Chain

Chain is a behavior of projectiles and chaining skills that causes them to bounce off targets they hit and seek out additional nearby targets.

Mechanics

Only one projectile behavior can be applied each time a projectile hits a target. Chain is fourth in priority for projectile behaviors, preceded by split, pierce, and fork, and followed by return. This means that if a skill is affected by pierce, chain, and fork, it would first pierce x number of times, then fork, then chain x number of times. If a projectile is unable to perform a behavior in its sequence, it will attempt the next behavior and retry prior behaviors. For example, a projectile that can both chain and return will now hit a target and, if there are no enemies for it to chain to, it will return. If it then hits another group of enemies, it will attempt to chain again (though it will not return again after chaining).

When a projectile chains, it bounces off the target it hits and continues in the direction of another nearby target. A non-projectile chaining skill like Arc functions similarly. A projectile cannot chain to a target it has already hit. If a skill produces multiple projectiles, none of those projectiles can chain to a target which any of them have already hit. If a projectile has no valid chain targets, it will target a nearby enemy but pass through without hitting them.

Arc is not a projectile and can chain to targets it has already hit, but not immediately. It must first hit a third target before bouncing back to the first. Because it forks with each bounce, Arc requires at least 4 grouped targets to chain back to the original.

Each projectile or chaining skill can chain a certain number of times. The number of times a projectile or chaining skill can chain is equal to the sum of all Skills Chain +x times modifiers and other similarly-worded modifiers.

Projectiles apply their on-hit effects to each target they chain on or otherwise hit. For example, Essence Drain will apply its debuff to each target a projectile hits. Skills such as Ice Shot and Kinetic Blast apply their on-hit area damage effects each time a projectile hits a target. The explosion behavior of some projectiles, such as Fireball and Creeping Frost, is not an on-hit effect and occurs only when a projectile ceases to exist.