Daenks/Meridian59_103 — pull request #282 by M59Gar (2014-01-28 17:58:16+00:00)
Title: Splash & Bolt spell primary stat damage

Splash & Bolt spells have been given Mysticism-based bonuses to base damage the same way that every other attack in the game works (touch spells = myst, melee = might, bow = aim).

This is probably the fourth or fifth crack at spell damage I have taken, and I like it the best. It's simple, direct, and a wonder why it isn't already in the game. It also only helps mage-focused characters - your Blast of Fire won't do any less if you're a hybrid, but if you're a mage, your blast of fire can do significantly more.

All stat bonuses work as a percentage addition to base damage, beginning at 25, and ending at 65 in the stat.

25 Myst = +0% damage
30 Myst = +5%
37 Myst = +12%
50 Myst = +25%
55 Myst = +30%
60 Myst = +35%

There is currently no way to top 60 Mysticism, but reaching 65 Myst would bring another 5% damage. I recognize that this gives Princess Soldier Shields a new implicit ability: +5% damage for all attack spells, assuming you have more than 25 Myst. I think that's a good thing, given the clear superiority of Jonas Shields at the moment.

**What kinds of damages are we looking at?**

Illusionary Wounds is a bit special. IW's base damage is 22 - (victim's intellect / 10). So a 50 intellect character will take 17 base damage from the spell. This value then receives a damage bonus from Intellect. A 50 intellect caster would get +25% bonus damage, doing (17*1.25) = 21 damage in the prior example. So competing intellects partially cancel out.

Now, for the Mysticism-based spells. All of the below values are for 99 spellpower. All splash & bolt spells start at half damage at 0 spellpower and work their way up to max damage at 99 spellpower. Know that 99% + max Robes is only 70 spellpower! You will need more than just simple gear to reach these maximum ranges, and AMA/Dement will be your greatest enemy. The spellpower damage reduction comes after stat bonus damage.

Blast of fire: 15-23 base. 18-28 at 50 myst. 20-31 at 60 myst.
Explosive frost: 13-25 base. 16-31 at 50 myst. 17-33 at 60 myst.
Shocking fury: 12-20 base. 15-25 at 50 myst. 16-27 at 60 myst.
Splash of acid: 16-25 (range 3). 20-31 at 50 myst. 21-33 at 60 myst.
Vampiric drain: 12-18 (heals half damage done). 15-22 at 50 myst. 16-24 at 60 myst.

Fireball: 8-12 base. 10-15 at 50 myst. 10-16 at 60 myst.
Lightning bolt: 13-18 base. 16-22 at 50 myst. 17-24 at 60 myst.

**Complications for DoT calculations**

* All splash and bolt spells have postcast timers of 2 seconds, as compared to 1 second attack times for weapons and touch spells. **This immediately cuts their DoT in half comparatively.** These spells are best used as finishers to try to get the kill on somebody, or as attacks at ranges farther than melee. Trying to rely on these as main attacks won't get you very far, because they are just too slow. A 30 damage attack every 2 seconds is only doing 15 per second... not much better than a crappy hammer.

* That being said, these spells have a much higher hit rate, since it's fizzles rather than offense vs defense. They also have longer range than melee, so they can still be deadly given positional advantages and user skill.

* Some gear has weaknesses and resistances to certain spell damage types, and these resistances/weaknesses come into play after damage is fully calculated. This means that resistances are proportionally better the higher the damage. 20% cold resist from nerudite armor will cut cold damage by 3 if an explosive frost does 13. The same resistance will cut a 33 damage explosive frost by 7. This means that resistances and element choice are increasingly important.

* Mana Focus can boost blast of fire, explosive frost, and shocking fury by 5 damage, but this is not base damage, and gets no bonus damage from Mysticism. Mana Focus boosts fireball and lightning bolt by 10 damage. So, yes, a mana focused 60 myst mage can Lightning Bolt for 27-34.

* Soldier-to-Soldier combat comes with a last-stage universal damage bonus of +15% that **also raises the damage cap to 35!** That 34 damage lightning bolt discussed above becomes 39 damage, doing 35 final damage (because the cap is 35). On anyone else, that 34 damage Bolt will do 30. This is relevant because you can only reach 60 myst with a princess soldier shield.