Storm Brand

Running a Totem/Brand lightening hybrid this league, and I really want to like this skill gem. It has potential, but it would be a lot more powerful if the flavor text and behavior of:

"

Deals 50% more Damage to Branded Enemy

instead was

"

Branded Enemy takes 50% more Damage from <element> for <x seconds>

Obviously a 50% dmg boost is OP, but if you can had element bound from fire and had a countdown (2 seconds).

Then it would pair very nicely with elemental totem builds, so you could mark your boss targets with storm brand, and then that amps up the Armegeedon brand single target damage. There aren't enough damage modifiers yet for brands to be a primary skill ( at least for me).

Reattaching the brand would reset the timer, and I might have more use for the "recall brand" skill gem, because then we'd have to manage both the attack and recall on single target.

This skill currently says it's getting a damage boost from Concentrated Effect - is this intended behaviour? Since it "fires beams", at a specific number of enemies, I assumed it would scale like Ball Lightning: subject to "increased AOE" bonuses but not "increased area damage".

I do really like the spell, either way.

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GusTheCrocodile wrote:

This skill currently says it's getting a damage boost from Concentrated Effect - is this intended behaviour? Since it "fires beams", at a specific number of enemies, I assumed it would scale like Ball Lightning: subject to "increased AOE" bonuses but not "increased area damage".

I do really like the spell, either way.

I have the same question too. Search many key words tried to get the answer but nothing to gain.

In game's tooltip and POB, tell me that storm brand can boost form conc. effect, but does the branded enemy take AOE damage too? I mean, does AOE damage boost single target damage?

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Alic wrote:

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GusTheCrocodile wrote:

This skill currently says it's getting a damage boost from Concentrated Effect - is this intended behaviour? Since it "fires beams", at a specific number of enemies, I assumed it would scale like Ball Lightning: subject to "increased AOE" bonuses but not "increased area damage".

I do really like the spell, either way.

I have the same question too. Search many key words tried to get the answer but nothing to gain.

In game's tooltip and POB, tell me that storm brand can boost form conc. effect, but does the branded enemy take AOE damage too? I mean, does AOE damage boost single target damage?

It says AOE, it should be safe to assume that it also includes AOE damage.

Inferring from the skill activity icon (top left corner), the larger the AOE, the likelier it is to do damage to enemies as well, that are close enough to the enemy that the Brand is attached to.

See also the wording "50% More Damage To Branded Enemy" (the brand is attached to), as a back-up. It does less damage to enemies standing close by, that are within the AOE. See also the flavor text "AND THOSE AROUND THEM."

So, AOE helps with map clear speed (mob packs).

If it is better than cast speed and activation frequency, I do not know. Its a typical "Path of Excel" min-max + Situational question: How close the enemies stand together in a standard mob pack, as you can go unnecessarily overboard with the AOE and underinvest in activation frequency. Activation frequency is clearly better for single target.

My MS Paint job here: https://imgur.com/a/KjoenND

Anybody correct me please if my assumptions are wrong.

PS: I will record a map clear, and replay it slow-mo, maybe one can actually see the size of the AOE of one Brand.

PS #2: If anybody could explain the benefits of Brand Recall (vs no Brand Recall), would be cool. I am gem slot starved and don't see much benefit of casting the Brand again and again on mobs -vs- Brand Recall for its increased attachment range (meh) and the cooldown recovery speed (more damage) (50% at lvl20, 50% of "Activates every 0.5 seconds" if I am not mistaken).

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RPGNoobANKA wrote:

It says AOE, it should be safe to assume that it also includes AOE damage.

It’s not safe to assume that about skills, no: there are other skills that have the AOE tag that don’t benefit from area damage bonuses, like Blight and, as mentioned, Ball Lightning. Having an area of effect does not mean a skill deals “area damage”. It just seems weird to me that Ball Lightning and Storm Brand differ on this when they appear so similar: you create some entity that fires beams at enemies in an area.

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RPGNoobANKA wrote:

PS #2: If anybody could explain the benefits of Brand Recall (vs no Brand Recall), would be cool. I am gem slot starved and don't see much benefit of casting the Brand again and again on mobs -vs- Brand Recall for its increased attachment range (meh) and the cooldown recovery speed (more damage) (50% at lvl20, 50% of "Activates every 0.5 seconds" if I am not mistaken).

Cooldown recovery speed bonuses improve the cooldown of Brand Recall, not the activation frequency of the brand skills.

I went for ages without using Recall, not really seeing the point either, and I still don’t use it all the time, but once I actually started using it, I did find it speeds up play quite a lot. I just cast my five brands wherever, then just run from pack to pack hitting Recall as soon as it comes off cooldown. I have it supported with Arcane Surge to keep that buff up easily.

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GusTheCrocodile wrote:

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RPGNoobANKA wrote:

It says AOE, it should be safe to assume that it also includes AOE damage.

It’s not safe to assume that about skills, no: there are other skills that have the AOE tag that don’t benefit from area damage bonuses, like Blight and, as mentioned, Ball Lightning. Having an area of effect does not mean a skill deals “area damage”. It just seems weird to me that Ball Lightning and Storm Brand differ on this when they appear so similar: you create some entity that fires beams at enemies in an area.

Thanks for the clarification on the AOE tag, that some skills with an AOE tag do not benefit from AOE damage passives or support gems.

Regarding Storm Brands AOE tag:

1. Path of Building says Storm Brand benefits from increased AOE damage. eg by taking Blast Radius passive "Area Damage" by the Witch, and the support gem Concentrated Effect "Area Damage".

2. POE client/in-game, does confirm it. Removing Concentrated Effect and/or removing Blast Radius as passive from my tree, decreases Storm Brand Damage.

I can't seem to find out how long a brand can stay attached to an enemy. It's clear that brands can only last 10s when detached as is stated in gem description, but no information on how long a brand stays on a enemy.

so i think everyone agrees storm brand is good.
dmg was nerfed a bit, still very good.
consensus seems to be aoe dmg affects it and the range it chains to.
but what is base brand attachment range? nobody knows.

there are 5 10% brand attachment range nodes.
can someone tell us the units plz?

it feels better to spend passive points when u know theyre gonna DO something.

Storm Brand has a base radius and base attachment range. Why are neither of these values listed on the skill gem?