What is the use of Damage over Time?

Well, just about the playstyle i think. I like the feeling watching boss dying dying dying while i'm dead, hehehe
After nerfed the double dip mechanic, DoT builds are hard to alive, it need really some buffs.

Well one big advantage with DoTs is that you can run around while the dot works. This is in particular good for bosses (or Energy shield and to some degree regen mobs) since you can concentrate on staying alive. This is similar to a totem play-style where your totem dishes out the damage for you. The difference is that there is no totem which can die, just a Dot which might eventually run out of time.

So the big plus on DOTs for me is that is a form of guaranteed damage while I can do something else, like staying alive or running to the next pack.

In particular during the leveling this needs some getting used to, as monster will usually "live longer"compared to front loaded damage. Therefore Dot builds often utilize slow effects like temporal chains. Once you get a feel for your damage you apply the dot and move on (just come back if your loot filter makes a juicy sound). Later on, your Damage should be so high (as described by some people before) that trash mobs die basically instantly anyway. But at this point you enter the part where Dot-build start to shine as they require a very small DPS time for a high amount of damage over time.

Currently playing a Burning Arrow ignite build (lvl85) and things go pretty smoothly so far.

Some last remarks:
Endgame challenges for DoT builds are often sustain (low or no hit damage makes leech impractical).
To reach Top End Damage is often not easy/cheap. I guess that there is some trade off between safety(free to walk around) vs. ultra high dps while attacking/castint/throwing etc.

In late game bosses you are lucky to spend even half your time actually attacking because you have to keep running around dodging. If you have damage over time then you will keep doing damage as long as you can keep hitting him before it times out. Can be used with Wither is another advantage, takes away Chaos resist. And no reflect is a nice advantage, you can run all the maps with a reflect mod.

Thanks for the replies it did shine some light in what i was wondering :)
I guess it's not really my playstyle afterall then... and just to be sure and not regret having a level 60+ character that i regret- i just won't do it lol, thanks.

I did enjoy my ED/blight/contagion trickster till red maps but there are some real problems vs other classes

- Hp regain/regen options are weak. You rarely 'hit' mobs, so you are left with EDs built in life gain which is meh. Other dots are the same (cold snap, scorch). Only RF wins by having huge regen. Maybe leech should apply on damage not hit.

- Top end damage has been left far behind, mostly due to conversion of physical damage to many different types. Conversions mostly have large damage multipliers available, but damage over time? Almost none. Top end melee does 10 million dps +, top end dots rarely break 1M under ideal circumstances (full scorch stacks with high end RF items, or full blight with ED on as well)

- Survivability - dot classes just rarely mix with the more survival based ascendancies. This is ok for most of the game but T16, melee is sooooo much easier than dot which relies on running around basically. Many builds just flat facetank.


But, its super fun.