I've been using it for a while now with my LA marauder and I think I can safely say that the distance calculation is based on where the projectile spawns, not where your character stands. By utilizing chain or fork your secondary arrows will do max point blank damage when bouncing between two adjacent enemies, even if they are off-screen.
This is correct. The Point Blank distance measurement starts from the projectile spawns. When projectiles chain or fork, new projectiles are spawned to shoot in other directions from where the previous projectile hit.
The developers have noted that the reset distance measurement per "bounce" is unintentional and will change. I think they want so that the distance measurement carries on from the initial projectile.
In the case of Ranged Attack Totem, the projectile is shot by the totem so it spawns from its position, so the distance measurement starts at the totem location. I have a build that uses dual Ice Shot totems with Point Blank, and it's pretty damn fun.
So I recently took a moment to gather a piece of information that has been requested in beta keystone and support gem feedback for a while. A visual identifier of how the Point Blank keystone effects your damage. For these testing conditions, I used Split Arrow for 80% damage effectiveness, which brings my maximum and minimum damage within 2 points of each other. I have nearly no damage spread.
For anyone not familiar with the mechanics behind this keystone, here is a quote on what they are. The above is just a Visual Representation of what we already know.
Damage bonus/penalty is as follows:
Distance 0 to 10: 50%
Distance 10 to 35: scales linearly from 50% down to 0%
Distance 35 to 120: scales linearly from 0% down to -100%
For reference, The greatest melee weapon range is 5, cold snap has a base range of 15, and 120 is the maximum distance it's possible to shoot an arrow (it's impossible to reach this usually except sometimes when firing at the upper corners of the screen).
You lose 50% of your damage at around 60 units away. Distances past 60 units were unfeasable for me to test, nor could appropriate visual representations of such distances be made.
Currently, each time a projectile chains or forks, it's new location for point blank damage is the origin point of where the last mob was standing when hit. Piercing does not cause this.
Try this keystone out sometime, it's quite fun, and while you profit most from melee range combat, it's free damage under nearly all circumstances for an archer.
As a fun idea, Using Chin Sol, Point Blank, and Remote Mine in combination can allow 5 explosive arrows to nearly one-shot Vaal on Merciless. There is great damage potential here just waiting to be unlocked!
It is unknown to me, currently, if the damage of the explosion from an explosive arrow can be reduced by a mob running away from the location where you stuck them with the arrow. Currently the explosion seems to always grant a +50% damage boost.
Remember, Point Blank is 50% MORE damage, which means it is calculated after increased damage affixes. That means it's 50% more damage than you currently have, regardless of your passives.
Damage bonus/penalty is as follows:
Distance 0 to 10: 50%
Distance 10 to 35: scales linearly from 50% down to 0%
Distance 35 to 120: scales linearly from 0% down to -100%
For reference, The greatest melee weapon range is 5, cold snap has a base range of 15, and 120 is the maximum distance it's possible to shoot an arrow (it's impossible to reach this usually except sometimes when firing at the upper corners of the screen).
Yes, rain of arrows isn't currently working with this keystone correctly, that should be fixed soon.
I inspected about range of cold snap.
The following screenshot is the results.
I hit cold snap at a distance of barely.
I think that distance my char and totem is about 30.
Let's have a discussion about the specifics of this keystone. As it stands, it's description is fairly vague. I'd like to take this keystone on my bow ranger, but I'm somewhat reluctant, not knowing if I'd be harming my current playstyle or not.
First of all, does this keystone actively reduce your damage at long range, or does it merely provide no bonus to damage at longer distances? Also, if it does reduce your damage, how much of a penalty is it? It says +50% at very close range, and I assume it tapers off as distance increases, but how bad does the penalty get for an enemy that is off the screen or just barely selectable at the edge of the screen?
Second, how quickly does the damage bonus drop off? If I take this keystone, will I have to stay in melee range to see any significant benefit? Or will I be able to still see a healthy bonus of about +25% if I stay 2 or 3 body lengths away from my enemies?
And lastly, does the bonus/penalty apply to all damage that I do with a bow? Or only the physical damage? Does it apply to the damage over time effect caused by Poison Arrow? If it only affects physical damage, will it affect damage that ends up getting converted to elemental before hitting the enemy?
I'd appreciate any clarification that can be given. Also feel free to voice any other questions you may have about this keystone here.
Yeah, it reduces your damage dealt to enemies far away. Approximately, each 30-35 metres equal to 50% damage loss. You start from 150% total damage at approximately 0-10 metres range, graduately dropping down to 100% at 35-40 metres, and to 0% at ~100-120 metres.
