Do the main attributes (e.g. magicka) still affect minor attributes (e.g. spell damage)?

Celenaro

I've noticed a change in the attribute tooltips: they now say that attribute points only increase the value of the attribute. Does this mean that minor attributes like spell damage or magicka recovery have been decoupled from major attributes like magicka?

zbtiqua

Tooltip aside... I'm not sure those things were ever linked? What was and is still linked is how much damage certain skills do, scaling with how much magicka you have. I've never seen my spell damage or magicka regen change as a function of how much magicka I have.

guybrushtb16_ESO

I can't remember them being coupled at any time. What they do, however, is scale ability damage/healing etc., which is somewhat similar to what spelldamage would do for instance, but it's not the same.

Celenaro

Oh I see. I just assumed ability damage/healing was influenced by spell damage which was influenced by magicka. So spell damage is an independent way to increase your killing power that can only be raised with enchantments and certain abilities, while ability damage is increased by both spell damage and magicka?

Rodario

I distinctly remember stamina enchants also increasing weapon power, I don't see that happening anymore.

Merlin13KAGL

@Walk_Brass, they have minimal, if any effect on the Character summary numbers you refer to. Those are more weapon related.

They do have a direct effect on the damage/healing power of your spells/skills, based on what the base attribute required is.

For instance, hover over your spell damage pop up for Mage's Fury or Healing Springs.

Then remove any +Magicka items you have (including gear) and hover again.

Note that sometimes it take a couple On/Off menu checks for the pop up to update to the new value.

In short, if you're asking if there is direct benefit to having higher Main attributes for the skill types you use, the answer is a resounding "Yes."

strider99ub17_ESO

Merlin is correct. Magicka and stamina affect their respective base skill damage. Base can be seen by unlearning all skills and removing all gear and food effects. I calculated about a month ago that every 100 pts of stamina, added .08% damage to a skill. Didn't check anything for magicka.

ExiledKhallisi

I wish we could see the mathmatic formula for this. Or if it at least told us how it effected skill damage

Dagoth_Rac

ExiledKhallisi wrote: »

I wish we could see the mathmatic formula for this. Or if it at least told us how it effected skill damage

One of the build calculator sites (EsoHead?) has this. For each skill, you can enter skill rank, max magicka, spell damage, weapon damage, max stamina, etc., and it will show you exactly what the skill will do at those stats. Different skills scale off different stats. For example, Crystal Shards (Sorc class skill) scales of magicka and spell damage. Force Shock (Desto Staff skill) scales off max magicka and max health and weapon damage.

Also, attributes are completely separate from the "damage" stats on the character sheet. Raising or lowering max magicka will not affect spell damage and raising or lowering spell damage will not affect max magicka. It can be a little deceptive, though. Max magicka and spell damage both go up when you level. A necklace with a spell power enchantment might have the Arcane trait that raises max magicka. So it can look like they are going up in a linked fashion, but they are not.

philip.ploegerb16_ESO

I've read on reddit that 20 Magicka is equivalent to 1 Spell Dmg.

madangrypally

How it works with abilities uses as examples:

With 0 Max Magicka and 0 Spell Damage an ability does 0 damage. Pretty basic. The values below were rounded so give or take 1-3%. The values may have been changed since my last test last month.

Crystal Shard:
Every 1 Magicka adds 0.14 base damage.
Every 1 Spell Damage adds 2.75 base damage.

To get the current base damage:
Base Damage = (max magicka x 0.14) + (spell damage x 2.75)
Thus if I have 2000 Max Magicka and 130 Spell damage then,
Base Damage = (2000 x 0.14) + (130 x 2.75)
Base Damage = 280 + 357.5
Base Damage = 637.5 Damage.

Now lets add in other modifiers like Cycle of Life 10% increase damage and a passive that increases damage by 10%.
New Damage = Base Damage x (percent increases)
New Damage = 637.5 x (1 + 0.1 + 0.1)
New Damage = 637.5 x (1.2)
New Damage = 765 Damage.

Make sure to know how they are added and multiplied together

Every abilities scales differently so do not assume the modifiers will work the same.

Another Sorc Abilities:
Daedric Curse:
Every 1 Magicka adds 0.10 base damage
Every 1 Spell Damage adds 2.00 base damage

As you see this is different then the Crystal Shard example above base value. This works with weapons and other class abilities also.

Example:
Regeneration:
Every 1 Weapon Damage increases the heal by 2.42
Every 1 Magicka increases the heal by 0.256

Thus if a player has 2,000 Magicka and 200 Weapon Damage
Base Heal: (2000 x 0.256) + (200 x 2.42)
Base Heal: 512 + 484
Base Heal: 996 (this is divided up over the tics)

A healer with 20% increased healing will then have:
New Heal: 996 x 1.2 = 1195.2
=========================================
=========================================

It is important to know what your characters abilities scale from. I see so many players using abilities that are not gaining benefits from their gear choices.

Here is a simple guide:

Staff Abilities Modifiers:
Max Magicka and Weapon Damage
Spell Critical and against the targets Spell Resist.

Stamina Weapon Abilities Modifiers:
Max Stamina and Weapon Damage
Weapon Critical and against the targets Armor.

Class Abilities Modifiers:
Max Magicka and Spell Damage.
Typically the below:
Melee attacks use Physical Critical and is normally against the targets Armor.
Spell like attacks use Spell Critical and is normally against the targets Spell Resistance.

Class Ultimate Modifiers: (Not all of them atm)
Max Magicka or Max Stamina.
Spell Damage or Weapon Damage
Melee attacks use Physical Critical and is normally against the targets Armor.
Spell like attacks use Spell Critical and is normally against the targets Spell Resistance.

Special Note: Most damage shields scale with Max Health. Hardened ward scales with max magicka though.

Celenaro

That's very informative madangrypally, thank you. So then a healing sorcerer would want to keep critical surge on their skill bar for the bonus to weapon damage because it will increase healing done?

madangrypally

Walk_Brass wrote: »

That's very informative madangrypally, thank you. So then a healing sorcerer would want to keep critical surge on their skill bar for the bonus to weapon damage because it will increase healing done?

Yes, a healing Sorcerer would want critical surge (even power surge is not a bad choice). Critical Surge weapon damage scales with a characters max magicka.

A healing Sorcerer should aim for the following modifiers:
Max Magicka: This will improve healing and give the sorcerer more weapon damage when using surge. It will also increase the Hardened Ward damage shield. Gear for this.

Weapon Damage: This can easily be obtained with just Surge and there is no need to gear for it. Most people use critical surge, but power surge can also be useful.

Spell Critical: I like this for sorcerer who heal as it increases healing and critical heals generate more Ultimate. This allows more Negate which is very useful in both PvP and PvE.

Other modifiers will depend on the what the character wants. Magicka recovery, reduced spell cost, spell damage, and increased healing done are just a few options. Sorcerers are lucky that they can easily get weapon damage and spell damage to soft cap without sacrificing other important stats.