question about 'next attack' bonuses, @ZOS help please

eol · March 2015

when something gives a bonus to the 'next attack', and that next attack is a channeled damage spell, does the bonus apply to the entire channel duration, or just the first tic of the spell?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cuyler · March 2015

You might want to throw in a @ZOS tag to get some attention here if no one else can answer that....I know I can't. very good question.

eol · March 2015

I have done some testing, and it seems that, channel abilities (I tested radiant oppression) do benefit for the entire attack, not just the first tic.

The bad news is that the Might of the Guild +20% damage buff does NOT work on Radiant Oppression (not sure about other channels). Casting Radiant Oppression does not even remove the MotG icon from the Tamriel Tactical add-on much less add damage. The Major Sorcery 20% spell damage buff from Entropy DOES affect Radiant Oppression, although the effect is less than I would have thought (something like +7% damage). The Might of the Guild next attack buff works just fine on Dark Flare, and fwiw Dark Flare now gives the buff to itself on a subsequent Dark Flare attack.

I still have to check if the Dark Flare buff affects Radiant Oppression, need to move to a mob with a lot of HP so that the low health bonus on Radiant Oppression doesn't kick in and skew the results. So I don't know if its a Might of the Guild issue, or if 'next attack' bonuses don't impact Radiant Oppression (or other channels) at all.

eol · March 2015

OK, did some more checking, and as far as I can tell, Empower (+20% damage on next attack) does not seem to affect Radiant Oppression at all. Not the first tic, not any tic. Abilities like Entropy's Major Sorcery that last for a certain period of time *DO* seem to affect Radiant Oppression throughout all tics of the attack, although like I said, the effect is less than I expected (although that might have more to do with me than the way the ability is working).

Doesn't seem fair that empower doesn't work at all on Radiant Oppression (and channeled attacks in general?). @ZOS, is that working as intended?

Vandril · March 2015

eol wrote: »

Doesn't seem fair that empower doesn't work at all on Radiant Oppression (and channeled attacks in general?). @ZOS, is that working as intended?

Way back when, a month or so after release, I tested the "next attack +dmg%" buffs on skills with multiple hits. Back then, the buff was consumed by channel skills and only effected the very first hit. It's possible that they changed it so these channel skills will no longer consume the buff due to how much of a waste a single hit from them consuming such a huge buff is.

I do have to wonder if this is intentional, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is.

eol · March 2015

Vandril wrote: »

eol wrote: »

Doesn't seem fair that empower doesn't work at all on Radiant Oppression (and channeled attacks in general?). @ZOS, is that working as intended?

Way back when, a month or so after release, I tested the "next attack +dmg%" buffs on skills with multiple hits. Back then, the buff was consumed by channel skills and only effected the very first hit. It's possible that they changed it so these channel skills will no longer consume the buff due to how much of a waste a single hit from them consuming such a huge buff is.

I do have to wonder if this is intentional, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is.

That makes sense. I took a break from the game after six months and have just returned, and I had a vague memory of reading a long time ago that the first tic of the channel uses up the buff, that in large part was what sparked my question. They might very well have 'fixed' that so that channel attacks dont 'waste' the buff... the irony being that now that Templars like me have a big hitting attack like Radiant Oppression, we *want* that bonus to apply to it. Cant win for losing