Build planning
Pass the Fear Ember Guide: Stacking Final Damage
Each stack of Ember is +1% Final Damage. Here is where stacks come from, which relics rewrite what Ember does, and when a capped conversion stops paying.
One stack is one percent
Ember has one job in the base game: each stack increases your Final Damage by 1%. That is a multiplicative-feeling stat printed as a flat number, and it does not care which weapon you carry or which element you run. Sixty stacks is +60% Final Damage on everything.
Because the value is fixed and universal, Ember is the safest currency in the game to accumulate. The interesting decisions are about where the stacks come from and which relics change the payout.
The exact definition is on the Ember entry.
Stacks arrive in three different ways
Read the line that grants them, because the three sources behave nothing alike.
- When carried: Fire Amulet grants 8 stacks, Fire Bolt grants 20, Endless Firewood grants 100. Dismantle the relic and the stacks leave with it.
- On Shatter: the relic pays permanent stacks when you dismantle it. Common pays 2, Rare 3, Epic 8, Legendary 15, Mythic 30, and forged versions double all of those.
- Per trigger: Everburning Ember grants a stack on Embarkation. Flame Furnace grants 3 permanent stacks whenever you dismantle a weapon or weapon part.
Carried stacks are rented, permanent stacks are owned
A relic granting 20 carried stacks looks better than one paying 8 permanent stacks on Shatter, and it is, right up to the moment you need the slot. Carried stacks are a loan against your ten relic slots. Permanent stacks cost nothing to hold.
The practical rule: take carried stacks when slots are free, and convert to permanent stacks when the slot has a better candidate. That is the same trade the Shatter guide describes, seen from the Ember side.
Some relics rewrite what Ember does
This is where an Ember count stops being a simple number.
- Frenzied Fire Ring turns all your Ember into Cursed Fire. Each stack still gives 1% Final Damage but adds 0.1% Damage Taken. The forged version gives 2% Final Damage per stack at the same 0.1% cost.
- Molten Core Orb turns Ignition into an Explosive Fire Circle, and each Ember stack adds 2.5% Final Damage and range to it. Forged, that becomes 6% per stack.
- Sunlight Ring makes each stack add 0.2% Ultimate Gauge Buildup and 0.4% Fire Damage. Forged, 0.5% and 1%.
- Endless Firewood raises your Ember limit by 1000 and grants Ember equal to 5% of your current stacks on every Destination.
Frenzied Fire Ring is the clearest tradeoff in the group. At 100 stacks it is +100% Final Damage and +10% Damage Taken, which is excellent on a build that does not get hit and dangerous on one that does.
Watch for conversions that cap
Fire Mark grants 10 carried stacks and gives 1% Fire Damage per stack, up to 20%. It stops paying at 20 stacks. If you already run 80 stacks, that relic is doing a small fraction of what its text suggests. Endless Firewood, by contrast, compounds: 5% of your current stacks at every Destination grows faster the more you already hold.
Read the words “up to” as an instruction to check your current count before taking the relic.
Ember feeds effects outside fire builds
Two relics count Ember and Growth together. Acidfire Flask increases its Battle Skill damage by 0.5% for each stack of either, and Five-Color Arrow gives 1% Transmutation Damage per stack of either. Their forged versions pay 1.2% and 2%.
That means a run holding 60 Ember and 60 Growth is feeding those relics 120 stacks, not 60. If both stack types are already piling up from dismantle cleanup, those two relics are far stronger than their tooltips read in isolation.
When to stop chasing stacks
Ember competes with everything else for slots and pickups. It is the right target when your damage is spread across several sources, because Final Damage multiplies all of them. It is the wrong target when your run is failing for a reason a percentage cannot fix: no reliable trigger, no survivability, or a weapon you cannot land hits with.
A useful check before each pickup: write down your current stack count and the percentage the new relic actually adds. Test the finished loadout in the Build Planner, and browse candidates by effect text in the Relics database rather than by rarity colour.
Frequently asked questions
How much damage does one stack of Ember give?
The glossary definition is +1% Final Damage per stack. That is the baseline before any relic rewrites what Ember does.
Do Ember stacks disappear when I dismantle the relic that gave them?
It depends on the wording. Stacks granted by a when carried line go away with the relic. Stacks from a Shatter line or a line that says permanently stay for the run.
Is there a cap on Ember stacks?
Individual relics can raise the limit. Endless Firewood adds +1000 to your Ember limit and its forged version adds +2000. Some conversion relics cap their own bonus instead, such as Fire Mark at 20% Fire Damage.