Mechanical Questions Thread

I have a question. I'm working on making a full lightning-to-fire conversion for a Stormcall user. Damage conversion is something of a weird thing that I have trouble calculating, so I was wondering if this setup would achieve the result of full lightning to fire conversion?

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VictusBcb wrote:

I have a question. I'm working on making a full lightning-to-fire conversion for a Stormcall user. Damage conversion is something of a weird thing that I have trouble calculating, so I was wondering if this setup would achieve the result of full lightning to fire conversion?

AvatarofFire

yes

I have a few questions i haven't been able to find the answer to elsewhere. I'll ask them in no particular order as they're all over the place:

1. What is the difference mechanically between giving an enemy less resistance, as for example the curse Elemental Weakness does, and penetration like the supports fire, lightning and cold penetration do? While the explanation for that may answer an add-on question i have here, i'll ask anyway; is the first one, reduced enemy resistance, or the second one, elemental penetration, better on a 1% per 1% basis for dealing damage?

2. Which Herald is better (more reliable) for proccing curses with Curse on Hit? I generally find Herald of Thunder to work best, but this is more of a feeling and i haven't properly tested and compared them. And are there good ways to make any/all of the heralds more reliable?

3. Does the 25% of maximum mana as extra energy shield from the Hierophant Ascendancy notable Sanctuary of thought work as any other flat Energy Shield bonus like from a ring or a passive or in some other way i haven't been able to figure out?
On a closely related subject; on the face of it Sanctuary of Thought seems to works particularly bad with the previous notable, Divine guidance, as with both Eldritch Battery or without, the damage reduction from Divine Guidance won't work as the Energy Shield "gets in the way" of the damage redistribution, so to speak. One would either have to build a character based on ES where one pretty much ignores the second benefit of Divine Guidance and only benefits from the 150 extra mana, or one would build a life character (probably with Mind over Matter) that tries to minimize ES as the 10% (or 40% with MoM) damage redistribution won't kick in until the ES is gone. I can't recall another case where parts of the same ascendancy tree worked against each other in this way. Is this intended?
I haven't played a Hierophant yet, tho i plan to, so i may have missed something crucial. That's why i ask these last questions. That before i spec my whole passive tree and run the labyrinth three times i end up with a character much worse than i had planned and would either have to spend a fortune in regret orbs or giving up on altogether.

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Cashondeliveri wrote:

1. What is the difference mechanically between giving an enemy less resistance, as for example the curse Elemental Weakness does, and penetration like the supports fire, lightning and cold penetration do? While the explanation for that may answer an add-on question i have here, i'll ask anyway; is the first one, reduced enemy resistance, or the second one, elemental penetration, better on a 1% per 1% basis for dealing damage?

They're pretty similar. Penetration is effective against "overcapped" resistances while mechanics that lower resistance are not. The usual example I like to give is:

A monster has 999% in its Fire Resistance stat. This gives it 75% fire resistance.
If you have Fire Penetration of 30%, then the enemy's final resistance for damage calculation is 45%.
If your Elemental Weakness lowers resistance by 30%, then this lowers 999% to 969%, making the enemy's final resistance for damage calculation 75% still.

With this knowledge you can see that point for point, they are equal, up until an enemy monster has 76% or higher resistance stat, in which case Penetration is better.

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2. Which Herald is better (more reliable) for proccing curses with Curse on Hit? I generally find Herald of Thunder to work best, but this is more of a feeling and i haven't properly tested and compared them. And are there good ways to make any/all of the heralds more reliable?

This is not something Mark_GGG can answer as it deals with preference/values/opinions. Many people agree that Herald of Thunder is the best. Herald of Ash cannot apply Curse on Hit as the Ignite is not a Hit. Herald of Ice requires the explosion to hit an enemy each time you need a new curse. This logically makes Herald of Thunder likely to be the best, as you can kill one shocked enemy, and apply curses to multiple enemies.

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3. Does the 25% of maximum mana as extra energy shield from the Hierophant Ascendancy notable Sanctuary of thought work as any other flat Energy Shield bonus like from a ring or a passive or in some other way i haven't been able to figure out?
On a closely related subject; on the face of it Sanctuary of Thought seems to works particularly bad with the previous notable, Divine guidance, as with both Eldritch Battery or without, the damage reduction from Divine Guidance won't work as the Energy Shield "gets in the way" of the damage redistribution, so to speak. One would either have to build a character based on ES where one pretty much ignores the second benefit of Divine Guidance and only benefits from the 150 extra mana, or one would build a life character (probably with Mind over Matter) that tries to minimize ES as the 10% (or 40% with MoM) damage redistribution won't kick in until the ES is gone. I can't recall another case where parts of the same ascendancy tree worked against each other in this way. Is this intended?
I haven't played a Hierophant yet, tho i plan to, so i may have missed something crucial. That's why i ask these last questions. That before i spec my whole passive tree and run the labyrinth three times i end up with a character much worse than i had planned and would either have to spend a fortune in regret orbs or giving up on altogether.

Yes, the Hierophant design is kind of strange.

The energy shield gained does not work like flat energy shield from rings or amulets; it works as all other converted stats: It takes your unmodified Mana, multiplies that, and then multiplies it by any modifiers to mana and energy shield at the same time (so 20% increased maximum Mana and 20% increased Energy Shield would result in 40% increased Energy-Shield-from-Sanctuary-of-Thought).

EDITed with more certainty about SoT converted ES; you can see the citation here

Very helpful answers. Thank you.

nvm

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moderndefender wrote:

and one more:

Champion Inspirational "aura" is increased by "increased effect of Non-Curse Auras you Cast" or "increased Radius of Aura Skills" from passiv skill tree?

ty

I think radius affects it, while the aura effect doesn't, since you don't really cast it.

Why does the following combination not work?

Curse on hit + enfeeble + Tempest shield + Cast when damage taken

No enemy gets enfeeble, why?