Lightning Strike Mechanics

ok so i read the wiki http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Lightning_Strike page on this but theres a few modifiers i need clarity on (referring to the hit and projectiles). in the passive tree would x% increased physical damage with maces apply to the hit and the projectiles? and am i right in thinking x% increased physical damage with two handed weapons applies to the hit and the projectiles. as well as x% increased physical damage with attacks applies to both. any clarity will be much appreciated thanks. :)

that is correct

So the mace physical damage is OK? And increases both the hit and the projectiles ?

everything is OK except nodes with the term melee in them, so mace nodes are fine yes

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Draegnarrr wrote:

everything is OK except nodes with the term melee in them, so mace nodes are fine yes

Um... that warrants some clarification, for sure, cuz that's not entirely true.

Stuff like 'physical damage with one/two-handed melee weapons' will work for both the melee hit and the projectiles. Stuff like 'melee damage' or 'melee physical damage' will not work for the projectiles.

Despite the former involving the word 'melee', the term 'melee' in that case is used to refer to the type of weapon used, as opposed to the type of attack (which is what the term 'melee' in the latter refers to).

ok thank you very much thats been a huge help, what about crit, how does that work, if the melee attack crits do the projectiles also? or is it seperate rolls? and if it is does melee crit increase the projectile crit?

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The_Feral_Dog wrote:

ok thank you very much thats been a huge help, what about crit, how does that work, if the melee attack crits do the projectiles also? or is it seperate rolls? and if it is does melee crit increase the projectile crit?

No, that's a common misconception among new players

The crit roll is only made once per Skill Use at the moment that you click/press the button. The critical strike chance stat actually doesn't modify this; it only modifies the threshold at which monsters can be crit. Most crit bonuses that will affect you will affect both initial hit and projectiles, but when you run into bonuses that are "Melee Critical Strike Chance" or "Critical Strike Chance for Melee Skills" they will correctly boost the melee but not the projectile.

Example: You have 5% base crit chance
You have 300% increased critical strike chance from Passive Tree
You have 200% increased melee critical strike chance

This means that for melee, you have 5% * (1.00 + 3.00 + 2.00) = 30.0% crit chance
For non-melee, you have 5% * (1.00 + 3.00) = 20.0% crit chance

When you press the LS button, you make a roll from 0.1 to 100.0, and only deal a crit if your roll is less than or equal to your Chance stat.

So suppose you roll a 99.2, you don't crit anything
If you roll a 25.0 you crit on Melee but not projectiles (25<30, 25 not < 20)
If you roll a 19.0 you crit everything

well judging by that i definitely need higher than 5% base stat xD
thanks for the explanation. :)
whats good crit % increase from the tree for say a base of 7% on a weapon. ?

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The_Feral_Dog wrote:

well judging by that i definitely need higher than 5% base stat xD
thanks for the explanation. :)
whats good crit % increase from the tree for say a base of 7% on a weapon. ?

It depends on a lot of things; if your goal is to cap crit chance, the easiest way to do so would be the Assassin Ascendancy class for Shadow. There's a path there that literally doubles your Crit Chance against Full Life or Low Life enemies, or if you're more concerned about boss fights where the Boss will spend a lot of time not on Full Life or Low Life, then there's a path that adds base critical strike chance per Power Charge and thus makes each x% increased critical strike chance more efficient.

If you wanted to cap crit chance against all enemies with base 7% crit chance on weapon, and decided to get an Assassin and grab the Deadly Infusion path:

6 power charges grants 300% increased critical strike chance and +3% base crit
Base crit turns into 10%

95%/10% = 9.5 multiplier needed = 850% total increased critical strike chance needed

300% is already contributed from 6 power charges
30% is already contributed from small passives on Assassin ascendancy

850 - 300 - 30 = 520% crit chance needed from other sources

..............

But I'm personally satisfied with less than capped crit, so Assassin + whatever crit you felt cocmfortable with (200%, say) or other builds plus a whole bunch of crit (Jewelry helps there, like Diamond Rings, and I like Increased Critical Strikes Support) would be enough to feel comfortable IMO.

BTW Increased Critical Strikes Support also grants base crit, up to 1.9% for a level 20 gem, working like the Assassin notable mentioned above.

If you really wanted to need not-a-lot of increased crit chance on tree:

6 power charges grants 300% increased critical strike chance and +3% base crit
Level 21 Increased Critical Strikes Support grants 90% increase critical strike chance and +2% base crit
Base crit turns into 12%

95%/12% = 7.91666667 = 692% total increased critical strike chance needed

300% is already contributed from 6 power charges
30% is already contributed from small passives on Assassin ascendancy
90% is already contributed from ICSS

692 - 300 - 30 - 90 = 272% increased crit chance needed to cap

(You could further reduce this number with jewelry as well!)

..............

Hope that helps, I like to do math so I went a bit excessive there