Ball Lightning

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Kagari wrote:

Fun skill but so far, not in line with arc. Maybe we're missing something but i pretty much tried every support gem i could think of and nothing better than my current setup. Maybe building more toward proj damage could help but i don't see it being more efficient as spell damage.

Here comes the cynical guy, but why even implement a spell that is in any other way inferior to arc both in aoe and single target? Sure it looks great and is fun to cast but it slows down the clearing process.

Off topic question what spell for single target do lightning focusing builds use? Arc? Spam strom call and desync and miss all of them? I thought lightning ball would've been the answer for it since it attacks multiple times but the damage is quite useless comparing to other lightning spells.

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QcRevo wrote:

No, that's up to 194 damage per 0.2 seconds, or 970 if the target was to stay in range for a full second. Being more conservative, it can probably hit thrice pretty often, so 582 single target dps. Groups would break even at a bit under 12 targets. Damage effectiveness is arguably better on lightning ball, it only needs two ticks to become greater than arc (2x30% VS 50%). Arc is still likely superior most of the time, but it doesn't seem horrible, statistically speaking. The biggest downside seems to be the inability (or difficulty) to shock targets.

Ah yes, you are right, I forgot to do the 200ms adjustment for lvl 21. It does change my numbers a bit, which I don't have the time to edit into my post right now. But it still feels inferior to Arc in both aoe and single target, it is just not quite as dismal at max level, as my post originally painted.

I would like to see it strike less often per ball but do more dmg per shock. After a small flat dmg buff.

If desync were not a problem, I would even say adjust the spell to have two dmg portions. One is the shocking arms that it currently has. The other is the central ball. If the ball passes through something it hits them for X amount of dmg too. Only once per target per ball. That might solve the "shocking" problem a little bit more without making the 200ms portion too strong.

Ball Lightning is quite useless as a damage dealer, but I did find a good use for the spell. On my Arc Templar I took out the Arc Totem and sub in a Ball Lightning Totem with Chance to Flee, GMP, and (FC or Increased AOE). The monsters will all get hit multiple times as they're fleeing. The best defense is when the monsters aren't attacking. I imagine that this will be good for summoners.

edit: a 20/20 chance to flee gem gives 59% chance to flee.

Ball Lightning has some other advantages, because of how it fires. It moves forward with AoE damage, probably the first of its kind. All this means is that you do hit and runs better. You cannot really do that with Arc, since for Arc, you need to stay in range, fire, then run. Arc's range is not exactly all that great, so it is fairly dangerous to fight more dangerous enemies with it.

You can also use different supports with it. Knockback + Ball Lightning sounds fun.

Chance to Flee is a great idea! Finally a nice use for it

chance to flee was already viable with puncture =p or viper strike, or totems with any fast multi hitting skill.

As I am leveling I must say that it is fun to use but that its not really holding a candle to Arc as single target or crowd management.

It does have some merit with knockback and LMP but nine times out of ten what you are knocking back with ball lightning could have been dropped dead on sight with Arc.

Do BL get increased damage from these 2 Area Effect+Area damage nodes ?

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_Madus wrote:

Do BL get increased damage from these 2 Area Effect+Area damage nodes ?

Nope :( Concentrated effect doesn't work either /o\

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Kagari wrote:

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_Madus wrote:

Do BL get increased damage from these 2 Area Effect+Area damage nodes ?

Nope :( Concentrated effect doesn't work either /o\

[Removed by Support]