth will still try and mold itself around the groundwork it's already laid: slow, strong impacts, and plenty of forcing and staggering people around. Earth will be deliberate, it will be reliable, and it'll crush its enemies.

• Superstat Focuses: END, STR/EGO (depending on range)
• Damage Types used: Crushing, with some sides of Fire.
• Primary Defense Debuff: No Quarter
• Other Debuff: Stagger
• Other notes: The ranged game of earth might benefit from having a massive range increase, even for some of its abilities it'd use to help with melee fighting. The power and reach of a lot of attacks can be cranked up further if designed with a self-root in mind... And then also designing much of the set with that self-root as a deliberate imposition for how the powers will fit together:

Earth as Tank - Immovable Object
Earth has some groundwork for making a tank basis that could be visually extremely interesting - though the Stone Shroud ability looks cool, it currently lacks any kind of defining trait that makes it particularly more impressive than any other block at its base appearance. As a ranged/melee combination, it also gains the benefits of being able to utilize a role that doesn't angle itself towards a specific range as well, meaning it can utilize big-aoe range attacks to grab mobs, and switch to melee single-target strikes against bosses. Pair this with the slow, self-rooting nature of the set, and the image of how an Earth tank begins to congeal:

An Earth tank would use the fundamentals that the DPS groundwork lays to draw its enemies into the range it needs them to be at. Meanwhile, because Earth doesn't permit movement, the Earth Tank then also takes advantage of its steadfast standings by using its abilities to dig in, and become a defensive core that forces its enemies to deal with them.

• Superstat Focuses: END, CON, PRE
• Buff: Reckless - This'd hopefully show up a lot on Earth abilities, to further cement knock resist on the set. Especially useful if a traditional Earth tank is going to go light on Strength.
• Mechanic: Stoneskinning - As a defensive measure, Earth can utilize some abilities to lay a stone-skin on top of itself, which causes the user to lose movement speed, but become much more resistant to incoming damage and knockback.

Earth as Support - From the ground-up
A concept that Ice half-heartedly explores: structures. The idea of summoning immobile, temporary pets that can be exploited to other effects. Ice Structures and how it interacts with its own set is its own can of worms that never got dealt with. But in Earth's case, it seems only natural: rocks don't melt as easily as ice, they can obstruct and block just as well, and in the context of the other two playstyles, would provide plenty of positional advantage to a set that'd be defined by the drawback of low mobility.

• Debuff: Rooting - If you're not going to be moving during a battle, you sure as heck aren't letting your enemies move either. Considering that Roots are generally under-utilized as debuffs/control, and the fact that it can both be utilized and benefit from CC strength (and manipulator toggle), this can be Earth's area of exploration when it comes to a support playstyle.
• Mechanic: Stone Structures - Earth can construct various stone objects that can provide defensive and offensive bonuses to themselves and their allies, and subsequently make it more difficult for enemies to maneuver around a rough terrain. Utilizing some attacks can even cause these structures to collapse catastrophically, or be transformed into more deadly formations, such as forcing a plume of deadly lava out of a Fissure.
  There's several different structure types:
  • Stone Column - Provides a defensive benefit to allies nearby the column.
  • Fissure - Deals crushing/fire damage over time and can apply stagger on each hit. Staggering hits knock targets down.
  • Crags - Spiky patch of ground that deals crushing damage to targets inside it. Also snares targets hit.

Rebalances of Existing Powers

Stone Shot

• Blast only hits a single target. Mainly serves as a stagger stacker. Stagger stacking chances are increased if you are under the effects of Reckless.
• Shard Burst advantage now causes your Stone Shot to have a 12-100% chance to apply No Quarter the target.
• New Advantage: Knocks the target backwards and applies Clinging Flames on a full-charge.

Onslaught

• Tier 0 melee combo with three hits.
• Each hit has a chance to apply Stagger to all targets (12/12/50%). If Enraged, Frenzied, or Concentrated, the chance is doubled.
• Excessive Force causes the final hit of the Onslaught to knock targets far backwards, and refreshes your Reckless stacks.
• New Advantage: Applies No Quarter to your primary target on a combo completion.
• New Advantage: Applies Unstable Accelerant for 2 seconds with each Onslaught hit.

Tremor

• Changed from a charge to a semi-slow click ability (animation takes about 0.6 seconds to complete).
• Still knocks targets upwards. When used, all targets hit have their Stagger stacks refreshed.
• Has a brief cooldown period.
• Rupture advantage causes the attack to refresh No Quarter when it lands.
• New Advantage: Restoration
• New Advantage: Causes any stone structures in the location of Tremor to collapse and deal crushing damage.
• New Advantage: Disorient targets

Earth Form

• Now buffs Fire and Crushing damage
• Retains its snaring aura from before. All targets hit by your attacks become snared as well.
• Slight resistance to all damage.
• Gain energy when a knock or hold is attempted against you, even more if you successfully resist or block it.

Stone Shroud

• Provides block strength that gradually builds up the longer you stay stationary. At start, Stone Shroud has a standard block strength (r3 350%). After 10 seconds of blocking while standing still this builds up drastically (r3 800%, about 6% of standard damage taken). The amount of block strength players will have usually will be between these two values.
• Defensive benefits immediately drop-off if the player stops blocking or moves.
• Visually, reflected by a stone-cocoon on the player. At maximum strength, Stone Shroud buries the character entirely inside a rock.
• New Advantage: Defensive benefits of Stone Shroud build up faster and linger after you are finished blocking. Applies a stoneskin which reduces incoming damage by 50% and increases knockback resistance by 200%, but also snares the player. 3 pt. cost.
• New Advantage: Gives surrounding pets you control/own a defensive benefit while you block. This also includes Stone Structures.

Land Slide

• Upon making contact with its target, Land Slide knocks vertically instead of applying stagger.
• Rock Solid advantage applies and refreshes the duration of Reckless.
• New Advantage: Refresh stagger.

Upheaval

• Always is a knockup, regardless of Stagger status.
• Erects a stone-column structure at its location if fully-charged.
• Shatters any surrounding stone structures when utilized to deal more damage.
• Expansive Terrain works the same.
• Advantage: Reduces the energy cost of the next Earth attack you use by 25%.
• Advantage: Attempts a root on the target and applies disorient.

Seismic Smash

• Ruptures Stagger on all targets hit to deal extra damage.
• Targets that had stagger are affected by unsteady, which is a debuff that causes them to regain Stagger stacks over a period of 6 seconds.
• Massive Attack causes the attack to do more damage to primary target, but retains its AoE effect. Instead, all the rupture effects get concentrated onto that primary target.
• New Advantage: Instead of you lunging to the wall, the wall slides in towards you, dealing a knock-to to all the targets affected, and retaining the same damage/attack effects otherwise.

Cave-In

• Definitively Tier 3, now has a range of 100 ft.
• Full-charges always root.
• Deals 3% bonus crushing damage per stack of Stagger on the target. Doesn't end stagger.
• Aggressive Gravitation advantage causes a full-charge on a Staggered target to grant you 3 stacks of Reckless over time.
• New Advantage: Deals 10% bonus damage on a target with No Quarter on them. 1 point adv.

Quicksand

• Enemies hit by Quicksand become Rooted, as well as moved by the sand's flow.
• New Advantage: Causes Quickstand to deal Fire damage instead of Crushing, and enemies become subject to stacks of Engulfing Flames as you maintain.
• New Advantage: Fully-maintaining leaves stone crags in its place.

Fissure

• Fissure counts as a stone structure (see above for effects - for the most part, synonymous with its current effects).
• Reconstruct advantage is renamed (as reconstruct is about to become a new power), creates a Healing Rune at its location.
• Advantage: The ability also has a Fire Patch created on top of it.

Fault Line

• Stronger attack, more DPS, more energy use.
• Has a 100-ft range. Should feel more like a FC-style attack.
• Ruptures and rebuilds Stagger stacks for more damage.
• Compound Fracture causes Faultline to deal 30% bonus damage to all targets that have No Quarter on them.
• New Advantage: If you are rooted or have a stoneskin, using Faultline will break you out of the effect and reduce its energy cost. 1 point adv.
• New Advantage: Deals an extra portion of Fire damage (higher than base value. Compare this to the likes of Ghostly Strikes in MA), and causes hits to apply clinging flames.

New Powers

Stone Toss

• Tier 1 stun with a 20 foot range. Acts like most melee stuns but has a short cooldown to compensate for greater reach.
• Advantage: Trauma

Quake
Sends a pulse of seismic activity through the ground to targets in front of you.

• Tier 1 Self-rooting cone attack with a reach of 70 feet.
• Staggers targets over time while dealing crushing damage.
• Staggered targets are knocked down.
• Advantage: Guarantees a stack of stagger on the first tick. A full maintain refreshes all stagger.
• Advantage: Causes hits to have a chance to Disorient. Hits that disorient will stun targets.
• Advantage: First tick will root targets in place, and apply a Clinging Flames stack.

Stony Will
A powerful stoicism drives you on in battle.

• Tier 1 toggle form - All DPS!
• Grants you stacks of Frenzy (same as used by Aspect of the Machine) whenever you utilize an effect that ends Stagger stacks.
• Also grants frenzy when Stagger stacks are refreshed.
• As with AotM, scales with both STR and EGO and boosts all DPS types equally, but only stacks 5 times.

Geolithic Reverberation
As the earth trembles beneath your feet, you are fueled by its movement.

• Tier 1 energy unlock.
• Gain energy whenever you apply or refresh stagger.
• Also gain energy whenever you're subject to a snare or root effect, including those from your own abilities.
• Scales best off of END, with a minor scaling in CON.

Sinkhole
Causes the ground beneath your foes' feet to suddenly collapse, preventing them from moving.

• Tier 2 click sphere root.
• Staggers enemies hit.
• Advantage: Primary target has an interrupt attempted on them.
• Advantage: Creates crags beneath the target to deal damage/be a structure.

Stoneflesh
Takes a moment to build an armor of stones around your body, granting you excellent resilience.

• A charged self-buff.
• Provides 10 seconds of increased defenses at the cost of movement speed, counts as a Stoneflesh effect obviously.
• Duration of the charge determines how strong your defenses are, and how much slower you move as a result, with the bulkiest armor offered by a full charge.
• All armors grant massive knock resistance.
• Fairly substantial cooldown (30s).
• Advantage: Causes your armor to radiate heat, dealing out fire damage to enemies within 15 feet of you.
• Advantage: Applies restoration to you.

Stonewall
You hole up in your own little sanctum of stone.

• Tier 2 active defense - strongly related to Ice Barrier.
• Summons 4-6 Stone Columns around yourself, and roots you in place.
• Separate from columns, user gains a powerful stoneskin that increases damage resistance by 150%.
• Advantage: for 1 point you don't become rooted.

Petrify
Traps a target of your choice in a stony shell.

• Tier 2 maintained hold, dealing crushing damage and incapacitating the target.
• Target takes less damage from sources other than the Petrify attack itself if successfully held.
• Advantage: Once held, the petrified target is caught in a Stone Column.

Reconstruct
With a stomp, you shatter your built defenses in order to provide boons to allies.

• Tier 2 click heal, applies a HoT to allies/self when used.
• Within 50 feet of you, all enemies are knocked back and have stagger stacks ended. Each stagger stack ended adds a small amount of extra healing to the HoT.
• All stone structures crumble to dust. Each stone structure destroyed adds a moderate amount of healing to the HoT.
• Stoneskin effect breaks and contributes to the reconstruct, adding a high amount of burst healing.
• Advantage: Applies dependency to targets hit by Reconstruct instead of knocking them.
• Advantage: Consumes root effects in exchange for stone structure/stone skin consumption. This applies to both allies and enemies and will provide high healing bursts.

Boulder Form
Rolls you into the battlefield as a ball of stone, crushing all in your path!

• Tier 3 maintained PBAoE melee attack. Deals crushing damage. (rolls in place to deal damage when you're not moving).
• Provides a movement buff similar to Unrelenting: Increased movement speed and immunity to snares (including those from stoneskins).
• Stacks Reckless as you knock targets down.
• Advantage: Provides a growing damage shield as you maintain your boulder form.
• Advantage: First tick of Boulder Form gives you the Charged-Up buff.
• Advantage: Causes enemies to be knocked away when you finish maintaining.

Rock Smash
Your most powerful technique: smashing them with a rock!

• Tier 3 charged melee attack where you form a rock in your hands over your head and just smash someone with it.
• Deals crushing damage and knocks down.
• Refreshes all stagger stacks on hit.
• Advantage: Deals bonus damage to enemies afflicted by No Quarter.
• Advantage: Target becomes held if staggered.
• Advantage: Deals a portion of the attack's damage as Fire (i.e. how Ghostly Strikes works). This portion of fire damage counts as a Burning Effect.

Caldera
Creates a molten eruption of lava!

• Tier 4 Earth Ultimate.
• Calls up a massive pool of rocky spikes and lava underneath your target, after an extended charge (think like how Endbringer's Grasp looks)
• Deals constant fire and crushing damage to targets inside, and has a chance to inflict overpower.
• Melts Stone Structures, causing them to explode and knock targets nearby them backwards.
• Advantage: Challenge adv
• Advantage: Uses cooled rock to apply a hold to all targets.

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