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Am I wrong in assuming that the Elemental Blasts are Not considered weapons? If they are, Whoopie! there's a point to these feats. If not, why waste the feats on something that'll never get use? The way I see the class, using any kind of weapon other than the blasts kind of defeats the purpose, eh? Not to mention that, even if they were considered weapons, they get weapon And Kinetic Expertise (basically the same thing). Or am I jumping the gun, and this is something we'll likely see adjusted/erata'ed when the Remastered version comes out?
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EB aren't considered weapon even with Weapon Infusion.
They get Weapon Expertise basically because all classes get Weapon Expertise. That is it!
You get it as same level that a caster get. If for some reason you need to use a common weapon (like some uniq simple weapon needed for some story concept) you will be trained with it.
Anyway its useful if you need to Escape and don't have a better Athletics nor Acrobatics.
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Hmm, I guess that makes some sense. Not alot, but some. I'd rather see boosts to Athletics or Acrobatics in the impulses, as anything weapon related (damage type, and the like) is pretty much covered by the EB's in their various forms.
Ah well, such is life. The class still looks like great fun to play. I'm currently building one as a backup for when my Oracle eventually bites the dust.
Thanks for the time and intel.
Elemental blasts should get weapon specialization. That would make more sense.
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Anyway if you want to make a martial kineticist currently the best option is the Elemental Instinct Barbarian with Kineticist Archetype. This allows you to do elemental raged strikes while uses same element kineticist impulses. This allows to combine the barbarian dmg output with many supportive/debuff impulses like:
Elemental blasts should get weapon specialization. That would make more sense.I feel it would be too much damage compared to a 1-handed weapon wielded by a Martial but I might be mistaken.
Not real sure right now. At this level my Kin doing 3d6+4 or +2 depending on the range of the target. No boost to that with blasts. But it should max at 10d6 or 10d8 with lots of weird bonuses.
Kin can also blast and hit mooks with AoE. If lots of mooks, Kin is better.
But +2 to 3 damage for specialization really isn't much to add a coolness factor. I think casters should get it too. If it were Greater Spec, then sure, might be an issue. But lesser spec is +2 to 4 at 19th level or so. Not gonna be a whole lot.
Anyway if you want to make a martial kineticist currently the best option is the Elemental Instinct Barbarian with Kineticist Archetype. This allows you to do elemental raged strikes while uses same element kineticist impulses.
Personally, I would start with the Fury instinct and retrain to the Elemental (Fire) instinct at 10th level. Example using free archetype; the elemental blast is more of a ranged option when not raging (the Impulse trait requires concentration) until they qualify for the better area impulses (at 8th or 12th level for the 4th or 6th level feats).
Unless I'm mistaken, every class gets weapon specialization at some point in their career. I think it's go keep the worst possible martial ability somewhat bounded to the increasing cieling.
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Anyway if you want to make a martial kineticist currently the best option is the Elemental Instinct Barbarian with Kineticist Archetype. This allows you to do elemental raged strikes while uses same element kineticist impulses.Personally, I would start with the Fury instinct and retrain to the Elemental (Fire) instinct at 10th level. Example using free archetype; the elemental blast is more of a ranged option when not raging (the Impulse trait requires concentration) until they qualify for the better area impulses (at 8th or 12th level for the 4th or 6th level feats).
Elemental Instinct allows to use Impulses in Rage. This includes EB. So I don't understand why start with Fury Instinct.
I think EB maxes out at 5 dice due to it's slow progression. Given they are d6 or d8, I don't think it's really going to challenge an offensively-built martial with a fully runed d10 or d12 weapon. Some ways to directly bump up your EB damage are below. There are also many indirect ways, i.e. via imposing conditions that increase your chance to hit. I don't include those because there are probably too many combos to count. Anywho...
If I'm not forgetting some extra Impulse damage the Blasts damage improvements (ignoring Str and Con bonus) are:
LvL - DMG
1 - Air/Fire - 1d6 | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood - 1d8
5 - Air - 2d6 | Fire - 2d6+2(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood - 2d8
6 - Air - 2d6 | Fire - 2d6+3(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 2d8+3(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 2d8
8 - Air - 2d6 | Fire - 2d6+4(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 2d8+4(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 2d8
9 - Air - 3d6 | Fire - 3d6+4(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 3d8+4(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 3d8
10 - Air - 3d6 | Fire - 3d6+5(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 3d8+5(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 3d8
12 - Air - 3d6 | Fire - 4d6+6(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 4d8+6(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 3d8
13 - Air - 4d6 | Fire - 5d6+6(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 5d8+6(weakness) | Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 4d8
14 - Air - 4d6 | Fire - 5d6+7(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 5d8+7(weakness) | Earth/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 4d8 | Metal - 5d8
16 - Air - 4d6 | Fire - 5d6+8(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 5d8+8(weakness) | Earth/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 4d8 | Metal - 5d8
17 - Air - 5d6 | Fire - 6d6+8(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 6d8+8(weakness) | Earth/Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 5d8 | Metal - 6d8
18 - Air - 5d6+1d12 | Fire - 7d6+9(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 6d8+1d6+9(weakness) | Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 5d8 | Metal - 6d8 | Earth - 5d8 + 1d10
20 - Air - 5d6+1d12 | Fire - 7d6+10(weakness) | Fire Two-Elements - 6d8+1d6+10(weakness) | Water/Wood/Two-Elements - 5d8 | Metal - 6d8 | Earth - 5d8 + 1d10
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I think EB maxes out at 5 dice due to it's slow progression. Given they are d6 or d8, I don't think it's really going to challenge an offensively-built martial with a fully runed d10 or d12 weapon (that maxes out at, what, 4d12+5 Str + a bunch of specific runes + class features that add damage?).Not real sure right now. At this level my Kin doing 3d6+4 or +2 depending on the range of the target. No boost to that with blasts. But it should max at 10d6 or 10d8 with lots of weird bonuses.Elemental blasts should get weapon specialization. That would make more sense.I feel it would be too much damage compared to a 1-handed weapon wielded by a Martial but I might be mistaken.
Since EB needs only 1 hand, I think comparison to 2-handed weapons is not adequate.
It is just one of those silly things Paizo put in class design which will probably be changing in PF3. It doesn't really work on casters since which caster is actually going to use a weapon outside potentially Animist, Warrior-Muse Bard & War-Priest Cleric? I can see those 3 classes getting weapon specialization vsa a Sorcerer, Witch & Wizard.
I think air/earth/fire...Anyway if you want to make a martial kineticist currently the best option is the Elemental Instinct Barbarian with Kineticist Archetype. This allows you to do elemental raged strikes while uses same element kineticist impulses.Personally, I would start with the Fury instinct and retrain to the Elemental (Fire) instinct at 10th level. Example using free archetype; the elemental blast is more of a ranged option when not raging (the Impulse trait requires concentration) until they qualify for the better area impulses (at 8th or 12th level for the 4th or 6th level feats).Elemental Instinct allows to use Impulses in Rage. This includes EB. So I don't understand why start with Fury Instinct.
I think EB maxes out at 5 dice due to it's slow progression. Given they are d6 or d8, I don't think it's really going to challenge an offensively-built martial with a fully runed d10 or d12 weapon. Some ways to directly bump up your EB damage are below. There are also many indirect ways, i.e. via imposing conditions that increase your chance to hit. I don't include those because there are probably too many combos to count. Anywho...Fire Blasts can get an extra dice with Furnace Form and add an extra 1d6 with Ignite the Sun. You can also increase the dice size with Two-Element Infusion combining it with a d8 element like earth, metal, water or wood and Fire Aura Junction gives half of your level as weakness damage.
Another element that can give good EB is metal due Alloy Flesh and Steel giving an extra damage dice and its d8. But lacks from other extra damage improvements....
Thanks I know I was forgetting something.
Fire Blasts can get an extra dice with Furnace Form and add an extra 1d6 with Ignite the Sun.Yep, but now you're talking about an EB in round 3, not in round 1. But thanks for mentioning Ignite the Sun, I missed that one.
Most of the Kineticist power is build up and requires some rounds to improve. But the cool part is that you usually is doing it at same time that you are attacking with your impulses. The action economy of kineticist is super efficient.
You can also increase the dice size with Two-Element Infusion combining it with a d8 element like earth, metal, water or wood and FireYou have to start with an 'impulse of the fire element' to trigger Fire's impulse junction. So not sure you can combo the d8 from two element infusion with the +die size from fire impulse junction.
Uses Two-Element Infusion keeps the both traits of both elements so if you use it with fire its also a fire impulse. It's mechanically similar to Composite Impulses.
Aura Junction gives half of your level as weakness damage.Yep. This is a great one and almost single-handedly makes fire the kineticist element MVP in damage...but it's great because it adds to any fire impulse you throw at an opponent, so you can combo it with those really big damage late game impulses. If we are talking impact on just your own EB, I'm taking Desert Wind instead. It gives about the same flat add, but it's damage doubles on a critical hit; extra damage from a weakness doesn't double on a critical hit.
Yes I forgot about Desert Wind. Anyway my objective was to point that EB has a pretty good damage improvement at mid to high levels even it usually being an "extra" for most kineticist build once that you usually focus in some save Impulse and you already have many other Stances to use the compete with it (like Thermal Nimbus for example).
Now, a lot of these other impulses do great things and are preferrable overall builds to what we're talking about: I'm only narrowly focused on the question of "how to boost EB" as a theoretical exercise. Maximizing EB is probably not your best overall build strategy. But for thinking through it as an exercise, I think you gotta go Air or Fire for that. Desert Wind or Fire aura junction are your largest contributors.
Yes that's was the point to show that even EB could improve a lot as you level up. But not exactly that's your best or more fun way to play.
I think air/earth/fire can get quite higher than that.
Pick up desert winds, dual elements an air/fire impulse attack. Now it gets all the bonuses from being a fire impulse and it also gets a static +16 damage (at level 20) on top of it due to desert winds
Yeah, the question is does Dual Element Infusion count as both an Air and Fire impulse, or is it just one of them that has some of the traits of the other. Desert can only be used with air impulses, not "impulses with the air or cold trait." It must come from the school, so to speak. Likewise fire's impulse junction description requires a fire impulse, not just any impulse that does fire damage.
I had initially thought that they don't combo. But if they do, oooh, yes that's probably the way to go for maximal EB. Air/Fire impulse that uses Desert Wind stance combined with the Fire impulse junction's weakness, on a melee build. 5d6 + 5 STR + 16 Desert +10 Weakness (doesn't double on a crit). On a single action non-overflow impulse, so spammable. That's 48 ave dpr per strike before factoring in crits. I'm still not sure that tops a martial with rune load-out and their own damage adds from class features. But it's definitely Nice. :)
There doesn't exist a different "Fire Elemental blast Impulse" and an "Air Elemental Blast Impulse".
There exists a single Elemental Blast Impulse that has this text:
"Choose one of your kinetic elements and a damage type listed for that element, then make a melee or ranged impulse attack against the AC of one creature.
...
The element determines the damage die, damage type, and range (for a ranged blast). A damage type other than a physical damage type adds its trait to the blast."Similarly, Dual Element Infusion has this as its first sentence:
"If the next action you use is an Elemental Blast, choose two of your kinetic elements instead of one."
So, there is no question imo that it does count for both.
So with...
Exactly, what defines the type of your impulse in practice is its trait. If you are combining any impulse in some way it's an impulse of both types.
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It is just one of those silly things Paizo put in class design which will probably be changing in PF3. It doesn't really work on casters since which caster is actually going to use a weapon outside potentially Animist, Warrior-Muse Bard & War-Priest Cleric? I can see those 3 classes getting weapon specialization vsa a Sorcerer, Witch & Wizard.
Eh, insuring a baseline level of competence for occasions when weird stuff happens or for off the wall builds is fine. Paizo was careful to put these bumps at levels when casters and kineticists get other things, so it's not like these are creating dead levels.
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You can get the critical "specialization" as a junction option.
Take the fire aura and you will deal about the same as specialization.
And yea, all the other stances and such too.
Also, legendary attacks, along with the items, gets you +1 to hit most of the time.
Is there anyway for a kineticist to do nonlethal damage except with weapons or unarmed attacks? At least the damage will be useful then?
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Is there anyway for a kineticist to do nonlethal damage except with weapons or unarmed attacks? At least the damage will be useful then?
The Safe Elements feat includes the Pacifying Infusion action, which gives your next impulse the nonlethal trait.
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which caster is actually going to use a weapon outside potentially Animist, Warrior-Muse Bard & War-Priest Cleric?Many of them. It's a pretty cheap thing to use your third action for those times you've got nothing better to do with said third action.
Yes, casters such as Wizard, Witch, Sorcerer and the like can benefit from their weapon proficiencies. Take a crossbow or air repeater or even pay for bow proficiency. It gives a reasonable 1-action damage option.
But Kineticist gets that automatically with the 1-action Kinetic Blast. I'm not seeing much point for Kineticist to be spending anything on a weapon unless that is simply part of the character concept.
I see a few uses for a weapon on a Kineticist. First, having a whip lets you provide a flank at distance, although this one doesn't need you to actually use the weapon. Second, a ranged weapon can easily outrange base Kinetic Blast; if for whatever reason you don't have Weapon Infusion this can matter in long range encounters. Third, it might be handy to have a weapon for reaction attacks (Paladin reaction, Reactive Strike, etc.), especially in a Free Archetype game.
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Gotta have your weapon ready for when you fight a will o wisp
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or a golem.
...and any weapon that has both reach and athletics maneuvers on it is potentially useful for that.
or a golem.
You may get lucky if the golem anti-magic is weak vs one of your elements/damage types.
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The Kineticist is not too impressive at level 9. I thought this class would play better, but it's a lot of cool ideas that do just ok in battle.
It is just one of those silly things Paizo put in class design which will probably be changing in PF3. It doesn't really work on casters since which caster is actually going to use a weapon outside potentially Animist, Warrior-Muse Bard & War-Priest Cleric? I can see those 3 classes getting weapon specialization vsa a Sorcerer, Witch & Wizard.
Holding out hope for a class archetype that gives all full casters Warpriest proficiencies.
Not sure if I’d include kineticists in that, but the thought is intriguing.
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The Kineticist is not too impressive at level 9. I thought this class would play better, but it's a lot of cool ideas that do just ok in battle.
It depends.
Played as a more or less pure damage monkey, it's supposed to do "just okay". It wasn't ever meant to top the charts. It's supposed to be a nice, reliable class that posts respectable numbers with a high degree of consistency. The classic way to achieve this involves going heavy into fire - at level 7 you should have the fire aura and impulse junctions, probably with a second element of your choice. (water, earth, and metal are popular for that) and a solid aura stance capable of dealing fire damage. There may be other methods to reach comparable amounts of DPR with a kineticist, but I am not aware of them.
If you're playing something other than a damage-focused kineticist, it suddenly becomes very party-dependent. The kineticist has all sorts of widgets that can combo very well with things that other members of the party can do but don't achieve all that much by themselves. Now, even if the party op stuff all falls away, the core that's left is still playable... but it's not going to be anything that you would consider to be impressive. Even the direct damage specialist fire kineticist build does double duty as "flames oracle's best friend".
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I heard that Winter Sleet + Safe Elements + Aura Shaping are loved by most martial focused parties.
Also that Air Kineticists are pretty fun due invisibility and unlimited fly without extra action cost.
And Earth/Metal/Wood Kineticists + 8 HP and High Con can cause envy in many spellcasters.
DMG is not the only thing in the game.
I built a metal and fire kineticist to do damage. So far it has been pretty meh damage in a pretty short range. I was surprised how short range everything is.
Visually, it looks very cool.
I found it hard to bring the powers to bear with the speed needed to be effective. Martials move a lot faster to bring to bear their abilities. Casters operate from much farther range. You have to account for this when playing the Kineticist. It's a bit jarring.
You do have consistent, fairly low damage AoE and can do consistent damage with things like your fire aura if the enemies are in range. It's tiny bits of damage while other martials and casters are ripping off huge chunks.
It feels a bit like a better version of the alchemist. You have a wide range of options and you can do little bits of damage, but not much heavy chunk damage which is very noticeable in your group as you get to higher level and casters and martials start getting their big dog abilities.
One you definitely notice in this game, is the caster vs. martial issues disappear at higher level. Casters are king at high level still in PF2. The blasting damage they output at the ranges they do allows a group of high level casters to absolutely murder everything while barely engaging in battle if they feel like setting up that way. Limited resources are the only thing holding them back from their previous levels of domination.
Kineticist has a weird place in that scaling between casters and martials, which I guess fits what they were built to do. We'll see how it goes as I gain more levels. Level 9 is still fairly low to see the full measure of a class.
I think you meant 9 instead of 7; Kineticists get their fourth gate bump up at 9.
I... yes. Thank you. That was a typo.
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Yeah, fire is a lot of things but fast at closing isn't one of them. Both of their 60' AoEs under level 9 are 3 action impulses. To hit farther in the first round you have to go with EB+weapon infusion, which can get you 3d6 at 100' plus 1-2 extra actions to move and position for your bigger 2nd round shot, or 3d8+CON for a 2a shot and a single extra action for movement, if you already have your aura up.
You'll have your aura up, but not your aura stance. It's actually a reason to invest in a single overflow power, if you can pick one that works well as an opener. You start with the aura but not the stance, you fire off the power, and then you recharge your aura with the same action that you were goign to have to spend to get into your stance anyway.
Scrap Barricade (for metal/fire) can work for this. Use it to disrupt your enemy's initial deployment (splitting the party can be nice when it happens to the enemy), and if they decide to go through it rather than around they take damage when it explodes. Lava Leap (for fire/earth) can also work as a close-and-attack power, if you're within range initially. You won't get to take advantage of that aura vulnerability on the initial blast template, but move+damage+temp armor is a pretty decent combo for an opener.
Scrap Barricade has to be created adjacent to the Kineticist? It has no range that I can see.
Scrap Barricade has to be created adjacent to the Kineticist? It has no range that I can see.
That's almost certainly another one of those "oops" moments on Rage of Elements. Hopefully we get an errata about it at some point? For now, I think it's a "talk with your GM" thing.
I feel the kineticist is very solid. Yeah, it doesn't deal as much damage as a martial would do, but is pretty much in the same league as casters in that area and the best part is that it goes all day long. I seen casters burning through their spell slots in a single encounter multiple times, while the kineticist is exactly the same as he was at the start of the day. I theory crafted a fire / wood kineticist build that I don't think its OP but it's really cool and useful.
Start out with Dual Gate and take Fire and Wood elements, then at 4th level take Thermal Nimbus, at 5th level take the Fire aura junction, and at 8th level take Sanguivolent Rootsn. Start combat using Sanguivolent Roots, then on the second turn sustain Sanguivolent Roots, activate Thermal Nimbus, and make whatever with your last action. On subsequent turns, keep sustaining Sanguivolent Roots and use your other two actions for whatever two-action fire impulse you have or even your fire elemental blast. The damage is far from fantastical, but it's consistent AoE damage, as well as a little healing from Sanguivolent Roots as well as a fire resistance equal to your level on every party member, and the best part is that both Thermal Nimbus and Sanguivolent Roots specifically only target enemies, so you don't have burn a feat on Safe Elements. If you later take the Fire impulse junction you can even improve your damage a little.
I feel the kineticist is easily one of the most well-designed classes in the game, as well as being one that is somewhat powerful but not because of its DPS but rather by the options it gives you. A Water / Earth kineticist with Safe Elements, Winter Sleet, Earth critical blast, and two element infusion literally put slow 1 as well as knock a target prone on a crit, and if you also have something like Rolling Mudslide you can also immobilize them and move them around with the Water impulse junction. An air kineticist is literally the best infiltrator in the world, with invisibiliy semi-at wil, almost permanent flying, and 1-mile range message. Yeah, your damage is kinda lacksluter, but if you want you can turn yourself invisible, sustain it on multiple turns, and play chess with your allies using Four Winds.
The only element I feel is kinda lackluster is metal. Everything you would want to do with metal is much better done with earth, and the few metal impulses who feel strong have much better equivalents on the other elements. I feel like the only useful part about metal is Flashforge if you have a GM that is very lenient on what things you can make with it (rations are a level 0 adventuring gear for example, and while I don't think most GMs would allow you to create food for all the party, it is acceptable and really cool for the kineticist to create metal rations for themselves that they ingest as if they were allomancers from Mistborn) as well as some neat exploits like adamantine blasts at 4th level with Clad in Metal, which technically also allows you to create infinite adamantine with Base Kinesis. You wouldn't be able to sell it for profit, but it doesn't say anything about using it yourself (or have someone else) to craft adamantine gear for everyone on the party
Metal (unfortunately) seems a bit more niche than the other elements.
You can make it work, but it requires more effort and teamwork at lower levels.
It's a bit "iron"-ic that metal kineticists aren't metal. (small apology for the pun)
I feel the kineticist is easily one of the most well-designed classes in the game, as well as being one that is somewhat powerful but not because of its DPS but rather by the options it gives you. A Water / Earth kineticist with Safe Elements, Winter Sleet, Earth critical blast, and two element infusion literally put slow 1 as well as knock a target prone on a crit, and if you also have something like Rolling Mudslide you can also immobilize them and move them around with the Water impulse junction. An air kineticist is literally the best infiltrator in the world, with invisibiliy semi-at wil, almost permanent flying, and 1-mile range message. Yeah, your damage is kinda lacksluter, but if you want you can turn yourself invisible, sustain it on multiple turns, and play chess with your allies using Four Winds.
I agree. Fire Kineticists can have a very good DMG output in very late game building up their damage boosting impulses and junctions and the resourceless aspect of Kineticist is what really makes it shine in this point. I usually don't make my build around DMG or fire only specially in low levels. I usually starts with some other element like Air/Earth or Wood to get a higher armor or mobility or party defense/support and only in late levels I begin to invest in fire where when it shines more.
It's curious about my kineticist builds. None of the are fully single element but I also doesn't start with dual gate. In lowest levels I usually want the Impulse Junction of that element, but in the midle to high levels I don't think that only one element worth enough the lack of versatility of don't get others good impulses from other elements (get all junctions never justifies IMO).The only element I feel is kinda lackluster is metal. Everything you would want to do with metal is much better done with earth, and the few metal impulses who feel strong have much better equivalents on the other elements. I feel like the only useful part about metal is Flashforge if you have a GM that is very lenient on what things you can make with it (rations are a level 0 adventuring gear for example, and while I don't think most GMs would allow you to create food for all the party, it is acceptable and really cool for the kineticist to create metal rations for themselves that they ingest as if they were allomancers from Mistborn) as well as some neat exploits like adamantine blasts at 4th level with Clad in Metal, which technically also allows you to create infinite adamantine with Base Kinesis. You wouldn't be able to sell it for profit, but it doesn't say anything about using it yourself (or have someone else) to craft adamantine gear for everyone on the party
I agree, metal is strange. But there's some things interesting in it not only Flash Forge. Alloy Flesh and Steel is pretty cool and Shattershields is pretty efficient to protect allies but I don't know how it works when used with someone that's already have a Shield Block (the both hardness are applied in series?).
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The armor is better than it looks at first. Kineticist armors are mostly just stopgaps so that you can leave your dex low early on. The fact that it shatters when you take a crit is kind of funky, but if you're wearing decent light armor under it it won't drop you by all that much for the time between then and when you can spend another action to bring it back up again. The big thing is the shield. It's a shield that scales well with your level, counts as an empty hand for the purpose of launching off impulses, and can be replaced with a single action when it breaks. For shield blocking, that's quite good.
Plate in treasure starts out as being enemy-specific, but in later levels, if you can get access to Sovereign Steel, Djezet, or Keep Stone, each of those can have notable benefits for your armor and shield.
Mithral would have a benefit, but realistically, by the time you can get access to it, there's no real benefit left.
Abysium has a pretty brutal downside, but if you take the Earth or Wood resist junctions, you can immunity to poison at lvl 17, which suddenly makes it very interesting for both armor and shield.
Siccatite is at least mildly amusing, and also benefits from having an appropriate immunity.
There are at least a few metals out there where being able to treat your attack impulses as if they were weapons coated in the stuff would be useful, but that's a "talk with your GM" moment... as is the question of how, say, an entire wall made of abysium might affect the foe
Some elements are very cool. My fire aura right now with gate junction toes 8 points of damage with the 4 points from Therman Nimbus and 4 point weakness from the gate junction which I can see getting pretty nutty at high level.
Fire Bird thing is pretty surgical.
I want to use flame cone, but it is 3 actions and overflow. I found the activation of the aura while moving is not so great action economy. It's nice to get the blast off or start the aura while activating the elemental gate, but it slows deployment of the impulses if you have to move into range.
It is hard to even deploy a 2 action impulse if you need to activate your gate while moving into range, which usually leaves it so you use 2 blasts that round, then hope the other party members don't massacre the targets your going after.
That's the real problem when your damage isn't great or you don't operate at great range in a well built party like I play in. They will massacre everything before a slower moving class even gets a chance to act.
It's one of those things that doesn't get talked about when you're comparing power gamers or optimizers in the balance equation. If the classes are unequal or slow, then the other party members playing higher powered or more optimal classes slaughter everything before you even take an action. So you really learn quick which classes are underwhelming when everything is getting slaughtered before you can really do much or your damage is piddly while they just destroy everything.
My feeling looking at the Kineticist powers is they are slower build, so we'll see how they do a they get higher level. Martials tend to be more powerful in the first 10 levels or so, while the caster types tend to ramp up at the later levels. The kineticist may scale more like a caster and start to ramp past level 10.