How do exerted attacks work...

and how does Infernal Cry interact with (exerted) attacks?

I read the gamepedia article again and again but I still can't figure out what exactly exerted attacks are and what they do.

In the example of Infernal Cry, there seem to be two different things that happen:

"

"Exerts the next 4 Melee Attacks you perform"

What does it do to these 4 attacks? More damage? Buffs?

"

"Exerted Attacks Trigger Combust the first time they deal a Melee Hit"

So one of the above quoted "4 melee attacks" will trigger Combust, ok. But what about the following 3 attacks?

Maybe someone can enlighten me. Thank you very much in adavance.

You have to just read the gem to know exactly what effect an Exerted attack would have. Nevertheless, here is the new Exerted Attacks mechanics:

Every Warcry but one (Enduring Cry) will Exert a certain number of attacks after performing it, and will have at least one effect that will scale with the Warcry's power, which in turn consider the number and rarity of enemies affected by it and, in case of Rallying Cry, even the number of allies or, in case of General's Cry, the number of corpses.

By itself, an Exerted attack does not differ from a regular attack - just like Focus is a buff that by itself gives you no bonus. However, akin to Focus, an Exerted attack will get its effect from the warcry(or warcries) performed before it. What kind of attacks will get exerted, is written on the gem. Usually, the Exerted Attack gets a boost on damage or addictional effects. In the case of General's Cry, the "Exerted" attack will be just the attack your spirit will use. Addictionally, there are generic bonus and cluster jewel that will boost an attack for just being Exerted

Exerted attack's effects can stack, if the condition for all the Warcries exerting it are respected. In other words, you can first use an Infernal Cry (Exert 4 Melee damage, the first the attack hits an enemy will trigger Combust), then use a Seismic Cry (Exert 5 Slam attack, making them deal 30% more damage per previous Slam of that kind executed), then use an Earthshatter (Melee, Slam) which will trigger Combustion the first time it hits an enemy (Infernal) AND will have 30%*1 More Damage (Seismic). Both warcries will lose 1 exerted attack. This can allow, with the just management and the right warcries, to let you deliver one single, devastating blow - there are proofs of Berserkers able to oneshot an A8 Sirus as he pops down from his throne with just one single Sunder hit

Last but not least, a warcry will never, ever, Exert:
> A Channeling attack skill (Cyclone, Charged Dash, Blade Flurry...)
> An attack supported by Multistrike, Awakened Multistrike or while under the effect of a Echoing Shrine, or any other effect that will let you repeat an attack

---

Now, for Infernal Cry:

> The next 4 Melee Attacks will trigger Combust the first time they will hit an enemy with a melee hit
> If you keep attacking the same enemy, the next 3 Exerted attack with infernal cry won't trigger Combust, since it won't be "the first time" they hit it with a melee hit. They will still be considered as Exerted, and will get any other bonus (for example, a Medium CLuster Jewel's "Exerted Attack deal 10% incDamage"'s bonus) you can provide to Exerted attacks

As a Infernal Cry user, I can state it gets really powerful when dealing against group, and combos extremely well with Infernal Blow by making corpses explode twice (once for Infernal Cry, then for Infernal blow's debuff), making one single hit capable of clearing a full screen if AoE is good enough. It gets significantly less powerful when dealing with boss, retaining mostly one 1 Exerted combust and a powerful Covered in Ashes debuff on it.

"

Maxtrux wrote:

If you keep attacking the same enemy, the next 3 Exerted attack with infernal cry won't trigger Combust, since it won't be "the first time" they hit it with a melee hit.

I don't think that's how it works. The skill says "Exerted Attacks Trigger Combust the first time they deal a Melee Hit". In other words, if a single strike or slam hits multiple enemies, it only triggers Combust on one of them. Infernal Cry says nothing about only being able to trigger Combust once per enemy.

"

Maxtrux wrote:

Spoiler

You have to just read the gem to know exactly what effect an Exerted attack would have. Nevertheless, here is the new Exerted Attacks mechanics:

Every Warcry but one (Enduring Cry) will Exert a certain number of attacks after performing it, and will have at least one effect that will scale with the Warcry's power, which in turn consider the number and rarity of enemies affected by it and, in case of Rallying Cry, even the number of allies or, in case of General's Cry, the number of corpses.

By itself, an Exerted attack does not differ from a regular attack - just like Focus is a buff that by itself gives you no bonus. However, akin to Focus, an Exerted attack will get its effect from the warcry(or warcries) performed before it. What kind of attacks will get exerted, is written on the gem. Usually, the Exerted Attack gets a boost on damage or addictional effects. In the case of General's Cry, the "Exerted" attack will be just the attack your spirit will use. Addictionally, there are generic bonus and cluster jewel that will boost an attack for just being Exerted

Exerted attack's effects can stack, if the condition for all the Warcries exerting it are respected. In other words, you can first use an Infernal Cry (Exert 4 Melee damage, the first the attack hits an enemy will trigger Combust), then use a Seismic Cry (Exert 5 Slam attack, making them deal 30% more damage per previous Slam of that kind executed), then use an Earthshatter (Melee, Slam) which will trigger Combustion the first time it hits an enemy (Infernal) AND will have 30%*1 More Damage (Seismic). Both warcries will lose 1 exerted attack. This can allow, with the just management and the right warcries, to let you deliver one single, devastating blow - there are proofs of Berserkers able to oneshot an A8 Sirus as he pops down from his throne with just one single Sunder hit

Last but not least, a warcry will never, ever, Exert:
> A Channeling attack skill (Cyclone, Charged Dash, Blade Flurry...)
> An attack supported by Multistrike, Awakened Multistrike or while under the effect of a Echoing Shrine, or any other effect that will let you repeat an attack

---

Now, for Infernal Cry:

> The next 4 Melee Attacks will trigger Combust the first time they will hit an enemy with a melee hit
> If you keep attacking the same enemy, the next 3 Exerted attack with infernal cry won't trigger Combust, since it won't be "the first time" they hit it with a melee hit. They will still be considered as Exerted, and will get any other bonus (for example, a Medium CLuster Jewel's "Exerted Attack deal 10% incDamage"'s bonus) you can provide to Exerted attacks

As a Infernal Cry user, I can state it gets really powerful when dealing against group, and combos extremely well with Infernal Blow by making corpses explode twice (once for Infernal Cry, then for Infernal blow's debuff), making one single hit capable of clearing a full screen if AoE is good enough. It gets significantly less powerful when dealing with boss, retaining mostly one 1 Exerted combust and a powerful Covered in Ashes debuff on it.

Thank you very much! That was perfectly explained. Now I understand it. That makes the "Exerted attacks deal x % increased damage" very interesting.

I can't wait to experiment a bit to see which support gems would be a could addition to Infernal Cry.

"

ekaye wrote:

"

Maxtrux wrote:

If you keep attacking the same enemy, the next 3 Exerted attack with infernal cry won't trigger Combust, since it won't be "the first time" they hit it with a melee hit.

I don't think that's how it works. The skill says "Exerted Attacks Trigger Combust the first time they deal a Melee Hit". In other words, if a single strike or slam hits multiple enemies, it only triggers Combust on one of them. Infernal Cry says nothing about only being able to trigger Combust once per enemy.

Did a test with my Infernal Cry Infernal Blow Staff Gladiator against a Boss. You're actually right: I've managed to spend all 4 exerted attacks against the boss, and all 4 times the Combust wave triggered (the fact that, with a 2H weapon, every "attack" is actually 2 swing should matter little - it still consumes 4 exertions)
Although my Strike Skill do not deliver splash damage nor hit additional targets, I tried to use my increased Attack Range to hit two enemies in a row. I *think* Combust triggered only once, but I may be mistaken, since Combust wave is very similiar to Herald of Ash wave

Thank you