Stun

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unsmith wrote:

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UristMcDwarfy wrote:

I could not get a Stun support to function on any curse that I tried. You can see whether a support works on a skill by looking for a letter on the skill icon, FYI.

IIRC, the letter will show if the support is linked, not if it actually does anything. For example you should be able to see a Pierce or Increased Rarity or something like that on a curse, where it's ineffective. You also get the mana cost increase.

Best to only link support gems that actually do things, though I admit that takes a little experimentation/knowledge to figure out. Part of the fun :)

No, the letters only show up when that support is allowed to apply to that skill (note that this means it could potentially affect it, not necessarily that it will affect it for you - you can link weapon elemental damage to heavy strike, but it won't have an effect unless you're actually dealing elemental damage).
If you've found a case where the letters show up where you thing they shouldn't, let us know in the feedback thread for that support.

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Lathspell wrote:

Does this need to be linked to an attack, or does it also improve a curse and so makes a monster easier to stun, while the curse is up?

No, it applies to stuns caused by the supported skill. Curses can't stun anything, because they're not dealing damage.

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AlienFromBeyond wrote:

Mark, can you tell us what exactly happens when a character gets 100% Stun Threshold Reduction on an attack?

You will (almost) always stun.
Chance to stun is based on the defender's maximum life, and stun threshold reduction is a modification to what their life is treated as - at 100% stun threshold reduction, they are treated as having 1 max life (we can't let it fall to zero to prevent a divide by zero error, otherwise it'd be zero). At 50%, they're treated as having half of their actual max life value.

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BRavich wrote:

Erm, is this still the case?

Yes.

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BRavich wrote:

I heard otherwise from players (they said that 100% threshold reduction = twice as likely to stun)

That is not the case, and to my knowledge has never been.
The relevant equations are:

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defender_effective_max_life = defender_max_life * ( 100 - threshold_reduction )
This can't go below 1.

and

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stun_chance = 200 * damage / defender_effective_max_life

As you can see, with 100% or higher stun threshold reduction, the effective max life will be 1. thus if you deal even just 1 damage, you'll have a 200% stun chance, which is enough to always stun (under normal conditions)

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BRavich wrote:

Also, why do you say "almost" always stun? Is there a hard cap, or were you just referring to mobs with energy shield having a 50% chance to avoid stun?

It's possible to have all your damage resisted/reduced. Since effective maximum life for stun can't go below 1, dealing 0 damage always has 0% stun chance. Also, some monsters can have a chance to avoid stun.
And as you point out, ES has a 50% chance to ignore stun as well.