STR - Fire, INT - Lightning?, DEX - Cold?

I for the life of me cannot understand why INT is lightning and DEX is cold. No matter which way I look like it, whether from a color theme, a min-max perspective, or just a figurative metaphor perspective, It seems like INT should be cold and DEX lightning.

Probably the biggest reason this confuses me is the mechanical perspective. Lightning has Shocked, which gives +40% damage and stacks up to three times. Obviously this buff is best with a fast attack speed, which DEX is unquestionably best at. You then have Cold which slows and freezes, and which is best for kiting and defending one's self - perfect for a respite to get an INT character's energy shield up.

You also have the fact that Cold is blue and Int is blue, the fact that both Cold and Int are calm and calculating, and the fact that Dex and Lightning are fast and unpredictable.

Really? Why did you pick the elements and attributes to line up this way?

dont forget that dex chars (well the ranger atleast) is designed to use bows, so kiting is needed for them where as a lot of casters will b nuke based so extra damage would serve them well esp on AOE

i think the other thing is to help make dex more CC viable with the casters leanin more towards nukin and dps. the current system fits well with the buffs / debuffs atm (dex dubuff is speed reduction and frenzy is more speed where caster is increased damage taken and power charges are more dam)

also cold reduces the attack speed of the monster so if ur melee based dex the reduction in the enemys attack speed would greatly aid ur survivabilty in close and stops enemies eacaping ur attacks where casters are already at range

Edit: 'spoilered' due to wrong assumptions.

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Strill wrote:

the fact that both Cold and Int are calm and calculating, and the fact that Dex and Lightning are fast and unpredictable.

I intuitively agree - both elements call up above-stated associations.

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Strill wrote:

Lightning has Shocked, which gives +40% damage and stacks up to three times. Obviously this buff is best with a fast attack speed, which DEX is unquestionably best at.

But isn't the 'shocked' status ailment also determined by crit-rate and its duration by the amount of lightning-damage dealt (not counting passives like Static Blows/Shock Duration)?
Arguably the attack speed argument may not be as (relatively) strong as the others you presented.

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Strill wrote:

You then have Cold which slows and freezes, and which is best for kiting and defending one's self - perfect for a respite to get an INT character's energy shield up.

I agree - especially since a lot of movement speed increasing passives are to be found in the skilltrees 'dexterity area'. Int characters may be more dependent on slowing to better their escape-chances.

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Bob_O wrote:

where casters are already at range

What do you mean by that?


Edit2: While I intuitively agree, I'd still dislike the idea of converting lightning damage to a dexterity attribution (and cold to int) - since my Tempest Shield/Lightning Strike witch is allergic to green gems ;p



Malice's mechanics thread:

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Azhubham wrote:

Strill are you referring to Discharge?

Assuming that Discharge's elemental attribution is to be discussed, I'd like to voice the following:

I checked the elemental damage support gems:

As I am now aware of - the elemental attribution displayed by the Discharge gem applies to these as well.

Sorry for my confusion about the relevance this attribution could have to support a discussion - as possibly implied by my first post (see quote).

I hope the thoughts I expressed in my previous post are still valid - regardless of Strill's reference.

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Azhubham wrote:

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Strill wrote:

Lightning has Shocked, which gives +40% damage and stacks up to three times. Obviously this buff is best with a fast attack speed, which DEX is unquestionably best at.

But isn't the 'shocked' status ailment also determined by crit-rate and its duration by the amount of lightning-damage dealt (not counting passives like Static Blows/Shock Duration)?
Arguably the attack speed argument may not be as (relatively) strong as the others you presented.

All elemental debuffs are determined by crit rate/chance to (status effect), and their duration and/or effect power is determined by damage dealt.

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Azhubham wrote:

Sorry for my confusion about the relevance this attribution could have to support a discussion - as possibly implied by my first post (see quote).

The pattern is actually everywhere. If you look at the skill tree, with a few exceptions, burning and fire passives are concentrated closest to the STR area, Cold passives are concentrated near the DEX side, and lightning passives closest to the INT side.

If you look at the concentrations of elemental damage passives above and to the left of the Witch, you notice that the fire passives are on the left near the templar, the cold passives on the right near the DEX/INT character, and Lightning passives in the center. You also notice that Power Charges give Lightning Damage per Power Charge.

Similarly if you look at the DEX/INT character's starting line of spell passives, you see that it ends in a set of resistance passives. The Lightning ones are on the top, closest to the Witch, the Fire ones are in the middle, closest to the Marauder, and the Cold ones are on the bottom, closest to the Ranger.

It's also why you can find Fire Damage passives in the Marauder tree directly above Resolute Technique, and not any other elemental passives.

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Strill wrote:

All elemental debuffs are determined by crit rate/chance to (status effect), and their duration is determined by damage dealt.

True.
This is my reasoning on my previous post:
Since the status ailment is going to last at least 3 seconds, I believe even a character without frenzy-charges ~etc. gets off 5 to 6 attacks before the debuff expires and needs only one of them to be a crit to increase the stack.
Faster attacks ofcourse could allow for faster stacking. But a higher chance to crit may go better with any of these ailments and maybe better with stacking 'shocked'.
Still fast attack speed most certainly benefits less from frozen and burning ailments and more from shocked.

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Azhubham wrote:

Arguably the attack speed argument may not be as (relatively) strong as the others you presented.

This is why I consider it a little less plausible.
I agreed with most of your concerns - I just had to find something to offer criticism :p
Even if my point proves to be invalid, I still managed to convince myself otherwise.


That's an intriguing observation. Thank you for pointing it to me!


Edit: Sorry about jumping to some conclusions regarding the effect of chance to crit/attack speed on status ailments. I am too tired right now to tidy it up.

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Azhubham wrote:

Edit: Sorry about jumping to some conclusions regarding the effect of chance to crit/attack speed on status ailments. I am too tired right now to tidy it up.

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Mark_GGG wrote:

Intelligence increases DPS by increasing crits, and int is associated with lightning damage, which has the one status ailment that you get benefit from criting often enough to cause it multiple times on the same enemy.

A many thanks Mark! :)

It's a shame that fire is still more useful than cold for dex classes since its damage increases are so brutal the stuns easily beat the slows.

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Karakkonor wrote:

It's a shame that fire is still more useful than cold for dex classes since its damage increases are so brutal the stuns easily beat the slows.

In a one on one comparison without AoF.. I'll take cold damage and the shattering effect on a dex character any day over fire damage and burning. A shattered enemy is a dead enemy. A burning enemy is still alive to potentially harm me more or waste more of my time. Fire does more damage over time but cold can potentially do just as much in an instant.