PSA : all Decay scaling (from Essence of Delirium)

Hey exiles,

I looked to include Decay from Essence of Hysteria in my build but I had hard time finding some usefull informations about it, so I did a few tests during a couple of hours to understand how does it scale. Here are the result :


Decay mechanics :
Decay is a dot (damage over the time) that apply when you hit.
That mean you can't apply it without a direct hit (Contagion or Scorching Ray can't apply it as a example).
It will apply on every hit you do even if it's not linked to the weapon.
It can be buffed by your skill tree and the support gems linked to the spell that is used to hit.
It don't stack (only 1 at a time), but you can refresh the duration by hitting again.
Base damage is 750 chaos/s as show under.




Decay scaling :
So remember, what buff Decay is : your tree, and the gem linked to the spell that is used to apply Decay.

Scale with :

"

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More Chaos damage (like Void Manipulation)

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More Damage over the time (like Rapid Decay)

-Area : Reduced/Increased and Less/More Area damage (only if it's apply by a aoe)

-Projectile : Reduced/Increased and Less/More damage projectile damage (only if it's apply by a projectile)

-Totem : Reduced/Increased totem damage and Less/More to totem supported skill (only if it's apply by a spell casted by a totem)

-Trap/Mine : Reduced/Increased and Less/More Trap/Mine damage (only if it's apply by a spell casted by a trap/mine - CAREFULL, read the "Don't scale with" section related to trap and mines because their is a fishy detail about that)

-Duration related bonus/malus

If decay is applied with Essence Drain or Vortex, spell damage modifiers will also apply to decay. This is because those skills have the "Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this skill's Damage Over Time" mod, which causes spell scaling to apply to any and all forms of damage over time applied by the skill, including ignite, poison and decay.

Additionnaly, if you hit with a spell linked to a trigger gem, the bonus/malus will apply to both spell and Decay. Example, a hit comming from a spell triggered by a lvl 1 CwdT will down the damages of Decay by 70% less.


Don't scale with :

"

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More attack bonus (any type related to attack)

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More spell damage (apply to the spell used to hit - exepted for Essence Drain & Vortex, see above)

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More elemental damage (apply to the attack/spell used to hit)

-Trap/Mine : Reduced/Increased and Less/More trap/mine damage with hits (Decay do not hit, so bonus don't apply to it - Carefull, read "Scale with" to understand what buff and don't buff Decay on Trap/mine, take care of the words "with hit")

-Any bonus that apply "with hit" don't scale with Decay because Decay don't hit itself

-Damage effectiveness of the spell used (in others words it's not affected by it, meaning it will always deal 100% of the damage not concidering others modifiers mentionned before)

I didn't tested for bow but the rules aboves probably apply the same way if you follow the same logic.

If you have trouble getting the things about trap and mine, here is a example with Vortex :
When you buff vortex with a gem that give "Increased damage with hit", it will buff the part that "hit" directly, but not the damage over the time from the area vortex leave. It work the same way for Decay since it's also a DoT so it don't "hit".

It's all for now, may be I'v forgot some things so I will edit later if needed.
Feel free to ask for more test if you see some to do. I hope it will help making things more clear and eventually update the wiki.

You can also pm me ingame :
@WharrgarblStoleMyPants

Does it interact with critical hits ?

I notice that the 3.0 Damage Over Time Mechanics - Part 1 Manifest was posted just a few hours after this post. (April 26, 2017 8:07:24 PM = Manifesto) (Apr 26, 2017 6:53:47 AM = This Decay Post)

I agree that Void Manipulation and Swift Affliction will scale Decay's damage, but there GGG has provided little numerical information on Decay. The Wiki provides no scaling information either. So, I have a few questions about the 3.0 mechanics of Decay.

Manifesto >>> https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1891944
Decay Support Wiki >>> https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Decay_Support
Delirium Wiki >>> https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Essence_of_Delirium

The Manifesto basically says that the "Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this skill's Damage Over Time" property, of Essence Drain and Vortex, DO NOT scale Decay's damage in 3.0. It also says that modifiers to Projectile Damage, Area Damage, Totem Damage, and Trap/Mine Damage DO NOT scale Decay's damage either.

Is this the correct interpretation of the Manifesto?

Is Decay's damage scaled only by Chaos Damage and Damage Over Time?

Does the Delirium Essence Mod scale differently than the Decay Support gem?

Which stats of the Efficacy Support gem affect Decay?

Efficacy Support Wiki >>> https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Efficacy_Support

"

Decay scaling :
So remember, what buff Decay is : your tree, and the gem linked to the spell that is used to apply Decay.

Scale with :

"

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More Chaos damage (like Void Manipulation)

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More Damage over the time (like Rapid Decay)

-Area : Reduced/Increased and Less/More Area damage (only if it's apply by a aoe)

-Projectile : Reduced/Increased and Less/More damage projectile damage (only if it's apply by a projectile)

-Totem : Reduced/Increased totem damage and Less/More to totem supported skill (only if it's apply by a spell casted by a totem)

-Trap/Mine : Reduced/Increased and Less/More Trap/Mine damage (only if it's apply by a spell casted by a trap/mine - CAREFULL, read the "Don't scale with" section related to trap and mines because their is a fishy detail about that)

-Duration related bonus/malus

If decay is applied with Essence Drain or Vortex, spell damage modifiers will also apply to decay. This is because those skills have the "Modifiers to Spell Damage apply to this skill's Damage Over Time" mod, which causes spell scaling to apply to any and all forms of damage over time applied by the skill, including ignite, poison and decay.

Additionnaly, if you hit with a spell linked to a trigger gem, the bonus/malus will apply to both spell and Decay. Example, a hit comming from a spell triggered by a lvl 1 CwdT will down the damages of Decay by 70% less.


Don't scale with :

"

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More attack bonus (any type related to attack)

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More spell damage (apply to the spell used to hit - exepted for Essence Drain & Vortex, see above)

-Reduced/Increased and Less/More elemental damage (apply to the attack/spell used to hit)

-Trap/Mine : Reduced/Increased and Less/More trap/mine damage with hits (Decay do not hit, so bonus don't apply to it - Carefull, read "Scale with" to understand what buff and don't buff Decay on Trap/mine, take care of the words "with hit")

Contagion can proc decay in the past, most delirium ED builds don't even press ED unless it's a boss fight, did it change in 3.0 patch?

so if I have decay linked to blight (which has the spell damage modifers applying to DOT written in the spell), does an aura like Anger which adds fire damage to the spell effect decay as well?

it's hard to see/validate as decay does not have a tooltip!