Question on Warlock capstones...

[Istaria1]

Hey all,

EDIT: Never mind - turned out to be a stupid question. The cap for TS gives a crit *multiplier* (30->60), not a crit *chance*. You also give up too much in the ES tree to get it. Not a good idea. Leaving this here for anyone with the same questions.

I've just hit 20 on my first warlock life (2nd life total), and I've been going pretty much the ES tree. I took shield feats, as well as Max and Empower, to try to buff up defense.

I've taken T5 and the capstone in ES, so I am getting +2 con and cha, and 20% HP - nice!

However, I just had a look back at the TS tree, and it seems....amazing? +4 cha, more pact damage, and .... 30% spell crit?!

Now, if this applies to blasts, bursts and aura, then it's a total no brainer to take this instead of the ES one. But the question is....does it?

EDIT: APs are tight, of course, but I can manage to get 40 into TS tree, I'm just not very interested in most of it...

Thanks for info!

Ist.

[slarden]

The 30% crit damage sounds like a lot, but with scion of fire it comes out to be 30/255 = 11.76% extra crit damage. So multiply that by your crit chance and that is the damage boost.

It's ahead of the ES Capstone for dps which gives 30 spellpower (3% or so dps boost). But you are giving up the defensive bonuses from the ES Capstone which are significant - 20% hp and full BAB gives some extra PRR.

the reality is the extra crit damage will only hit some mobs so the total speed of clearing mobs won't increase much (if at all) with that extra 30%. It's just like the shiradi procs- when dealing with mobs what matters is how long it takes before the last mob is down.

In my experience neither shiradi nor extra crit damage speeds up clearing mobs, but both are advantages for boss fights.