Hellball

[majorhavoc]

Hellball, is it worth getting, what do you think, do you use it?

[Shaatan]

Hellball, is it worth getting, what do you think, do you use it?

It's pretty awesome on my shiradis. It not only does similar damage to Energy Burst, but also has multiple hits, which means more procs. The save on it might look lowish, but to be honest I've never seen anything save against it. The only downside to it, is that it costs quite a lot of SP to cast.

[Icywave]

Hellball, is it worth getting, what do you think, do you use it?

On an Evoc Sorc.. I didn't like it and never took it again. Personal opinion without much testing though.

[Arianka]

they shoulda added sonic damage to it. the spell in the epic level handbook has it. the elh spell doesnt have cold damage tho.

[xTethx]

they shoulda added sonic damage to it. the spell in the epic level handbook has it. the elh spell doesnt have cold damage tho.

It does have sonic damage. Hellball has 5 procs: fire, cold, acid, electric, and sonic

[Vellrad]

It does have sonic damage. Hellball has 5 procs: fire, cold, acid, electric, and sonic

AFAIK, it don't have cold.
Fire, acid, sonic, elec.

IMO, this should be Fire, Acid, Cold, Elec, as it punishes water and earth savants, and rewards air savants double.

[xTethx]

AFAIK, it don't have cold.
Fire, acid, sonic, elec.

IMO, this should be Fire, Acid, Cold, Elec, as it punishes water and earth savants, and rewards air savants double.

That's part true. The cold damage is quite buggy, but it seems to proc much more when you jump cast. It does proc, it just for some reason bugs out a bunch.

[Vellrad]

That's part true. The cold damage is quite buggy, but it seems to proc much more when you jump cast. It does proc, it just for some reason bugs out a bunch.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Hellball
Description: Deals 3d20 + 15 acid, electrical, fire and sonic damage to enemies in an area. Enemies succeding Reflex saving throws vs. DC (20 + Charisma/Intelligence modifier) take half damage.
Notes:
Using Metamagic Feats increases the cost.

No cold here.
I have only used this on llamaland shortly before live servers were hit by shadowfail.
I don't remember cold damage.

[Ancient]

It doesn't seem to be worth the spell point cost to me. I've tried it, dropped it, never really missed it. Maybe if it was a SLA with free metas.

[xTethx]

Also, to add to the thread, hellball is quite good if used properly. You have to be very good at aiming and placing the projectile in a pack of mobs. However, when done properly, this spell is quite potent, if not the most potent spell in the game, shiradi or not. It does require some work to get somewhat decent spellpower for the elements and crit chances. And if you pay enough attention to hellball you will notice that it double procs quite often. This double proc results in certain elements hitting multiple times (fire and acid more often for me). When you combine this with the aoe you get and the possibility of shiradi, it's quite a decent spell.

[xTethx]

No cold here.
I have only used this on llamaland shortly before live servers were hit by shadowfail.
I don't remember cold damage.

Yea it's really weird, but I know for a fact cold damage does proc from it, just not 100%.



My shiradi is off and yes colors of the queen is off.

[majorhavoc]

Also, to add to the thread, hellball is quite good if used properly. You have to be very good at aiming and placing the projectile in a pack of mobs. However, when done properly, this spell is quite potent, if not the most potent spell in the game, shiradi or not. It does require some work to get somewhat decent spellpower for the elements and crit chances. And if you pay enough attention to hellball you will notice that it double procs quite often. This double proc results in certain elements hitting multiple times (fire and acid more often for me). When you combine this with the aoe you get and the possibility of shiradi, it's quite a decent spell.

I have to agree, I have been using hellball alot on EE & it is quite effect when used on swarmed mobs, loads of damage crits offten & possible shiradi procs on every hit, my only complaint is the slow recycle rate and mana cost.

[xXbikergirlXx]

Hellball, is it worth getting, what do you think, do you use it?

Have it on my Wiz find it very handy....

Always a damage type that works

Cooldown is a bit slow though ;(

[Exiledtyrant]

Is hellball an evocation spell? DDO wiki says it's Dc can be boosted by items and feats but it doesn't say what school it belongs to.

[AtomicMew]

Is hellball an evocation spell? DDO wiki says it's Dc can be boosted by items and feats but it doesn't say what school it belongs to.

Some testing I did on another forum:

Hellball IS subject to a reflex save for half, but not subject to evasion.

Evocation mastery does not affect hellball DC.

The DC does NOT follow the given formula in the spell description. It is higher, but I have no idea how it is calculated.

[Arianka]

Is hellball an evocation spell? DDO wiki says it's Dc can be boosted by items and feats but it doesn't say what school it belongs to.

it should b.

[Exiledtyrant]

Some testing I did on another forum:

Hellball IS subject to a reflex save for half, but not subject to evasion.

Evocation mastery does not affect hellball DC.

The DC does NOT follow the given formula in the spell description. It is higher, but I have no idea how it is calculated.

That's a crazy set of rules. I keep reading about hellball and energy burst with everything pointing to them not playing by the rules the other spells fall under for damage caps or DC checks.

Is it safe to assume that just dumping everything into CHA would make these spells land fine then at max level?

[LOOON375]

I use it on my PM and since he is build for CC, his spell power is lacking. it does pretty darn good damage considering Im not built for it.

Different strokes. But yes, it cost a lot to use it.

It has a slow travel time, but it does go around corners, which can be very nice situationally.

[xTethx]

Ok, I was bored and decided to do a bit more testing. Hellball is only subject to 1 reflex save. If they save all damage elements are halved, whereas if they don't save you get the full damage on each element. Now, when they don't save you get the fire, electric, acid, and sonic damage. However, when they do save, you get fire, electric, acid, sonic, and cold damage. Each proc is at half damage of course, but you get the extra cold damage inflicted.

Now as for shiradi. This spell only procs once. It works exactly as dbf would. So, no, you do NOT get a proc of shiradi for each element. However, there is a way to 100% doublestrike hellball so you get get the aoe to proc twice. Hope this clears up some knowledge since I was wrong in this thread earlier. I apologize

[danotmano1998]

Ok, I was bored and decided to do a bit more testing. Hellball is only subject to 1 reflex save. If they save all damage elements are halved, whereas if they don't save you get the full damage on each element. Now, when they don't save you get the fire, electric, acid, and sonic damage. However, when they do save, you get fire, electric, acid, sonic, and cold damage. Each proc is at half damage of course, but you get the extra cold damage inflicted.

Now as for shiradi. This spell only procs once. It works exactly as dbf would. So, no, you do NOT get a proc of shiradi for each element. However, there is a way to 100% doublestrike hellball so you get get the aoe to proc twice. Hope this clears up some knowledge since I was wrong in this thread earlier. I apologize

This is interesting, thanks for that testing.
I too have seen the cold damage proc, but not always. Your explanation makes as much sense as any, and it feels about right.

As to the OP's question:
I have been running this spell on my evo specced sorc and I still haven't decided 100% if it's worth it or not.
The damage it does varies greatly and sometimes it's totally worth the sp, sometimes not even close.

Still, it's a fun tool to have when you are max dps'ing a boss or a room full of bad guys.

MY question is how come this 'epic spell' is so weak graphically? It's like the fantastic graphic designers they have at Turbine didn't have a chance to touch these, and the effects were made by an intern who didn't care and went "Meh, good enough!".