eldritch blast

[DedAngel]

So it seems to me that this is the main feature of the warlock and as such will make or break the class.

Some people are comparing warlocks to sorcs, and eldritch blast to the more or less free sla's in the sorc tree. Huge difference here is that sorcs get the highest spell power and crit %, caster level, max caster levels, shorter cooldown and faster cast times and have several spells to rotate through with a huge mana pool... and are still rather lackluster in epics.

Warlock will have none of this, but they do get to do 9d6 force damage for free....By contrast paladins do 7d6 light + 5d6 bane evil outsiders + 2d6 light evil outsiders + 1d6 good evil + 2d6 bane evil every hit, not even counting what they do with their weapons or what their str score is, this is way more damage which is of course increased by melee power, alacrity, haste, double strike, etc etc.

Will warlock's eldritch blast cooldowns be shortened when you hit haste boost? of course not. any chance it will double strike? doubtful.

So what are we left with? a cha based caster with 500 sp, 12 spells, proficiency in leather armor and a staff with no cha to hit or damage twiddling his thumbs while waiting to do another whopping 50 force damage.


I hope I'm wrong, but this class looks like it will... underperform.

[Maelodic]

You're not including enhancements/spell power/etc.
9d6 Force + 10d4 Pact is base.
2d6 Force + 4d4 Pact

So you get 11d6 Force and 14d4 Pact
Let's add that to the 10% attack speed with tainted scholar, and 450 spell power.

49.5-297 Force + 63-252 Pact
Compressed, that's 112.5-549 - 330.75 average damage per cast.

This is for free- it does not cost SP to cast.
Now, when you crit, Tainted Scholars get an extra 60% crit damage. Which works on everything, including energy burst.

Let's say that you have 22% spell lore with 60% extra crit damage.

That takes the average damage up to ~520 per cast.

This is their free damage, equivalent to auto attacking. We won't know how fast they attack until we get to test them, but this doesn't seem horrible at all.

Also, you'll easily break 1.2k spell points on a lock, and since most of your damage is free, your spell point pool will be a lot larger than it feels like even on a sorc.

[Red_Knight]

Also keep in mind the blast shaping abilities from Tainted Scholar. For 25% less effect from spellpower, you get to fire a blast that does your base 9d6 force plus 10d6 pact damage plus anything from enhancements that will then spread out to hit two additional foes. With an attack speed that's on par with swinging a 2 hander, IMO. At range.

Or you can modify the blast to be homing and have a chance to apply neg levels.

Tainted Scholars can also change the damage type of your base damage to either Evil or Piercing if stuff is immune to force.

You can give your blasts the ability to occasionally confuse enemies, which works with Chain.

Do a Tainted Scholar/Enlightened Spirit build and you can add 3d6 light damage to this blast from a T4 ability.

Currently the ES capstone grants an additional 3d6 light damage too.

All of this scales by spellpower to varying degrees based on your blast shape.

[DrWily]

Also keep in mind the blast shaping abilities from Tainted Scholar. For 25% less effect from spellpower, you get to fire a blast that does your base 9d6 force plus 10d6 pact damage plus anything from enhancements that will then spread out to hit two additional foes. With an attack speed that's on par with swinging a 2 hander, IMO. At range.

Or you can modify the blast to be homing and have a chance to apply neg levels.

Tainted Scholars can also change the damage type of your base damage to either Evil or Piercing if stuff is immune to force.

You can give your blasts the ability to occasionally confuse enemies, which works with Chain.

Do a Tainted Scholar/Enlightened Spirit build and you can add 3d6 light damage to this blast from a T4 ability.

Currently the ES capstone grants an additional 3d6 light damage too.

All of this scales by spellpower to varying degrees based on your blast shape.

Don't forget to take a Lantern Ring into account too, 4d6 more Light damage unupgraded or 6d6 Light upgraded, plus the 144 Light/Alignment Spellpower, which also adds to all the other Light damage you can get from ES.

Plus Scholar has the Enervating Shadow Blast which will give a neg level 10(0)% of the time.

[Red_Knight]

Don't forget to take a Lantern Ring into account too, 4d6 more Light damage unupgraded or 6d6 Light upgraded, plus the 144 Light/Alignment Spellpower, which also adds to all the other Light damage you can get from ES.

Plus Scholar has the Enervating Shadow Blast which will give a neg level 10(0)% of the time.

Actually never seen a lantern ring in-game so didn't know what it does. But I did reference the enervating shadow blast:


Or you can modify the blast to be homing and have a chance to apply neg levels.


Course I hear right now the enervating shadow blasts travel so slowly a flaming sphere can out pace them.

[DrWily]

Yeah they're buggy. Really buggy, to the point where it always gives a neg, even to rednamed

[Red_Knight]

On the other hand, I'm not actually sure if the passive 10% chance to confuse on hit is actually helping or not. Enemies tend to die too fast when using chain blast. The things that don't die in 3 to 6 hits (on something entirely different) tend to be immune to it anyway.

[Red_Knight]

Update to the damage calculations on warlock blasts.

Celestial Spirit has been moved from the capstone, so is now possible in theory to get with tainted scholor as your main tree.

Also, blast shape enhancements now give -1d4 pact damage while toggled on. So in theory you could deal the following with each blast:

11d6 Force (or 12d6 Pierce)
13d4 Pact
6d6 Light
Scale by 75% spell power to modify blast for either multiple foes being hit or homing+level drain chance

OR

11d6 Force (12d6 Pierce)
14d4 Pact
6d6 Light

This assumes taking T5 in tainted scholar and doing a TS/ES build. It also ignores crits. If going that deep into Enlightened Spirit cores, you may not have the full +60% crit damage.

[OrodelaSol]

So it seems to me that this is the main feature of the warlock and as such will make or break the class.

Some people are comparing warlocks to sorcs, and eldritch blast to the more or less free sla's in the sorc tree. Huge difference here is that sorcs get the highest spell power and crit %, caster level, max caster levels, shorter cooldown and faster cast times and have several spells to rotate through with a huge mana pool... and are still rather lackluster in epics.

Warlock will have none of this, but they do get to do 9d6 force damage for free....By contrast paladins do 7d6 light + 5d6 bane evil outsiders + 2d6 light evil outsiders + 1d6 good evil + 2d6 bane evil every hit, not even counting what they do with their weapons or what their str score is, this is way more damage which is of course increased by melee power, alacrity, haste, double strike, etc etc.

Will warlock's eldritch blast cooldowns be shortened when you hit haste boost? of course not. any chance it will double strike? doubtful.

So what are we left with? a cha based caster with 500 sp, 12 spells, proficiency in leather armor and a staff with no cha to hit or damage twiddling his thumbs while waiting to do another whopping 50 force damage.


I hope I'm wrong, but this class looks like it will... underperform.

hahahahaha! guess u were wrong...

[velvetwinter]

Can someone help me with the aforementioned TS/ES blast build, to get the 6d6 light damage, I see 3 dice as the 5th core, but the other 3 dice are locked behind 9 action points worth of enhancements that only affect the aura, which you wouldn't be using in a blast build.

Is 12 Action Points worth 3d6 light damage?

[jambajuicey]

Can someone help me with the aforementioned TS/ES blast build, to get the 6d6 light damage, I see 3 dice as the 5th core, but the other 3 dice are locked behind 9 action points worth of enhancements that only affect the aura, which you wouldn't be using in a blast build.

Is 12 Action Points worth 3d6 light damage?

I think the people that are getting that are using aura and the 2 AE blast in ES

[elvesunited]

Can someone help me with the aforementioned TS/ES blast build, to get the 6d6 light damage, I see 3 dice as the 5th core, but the other 3 dice are locked behind 9 action points worth of enhancements that only affect the aura, which you wouldn't be using in a blast build.

Is 12 Action Points worth 3d6 light damage?

I think I spent 2 AP for +1 damage once upon a time for a melee character so 3d6 light damage improved by light spellpower ( of which you get +30 in the ES tree ) and a chance for spell critical the light damage with each eldritch attack may well be worth it. With good spellpower you're looking at an average additional 75 light damage per eldritch attack. ( more if it's an eldritch special attack that uses Maximize or Empower )

It should also be mentioned that the ES enhancements have a lot of fsemi-useless fluff in it ( such as summon boosters ) and since you have to spend 31 AP to get core 5. So why not spend 12 to get the additional +3d6 light damage?

[Pnumbra]

I am not sure all the 3d6 light damage given in various levels of ES scale with spell power:

Core Ability: Celestial Spirit: Toggle: When enabled, you float above the ground, gain Feather Falling, and are immune to knockdown effects. When enabled, your Eldritch Blasts gain 3d6 Light damage. Your Eldritch Aura now affects enemies every 2 seconds. Stance cooldown: 8 seconds [does not state that the light damage scales]

Tier Three: Eldritch Burst: Fire your Eldritch Blast in an AOE centered on you. All enemies caught in the burst take 3d6 Light Damage, plus any other effects and damage your Eldritch Blasts produce. This ability shares a cooldown with Cleave, and the damage scales with 150% spell power. (Cooldown: 8/6/5 seconds. Metamagic: Empower, Maximize, Quicken. Spell Resistance: No).

Tier Four: Spiritual Retribution: Your Eldritch Blasts, Melee Attacks, and Ranged Attacks gain 1d6/2d6/3d6 Light damage that scales with Spell Power.

Tier Five: Spirit Blast: Fire your Eldritch Blast in an AOE centered on you. All enemies caught in the burst take 10d6 Light Damage, plus any other effects and damage your Eldritch Blasts produce. This ability shares a cooldown with Great Cleave, and the damage scales with 150% spell power. (Cooldown 8/6/5 seconds. Metamagic: Empower, Maximize, Quicken. Spell Resistance: No).

When tested on the practice dummy, it panned out that the light damage in Celestial Spirit does not scale. So, when we I count light damage I omit the 3d6 as flavor damage, and spend time only on those that scale.

I also have questions about the Lantern Ring vs. the Glorious Dawn vs. the TF enhancement. I am not sure why people are mentioning the Lantern ring at all. Does its light damage scale? I haven't read anything about that. I know the Glorious Dawn does not scale. My thinking is that if one is using the TF enhancements, then the Lantern ring is a mute item. Please advise.

[Krelar]

I also have questions about the Lantern Ring vs. the Guardian Ring vs. the TF enhancement. I am not sure why people are mentioning the Lantern ring at all. Does its light damage scale? I haven't read anything about that. I know the Guardian ring does not scale. My thinking is that if one is using the TF enhancements, then the Lantern ring is a mute item. Please advise.

The damage does not scale but it's still an extra 6d6, it's also a way to get your radiance (144)/radiance lore (18%) freeing up your hands or red augment slots, as well as 2 augments slots (colorless/green) all in a single item.

[richieelias27]

I am not sure all the 3d6 light damage given in various levels of ES scale with spell power:
Tier Three: Eldritch Burst: Fire your Eldritch Blast in an AOE centered on you. All enemies caught in the burst take 3d6 Light Damage, plus any other effects and damage your Eldritch Blasts produce. This ability shares a cooldown with Cleave, and the damage scales with 150% spell power. (Cooldown: 8/6/5 seconds. Metamagic: Empower, Maximize, Quicken. Spell Resistance: No).

Tier Five: Spirit Blast: Fire your Eldritch Blast in an AOE centered on you. All enemies caught in the burst take 10d6 Light Damage, plus any other effects and damage your Eldritch Blasts produce. This ability shares a cooldown with Great Cleave, and the damage scales with 150% spell power. (Cooldown 8/6/5 seconds. Metamagic: Empower, Maximize, Quicken. Spell Resistance: No).


Worth noting that the light damage portion of both of the above is the ONLY part affected by empower and maximise

[Pnumbra]

The damage does not scale but it's still an extra 6d6, it's also a way to get your radiance (144)/radiance lore (18%) freeing up your hands or red augment slots, as well as 2 augments slots (colorless/green) all in a single item.

I referenced the wrong ring, I was thinking about the Glorious Dawn ring. If you can access TF enhancements, I don't see the need for the Lantern. Both of these rings offer a green augment slot. I don't think colorless slots make or break an items usefulness. I thought maybe the Lantern had a special feature I was unaware of. The +18% critical chance on the Lantern; does it stack with TS enhancements? That would be a huge difference and make the ring a "must have" item. Can that ring be found on the EN run or is it EH/EE only? I ask because I have run the quest three times on EN and have yet to get it.

[Krelar]

I referenced the wrong ring, I was thinking about the Glorious Dawn ring. If you can access TF enhancements, I don't see the need for the Lantern. Both of these rings offer a green augment slot. I don't think colorless slots make or break an items usefulness. I thought maybe the Lantern had a special feature I was unaware of. The +18% critical chance on the Lantern; does it stack with TS enhancements? That would be a huge difference and make the ring a "must have" item. Can that ring be found on the EN run or is it EH/EE only? I ask because I have run the quest three times on EN and have yet to get it.

Tainted Scholar increases critical damage this increases critical chance.

Also Items and enhancements almost always stack.

The ring *can* be found on EN but, as always, EH and EE have a higher chance. I was running with a few guildies on EH last week and we were getting 2 or 3 named items per run.

[Pnumbra]

Tainted Scholar increases critical damage this increases critical chance.

Also Items and enhancements almost always stack.

The ring *can* be found on EN but, as always, EH and EE have a higher chance. I was running with a few guildies on EH last week and we were getting 2 or 3 named items per run.

Sorry to be OT, but I just read this on the 6-18-15 Current Known Issues;
The Lantern Ring's Radiant Glory effect has an incorrect tooltip. The description should read, "On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 2 to 12 Light damage. This effect scales with Light Spell Power. Cooldown: 1 second."
The upgraded version should read, "On Harmful Spellcast: Do an additional 3 to 18 Light damage. This effect scales with Light Spell Power. Cooldown: 1 second."

This changes my mind on the ring. I have to get one :)

I know, the things we new players learn, LOL.

[elvesunited]

When tested on the practice dummy, it panned out that the light damage in Celestial Spirit does not scale. So, when we I count light damage I omit the 3d6 as flavor damage, and spend time only on those that scale.

Acid Damage: 229 spellpower ( 28% Crit ) Light Damage: 319 spellpower ( 27% Crit ) +10% crit damage
10d4 acid damage 10d6 evil damage 3d6 retribution light damage 3d6 celestrial spirit light damage

Combat Log Excerpt ( just standing next to the training dummy with aura active ):

(Combat): Spell Crit! Your Eldritch Blast has greater effect!
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 260 points of acid damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with No Worse Fate.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 222 points of evil damage.
(Combat): Spell Crit! Your Eldritch Blast has greater effect!
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 109 points of light damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 80 points of light damage.

(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 84 points of acid damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with No Worse Fate.
(Combat): Spell Crit! Your Eldritch Blast has greater effect!
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 443 points of evil damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 69 points of light damage.
(Combat): Spell Crit! Your Eldritch Blast has greater effect!
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 109 points of light damage.

(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 115 points of acid damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 166 points of evil damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 34 points of light damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy with 69 points of light damage.


Since the damage far exceeds what 3d6 can generate the light damage from both Retribution and celestrial are both being effected by light spellpower. I also see that both are subject to spell criticals. I've also tested with Eldritch burst and blast enhancements and can confirm that it works the same except that maximize and empower are applied to each damage part. ( In addition to the extra 3d6 light for burst and 9d6 light for blast which are also affected by spellpower and spell crits )

[Pnumbra]

Ok, so I wanted to verify the damage also, so I removed anything that would alter damage that was not part of the aura:

Test Dummy:
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 115 points of fire damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 256 points of force damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 65 points of light damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 32 points of light damage.

(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 113 points of fire damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 215 points of force damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 65 points of light damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 97 points of light damage.

(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 108 points of fire damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 271 points of force damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 46 points of light damage.
(Combat): You hit Training Dummy for 105 points of light damage.

Note: this does not include Celestial Spirit which only affects the Eldritch Blast and not the aura. The 3d6 from this enhancement does not scale.

[elvesunited]

Note: this does not include Celestial Spirit which only affects the Eldritch Blast and not the aura. The 3d6 from this enhancement does not scale.

I'm confused.

In my combat log with the test dummy I used aura only. The parts of the aura damage were the pact damage, the eldritch damage, the light damage from retribution, and the light damage from celestrial spirit. I do not own a lantern ring and at level 25 could not use it anyway.

All four damage parts showed up in the combat log and the two light damages which displayed one right after the other each having a base damage of 3d6 which if not scaled by spellpower would have a max damage of 18. Since damage was consistently well over 18 for both of them ( I have no way of knowing which is the restribution damage and which is the celestrial spirit damage ) The only conclusion I can come up with is that they are both being scaled by spellpower. ( and one of them I know to be Celestrial Spirit )

[Pnumbra]

I'm confused.

In my combat log with the test dummy I used aura only. The parts of the aura damage were the pact damage, the eldritch damage, the light damage from retribution, and the light damage from celestrial spirit. I do not own a lantern ring and at level 25 could not use it anyway.

All four damage parts showed up in the combat log and the two light damages which displayed one right after the other each having a base damage of 3d6 which if not scaled by spellpower would have a max damage of 18. Since damage was consistently well over 18 for both of them ( I have no way of knowing which is the restribution damage and which is the celestrial spirit damage ) The only conclusion I can come up with is that they are both being scaled by spellpower. ( and one of them I know to be Celestrial Spirit )

I'm a bit confused myself. When I read the description of Celestial Spirit, I noted the limitation. From my test, I am also seeing a second set of light damage I cannot account for. Since EB cannot be fired when Aura is active, I assume that unless a power states an exception, enhancements that affect EB do not affect aura and visa versa. If this is the case when aura is active, powers like, Spiritual Retribution: Your Eldritch Blasts, Melee Attacks, and Ranged Attacks gain 1d6/2d6/3d6 Light damage that scales with Spell Power - do not impact the aura.

Eldritch Aura: Stance: While this is active, your Eldritch Blast changes into an aura that deals the same damage as your Eldritch Blast to all foes in range every 5 seconds, and scales with 150% spell power. You cannot fire Eldritch Blasts while in this stance, but may attack normally with weapons and cast spells. Stance cooldown: 8 seconds.

[Singular]

I hope I'm wrong, but this class looks like it will... underperform.

So you were 100% wrong on that, hey.

[elvesunited]

Eldritch Aura: Stance: While this is active, your Eldritch Blast changes into an aura that deals the same damage as your Eldritch Blast to all foes in range every 5 seconds, and scales with 150% spell power. You cannot fire Eldritch Blasts while in this stance, but may attack normally with weapons and cast spells. Stance cooldown: 8 seconds.

I can turn off the celestrial spirit toggle. And it goes from two parts of light damage to one. Turning it on brings me back to two.
In this case, the aura is the eldritch blast. You cannot attack with distance eldritch blasts while it is active, but each automatic firing of the aura is considered an eldritch blast with all the effects that go off with a normal eldritch blast going off with it. ( this even includes extra chaos damage affected by spellpower and crit if the enemy is under the consume effect and you have the right soul eater enhancements )