Heat

Heat is a mechanic exclusive to the Holosmith elite specialization of the Engineer.

Mechanics

A heat bar divided on segments with Overheat red segment at the end of the bar.

The heat bar is displayed above your weapon skills and will slowly drain while not in Photon Forge mode. Heat will not drain if Photonic Blasting Module is traited.

The player's model will change from blue to orange depending on their current heat level. If Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit is traited, they can also change to red at above 100% heat.

Exceed skills have additional effects when above 50% Heat, which are further increased above 100% Heat if Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit is traited.

Generating heat

A full heat bar.

Heat is generated passively at a rate of 2% per second while in Photon Forge mode. Additional heat is generated when using a Photon Forge skill. Reaching maximum Heat damages the Holosmith through Overheat.

Heat generation per skill

Skill	Heat	Description
Light Strike	2% per use	Swing a holographic blade.
Bright Slash	2% per use	Slash with a blade of light energy.
Flash Cutter	2% per use	Cleave through all foes in front of you twice.
Holo Leap	7% per use	Create a holographic launch pad and leap to your foe. The pad remains behind for a short duration, granting increased movement speed to allies who touch it.
Corona Burst	2% per pulse (10% total)	Strike nearby foes and begin to store up energy, gaining boons and heat each pulse. After charging, the energy explodes, inflicting conditions on nearby foes.
Photon Blitz	2% per projectile (16% total)	Fire multiple piercing blasts at your target.
Holographic Shockwave	25% per use	Create a deadly holographic shockwave that launches foes upward. This attack always deals a critical hit.

Dissipating heat

Heat will dissipate at a rate of 5% per second, after 3 seconds of leaving Photon Forge mode. The rate will increase to 10% per second after 5 seconds of cooling.

Heat can also be lost at 15% per dodge through the Thermal Release Valve trait.

Overheating

 Overheat - Reaching the heat maximum results in a self-damaging explosion. Photon Forge is disabled until all heat is lost. Other tool belt skill cooldowns are increased.   Holoforge Overheated - Unable to reactivate until cooled. At 100% heat (or 150% with Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit), you will Overheat, forcing you out of Photon Forge mode and dealing 25% of your base health in damage. You will also take an additional 25% over 2.5 seconds. Vitality will not increase the damage taken from overheating. If Photonic Blasting Module is traited, then you will not take the initial damage to yourself, but you will still take 25% over 2.5 seconds.

Overheating will cause all your tool belt skills to go on a 15 second cooldown (5 seconds with the Photonic Blasting Module trait).

You will not be able to enter Photon Forge mode until all heat has been dissipated. It will take 15.5 seconds to fully cool down from 100 heat and 20.5 seconds to cool down from 150 heat.

Time	Heat lost per second	Heat lost within this range	Total Heat lost
0-3 seconds (3 seconds)	0%	0%	0%
3-8 seconds (5 seconds)	5%	25%	25%
8-15 seconds (7 seconds)	10%	70%	95%
15-20 seconds (5 seconds)	10%	50%	145%

Heat may also be dissipated at 15 heat per dodge when using the Thermal Release Valve trait.

You will not Overheat if you reach maximum heat while outside of Photon Forge, due to the pulsing heat gain from Corona Burst.

Skills affected by heat

Skills	Type	<50%	>50%	>100%
Sun Edge			Damage Increase: 10%	Damage Increase: 20%
Sun Ripper			Damage Increase: 10%	Damage Increase: 20%
Gleam Saber			Damage Increase: 10%	Damage Increase: 20%
Refraction Cutter			Additional Blades: 2	Additional Blades: 4
Radiant Arc		Quickness (2s)	Quickness (4s)	Quickness (6s)
Coolant Blast	Exceed		Cooling Vapor (4s)  Frost Aura (4s)
Cauterize	Toolbelt		Additional Conditions removed: 3
Photon Wall	Exceed		Reflects Missiles
Launch Wall	Exceed		Additional Walls: 2
Particle Accelerator	Toolbelt		Velocity Increase: 100%
Laser Disk	Exceed		Duration Increase 50%
Blade Burst	Toolbelt		Damage Increase: 25%
Hard Light Arena	Exceed		Duration Increase: 4 seconds Radius Increase: 120
Prismatic Singularity	Toolbelt		Radius and Pull increase: 120
Spectrum Shield	Exceed		Recharge Reduced: 50%
Flash Spark	Toolbelt		Light Aura (4s)
Prime Light Beam	Exceed		Leaves behind a burning holographic field.

Traits affected by heat

Skills	Tier	<50%	>50%	>100%
Prismatic Converter	Major Adept	Conditions to Boons: 1	Conditions to Boons: 2	Conditions to Boons: 3
Laser's Edge	Minor Grandmaster	Damage Increase: 0 – 7.5%	Damage Increase: 7.5 – 15%	Damage Increase: 15 – 22.5%
Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit	Major Grandmaster			Might (2 stacks, 6s)

Related traits

 Holosmith

•  Light Density Amplifier - Photon Forge reduces incoming damage but has increased passive heat generation.
•  Prismatic Converter - Deactivate Photon Forge converts conditions into boons based on your heat level.
•  Heat Therapy - Gain health per unit of heat lost. This trait does not function while cooling due to an overheat unless Photonic Blasting Module is equipped.
•  Crystal Configuration: Storm - Photon Forge skill 1 now fires explosive projectiles, but generates extra heat.
•  Laser's Edge - While Photon Forge is active, your outgoing strike damage is increased based on your current heat.
•  Thermal Release Valve - Dodge rolling vents heat as an attack against nearby foes. (Attack will not occur without heat.)
•  Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit - Increases maximum heat capacity. While above 100% heat, periodically gain might. Some skills and traits gain additional heat tiers.
•  Photonic Blasting Module - Overheat now blasts damage to nearby foes and no longer deals its initial damage to you. The tool belt recharge penalty for Overheat is reduced. Heat can only be lost after overheating. Damage over time from Overheat is still applied.

Notes

• As of the August 17, 2021 update:
  • Mounting will no longer reset Photon Forge's heat level to 0.
  • Heat does not dissipate while mounted, and there is a slight delay before heat starts to dissipate after dismounting.
  • Changing specializations away from and then back to holosmith will retain your former Photon Forge heat level.
• Even though some skills list a flat Heat value and others a percentage, they're essentially all flat; so being over 100 Heat with Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit is the same as being over 100%.

Player chatter

Event	Dialogue
Engaging Photon Forge	Projector, activate. Light, come forth!. Activating hard light emitter. Hologram projector engage. Switching to holo mode. Temperature normal.
Disengage Photon Forge	Returning to normal parameters. Disengaging holo projector. Holograms off. Better let this cool down a bit.
50%	I'm just warming up. Now we're cooking. We're heating up. Crossing heat thresholds. Here's where things get hot Heating up.
Critical heat level	Heat sink reaching full capacity. Overheat imminent! So hot. Heat level critical. Can't take much more of this.
Overheat	Hot! Hot! Hot! We're burning up! Capacity exceeded. We can't take anymore heat.
Fully cooled	Heat level zero. All heat expelled. Temperature normalized. Heat levels stabilized. Thermal release complete.

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Skill types and profession mechanics