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Spellstorm Renegade Guide: Death is the Best Crowd Control

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  • bkt5789bkt5789 Member Posts: 131 Arc User
    Did it have sharp, Isaac, and Leroy jenkins/kolat??? Cause that would be pretty epic too!!!
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    edited December 2015
    I don't believe I have ever been in a group at the same time as ironzerg. I live in south africa, so I play on south african time. I believe or am under the impression that he plays on american time (correct me if I am wrong)

    But tbh, I wouldn't consider myself a forum star...I just potter around and test things :p
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    And honestly, if you're in a group with a GWF somehow doing all four times your damage, just sit back and enjoy the ride...
    "Meanwhile in the moderator's lounge..."
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  • madnitezzmadnitezz Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 36 Arc User

    Just ran some quick tests. Everything seems to be working as expected.

    My set up was a level 15 orb (from the Trade of Blades vendor). No other gear. No stat points allocated (except for 18 CHA from base stats). No feats. No companions active. Basically as blank as I could get.

    I used the white war dog (+25 armor pen) to generate combat advantage via flanking.

    Just used Ray of Frost. Only ran each test for about 60 seconds.

    Base CA damage is +15%.

    CHA adds +1% CA damage per point.
    Drow Tactics is +10% CA damage.
    Combat Advantage Stat is working as expected

    So the formula should be (15%+CHA+Drow Tactics+CA Stat) * Int Devourer * Blink Dog.

    I can confirm that all those variables add damage. Kaelac's original equation had most everything being additive, but from my quick and dirty testing, the math seemed to be more consistent if it was multiplicative instead. Which is a big freaking deal.

    But I can't draw anything conclusive without better testing. Although I can confirm without a doubt Combat Advantage is most definitely working.

    Thnx, this is very useful. But what I read from Kaelac's work is that the formula are different for crit and non-crit situation.
    Did you replicate/notice the difference in your testing?

  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    I just did all non-crits to keep it easy. CA damage is not multiplied by crits. You have Base + CA + Critical Hit = Total Damage.
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  • flyingleonflyingleon Member Posts: 451 Arc User
    edited December 2015
    Kaelac's orginal formular works multiplicative for non crit hits. It seems you get the same results. Nice work to test the new boon.

    Join the Greycloaks



    Ana-GWF SM Destroyer | Farseer-CW MoF Renegade | Leon-GF SM Tactician
    Adrik Battlefate-DC DO Virtuous | Cassi Woodsheart-HR PF Trapper
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    Yep! Thanks for the reminder...always good to go back and re-read Kaelac's work. Glad to see that my foggy memory actually still ended up corroborating what he put together during his original testing. I miss that guy...

    Anyway, don't listen to rogues. At least as far as CW's go, Combat Advantage is working as expected.
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  • ultradd#1718 ultradd Member Posts: 39 Arc User
    I slotted arcane missile instead of rays of frost and it seems better than having ray of frost. Why not use chill cloud\arcane missile full time? You keep the crit bonus and can boost your damage whenever you want.
  • commanderdata002commanderdata002 Member Posts: 312 Arc User

    And honestly, if you're in a group with a GWF somehow doing all four times your damage, just sit back and enjoy the ride...

    I'd rather:
    "Need a sec I switch to my SW..."
    stock and stone I can master, but there's a Wizard to manage here!
  • commanderdata002commanderdata002 Member Posts: 312 Arc User
    edited December 2015



    Back a few modules ago, people complained loudly that the CW was so OP, there was no reason to take anything but a party of 5 CWs...did that kill the rest of the classes? No. And what's the point anyway? In the time it would take you to gather an "uber" party of 10 GWF's for Demogorgon, a group of mixed classes could probably get gold 3 or 4 times.

    Thats a popular exaggeration!
    Only pugs did that.
    We always brought DC, tank to party for fast CN runs.


    stock and stone I can master, but there's a Wizard to manage here!
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    And three CWs
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User

    And three CWs

    I am kind of curious how the mod 6 preview CW would compare to the current GWF. The one with abyss being ridiculously powerful and storm spell unnerfed, also, before lifesteal became less effective on AoE's and when spell twisting efffected everything and not just encounters. Would be in interesting comparison for sure :p
  • asterotgasterotg Member Posts: 1,742 Arc User

    And three CWs

    I am kind of curious how the mod 6 preview CW would compare to the current GWF. The one with abyss being ridiculously powerful and storm spell unnerfed, also, before lifesteal became less effective on AoE's and when spell twisting efffected everything and not just encounters. Would be in interesting comparison for sure :p
    This would add several fixed issues, to compare CW to GWF. If you want to go back to what ifs, add stackable HV debuffs and you know why ppl ran with 3 CWs. At that time the set was OP, not the class.

    I dont think that there is one class, that did not have one or two broken feats for some time. Just remember TRs stackable SOD, HR/ LM bleeds, SW hand of blight, negating all dmg etc.
    Chars: CW, DC, GF, GWF, HR and TR.
  • solbergxsolbergx Member Posts: 654 Arc User
    On the matter of lightning, i found this:
    Lightning: Greater = 18% weapon damage. chains twice at 50% chance each time.
    Best for aoe damage If you are using a particular spell loadout. It will proc 6x on conduit and steal time and 8 times on icy terrain. However be warned about using this enchant, you will more often than not agro adds and freshly spawned ones before the tank gets a chance to catch it. Only go for this if you can afford to get greater or higher.

    here is the link
    mmominds.com/2013/08/30/grimahs-comprehensive-wizard-guide/
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    Lightning is ok when clearing lots of trash, but absolutely terrible on bigger single targets, which is why I avoid it.

    It throws up a ton of very tiny damage numbers, which looks impressive, but really doesn't amount to large amounts of damage.
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  • hey, just so you know, the links on the OP going to the various parts of the guide are still using the old version of the vanilla forums, so they end up redirecting here - http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/categories/neverwinter - instead of the parts of the guide they're supposed to​​
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    edited December 2015
    I know. But because of the character limit in the posts (and many of these posts being grandfathered in under the old character limit) I can't fix it.

    Like I literally can't delete some stuff because even if I delete it, the post is still over the limit and I can't save the edit :(

    So for now, it is what it is. If and when there's major balance updates, I'll likely just re-post the entire guide in a fresh thread. So for now things are mostly accurate, minus some nuances.
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    Just a little fyi zerg, I just finished testing companions and I would say the best one for proccing bondings is......the lightfoot thief. It has always been darn expensive though, so I can understand that most players cannot afford it.
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    The only thing is he has to be in melee rang to start attacking. If deft strike is on CD (20 secs), you lose time as he runs to new targets. There's the Drow Mercenary companion you can get from promotions that has basically the same attacks, but three offensive slots (power/crit active bonus).
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    Yes, however the lightfoot thief has a useful active bonus and the mercenary does not. Also, with regards to effectiveness, I did some testing with this guy and basically his big advantage is that what tends to happen is he jumps into combat, you get 3 stacks, everything dies. In comparison to other companions which get into combat and don't necessarily give you stacks and everything still dies. When running with a top notch group, the main issue with active companions is that everything dies before you gain stacks, this is not an issue with the mercenary.
  • urabaskurabask Member Posts: 2,923 Arc User
    edited December 2015

    Yes, however the lightfoot thief has a useful active bonus and the mercenary does not. Also, with regards to effectiveness, I did some testing with this guy and basically his big advantage is that what tends to happen is he jumps into combat, you get 3 stacks, everything dies. In comparison to other companions which get into combat and don't necessarily give you stacks and everything still dies. When running with a top notch group, the main issue with active companions is that everything dies before you gain stacks, this is not an issue with the mercenary.

    Does the active bonus add enough damage to make up for the power you'd lose from a third bonding runestone in an offensive slot?
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  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    Honestly, at this point it's all splitting hairs. If packs of enemies are dying in 2-3 seconds, nothing much matters beyond that... :wink:
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    Well, the sad thing is, the price of lightfoot thieves just went up and I don't have a lot of lightfoot thieves :/
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    At what point do we conspire to say there's a bug with the Fawn of Shaila that multi-procs bonding runestones with no cooldown?
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    edited December 2015
    at the same point we do the yeti??? *ahem*
  • ironzerg79ironzerg79 Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,942 Arc User
    I heard blink dogs were busted, too... :D
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    Do cryptic a favour...say brilliant energy weapon enchantments are BiS :p
  • bkt5789bkt5789 Member Posts: 131 Arc User
    Brilliant energy weapon enchants are the most adorable enchants for your great swords. Also if you're a HAMSTER you can keep getting them and throwing them into your guild coffer for 1 point per.
  • vincentr6669vincentr6669 Member Posts: 235 Arc User
    I have some questions:

    1)One of the selling points of this guide is the fact that this CW is not solely DPSing, but also contributing for overall team's effectivness. Then why 2 points were put in the Heroic Feat "Learned Spellcaster" (+2% int damage for your CW) instead of Prestidigitation (+2% overall stats ratings for every party member)?

    2)How much is the increase in damage of Spell Storm? I'm asking because if it is under 30%, then Swath of Destruction rank 4 + Off-Hand Power increases the damage take while Smoldered by 30%, so Master of Flame would have more potential (of course Smolder has to be applied, while Spell Storm just procs from any attacks, in this case Spellstorm is better).

    3)When you talk about Steal Time on your guide, you say it is better to use the Nightmare Wizardry to gain Combat Advantage, but why? AFAIK the Combat Advantage from TABed Steal Time is 100% chance while from the feat is 20% if you crit (and your crit is not always 100%, so it'll proc less than 20%).

    I guess that's all my doubts at the moment!
  • boom782boom782 Member Posts: 183 Arc User
    1.) Prestidigitation may be worth looking at now that your average player is much more powerful. Before it would only give maybe +100-200 of most stats. Now players could probably get as much as +500-600 on some stats which may outweigh the +2%int damage boost the CW gets. Hard to say and would be hard to test but it will definitely be viable the more powerful groups get.

    2.) Someone else will have to answer this.

    3.) Most well-geared CW's have 80% and as much as 100% crit chance and it usually takes just a couple seconds till I see Nightmare Wizardry pop up and then it is usually 100% uptime after that. The mastery bonus of other powers such as CoI just seem to outweigh that of Steal Time it seems to me.
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