Ability scale question..

Earelith

Hello all! While i play for quite some time, i never really got into mechanics and how they work..i just used popular builds fromnthe internet...

Now i started a new templar and i want to make my own build although i realized that i dont know basic rules and mechanics... So i would like to ask, for a specific ability but this also apply to all abilities really...

Puncturing Sweep

1) Is it considered a spell or a melee ability? Does spell damage/spell critical passives boost it (Inner light for example)? Some people say that since it uses magicka it is considered spell and so it is boosted by spell damage/crit, but I also read that abilities with <9 meters range all considered melee and scale from melee crit/damage...

2) if it is a spell and scale with spell damage, Does the weapon of choice affect its damage? Will it does the same damage with a restoration staff or 1h and shield?

In General, for all classes, what is the rule to understand how a spell scales? Is it just magicka cost vs stamina cost? or the range of the spell also matters?

Btw, this is the build I am thinking for my templar for leveling/solo:

http://www.esohead.com/calculator/skills#1.mozzyeV0MW9c8bznK8rZLl8rFTx8ffbE8A4hi8b0pY8bznF8hMil8hMZg8ffbg8A4hd8rFnx8N7DbDm6ADG6MbMUf6MbMXv6MbMXO6MbMX28L7JcdoQr6MdoQC6MdoQF6MdoQJ6MdoQK8j7JbSZ6bUM6MUx6MrJO16MrJPr6MrJPh6MrJPu8n7RzWQ6dW26MfwgU8y7HzR3a6qR3b6MfQE16MfQE36MfQlr6MfQlu6MfQlI8e7Cbaqk6daqS6Mi4bD6Mi4bU6Mi4bX6Mi4b18O7MddeF8zc7pcgePB6zgeXm6cgeXA6cgeYc8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Magdalina

If something costs magicka, it scales with max magicka and spell damage(and uses spell crit). If something costs stamina, it scales with max stamina and weapon damage(and uses weapon crit). Ultimates are supposed to scale with whichever stat is higher.

Weapon of choice does indeed affect the damage, currently in a very bugged unintuitive way. Every weapon has its damage value listed and you can see how equipping it affects your damage(equipping a weapon, unless it has a special enchantment/set bonus, will only change your spell and weapon damage). Right now I think 2 handed gives the biggest buff, closely followed by dual wield(which is also good because more set bonuses). So you can see a lot of magicka users running 2h/DW on one/both bars because logic. The boost is really quite noticeable.
You can check exact values yourself but I imagine damage buff from 1h&s<resto staff<DW<2h.

When people say "melee" in terms of range they don't mean it scales with stamina, they just mean it works in close range with all the limitations of close range. It's just faster to say "melee guys" than "people with spells or weapon skills that require <10m range", I guess I can see where it can get confusing though

Rune_Relic

Something else to remember in addition to above...
Class skills do magical damage and not physical damage.
Which means they are mitigated using spell mitigation.

This is another can of worms at the moment that will hopefully be fixed by the next DLC.
ie.
Stamina costed abilities, use stamina and weapon damage for scaling and do physical damage.
Magcika costed abilities, use magicka and spell damage for scaling and do spell damage.

Earelith

Thanks a lot both Too bad I must carry a 2H or DW...WHat about Destruction Staff? Is this on par with 2H weapon? I prefer to use a Destruction staff for my magicka templar than a 2H or DW...

Magdalina

Earelith wrote: »

Thanks a lot both Too bad I must carry a 2H or DW...WHat about Destruction Staff? Is this on par with 2H weapon? I prefer to use a Destruction staff for my magicka templar than a 2H or DW...

You can perfectly use a destro staff(I think its damage is the same as that of resto...may be wrong though), it's not like you'll fail any content because of it, but you will lose maybe a couple hundred(I can't tell you exact numbers right now, not in game) spelldamage in comparison to 2h/DW(the difference between 2h and DW is pretty small, unlike the difference between staff and 2h/DW). Not a gamebreaker unless you want to minimax and get every single dps/healing digit you can out of your character;)
Destro staff has skills and abilities that are actually useful for magicka users(well some of them at least) while DW/2h has 1 useful passive(the one that buffs damage) and obviously 0 skills we could use, so for instance my sorc only runs DW on offbar - for execute and Overload. As a sorc she uses destro as her main weapon to be able to do Crushing Shock/Impulse. There's also destro staff heavy restoring magicka.

So basically DW/2h isn't something you must do in any way but if you want to do/be best and can work around not having destro/resto staff skills on bar it's the way to go. ...on the positive side, DW block animation looks really cool I think

Hm, if you want a precise number the only one I can recall is ~500 spelldamage change between my sorc's bars. I have about 500 more with DW than a staff because of DW base damage plus my swords are Torug's Pact so have spelldamage set bonus as well. That's v16 legendary gear.
And I still occasionally swap to double destro or destro/resto for certain scenarios where surviveability>pure deeps.

Earelith

@Magdalina wow, nice info m8, thanks My original plan was to use 1H and Shield for the reduce cost on Blocking and the increase damage you can block from 1H n Shield passives

I will definitelly have a bar with Destro staff for aoe, but on main bar I ll have to decide to either go with 1H and shield (which aesthetically pleases me + passives) or DW/2H for more damage I ll find out while playing what better fits me.

revonine

Earelith wrote: »

Hello all! While i play for quite some time, i never really got into mechanics and how they work..i just used popular builds fromnthe internet...

Now i started a new templar and i want to make my own build although i realized that i dont know basic rules and mechanics... So i would like to ask, for a specific ability but this also apply to all abilities really...

Puncturing Sweep

1) Is it considered a spell or a melee ability?

It's actually important to know, that even though the likes of Puncturing Sweep and Concealed Weapon are melee range abilities they don't grant a stealth damage bonus if you attack from stealth. Only abilities that scale with stamina do..unfortunately.