Increased elemental damage with attack skills

I'm going to cry I know, but do these buffs apply to spells?
Or should I be looking for other things.
I just noticed this and started wondering, I have at least 50% added elemental damage with attack skills, but if it doesn't apply to arc, I'm not really using it.
Feel free to critique my Elementalist, I mean she is 87 and she is EXTREMELY strong, but I am shying away from T14 because I haven't spent much time there and the bosses know that.

I can honestly say I am becoming proficient at copying, and have learned much about the game, but I am still a loong ways from being great.

Thanks,

Arc is a spell not an attack, so no it won't help. You have to be very careful with the wordings in this game.

What if your weapon does no elemental damage ie a bow with only phys mods?

Does it get increased damage as a percentage of the phys damage? or is it a modifier to a support gem ie added fire damage?

If all you want to do is lightning, next time pick Shadow or Templar. The problem with the Witch is when you get Shaper of Desolation and Beacon of Ruin, those mods aren't really doing anything. It's designed for doing an ignite build with just a little bit of cold and lightning. Templar you can play the Inquisitor and get a nice critical strike buff, same thing with Shadow if you play the Assassin.

You can fit Innervate into your build for more damage. Try changing your Orb of Storms to Innervate > Arcane Surge > Culling Strike, and see what happens. I would also get rid of Shield Charge and Flame Dash and just use Lightning Warp. You can go Lightning Warp > Faster Casting > Less Duration. I know you like Fortify with your Shield Charge but Arc has a range to it, you probably won't need Fortify. Sometimes Fortify can get you into more trouble because you have to charge in and take lots of focus before you can trigger it.

Given what you have I think your build is fine though. But it could be done better with a different character.

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Catnov wrote:

What if your weapon does no elemental damage ie a bow with only phys mods?

Does it get increased damage as a percentage of the phys damage? or is it a modifier to a support gem ie added fire damage?

Depends on the skill you have for the bow. Some skills take whatever the weapon has and amplifies it. Other skills will add other damage types to it, or modify the attack speed.

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Catnov wrote:

What if your weapon does no elemental damage ie a bow with only phys mods?

Does it get increased damage as a percentage of the phys damage? or is it a modifier to a support gem ie added fire damage?

No but this support gem will multiply the elemental damage dealt attacks skills, including the damage added by auras and equipment. It also includes unarmed attacks as well as ignites and secondary damage caused by supported attacks.

On the other hand you can convert some physical damage to elemental damage and converted damage is affected by this support skill gem then.

This is a pretty classic beginner mistake - I did the same thing on a few characters before I learned the same lesson. It's all part of the process though and your next character will be that much better for it. I also spun my wheels on trying to leech attack damage using spells only to learn a very similar lesson.

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Catnov wrote:

What if your weapon does no elemental damage ie a bow with only phys mods?

Does it get increased damage as a percentage of the phys damage? or is it a modifier to a support gem ie added fire damage?

As long as the skill you are using is an attack (such as tornado shot, barrage, etc), increased ele. damage with attacks is a very desirable stat. Most physical builds convert some or most of their damage to elemental eventually, and almost all will be running at least hatred. Add in gain% phys as elemental from shaper/elder items & flasks and ele. dmg with attacks becomes the most valuable dmg scaling stat in many cases.

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Zidly wrote:

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Catnov wrote:

What if your weapon does no elemental damage ie a bow with only phys mods?

Does it get increased damage as a percentage of the phys damage? or is it a modifier to a support gem ie added fire damage?

As long as the skill you are using is an attack (such as tornado shot, barrage, etc), increased ele. damage with attacks is a very desirable stat. Most physical builds convert some or most of their damage to elemental eventually, and almost all will be running at least hatred. Add in gain% phys as elemental from shaper/elder items & flasks and ele. dmg with attacks becomes the most valuable dmg scaling stat in many cases.

Thanks. This helps a lot. I'm running a Rain of Arrows build in SSF at the moment so limited in equipment choice. Have bows and quivers with increased elemental damage with attack skill modifiers.

BUT ... because I took EE in the skill tree the only elemental damage modifier I have is an added fire damage modifier on my amulet.

So ... been levelling a hatred gem but don't have any of the uniques to help me run it with HOA

And ... because of league about to end have not bothered with masters or HO so crafting not an option.

Just when you think you're beginning to master this game ... :)

But why she treat me so bad :(