Ars Elemental in FTB Skies 2

Ars Elemental is an addon mod that sits in the pack alongside the Ars Nouveau content. This pack ships version 0.7.10.1, built for Minecraft 1.21.1.^[1]

Where it fits in the pack

The only progression hook the sources show is one quest in the pack's Ars Nouveau quest chapter. Its task is the Mark of Mastery, and it unlocks after another quest in that chapter. So the pack treats Ars Elemental as part of the Ars Nouveau questline, not as a separate chapter of its own. You can find it as "Marks of Mastery" quest.^[2]

Unverified The sources I have don't describe what Ars Elemental adds (its spells, schools or items), who it is best suited to, or how to craft the Mark of Mastery, so I'm not guessing at any of that. No ATM Star path entry for this mod was found either.

Ars Elemental builds on Ars Nouveau, so you will be working with Ars Nouveau's essences and crafting stations. The sources here don't lay out a fixed order, so the steps below follow what depends on what in this pack's recipes.^[3]

Grab the easy utility items first

The Trinkets Pouch is made in a normal crafting grid. The mod also tracks it as an acquire-it advancement, so it is a nice early win.^[3][4]

Trinkets PouchMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Magebloom Fiber	Magebloom Fiber	Magebloom Fiber
Magebloom Fiber	Chest	Magebloom Fiber
Magebloom Fiber	Magebloom Fiber	Magebloom Fiber

Recipe id: ars_elemental:curio_bag

Next, the Advanced Spell Prism is also a plain crafting-grid recipe, and it builds on the Ars Nouveau Spell Prism.^[3]

Advanced Spell PrismMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Quartz	any source gem	Quartz
any source gem	Spell Prism	any source gem
Quartz	any source gem	Quartz

Recipe id: ars_elemental:advanced_prism

Make the Mark of Mastery

The Mark of Mastery is the key item to aim for. It is made through Ars Nouveau's imbuement, not at a crafting table. The focus and armor upgrades further down this page all use it. The mod's own advancement text sums it up as combining the essences with the tribute.^[3][4]

5× Mark of MasteryMod recipe

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• Abjuration Essence
• Air Essence
• Conjuration Essence
• Earth Essence
• Fire Essence
• Manipulation Essence
• Water Essence
• Wilden Tribute
• Anima Essence

Recipe id: ars_elemental:mark_of_mastery

The pack's quest book has a quest for it, "Marks of Mastery" quest, in the ars_nouveau chapter. Its task is to hold the Mark of Mastery, and it unlocks after an earlier quest in that chapter.^[2]

Spend the Mark on a focus

Once you have a Mark of Mastery, you can make a major focus. The Focus of Air is made at the enchanting apparatus from the Lesser Focus of Air plus a Mark of Mastery. The mod tracks the lesser and major foci as separate acquire-it advancements.^[3][4]

Focus of AirMod recipe

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Lesser Focus of Air
• Mark of Mastery

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_focus

Upgrade your armor

Elemental armor is not crafted from scratch. Each piece is an upgrade of an Ars Nouveau armor piece, and it needs a Mark of Mastery. The Air line, for example, includes the Aethermancer's Boots, the Thunderguard's Boots and the Olympian's Shoes. The Aqua line follows the same pattern.^[3]

Aethermancer's BootsMod recipe

Armor Upgrade (sauce)

• Mark of Mastery
• 2× Air Essence
• Arcanist's Treads
• Netherite Ingot

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_boots

One example of the armor upgrade recipes, which all use the Mark of Mastery.

Wearing two or more pieces gives a set bonus, and wearing four pieces of the same element gives the full school set bonus. The Air set absorbs some air-related damage and greatly reduces fall damage.^[4]

A pack change to know about

The pack changes the recipe for the Slipstream Current Elevator, the Slipstream Current Elevator, so don't trust the mod's default recipe from other guides. The block below shows the in-pack version.^[3]

Slipstream Current ElevatorChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 4× Air Essence
• Wilden Wing
• 2× Shulker Shell
• any gold storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_upstream

Ars Elemental is mainly a spellcasting addon, so most of its "machines" are source-powered devices rather than big multiblocks. The sources I have don't describe any multiblock structure, so this section sticks to what the pack's files confirm: elevators, the urn, siren shrines, lenses, foci, armor and a few glyph tweaks.^[4][5]

Elevators and the water urn

The elevators drain source when they run, and the pack's config sets how much. The Slipstream Current Elevator (the slipstream elevator) uses 10 source, the same as the mod default. The magmatic elevator and the bubble elevator both cost 0. The water urn uses 100 source. All of these are in [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Source cost.airElevatorCost]], [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Source cost.lavaElevatorCost]], [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Source cost.waterElevatorCost]] and [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Source cost.waterUrnCost]].^[3][4][5]

The pack has changed the slipstream elevator's recipe, so don't trust a recipe you remember from the base mod. This is the version that works here:^[3]

Slipstream Current ElevatorChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 4× Air Essence
• Wilden Wing
• 2× Shulker Shell
• any gold storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_upstream

Changed by the pack.

Source relays and turrets

The Wind Warper Relay is made at the enchanting apparatus. The Air Infused Turret is made by imbuement, and the sources show it as an upgrade of an Enchanted Spell Turret.^[3]

Wind Warper RelayMod recipe

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 2× Air Essence
• Source Relay: Warper
• 2× any diamond gem

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_relay

Air Infused TurretMod recipe

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• Focus of Air
• 3× Air Essence
• Enchanted Spell Turret

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_turret

Siren shrine fishing

A siren shrine produces loot over time, and every value below matches the mod default.^[5]

• [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidManaCost]]: the source a mermaid consumes per generation, 1,000.^[5]
• [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidMaxProgress]]: how many channels must happen before a siren produces loot, 30.^[5]
• [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidBaseItems]]: the base item rolls per cycle, 1. [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidQuantityCap]] caps a cycle at 5 items.^[5]
• [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidScoreBonus]]: up to 2 extra item rolls when the mood is high. [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidTreasureBonus]] is a treasure chance multiplier of 0.002 relative to the shrine score.^[5]

Foci, armor and familiars

A matching focus discounts spell cost. A lesser focus gives 0.15 (see [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Spell Foci - Discount.elemental_less_focus_discount]]) and a major focus gives 0.25 ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Spell Foci - Discount.elemental_maj_focus_discount]]). The pack leaves both at the mod default. A major focus is built by combining a lesser focus with a Mark of Mastery.^[3][5]

Lesser Focus of AirChanged by the pack

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• 3× Air Essence
• Amethyst Shard
• 3× any gold ingot

Recipe id: ars_elemental:lesser_air_focus

Changed by the pack.

Focus of AirMod recipe

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Lesser Focus of Air
• Mark of Mastery

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_focus

Each elemental armor piece adds 100 max mana and 4 mana regen ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Armors.armorMaxMana]] and [[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Armors.armorManaRegen]]). The armor sets also absorb damage of their own element, and what happens next depends on the armor weight. Heavy armor converts some of the absorbed damage into mana, medium armor gives a short mana discount, and light armor gives a short spell crit boost. Armor pieces are made with an armor upgrade recipe, and the sources count 48 of them in the pack.^[3][4][5]

Aethermancer's BootsMod recipe

Armor Upgrade (sauce)

• Mark of Mastery
• 2× Air Essence
• Arcanist's Treads
• Netherite Ingot

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_boots

Familiars are bound with the Ritual of Binding near the matching creature. The Flarecannon Familiar adds 2 damage to Fire spells and cuts projectile spell costs by 20%. If you kill your own Flarecannon, it dies and drops its Flarecannon Charm instead of just deactivating (Misc.flarecannon_owner_kill is true).^[4][5]

Flarecannon CharmMod recipe

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 2× Fire Essence
• Magma Block
• 2× Nether Brick
• Netherite Scrap

Recipe id: ars_elemental:firenando_charm

Lenses and projectile limits

A chain lens can add at most 15 glyphs to a projectile, counting the glyphs already on it (Misc.chainLensLimit). A piercing lens can apply at most 10 Pierce (Misc.pierceLensLimit). Both match the mod default. Misc.homing_nerf is false here, so homing is not limited to glowing mobs.^[5]

Arc Prism LensMod recipe

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• Glyph Arc Projectile
• Manipulation Essence
• any quartz gem

Recipe id: ars_elemental:arc_prism_lens

Acceleration Prism LensMod recipe

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• Glyph Accelerate
• Manipulation Essence
• any quartz gem

Recipe id: ars_elemental:acceleration_prism_lens

Glyph tuning in this pack

Each glyph has its own config file with a source cost, tier and augment limits. The pack changes only a few of them from the mod default.^[6][7]

• Glyph Propagator Arc costs 200 here instead of the mod default of 150, and the glyph is made from Glyph Arc Projectile. The Arc Projectile itself costs 10 and lasts up to 60 seconds. It is affected by gravity, and each Pierce makes it bounce once off the ground.^[3][4][6][8]
• Conflagrate has its amplify value set to 3 instead of the default 5, and it allows at most 2 Amplify augments. Its damage is 9, which is the mod default.^[7]
• The Homing Projectile costs 75, lasts up to 30 seconds and allows at most 1 Pierce. Propagator: Homing costs 400.^[9][10]
• Nullify Defense is disabled in this pack (general.enabled is false), so don't plan around it.^[11]
• The aerial, aquatic, fiery, insect, summon and undead filters, and their "not" versions, all cost 0 and are tier 1.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]}

Unverified Glyph Charm and Glyph Life Link both have glyph recipes in the pack, but their costs, tiers and limits are set in config/ars_elemental/glyph_charm.toml and config/ars_elemental/glyph_life_link.toml, and the sources here do not show those values.

Ars Elemental has almost no quest guidance in this pack, so your progression is set mostly by what the recipes demand. The quest book places the mod's only confirmed quest in the Ars Nouveau chapter, and the recipes build on Ars Nouveau materials and gear.^[2][3]

The quest: Mark of Mastery

The only Ars Elemental quest the sources confirm is "Marks of Mastery" quest, in the Ars Nouveau chapter. It has no title and comes after another quest in that chapter. Its task is to obtain a Mark of Mastery.^[2]

5× Mark of MasteryMod recipe

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• Abjuration Essence
• Air Essence
• Conjuration Essence
• Earth Essence
• Fire Essence
• Manipulation Essence
• Water Essence
• Wilden Tribute
• Anima Essence

Recipe id: ars_elemental:mark_of_mastery

This is an imbuement recipe. The armor upgrades and the Focus of Air below all use the Mark.

Items that do not use the Mark

In the recipes the sources show, these items do not call for the Mark of Mastery. They mostly use Ars Nouveau materials, with Flashing Archwood logs for some rituals.^[3]

• The Trinkets Pouch is a simple shaped craft.^[3]
• The Advanced Spell Prism is a shaped craft built from a regular Spell Prism.^[3]
• The Flashing Archwood Sapling is a shapeless craft made from the other archwood saplings.^[3]
• Attraction and Pollination use a Flourishing Archwood Log.^[3]
• Repulsion, Detection, Fast Squirrels and Zapping use a Flashing Archwood Log.^[3]
• Conjure Island: Archwood Forest and Forestation - Archwood each take any archwood log.^[3]

Flashing Archwood SaplingMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Cascading Archwood Sapling or Flourishing Archwood Sapling or Blazing Archwood Sapling or Vexing Archwood Sapling
• Air Essence

Recipe id: ars_elemental:flashing_sapling

Several of the rituals above rely on the Flashing Archwood Log, so this is a good sapling to sort out early.

Bangles, bags and lenses

The Enchanter's Bangle starts the bangle line, and the pack changed its recipe. The Air Bangle, Earth Bangle and Anima Bangle are all made from the base bangle at the enchanting apparatus.^[3]

Enchanter's BangleChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Ring of Potential
• End Crystal
• 2× any gold storage block
• any source storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:base_bangle

Changed by the pack, so don't rely on the mod's default recipe.

The pack also changed the recipe for the Spellcaster Bag, which builds on the Trinkets Pouch. The prism lenses all use Manipulation Essence. The Acceleration Prism Lens, Deceleration Prism Lens and Arc Prism Lens are imbuement recipes, while the Chaining Prism Lens is made at the enchanting apparatus.^[3]

Spellcaster BagChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Trinkets Pouch
• 2× Manipulation Essence
• 2× Blaze Powder
• 2× any gold storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:caster_bag

Changed by the pack.

Mark of Mastery crafts

The elemental foci and the armor upgrades are where the Mark of Mastery gets spent. The Focus of Air is made from a Lesser Focus of Air plus a Mark, and the Air Infused Turret is then built from that focus.^[3]

Focus of AirMod recipe

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Lesser Focus of Air
• Mark of Mastery

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_focus

The Mark of Mastery is consumed at the enchanting apparatus here.

Armor is an upgrade of Ars Nouveau armor, not a fresh craft. For air, the Arcanist line becomes the Aethermancer set, starting with the Aethermancer's Hat. The Battlemage line becomes the Thunderguard set, starting with the Thunderguard's Helmet. The Sorcerer line becomes the Olympian set, starting with the Olympian's Hood.^[3]

Water has matching sets, such as the Aquamancer's Hat, Winterguard's Helmet and Nereid's Hood. Earth does too, such as the Geomancer's Boots and Wealdguard's Boots.^[3]

Aethermancer's HatMod recipe

Armor Upgrade (sauce)

• Mark of Mastery
• 2× Air Essence
• Arcanist's Hat
• Netherite Ingot

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_hat

The armor recipes shown in the sources follow this same upgrade pattern.

The Slipstream Current Elevator is another enchanting apparatus craft, and the pack changed its recipe as well.^[3]

Slipstream Current ElevatorChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 4× Air Essence
• Wilden Wing
• 2× Shulker Shell
• any gold storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_upstream

Changed by the pack.

In this pack, every connection that Ars Elemental has with another mod runs through Ars Nouveau. Crafting uses Ars Nouveau's own crafting types, the enchanting apparatus and imbuement, plus its essences, glyphs, relays and armor. A few vanilla items fill the gaps.^[3]

Elemental armor

Elemental armor is not crafted from scratch. Each piece upgrades a matching Ars Nouveau armor piece, and the element comes from the essence you use. A vanilla Netherite Ingot goes into every upgrade too. Arcanist's gear becomes the Aethermancer, Aquamancer, Geomancer and Pyromancer sets. Battlemage's gear becomes the Thunderguard, Winterguard, Wealdguard and Netherguard sets. Sorceror's gear becomes the Olympian, Nereid, Nymph and Pyromaniac sets.^[3]

Thunderguard's BootsMod recipe

Armor Upgrade (sauce)

• Mark of Mastery
• 2× Air Essence
• Battlemage's Boots
• Netherite Ingot

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_boots_heavy

One example: Battlemage's Boots upgraded into Thunderguard's Boots with Air Essence.

The quest "Marks of Mastery" quest in the ars_nouveau chapter has you get Mark of Mastery. That is the item every one of these armor upgrades needs.^[2][3]

Source relays and turrets

The elemental relays build on Ars Nouveau's Source relays. Wind Warper Relay comes from Source Relay: Warper, Deep Depositor Relay from Source Relay: Depositor, and Fiery Collector Relay from Source Relay: Collector. The infused turrets are imbued versions of the Enchanted Spell Turret.^[3]

Wind Warper RelayMod recipe

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 2× Air Essence
• Source Relay: Warper
• 2× any diamond gem

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_relay

Lenses, glyphs and bangles

The acceleration and deceleration prism lenses are imbued with Ars Nouveau's Accelerate and Decelerate glyphs. Glyph Aerial Filter is a glyph recipe that uses Ars Nouveau's Item Scroll: Allow. The elemental bangles are built on Enchanter's Bangle, which is made from the Ring of Potential.^[3]

Acceleration Prism LensMod recipe

Imbuement (ars_nouveau)

• Glyph Accelerate
• Manipulation Essence
• any quartz gem

Recipe id: ars_elemental:acceleration_prism_lens

Flight and Flashing Archwood

Flashing Archwood Sapling is made from Ars Nouveau's Cascading Archwood Sapling, Flourishing Archwood Sapling, Vexing Archwood Sapling and Blazing Archwood Sapling, plus Air Essence. The resulting Flashing Archwood Log then gives you an alternate recipe for Ars Nouveau's Flight ritual (Flight).^[3]

FlightMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Flashing Archwood Log
• Wilden Wing
• any diamond gem
• any diamond gem
• Feather

Recipe id: ars_elemental:flight_alt

Recipes the pack changed

The pack changed these recipes, so don't trust older guides for them: Slipstream Current Elevator, Enchanter's Bangle, Spellcaster Bag and Flashjack Charm. The recipe blocks below show the exact in-pack versions.^[3]

Slipstream Current ElevatorChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• 4× Air Essence
• Wilden Wing
• 2× Shulker Shell
• any gold storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:air_upstream

Enchanter's BangleChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Ring of Potential
• End Crystal
• 2× any gold storage block
• any source storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:base_bangle

Spellcaster BagChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Trinkets Pouch
• 2× Manipulation Essence
• 2× Blaze Powder
• 2× any gold storage block

Recipe id: ars_elemental:caster_bag

Flashjack CharmChanged by the pack

Enchanting Apparatus (ars_nouveau)

• Flashjack Token
• 2× Air Essence
• 2× any gold ingot

Recipe id: ars_elemental:flashjack_charm

Only one quest in the pack involves this mod, and it sits in the Ars Nouveau chapter rather than in a chapter of its own.^[2]

The quest is "Marks of Mastery" quest, which has no title in the quest file. Its task is to submit one item, the Mark of Mastery. It unlocks after you finish "Wilden Tribute" quest, so complete that one first.^[2]

Because the quest is a single item task, the order is simple: finish the quest it depends on, then hand in the Mark of Mastery.^[2]

Unverified The quest file doesn't say how to obtain the Mark of Mastery in this pack, and it doesn't list any rewards for the quest. Check the item's recipe or in-game guide before you plan around it. This site does hold FTB Skies 2's own recipes, read from the pack itself: look the item up in the item browser.

Ars Elemental has a lot of config, but in the files for this pack only a few values differ from the mod's defaults. Everything below comes straight from the pack's own config files, so trust these numbers over anything you remember from the mod's default setup.^[5]

What the pack changed

• Misc.extra_biomes is 0 here, while the mod default is 1. The option's description says to set it over 0 to enable archwood forests with specific trees, so the pack leaves them off.^[5]
• general.amplify is 3 in this pack instead of the mod default of 5. The glyph's general.damage is untouched at 9, and its general.cost stays at 80.^[7]
• general.cost is 200 here, up from the mod default of 150, so that glyph costs more in this pack.^[6]

Gameplay switches

• Mobs-Disabled.magesAggro is true. Wandering mages will target you unless you wear the focus of the same school.^[5]
• Misc.homing_nerf is false, so the homing nerf (targeting only glowing mobs) is not active.^[5]
• Misc.always_thunder is true, so lightning keeps crashing often in flashing archwood biomes. Setting it to false would turn that off.^[5]
• frame_skip_recipe is false, so the iframe skip glyph recipe is not enabled.^[5]
• Misc.soulbound_loot is true, so soulbound can show up in randomly enchanted loot chests.^[5]
• Misc.flarecannon_owner_kill is true. A flarecannon killed by its owner dies and drops the charm instead of just deactivating.^[5]

Costs and limits

• Spell foci discount the matching school's spell cost by 0.15 for the lesser focus ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Spell Foci - Discount.elemental_less_focus_discount]]) and 0.25 for the greater focus ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Spell Foci - Discount.elemental_maj_focus_discount]]). Both are the mod defaults.^[5]
• Each elemental armor piece gives 100 max mana ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Armors.armorMaxMana]]) and 4 mana regen ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Elemental Armors.armorManaRegen]]), both at default.^[5]
• The slipstream elevator uses 10 source ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Source cost.airElevatorCost]]). The magmatic and bubble elevators cost 0, and the water urn costs 100 ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Source cost.waterUrnCost]]).^[5]
• Lens caps are 15 glyphs for the chain lens (Misc.chainLensLimit) and 10 pierces for the piercing lens (Misc.pierceLensLimit).^[5]
• Mermaid shrines consume 1,000 source per generation ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidManaCost]]) and need 30 channels before producing loot ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidMaxProgress]]). They cap at 5 items per cycle ([[config:config/ars_elemental-common.toml#Mermaid Fishing.mermaidQuantityCap]]). All of these are mod defaults.^[5]

Glyph settings worth a look

• The homing projectile glyph has a general.max_lifespan of 30 seconds and an augment limit of one pierce.^[9]
• The bubble shield glyph has a general.cost of 400. Each time the Mana Bubble mitigates damage, general.absorption_cost drains 350 mana.^[24]
• Charm cannot affect mobs with more than 150 max HP (general.charm_hp_limit).^[25]
• Conjure terrain, discharge and conflagrate each limit the amplify augment to 2 uses per effect.^[7][26][27]