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romotheone
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 729 Arc User
Welcome to "The CW Library" everyone,
since my post about applying Smolder+Rimefire at the same time, I have received a few messages, asking for how it's done. I have decided to open a database of knowledge, where we go more in-depth about the mechanics surrounding the Control Wizard's active and passive skills and how they interact with each other and everything else. While small at first, I am expecting this to be a huge collection that is aiming towards helping aspiring Control Wizards as well as collecting and spreading information to the ones who are curious.
I am looking to extend this list by the help of everyone here, as well as by myself, through testing and confirmation.
This list does not include a basic descriptions of spells, it is strictly about describing mechanics and understanding these requires a basic knowledge of the game and the class.
Unfortunately, the lack of format options on the new "Vanilla" forums don't allow me to make it pretty, so here we go:
Eye of the Storm is all about dishing out the most damage possible during it's uptime, therefore it is important that we proc it with a free of use at-will instead of gambling with whether or not the encounter we use to proc it is going to be a crit or not.
The proper way would be using either Chilling Cloud or Magic Missile. Chilling Cloud is an at-will every CW should use, regardless of build or paragon path (talking about PvE), but for proccing Eye of the Storm, Magic Missile is the way to go.
The lone reason is Magic Missile's travelling time, even if you cast Chilling Cloud first and a Magic Missile right after it, Magic Missile is going to hit the target first because of how fast the projectile travels. At max range, you can almost immediately start casting Conduit of Ice after the first Magic Missile left your hands, a very short intentional delay is advised before doing so to make sure the Conduit cast overlaps with the activated EotS.
Duration of Rimefire = 10 seconds
Without Icy Veins: It is pretty easy. Just apply smolder to the target and place a critting Icy Terrain. If you happen to use Critical Conflagration, a simple Icy Terrain(has to crit) will apply both. Once Smolder + Rimefire are active, you can extend their duration by using fire and cold based spells so they don't wear off. Important, once Smolder wears off and only Rimefire is active, you cannot re-apply smolder unless Rimefire is gone.
With Icy Veins: This part is tricky, since Icy Veins overrides Smolder, no matter what. The secret here is to apply Smolder first (with tabbed Fanning or Scorching Burst)
then place a critting Icy Terrain, then get outside of Icy Veins range and not cast cold based spells, but Scorching Burst/Fanning the Flame until Smolder appears on the target. After this happens, all you have to do is to refresh Smolder and Rimefire by casting fire/cold spells.
In my opinion, the double Rimefire/Smolder is only worth the trouble when you don't run Icy Veins, otherwise it just takes too much work and time to get it up. Time which you could have used to deal damage with other spells instead.
The burst seems to happen a lot more often when you initiate a fight with it. In simple words ---> Cast when not in combat. Open a fight with it. This applies to both tabbed and not tabbed Fanning the Flame. Now, I cannot reproduce this to a 100%, it is rather random, but the one thing I noticed about it is the "cast when not in combat" condition. My best guess is that it's a server-side thing, which most likely happens when there is lag/ping/delay? I noticed that it happens with other DoT skills, Ray of Enfeeblement, Fanning the Flame are the ones I managed to observe. Also happened with the Rat companion sometimes where it would proc aout 10 times within a second.
DoTs can be divided into 2 categories: Scaling and Non-Scaling DoTs.
Scaling DoTs are affected by buffs that increase your damage and debuffs that increase the damage the monsters take. Examples for this are: Smolder/Rimefire, Ray of Enfeeblement, Icy Terrain, Conduit of Ice, Fanning the Flame, ... and then there is the Death Slaad companion that is only affected by multipliers that increase the damage a monster takes but not the damage you deal. (Chaotic Fury's +30% damage buff would not apply here, Swath of Destruction's +20% damage increase to target would.)
The non-scaling DoTs like the Rat Companion from the seal vendor and other similar damage sources are not affected by any kind of multipliers. These usually deal a fixed amount of damage, based on your character's level.
As far as I have seen, there are 3 types of different damage over time effects. To understand the meaning of each, please read all 3.
The DoTs that are "non-hitting" DoTs. These are DoTs that are applied by other sources and simply tick away. They don't proc other effects, they are only there to be applied by another skill and deal the damage they promise. Examples: Smolder/Rimefire, Companion DoTs.
The DoTs that have an initial hit. These are usually bound to an initial hit that procs other effects, like the Lostmauth Set's damage, other DoTs, weapon enchant effects, ... but the rest of the DoTs following the initial hit do not. Examples: Fanning the Flame, Ray of Enfeeblement.
The "DoTs" that resemble a hit, each time they deal damage. These abilities are able to proc other effects with every single tick. The CW currently has 3 skills that do this, Conduit of Ice, Icy Terrain and Steal Time. Each tick is able to proc damaging effects, like the Lostmauth Set, extending the Plague Fire Enchantment's damage and debuff effects, if Abyss of Chaos is combined with a Lightning Enchantment, then even that. Rimefire's duration is also refreshed by each an every tick.
As the title says, it applies to all DoTs. The only Arcane based spell that can make DoTs crit is Oppressive Force and only if it crits as well. This condition applies to all kinds of DoTs:
- DoTs from Feats
- DoTs from Companions
- Smolder from Critical Conflagration
- ...
I haven't tried every possible DoT available to the CW in the game, this is an assumption based on my experiences during tests.
Assailant with Conduit of Ice on tab:
CoI is able to activate AND apply it to a monster with a single cast despite the description stating that it can be applied "on next encounter cast". It also appears that Conduit of Ice on tab doesn't consume the Assailant buff. If the buff is refreshed over and over, the frequency of the proc (if no other encounters are cast) will be that of Assailant's internal cooldown, which is somewhere around 5 seconds.
Assailant interaction with AOE abilities:
If you cast an encounter that hits multiple enemies at the same time, Assailant picks a target randomly.
Casting spells in a certain order allows you to cut the beginning or the end of a casting animation by a fraction of a second. Doing so will allow you finish your rotation quicker.
Examples:
- Anything cast after Chill Strike. The rotation where it becomes most visible is as following =
1. Chill Strike
2. Conduit of Ice
3. Ray of Enfeeblement
4. Disintegrate
Conduit of Ice takes especially long to cast, the casting animation before the skill actually hits is really slow, this can be noticed when you start casting it and attempt a quick dodge, it often doesn't let the skill cast finish opposed to other skills.
- Casting Sudden Storm after Steal Time.
Also pressing Sudden Storm while casting Steal Time will allow you activate Sudden Storm's indicator, allowing you only have to press the button once instead of twice after the Steal Time cast animation is over.
Casting while jumping is a really handy mechanic that allows you to stay more mobile even while casting skills that require you to stand in place. By constantly jumping into a direction and casting mid-air, you win valuable time that can quickly add up if you are looking to save up stamina for situations where dodging attacks/reds is unavoidable.
Dodging INTO red indicators can be used to stay close to opponents while not taking the damage from the red attacks. Thanks to the exceptionally long immunity frames the CWs dodge provides, you are able to stay inside a red zone if the dodge is timed right to avoid damage. This is really helpful if you don't want to waste time running back to the opponent but be able to cast encounters right away. Needless to say, not very effective against DoTs placed on the ground.
Icy Terrain mid-air followed by a dodge backwards is a good way to cast a well-placed icy terrain to apply those additional chill stacks and the potential freeze (Icy Veins oppressor feat) to make the initiations easier for your team. If done quickly enough, you can do this without taking damage. While this is a risky move, every damage YOU dodge is damage that would had to be taken by someone else. Unless you run with an organized group where the Paladin is able to make everyone immune or the GF is able to facetank hits, this can make certain fights a lot easier.
While the post seems a bit chaotic at first, once better formatting options are available on the new forums, I'll organize everything to make comfortable for the eye. I'll add screenshots to demonstrate, if any of you are willing to make videos of the described mechanics, please contact me through PMs on the forum and I'll be happy to add those as well.
Be tuned, there is more coming.
since my post about applying Smolder+Rimefire at the same time, I have received a few messages, asking for how it's done. I have decided to open a database of knowledge, where we go more in-depth about the mechanics surrounding the Control Wizard's active and passive skills and how they interact with each other and everything else. While small at first, I am expecting this to be a huge collection that is aiming towards helping aspiring Control Wizards as well as collecting and spreading information to the ones who are curious.
I am looking to extend this list by the help of everyone here, as well as by myself, through testing and confirmation.
This list does not include a basic descriptions of spells, it is strictly about describing mechanics and understanding these requires a basic knowledge of the game and the class.
Unfortunately, the lack of format options on the new "Vanilla" forums don't allow me to make it pretty, so here we go:
Spellstorm
Mechanics exclusive to the SS paragon path
Initiation and proccing Eye of the Storm
Eye of the Storm is all about dishing out the most damage possible during it's uptime, therefore it is important that we proc it with a free of use at-will instead of gambling with whether or not the encounter we use to proc it is going to be a crit or not.
The proper way would be using either Chilling Cloud or Magic Missile. Chilling Cloud is an at-will every CW should use, regardless of build or paragon path (talking about PvE), but for proccing Eye of the Storm, Magic Missile is the way to go.
The lone reason is Magic Missile's travelling time, even if you cast Chilling Cloud first and a Magic Missile right after it, Magic Missile is going to hit the target first because of how fast the projectile travels. At max range, you can almost immediately start casting Conduit of Ice after the first Magic Missile left your hands, a very short intentional delay is advised before doing so to make sure the Conduit cast overlaps with the activated EotS.
Master of Flames
Mechanics exclusive to the MoF paragon path
Smolder + Rimefire
Duration of Smolder = 5 secondsDuration of Rimefire = 10 seconds
Without Icy Veins: It is pretty easy. Just apply smolder to the target and place a critting Icy Terrain. If you happen to use Critical Conflagration, a simple Icy Terrain(has to crit) will apply both. Once Smolder + Rimefire are active, you can extend their duration by using fire and cold based spells so they don't wear off. Important, once Smolder wears off and only Rimefire is active, you cannot re-apply smolder unless Rimefire is gone.
With Icy Veins: This part is tricky, since Icy Veins overrides Smolder, no matter what. The secret here is to apply Smolder first (with tabbed Fanning or Scorching Burst)
then place a critting Icy Terrain, then get outside of Icy Veins range and not cast cold based spells, but Scorching Burst/Fanning the Flame until Smolder appears on the target. After this happens, all you have to do is to refresh Smolder and Rimefire by casting fire/cold spells.
In my opinion, the double Rimefire/Smolder is only worth the trouble when you don't run Icy Veins, otherwise it just takes too much work and time to get it up. Time which you could have used to deal damage with other spells instead.
Fanning Burst (possible bug)
The burst seems to happen a lot more often when you initiate a fight with it. In simple words ---> Cast when not in combat. Open a fight with it. This applies to both tabbed and not tabbed Fanning the Flame. Now, I cannot reproduce this to a 100%, it is rather random, but the one thing I noticed about it is the "cast when not in combat" condition. My best guess is that it's a server-side thing, which most likely happens when there is lag/ping/delay? I noticed that it happens with other DoT skills, Ray of Enfeeblement, Fanning the Flame are the ones I managed to observe. Also happened with the Rat companion sometimes where it would proc aout 10 times within a second.
Meta
Mechanics that apply to both Stormspell and Master of Flames paragon paths
The difference between DoTs, DoTs and DoTs
DoTs can be divided into 2 categories: Scaling and Non-Scaling DoTs.
Scaling DoTs are affected by buffs that increase your damage and debuffs that increase the damage the monsters take. Examples for this are: Smolder/Rimefire, Ray of Enfeeblement, Icy Terrain, Conduit of Ice, Fanning the Flame, ... and then there is the Death Slaad companion that is only affected by multipliers that increase the damage a monster takes but not the damage you deal. (Chaotic Fury's +30% damage buff would not apply here, Swath of Destruction's +20% damage increase to target would.)
The non-scaling DoTs like the Rat Companion from the seal vendor and other similar damage sources are not affected by any kind of multipliers. These usually deal a fixed amount of damage, based on your character's level.
As far as I have seen, there are 3 types of different damage over time effects. To understand the meaning of each, please read all 3.
The DoTs that are "non-hitting" DoTs. These are DoTs that are applied by other sources and simply tick away. They don't proc other effects, they are only there to be applied by another skill and deal the damage they promise. Examples: Smolder/Rimefire, Companion DoTs.
The DoTs that have an initial hit. These are usually bound to an initial hit that procs other effects, like the Lostmauth Set's damage, other DoTs, weapon enchant effects, ... but the rest of the DoTs following the initial hit do not. Examples: Fanning the Flame, Ray of Enfeeblement.
The "DoTs" that resemble a hit, each time they deal damage. These abilities are able to proc other effects with every single tick. The CW currently has 3 skills that do this, Conduit of Ice, Icy Terrain and Steal Time. Each tick is able to proc damaging effects, like the Lostmauth Set, extending the Plague Fire Enchantment's damage and debuff effects, if Abyss of Chaos is combined with a Lightning Enchantment, then even that. Rimefire's duration is also refreshed by each an every tick.
Arcane based spells cannot make DoTs crit
As the title says, it applies to all DoTs. The only Arcane based spell that can make DoTs crit is Oppressive Force and only if it crits as well. This condition applies to all kinds of DoTs:
- DoTs from Feats
- DoTs from Companions
- Smolder from Critical Conflagration
- ...
I haven't tried every possible DoT available to the CW in the game, this is an assumption based on my experiences during tests.
Assailant
Assailant with Conduit of Ice on tab:
CoI is able to activate AND apply it to a monster with a single cast despite the description stating that it can be applied "on next encounter cast". It also appears that Conduit of Ice on tab doesn't consume the Assailant buff. If the buff is refreshed over and over, the frequency of the proc (if no other encounters are cast) will be that of Assailant's internal cooldown, which is somewhere around 5 seconds.
Assailant interaction with AOE abilities:
If you cast an encounter that hits multiple enemies at the same time, Assailant picks a target randomly.
Animation Cutting
Casting spells in a certain order allows you to cut the beginning or the end of a casting animation by a fraction of a second. Doing so will allow you finish your rotation quicker.
Examples:
- Anything cast after Chill Strike. The rotation where it becomes most visible is as following =
1. Chill Strike
2. Conduit of Ice
3. Ray of Enfeeblement
4. Disintegrate
Conduit of Ice takes especially long to cast, the casting animation before the skill actually hits is really slow, this can be noticed when you start casting it and attempt a quick dodge, it often doesn't let the skill cast finish opposed to other skills.
- Casting Sudden Storm after Steal Time.
Also pressing Sudden Storm while casting Steal Time will allow you activate Sudden Storm's indicator, allowing you only have to press the button once instead of twice after the Steal Time cast animation is over.
Proper movement
Casting while jumping is a really handy mechanic that allows you to stay more mobile even while casting skills that require you to stand in place. By constantly jumping into a direction and casting mid-air, you win valuable time that can quickly add up if you are looking to save up stamina for situations where dodging attacks/reds is unavoidable.
Dodging INTO red indicators can be used to stay close to opponents while not taking the damage from the red attacks. Thanks to the exceptionally long immunity frames the CWs dodge provides, you are able to stay inside a red zone if the dodge is timed right to avoid damage. This is really helpful if you don't want to waste time running back to the opponent but be able to cast encounters right away. Needless to say, not very effective against DoTs placed on the ground.
Icy Terrain mid-air followed by a dodge backwards is a good way to cast a well-placed icy terrain to apply those additional chill stacks and the potential freeze (Icy Veins oppressor feat) to make the initiations easier for your team. If done quickly enough, you can do this without taking damage. While this is a risky move, every damage YOU dodge is damage that would had to be taken by someone else. Unless you run with an organized group where the Paladin is able to make everyone immune or the GF is able to facetank hits, this can make certain fights a lot easier.
While the post seems a bit chaotic at first, once better formatting options are available on the new forums, I'll organize everything to make comfortable for the eye. I'll add screenshots to demonstrate, if any of you are willing to make videos of the described mechanics, please contact me through PMs on the forum and I'll be happy to add those as well.
Be tuned, there is more coming.
Question to the community:
What do you think of the idea?
What do you think of the idea?
Post edited by romotheone on
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Comments
Sounds good, I'd be curious to see how much time can be saved by using this. Which program do you use?
You can hold your mouse button to constantly cast your At-Wills. But if you activate an encounter or daily power while having your mouse button held, the encounter or daily cast will take priority. After the cast is done, you immediately go back to your at-will. Unless I'm moving, I have my LMB pressed constantly during combat, so there's zero gaps between encounters and at-wills.
I'm interested to try the scroll wheel trick, though...for most instances of trash clearing you just want to drop your spells as fast as possible. I wonder if you could set up alternate keys so that one set is individual spells, and them use the mouse wheel to spam.
Interesting stuff, though.
Also, people aren't aware of how to use immunity frames properly at the end of the CW dodge. In order to compensate for animation lag, you become immune to everything at the end of a dodge. You can use this to dodge "into" red, instead of out of it, so that you're immune when the attack hits. That way you don't dodge out of range of your spells, and you can go back to attacking immediately after your dodge.
A good example of this is on Dragon wing claps. People back pedal and dodge out. You can actually dodge directly into it if you time it right, and not take any damage, which leaves you right back in the dragon's face for better DPS.
Timings vary, but jumping in a direction and then activating your ability allows your momentum to carry you. This provides some mobility while still casting. (aka jump cast jump cast jump cast) It can be used with at wills (tapping not holding) and encounters.
If you are dodging into a pack of mobs to drop an IT or ST, you can do a little hop at the end of the dodge while still in the immunity window to allow for better survivability placement. In many cases the mobs will target you as soon as you land from your dodge. If you stay there casting ST for example, you may get faceplanted before ST even goes off. If you hop cast at the end of the dodge it will often put you outside of range of the melee attacks that were queued when you landed. Dodge in, tap jump (while still pressing the direction of your dodge), and then cast during the jump (can usually be a very small quick hop - which still puts IT on target). Small movements can help you avoid a lot of melee damage.
Exactly! Really good point, it's weird because I always use it but it felt so natural that it didn't come to my mind to add it to the list. I haven't edited the main post for a week or so, it's about time I do something about it.
unless you unbind the keys you normally use that's the default. You are just setting up secondary binds as another ui config and then turning it on or off as you want. The point is if you hold down middlemouse to talk on mumble or whatever secondary bind you use you don't necessarily end up wasting all your powers. Assuming youremember to turn them off. The handiest thing about the saving your ui is it will save the set up of your chat. That way if you make an alt you can just /personalui or whatever you call it and have everything in the right tab.
I am referring to a quick tap, not a fully charged SP.
Storm Pillar activates EotS right away and you cast CoI with its full casting duration while EotS is already active and its duration is ticking away. With Magic Missile or even Chilling Cloud, if timed right, the at-will lands and actives EotS right when you finish the CoI cast.
Do you (or anyone) have any info for interactions of high lvl weapon enchants (like terror, plague fire. etc) with different powers, dot's and timed/delayed effects ?
I'm a poor guy, ask me class related stuff I can test and I'll do it. I don't have any weapon enchants at the moment, I'll try to mass up some AD and test a few enchantments on the preview soon. Testing is usually something I do when I feel like doing it, so give it a few days. :P
Anyway i actually have one thing, but is very specific - needs SS CW around 2,5k iLvL . I could not find anyone in recent days to give me some info for comparison and is mostly not related to this thread.
I was interested how high lvl weapon enchants who have many consecutive effects, dots and debuffs (like terror, plague fire. etc) interact with different powers, dot's and timed/delayed effects from encounters like CoI, ST, IT, etc and dot's like smolder, rimfire, etc.
In short - how, when and how many times that % dmg from enchant is applied to actual skill dmg and ticks. Tooltip for some enchants says - % dmg with every swing, while other says - %dmg with every power. Is there a difference and what is it ? If you can decide how to accurately test such things, you can test that Plague Fire.
Sry if something here does not make sense, but i am sure you are getting the overall picture. And thx in advance.
I have also updated the post with a DoTs section. That may explain most of your questions regarding those weapon enchant effects.