So... What's the difference between Otto's Dancing Sphere and Symbol of Stunning?
Which should I use?
So... What's the difference between Otto's Dancing Sphere and Symbol of Stunning?
Which should I use?
Sphere lasts longer than 20 seconds after first enemy.
Symbol's stun duration is random, 6d6 - not quite as reliable as sphere.
They do, however, stack, unlike multiple spheres.
Symbol has a long cooldown.
Use sphere.
Symbol of Stunning works for some mobs that don't dance, vermin class mobs for instance. I carry both, mostly use Otto's, but use Symbol for specific areas (Epic Small Problem's spiders for instance).
they accomplish vaguely similar effects (AoE crowd control) with wildly different mechanics and purposes.
Symbols are meant to be set up in anticipation of a short fight that might require some kiting, or as a safeguard against quasi-random spawns (because they last for a while if they are not activated). Disco Ball is meant for steadier streams of predictable spawns, and can be the more generally useful spell but it's mostly just coincidence that there are a lot of monsters it will work against. Symbol of Stunning, yes, does affect things that Disco can't, but its active duration is rather short by comparison (i still rage so hard about the Extend nerf...).
they both save against Will, they're both Enchantment school, and neither one provides the bonus damage of a Hold effect.
so what are the real differences?
Symbols can be spread out over a wide area if you have some time to prepare, and they can be triggered separately if you're kiting a target through them -- you can't really set up multiple Discos to kite with, but i suppose you can lead a target back through a Disco just as easily. i'm not entirely certain, but i believe that subjects get multiple saves to stop Dancing early whereas a single failed save gets you 6d6 duration from Symbol (just how it seems to work based on my experience. can't find anywhere that will say yea or nay about this). so the functional difference is almost entirely just the way you place the effects.
note that Symbol of Weakness and Death are both very good Symbols, particularly the latter, but Symbol areas do not interact very well at all. space them out if you are going to use multiple Symbols.
i believe that all Symbol effects can be applied as many times as a subject re-enters the area of the Symbol, correct me if i'm wrong... in any case, a Symbol's effect is not repeated upon subjects which simply remain in the area, unlike some other AoE spells (like Acid Rain or Firewall or Ice Storm, for example).
Thank you all for the comments.
And yes, a single target can suffer more than one effect of a symbol, for example, with my cleric I place a blade barrier and symbol of death in it, then drag monster back and forth to see them get level drained repeatedly. (My best Epic killing method, so far)