[Autumn]

I think its no secret that Elemental Pierces are a little disappointing sometimes, and I do get why they are this way, it could be frustrating to have mages always have access to what is effectively a very sizeable damage increase, especially so if they manage to hit the weakness mark, and often enough this can lead into degenerate damage stacking gameplay pattern which is almost always a point of frustration itself.

Though I also think that Piercing effects are a little too niche at the moment as they are more of a precautionary measure rather than an offensive one, and to appease the playerbase that wants to hit weaknesses offensively (as it should be a feature of these skills, otherwise why would the weakness mechanic exist if not to be used) I am willing to make a suggestion I think would be a healthier way to hit weaknesses.

Let us take Verglas as an example of this, where in Winter's Bite is generally regarded as pretty mediocre until nerhaven is involved, in which case Verglases do actually want to lean on using this skill to make use of the fact that your opponent is ice weak, this isn't always applicable and gives a sizeable downside to having Nerhaven despite covering up the weakness with an ice resist, I think that pierces could function very similarly perhaps.

So here is what I am willing to propose, since I've ranted on long enough:
-Elemental Pierces should reduce a target's Bonus Resistance instead of their Base Resistance, not going past 0% bonus resistance.

What this should mean is that if you used Fulgur Of Flight on someone, it'd reduce their wind resistance by up to 20%, normally as it is in game right now, this would have no effect on anyone below 0% wind resist already even if they have a random 5-10% resist somewhere, but with this change it'd negate that random bonus resistance they have, returning them to their actual resist penalty.

This would be most effective on people who are hosting enchants or are racially weak to a certain element just like how Winter's Bite is currently considered, allowing people to pick apart on a case by case basis where they should use their pierces.

This also allows some very certain items to perhaps gain elemental pierce in the future without being an absolute significant downgrade, such as Indignant Idol, or Soaked, while perhaps having their numbers increased for reduced functionality.