Need clarification on Deadly Strike

cptscotty · May 13

Trying to get some clarification on what abilities will the set Deadly strike still buff. Specifically...will it still buff heavy attack on lightning staff? How about arcanist beams? There seems to be some confusion with the change of things moving around with different labeling like Damage over Time to Direct Damage.

Can we get some clarification as to what the set will now buff with the changes? Thanks

Turtle_Bot · May 13

It should still buff both since it buffs channeled attacks (which beams and lightning staff HA are counted as) as well as damage over time abilities.

frogthroat · May 13

I wouldn't use Deadly on a heavy attack build. There are better sets. Yes, it does buff the channel, but it's not necessarily the best option. But the beams, they changed from damage over time to direct damage. They are still channeled, like Turtle_Bot said. If you have a Templar/Arcanist with beams/channels you can keep your Deadly Strike and only change a CP.

Instead of Thaumaturge, slot Master-At-Arms.

Or if you want pretty good survivability, slot Reaving Blows instead. Imagine arcanist beam that heals you.

Stx · May 13

Deadly strike buffs damage over time and channeled abilities.

Beam is a channel, so it’s still covered.

Jabs is channeled, so it gets buffed.

All damage over time abilities get buffed.

Lightning staff heavy attacks consist of two DoT ticks plus a direct damage burst at the end. So deadly would buff half the attack.

cptscotty · May 13

Its the change of beams to be Direct Damage instead of Damage over Time that is a bit confusing...because by definition a channel is damage over some amount of channeled time but its not classified as a Damage over Time anymore, just Direct Damage which the set does not buff.

With the change, how will the damage output look like and be classified? Multiple direct hit damages, almost like ticks? If so, how many per beam? And will they be buffed and still classified under the "channeled" portion that Deadly Strikes buffs...or will the ticks be the only thing that counts and thus direct damage and not buffed?

Stx · May 13

Beam is now classified as a channeled direct damage AoE attack.

Deadly still buffs beam! Deadly buffs dots AND channeled abilities. Beam = a channel = deadly buffs it 😮‍💨

silentseashore · May 13

Stx wrote: »

Deadly strike buffs damage over time and channeled abilities.

Beam is a channel, so it’s still covered.

Jabs is channeled, so it gets buffed.

All damage over time abilities get buffed.

Lightning staff heavy attacks consist of two DoT ticks plus a direct damage burst at the end. So deadly would buff half the attack.

Deadly Strike buffs both components of a lightning staff since the final tick is considered both a direct hit and a 'channel'. This was a change introduced from U38 where Deadly Strikes became one of the better sets to use for a HA build (after Storm Master was 'nerfed')