DPS
Raw damage · the powerhouse
The whole kit points downrange — the top of the band, and the number every encounter's DPS-check is measured against.
Damage1.00
Healingfull
Nullpyre›Systems deep-dive
Design brief — Combat & Builds
How the numbers hold the line
Nullpyre is built on one promise: no version of the game is the wrong version. Roles differentiate contribution, not power. Elements change how you kill, never how much. And a six-layer build stack gives every class dozens of viable shapes. Here is the machinery underneath.
01 — The Fireteam
Three roles, one tight band
A single role multiplier scales all outgoing damage: DPS 1.00, Healer 0.90, Tank 0.80. That is only a 20-point spread from top to bottom — so every role is a real damage dealer. Identity comes from the specialty stacked on top, not from a gulf in power. And role is a rebindable build choice: any of the six classes can build any role — each just has a natural one.
The multiplier is damage-only
The role multiplier is a damage scalar and nothing else. It never touches healing — a Healer restores life at full value even while its damage sits at 0.90. Support power is a specialty layered on top, not a discount on the rest of the kit.
Because the spread is so narrow, a Tank at 0.80 is still a genuine threat downrange. Nobody is benched to a support-bot; a Tank still shoots, a Healer still kills. Roles decide what you contribute most, not whether you contribute at all.
Healing is never scaled down. The 0.90 / 0.80 figures apply to outgoing damage only. A Healer's throughput on the team is exactly as strong as its role demands.
Healer
Keep the team alive · buffs
Sustains and empowers the fireteam through the hardest modifiers — and still deals real damage. Team-enabling, not self-serving.
Damage0.90
Healingfull
Tank
Control · survive · hold aggro
Controls the room, absorbs the punishment, and holds the enemy's attention. Trades the least damage for the most enabling power.
Damage0.80
Healingfull
Why DPS still matters. Tank and Healer power is team-enabling — it raises the fireteam's collective output, not their own solo power. Encounters interleave DPS-checks, control-checks and survival-checks, and the gear meta leans damage. So the roles stay in balance without any one of them becoming mandatory or obsolete.
02 — The Spectrum
Seven elements, equal damage
Every element deals the same damage. Switching element changes how you deal it — the signature status verb and the delivery curve — never how much. Each element engine is normalized to the same average output, so you can recolour your entire loadout without losing a single point of power.
The damage equation — where power actually lives
Neutral Scaling
Weapon / ability damage · precision · +% damage — element-agnostic. Progression lives here.
Element Engine
Normalized to ~1.0 average. Chooses the verb & delivery curve only — power-neutral re-flavour.
Role Multiplier
1.00 / 0.90 / 0.80 — the damage-only scalar from your role.
Horizontal by design
Six aspects of the Light orbit the Pyre as equals — no element out-damages another. Each engine is tuned to the same average output; it only picks the delivery curve: burst, sustained, damage-over-time, or control.
Because scaling lives entirely in element-neutral stats, +% for a specific element is deliberately not a strong scaling stat. Damage conversion is power-neutral re-flavour, so a build never gets locked into one colour to stay competitive.
The seventh, Corruption, is the Darkness itself — the thing eating the Light. Wield it and it wields back.
6 aspects of Light
+1 Darkness
Kinetic
Precision
BurstRaw ballistics — no status, just the headshot and the stagger that follows.Solar
Scorch · Ignite
Damage-over-timeStack Scorch until it detonates the target in an Ignition.Arc
Jolt · Amplified
Sustained · chainChain-lightning Jolts between foes; go Amplified for raw speed.Void
Suppress · Volatile · Devour
Control · sustainLock down abilities, prime Volatile, Devour a kill to survive.Stasis
Slow · Frozen · Shatter
ControlSlow the horde to a Freeze, then Shatter the statues.Strand
Sever · Suspend
ControlSuspend them off the floor; Sever cuts the damage they deal.Corruption
Unravel
DoT · spreadThe Darkness. Unravel spreads between targets — and it bites back.| Element | Signature verb(s) | Delivery curve | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinetic | Precision (no status) | Burst | 1.0× |
| Solar | Scorch → Ignite | Damage-over-time | 1.0× |
| Arc | Jolt · Amplified | Sustained · chain | 1.0× |
| Void | Suppress · Volatile · Devour | Control · sustain | 1.0× |
| Stasis | Slow → Frozen → Shatter | Control | 1.0× |
| Strand | Sever · Suspend | Control | 1.0× |
| Corruption | Unravel | DoT · spread | 1.0× |
03 — Build depth
Six layers, most permanent to most fluid
A character is assembled in layers. The top layers set the chassis and element; the lower layers are where "many viable builds per class" comes from — and the very bottom, gear, is where the chase lives.
The build stack
Most permanent → most fluidClassLayer 01
The chassis — a natural role and three specs to grow into. Any class can build any role.
FixedSpecLayer 02
One of eighteen: your fixed element and a signature mechanic. Your most permanent combat choice.
Fixed elementAspectsLayer 03
Two to three build-defining slots that rewrite how your kit plays. Where a build takes its shape.
2–3 slotsFragmentsLayer 04
Keyword and stat tweaks, mixed and matched into your Aspect slots. Fine-tune the feel.
Mix & matchConstellationLayer 05
A passive tree of stat nodes and rule-changing keystones — the deep, permanent spine of a character.
KeystonesGearLayer 06
Affixes and Exotics — the chase, and where the meta actually lives. Swappable in a heartbeat.
Fluid · the chaseRole sits on top of the stack, not inside it. Your class and spec are fixed choices, but the role you play is rebindable — re-spec on the fly as the encounter demands. A Titan can hold the line as a Tank in one fight and pump damage as DPS in the next, all on the same spec and element.
04 — The pillar
No meta bias — a parity band
The core promise, made measurable: no class, spec, or element is the "right" answer. Every base build clusters inside a ±8% band around its role's target time-to-kill. Only gear is allowed to push past that line — and that's the chase.
The ±8% parity band
Every class × spec × element build must clear the reference dummy, at reference power, within ±8% of its role's target time-to-kill. Base kits stay inside the band; gear is what pushes beyond it.
Base kits in band
Gear can push past
What the band buys you
The parity band is the rule that keeps the design pillars honest — it turns "every version is viable" from a promise into a testable contract.
Pillar 01
No meta bias
Every class, spec and element version is viable and fun. The only meta is gear/build-based, and it rotates via patches and the seasonal artifact.
Pillar 02
Contribution, not power
Roles differentiate what you bring to the fireteam — control, sustain, damage — while raw output stays in a tight band.
Pillar 03
Elements stay horizontal
Element choice changes the verb and the curve, never the total. Scaling lives in element-neutral stats.
Every build viable. Every role a threat. Refuse to go out.