[Omnirizon]

I've come to disagree that fire is worthless. Consider this:

Demon Whips (a cheaper fire only substitute for fire brand without the moral or FR [note: in CBM only])

Dragon Helm (my favorite basic helm for all thugs, cheap and provides something most thugs need: morale)

Fire Plate (Paired with Dragon Helm, provides 100% FR with no other items. On a thug with just 1E, can still be turned into Prot 23 via Ironskin [actually prot 24 from the 1E too.])

There's also Fire/Earth stuff:

Fire Brand (it's like standard issue, the AoE effect plus FR and morale)

Charcoal Shield (another popular item, passive damage plus FR)


With the right paths access, a thug can be very effective with very little and just fire items
if you have a 1E thug:
Demon Whip x2
Dragon Helm
Fire Plate

that's _all_ fire gems filling in over half of your thug's needs and he can still boost prot to 24 which ain't bad. Slap on a Luck Pendant and you have a thug costing 20fire 5astral that is probably 80% combat effective versus a thug loaded up with 50 gems (or more) worth of valuable gem types (earth, air, water, death). Put this on an undead thug and the weight of Fire Plate is a non-factor, plus they get 100% in all resistances but shock. That's badass on the cheap, compliments of your worthless fire gems.