Hailstorm or Blaze?

• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-11-10 07:30
  Without that ignoring protection for calculating criticals, those tier 3 magic doesn't seem much better than the tier 2 ones.
• abc33kr wrote on 2010-11-10 08:05
  hailstorm=final hit form for mages?
• alphabetical wrote on 2010-11-10 19:35

  Quote from radionoise;209811:

  If it doesn't, then I'd imagine it'd be better to stick with Blaze unless one is willing to give up MP/Def enchant slots as a mage, and replace them for critical ones... It'd also make pot-poison playstyle less feasible, due the loss of Will.
  
  If you don't mind, could you elaborate on which AoE skills don't currently ignore Protection for Critical rate? I thought they all did, with the exception of Shock which simply does not deal critical damage and Mirage Missile which is a status effect.

  
  
  Seeing the mana master build is pretty much overpowered in pot-poison status, with its invincibility as well as unaffected damage and critical chance (at least for tier 2 spells), it'd seem like hailstorm was a balancing skill to force mages to choose tanking or the ability to critical.
  
  If you don't think critical is important enough, think of it as a passive 1.45x damage multiplier. Meaning on average, your ~2200 damage Hailstorm is going to be ~3190, which I would think is significant enough to forgo the ~50/~100 extra int/MP from enchants.
  
  Lets not forget there are definitely two more tier 3 spells to come, and it'd be safe to assume that they will act similarly to Hailstorm.
• Zid wrote on 2010-11-10 23:27

  Quote from radionoise;209811:

  If you don't mind, could you elaborate on which AoE skills don't currently ignore Protection for Critical rate? I thought they all did, with the exception of Shock which simply does not deal critical damage and Mirage Missile which is a status effect.

  
  
  I'm pretty sure Savage Beast Full Swing doesn't ignore Protection to calculate Critical.
  
  I think Falcon Magic Missile doesn't either.
• radionoise wrote on 2010-11-11 01:12

  Quote from alphabetical;211292:

  Seeing the mana master build is pretty much overpowered in pot-poison status, with its invincibility as well as unaffected damage and critical chance (at least for tier 2 spells), it'd seem like hailstorm was a balancing skill to force mages to choose tanking or the ability to critical.
  
  If you don't think critical is important enough, think of it as a passive 1.45x damage multiplier. Meaning on average, your ~2200 damage Hailstorm is going to be ~3190, which I would think is significant enough to forgo the ~50/~100 extra int/MP from enchants.
  
  Lets not forget there are definitely two more tier 3 spells to come, and it'd be safe to assume that they will act similarly to Hailstorm.

  
  
  The way I see it, it's similar to how meleers/rangers have to choose between stronger windmills/crash shots or capping crit on regular attacks and smash/magnum. There's advantages and disadvantages to both, but it might be harder to achieve high levels of critical with a Trinity Staff (18% crit base, no available upgrades listed) than it is with melee and range weapons.
  
  It's also important to find out whether or not there will be enchants that directly add to magic damage when creating a perfect enchant set for tier 3 magic, so MP and Defense aren't the only things to consider... Although yes, Mana Master can be quite powerful but at the same time the amount of preparation required is staggering.
  
  
  

  Quote from Zid;211550:

  I'm pretty sure Savage Beast Full Swing doesn't ignore Protection to calculate Critical.
  
  I think Falcon Magic Missile doesn't either.

  
  
  I forgot about trans skills, but I assume you're right about Full Swing as I have never used it. However, I can successfully critical hardmode zombies in Their Method (59% protection) with EMM while wearing nothing but a stock long bow. The wiki only states that EMM is able to bypass protection for damage, but it should be able to do so for critical as well.