Games like League of Legends that come with a set of five abilities and a simple background for a character are some of the best or at least easiest sources of characters to build for. This is why builds are so populous on this blog compared to characters that have ill-defined powers, decades of history to dig through, or so many iterations that it's difficult to include it all. This particular build awaited Rage of Elements and while it ended up being not entirely necessary, it did unlock a very unique combo that I discuss in the build. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
I'm pretty proud of the video for this build so please let me know your thoughts.
With that, let’s get into the build for Qiyana, Empress of the Elements from League of Legends!
QIYANA, EMPRESS OF THE ELEMENTS
CHARACTER Qiyana Yunalai
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Born last in the line of the royal family of Ixaocan, Qiyana thought she would never sit upon the throne
o However, she proved herself to be a genius at wielding elemental magic, overtaking her elder sisters with ease
o When her eldest sister sought to humble the increasingly arrogant Qiyana in ritual combat, Inessa was instead defeated and left crippled
o Qiyana has also manipulated events that have allowed her to advance in her quest for the throne, taking over her sister’s position as the prefect of Tikras
o In combat, she wields the ohmlatl, resembling a giant chakram with a handle set in it
o She is classified as an assassin, which are fragile and agile melee damage dealers that excel in swiftly slaying targets
o Royal Privilege is her passive, adding extra damage to her attacks though only once per target for a few seconds. Drawing an element resets the cooldown of this extra damage
o Her first active ability comes in two forms – the first is Edge of Ixtal, which strikes in a target direction. If she has an element, this effect becomes Elemental Wrath, dealing additional effects based on her element
o If she’s attuned to the river, it briefly freezes the target. If she’s attuned to terrain, it deals additional damage to low health enemies. If she’s attuned to brush, it leaves behind an area that makes her invisible
o To attune to an element, Qiyana uses her Terrashape. This gives her a small dash towards an element that she attunes to. While attuned, she attacks faster and deals more damage
o Audacity is a simple dash through an enemy that damages them
o Her ultimate is Supreme Display of Talent, which unleashes a windblast that knocks back enemies. Upon impact with river, brush, or terrain, it releases a shockwave that damages and stuns enemies
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Suli Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Unconventional Weaponry – Bladed Hoop
Background: Noble
o Ability Boosts: +Intelligence, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Society (trained), Heraldry Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Courtly Graces
Class & Subclass: Laughing Shadow Magus
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Intimidation (trained), Nature (trained), Stealth (trained)
o Spellbook: Cantrips – prestidigitation, produce flame, ray of frost, slashing gust, tanglefoot; 1st – hydraulic push
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 12)
Through the use of the human ancestry, Qiyana can pick up Unconventional Weaponry to gain proficiency with the bladed hoop, which will represent her ohmlatl. Initially, Qiyana would never sit upon the throne due to her being last of ten sisters, and she will use the noble background instead of royalty to achieve some of this neglect. She wields the elements of the land in her blade, which comes from her magus class. The laughing shadow hybrid study gives her access to dimensional assault, mirroring the dashes of her Terrashape and Audacity. It fits particularly well with Terrashape, which refreshes the element she’s attuned to much like how dimensional assault refreshes her Spellstrike. This in combination with the Arcane Cascade class feature plays into her Royal Privilege passive, giving her extra static damage. As a versatile human, she picks up Fleet, which increases the range of her dimensional assault to 20 feet when she’s unarmored and in her Arcane Cascade.
Spellstrike is the main way that this build will generate the effect of Elemental Wrath with ray of frost in particular representing her river attunement with its slowing effect on a critical hit. Attunement to brush will be covered by later facets of the build, but her attunement to terrain is difficult to capture as execute mechanics aren’t really a thing in Pathfinder 2e.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Geomancer Dedication
o Skill Feat: Terrain Stalker – Underbrush
o Gear: genealogy mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Stealth (expert)
o Gear: +1 bladed hoop, genealogy mask, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Attunement Shift
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 bladed hoop, necklace of knives, genealogy mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 14)
o Ancestry Feat: Elemental Assault
o Skill Increase: Arcana (expert), Survival (trained)
o Spellbook: 3rd – elemental annihilation wave
o Gear: +1 striking bladed hoop, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet, necklace of knives, genealogy mask, cloak of feline rest
In League of Legends, Qiyana gathers elements by attuning to the landscape around her, which will be represented with the Geomancer Dedication. For at least a while, this means that she’ll want a good array of elemental spells to prepare based upon the terrain she finds herself in, but this will become less important as she picks up Attunement Shift. While the initial effects of the Geomancer Dedication require casting a spell from a spell slot, Attunement Shift can trigger with the casting of a cantrip, meaning she instead benefits from preparing a range of elemental cantrips. For the time being, she will be prioritizing her Stealth for mechanical purposes. Being attuned to the brush when she uses Elemental Wrath turns her invisible. She starts to tap into that with Terrain Stalker for the underbrush. Qiyana’s powers have made her arrogant, which is reflected with her Haughty Obstinacy ancestry feat.
With her third level spells, Qiyana gains access to elemental annihilation wave, which is the closest means of creating the effects of her ultimate, Supreme Display of Talent. Regrettably, she cannot achieve the effect of her ultimate along with a Spellstrike, even when she gets Expansive Spellstrike because to get the push effect on the damage, she needs to cast the spell as 3-actions. However, Spellstrike only works with 1 and 2-action spells meaning that Qiyana will have to just go for a pure cast of it – which is part of the reason why she continues to invest in Intelligence.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Expansive Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Magical Shorthand
o Gear: +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking bladed hoop, demon mask, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Nature (expert)
o Gear: endless grimoire, +1 explorer’s clothing, shadow armor rune, +1 striking bladed hoop, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Attuned Stride
o Skill Feat: Trick Magic Item
o Gear: ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, vaultbreaker’s harness, +1 explorer’s clothing, +1 striking bladed hoop, demon mask
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Tetraelemental Assault
o Skill Increase: Stealth (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of bounding, ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, shadow armor rune, +1 striking bladed hoop
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 16, Dex 20, Con 10, Int 19, Wis 10, Cha 16)
o Class Feat: Runic Impression
o Skill Feat: Swift Sneak
o Gear: mask of the banshee, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, frost weapon rune, ring of wizardry (type I), endless grimoire, +1 striking bladed hoop
To make use of a wider range of spells to wield in the appropriate environment for her geomancer archetype, Qiyana takes Expansive Spellstrike, which will allow her to start Spellstriking with more spells. On a personal level, I’m a little iffy on this feat given the DCs of a magus, but I had a player make quite good use of it and that made me feel a bit better about it. Attuned Stride allows Qiyana to pass through environments she’s attuned to unhampered, which is generally useful for a quick character like her. Runic Impression, aside from recharging her Spellstrike, serves as another nice nod to Terrashape, allowing her to gather an element in her blade that empowers her Strikes. Between Attuned Stride, Feather Step, and Swift Sneak, this block of feats has a heavy focus on mobility, something that Qiyana has in abundance. Hardy Traveler also plays into that, but on a grander scale. Aside from that, she picks up Magical Shorthand to help her learn spells more swiftly, and hold in abundance for the appropriate terrain as well as Trick Magic Item to exhibit her mastery over magic.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Incredible Investiture
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking bladed hoop, greater shadow armor rune, mask of the banshee, +1 resilient explorer’s clothing, boots of bounding, ring of wizardry (type I)
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Spell Swipe
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess
o Gear: +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, +2 striking bladed hoop, greater endless grimoire, mask of the banshee, frost weapon rune, shock weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Continuous Assault
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking bladed hoop, +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, master magus ring, greater endless grimoire, greater shadow armor rune, mask of the banshee
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Dimensional Disappearance
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Gear: hellfire boots, +2 greater striking bladed hoop, ring of wizardry (type III), +2 resilient explorer’s clothing, greater endless grimoire, greater demon mask
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 16, Dex 21, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Deception (trained), Stealth (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, hellfire boots, energy adaptive armor rune, +2 greater striking bladed hoop, master magus ring, greater hauling weapon rune
Qiyana will start taking advantage of her bladed hoop’s sweep trait with Spell Swipe, which will also allow her to chain multi-target spells together at enemies. While she can use saving throw type spells with this such as lightning bolt and other elemental options, a solid and interesting choice is slashing gust from Rage of Elements. This only targets two creatures when you have two free hands. However, not only can the bladed hoop be wielded in one-hand or two-hands – it can be wielded as a free-hand weapon when set spinning. By my reading, this should allow her to target two creatures with slashing gust and Spell Swipe as long as she is spinning the hoop. While her investment in Stealth provides Qiyana with a mostly mundane means of sneaking to replicate her brush Elemental Wrath, she grabs Dimensional Disappearance. This allows her to become invisible after using dimensional assault and potentially not make a Strike. This could allow her to save her invisibility to leave enemies flat-footed to her next Spellstrike. Incredible Investiture continues to explore Qiyana’s innate talent as a mage. She has also been taking some investment in Intimidation so that she can Demoralize and debuff enemies before trying to use Expansive Spellstrike.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Overwhelming Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Legendary Sneak
o Gear: greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of wizardry (type IV), hellfire boots, +2 greater striking bladed hoop, ring of wizardry (type III)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Noble Resolve
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking bladed hoop, greater shock weapon rune, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, hellfire boots, energy adaptive armor rune
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Cascading Ray
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking bladed hoop, speed weapon rune, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, ring of wizardry (type IV)
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Nature (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, anklets of alacrity, major shadow armor rune, +3 greater striking bladed hoop, greater thunderblast slippers, greater frost weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 18, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 16)
o Class Feat: Supreme Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Influence Nature
o Gear: +3 major striking bladed hoop, +3 greater resilient explorer’s clothing, mercurial mantle, dread blindfold, major crown of the fire eater, greater ashen weapon rune
Given Qiyana’s reliance upon the natural elements of the world and her limited spell slots, she may need to take Overwhelming Spellstrike to help her cut through the resistances of her adversaries. As an alternative to her elemental annihilation wave, Qiyana can use a Spellstrike with a knock back and energy damage, and then use the Cascading Ray that she picks up during this block to represent the shockwave effect that her ultimate triggers when it hits terrain. Both capstone magus feats actually work well for Qiyana but I favor the quickened effect of Supreme Spellstrike unless the player wants to rely upon a speed property rune. Legendary Sneak allows Qiyana to move unnoticed even in plain sight, allowing her to get effect akin to the brush attunement of Elemental Wrath without having to use dimensional assault. Quick Jump aids Qiyana’s mobility and Influence Nature fits nicely with a character who wields extraordinary power associated with the elements and the land. Finally, Stubborn Persistence is mainly inspired by Qiyana’s personality.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Qiyana could make good use of the Goemancer Dedication in a free archetype game, but since Arcane Cascade is a stance, she doesn’t benefit from the Rough Terrain Stance or its follow-up feats. With that being the case, Qiyana will want to rush completing this archetype and then look into a casting archetype. Mechanically, the Witch Dedication with a primal patron offers the best options. They will scale off of Intelligence though their proficiency will lag slightly behind. But caster options are always fantastic on magi, adding utility and additional leveled spells to her kit.
BUILD CONCLUSION
The last in line to the throne, Qiyana is an ambitious young woman who seeks to leverage her unusual mastery over elemental magic to ascend. She is represented as a versatile human magus with the noble background and the laughing shadow hybrid study. Her ohmlatl is represented as a bladed hoop, which she gains proficiency in through the Unconventional Weaponry ancestry feat. As someone who didn’t have much expected of her, Qiyana uses the noble background to reflect a lack of training for a queenly position while her elemental magic comes from the magus class. With a dash included in both Terrashape and Audacity, she can use dimensional assault to mimic their effects. Arcane Cascade serves as Royal Privilege, adding some additional damage to her Strikes. Edge of Ixtal can be represented with a simple Strike but its enhanced version, Elemental Wrath, comes into play through her Spellstrikes. While she lacks a good representation for the executing effect of terrain attunement, she can rely upon ray of frost for her river attunement and brush attunement is represented by her Stealth-based feats and her eventual Dimensional Disappearance. As previously mentioned, dimensional assault works very well as a baseline for Terrashape, giving her a dash and charging her with energy for an empowered ability such as Elemental Wrath. However, to gain the effects of actually attuning to an element, she makes use of the Geomancer Dedication and several of its feats. For her ultimate, there are a few options. The closest effect to this is simply a 3-action elemental annihilation wave – something that she has to cast rather than being able to Spellstrike with but matches it almost perfectly. Alternatively, Qiyana can use a Spellstrike with a spell that has a push to launch an enemy back into a wall and then use Cascading Ray to launch secondary effects at other enemies, emitting the shockwave from impact with terrain.
With this build, Qiyana is an element wielding warrior who draws upon the powers of the land itself while relying on her magic and mobility to eliminate everybody who stands in her way.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see! If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog. The character coming out next week is sure to arrive just in time. Have a fantastic Friday!
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