Glacial casscade question.

Maybe this is a noob question, but I'm extremely confused by the game mechanics with spells in this game.


This is three parts,

1- If glacial cascade has a physical base, why wouldn't a ring with phys + make this stronger?

2- Why wouldn't a helm such as Fairgraves tricorne witch adds + cold damage affect this spell ?

3- And this is probably directly related, when using hatred with this spell the dps goes up, but also no other physical additional items affect this. So if the aura multiplies physical damage to cold damage, why wouldn't a ring with physial damage combined with hatred make this spell stronger?




So what exactly affects this spell?
http://youtu.be/qYAcQStmGU8
My Wings crit build.Wrecking Xandro
"
wasp187 wrote:
Maybe this is a noob question, but I'm extremely confused by the game mechanics with spells in this game.


This is three parts,

1- If glacial cascade has a physical base, why wouldn't a ring with phys + make this stronger?

2- Why wouldn't a helm such as Fairgraves tricorne witch adds + cold damage affect this spell ?

3- And this is probably directly related, when using hatred with this spell the dps goes up, but also no other physical additional items affect this. So if the aura multiplies physical damage to cold damage, why wouldn't a ring with physial damage combined with hatred make this spell stronger?




So what exactly affects this spell?


1. Just because it has physical damage doesn't mean a mod will apply to it.

For example, if I use Added Cold Damage on an attack, it will not benefit from increased spell damage from my skill tree. However, if I put it on a spell, then the Added Cold Damage's damage will be increased, as its damage is being applied to a spell.

So, if your spell has physical damage, you can increase it with spell damage, but cold damage increases will only apply to the cold part of the spell.

Another example is the bandit rewards. One of them is a generic +18% to physical damage. That applies to all physical damage you deal, regardless of what it comes from.

The way things are phrased and where they are located tells you a lot.

2. Fairgrave's Tricorne adds lightning damage. Whenever an item adds damage without any specific destination, it always applies to attacks.

3. As partially stated above, it depends on the source. Hatred and the bandit +18% phys damage are "general", which apply to all types of physical damage. Rings only apply to weapons, unless they have an increased elemental damage mod.

Spells are affected by spell damage, elemental damage, and their elemental specific increases. They can also be augmented by "generic" increases.

Edit:

Here is another example.

Weapon 1 states that it "adds 5-10 fire damage". This means all of your attacks with that weapon deal 5-10 additional fire damage. That fire damage is also increased by elemental damage with weapons and increased fire damage.

Weapon 2 states that "you deal 5-10 fire damage". This would apply to all damage from all sources, because the source is you. If you do something damaging, be it spell or attack, it will have the added fire damage. This fire damage is augmented just like Weapon 1's fire damage mod.

Unfortunately, Weapon 2 doesn't exist in this game. This is just an example.
Last edited by Natharias on Apr 18, 2014, 9:30:01 PM
Gotcha. Makes sense now. I've always played melee so really had no idea about spell mechanics.Thanks for the breakdown

I would have just figured adds, would mean add. Why wouldn't it....



P.S my fairgrves tricone definately adds cold dmg
http://youtu.be/qYAcQStmGU8
My Wings crit build.Wrecking Xandro
"
wasp187 wrote:
Gotcha. Makes sense now. I've always played melee so really had no idea about spell mechanics.Thanks for the breakdown

I would have just figured adds, would mean add. Why wouldn't it....



P.S my fairgrves tricone definately adds cold dmg


Fairgrave's Tricorne says:

"Adds 6-12 cold damage"

Being on an item, it will apply to your attacks with weapons. This is how games usually work.
Let's say an gear item would say.. added 8-16 cold damage to spells, then it would apply to Glacial Cascade. But I don't know any gear item that would increase flat spell damage.
You can increase flat spell damage however with an added cold gem, because it's not specified as attacks or spells. There is also added lightning and added chaos for flat spell (and attack) damage. Added fire gives flat fire based on a percentage of physical damage either from attacks or spells.
But. There is % damage too. Lets say 10% cold damage on a gear item. That applies to spell as well.

Gem and skill tree buffs which says nothing about attacks or spells are for both. On gear however nothing means attacks (but % increased damage is for both, unless it's % phys on a weapon, that would increase the damage of the weapon only.. But rustic sash % phys applies to spells as well). And some buffs can be described as "for spells" or "global" (which means both btw). But that's something you normally see for crit chance/multiplier only.


Mechanics in this game are sometimes pretty confusing. But they make sense after all... You will notice that sooner or later.
Last edited by Lunerio on Apr 19, 2014, 8:10:14 AM

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