How are DOTs affected by blocking?

BlackBacon · June 2015

How are DOTs affected by blocking? I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. Say I use searing touch on an opponent who is blocking, what happens?
A. The DOT does not apply at all.
B. The DOT's damage is reduced over the entire duration.
C. The DOT's damage is not reduced at all.
D. The DOT's individual ticks are reduced only while the opponent blocks.

Baphomet · June 2015

DoTs are completely negated if they land on a blocking target. They take reduced damage from the first impact, but the DoT itself is negated.

Baphomet · June 2015

And bad game design, I might add - the DoT should be ticking but with reduced damage. Heck, with burst damage being the only way to go nowadays, they should probably make DoTs unblockable.

BlackBacon · June 2015

Baphomet wrote: »

And bad game design, I might add - the DoT should be ticking but with reduced damage. Heck, with burst damage being the only way to go nowadays, they should probably make DoTs unblockable.

Given how many counters there are out there I'd agree with you.

Efficient Purge (AoE spammed in zergs)
Shadow Cloak (Every NB & their mother slots this)
Thick Skinned CP Passive (-25% Dot Damage)

Ahzek · June 2015

Actually this varies on a case by case basis from my experience.
I don't know all the specifics, but i believe there are several different kinds of dots:

Straight out DoTs ( such as entropy)
these are unblockable and deal full dmg through block. At least entropy acts weird in that the individual ticks can be dodged, but the spell itself will always apply to the target.

Dots with an "impact" (searing strike, elemental touch,funnel? )
these " impacts"can be blocked like every other spell and also be dodged. I am not sure wether or not they actually apply their DoT component after being blocked, but it should take clsoe to no time to test that with a friend. The dot componet when applied should not be blockable but i am not sure here either.

" DoTs that are not really dots but still are" (channels, batswarm)
these skills are considered dots by the game for all intents and purposes (CP-passives,skorias) they are usually unblockable ( jeesus beam is an exception and drains stamina like crazy ) and can only be avoided by going out of range or purging them. Dodge does not work.

Status effect dots ( burning, poisoned)
These are speciall since they arent skills themselfes but instead have a chance to procc of dealing a certain type of damage. again im not sure how exactly they function when their 'trigger" gets blocked ( dont know if they can apply at all then ) but at least poisoned is unblockable.

I hope this information helps you with your skill selection. Especially the fact that soul assault and batswarm are 2 unblockable dots with quite high damage should make you consider them. keep in mind that standard of might is ( as far as i know) not a dot and as such blockable.

Bleed ( twin slashes, axes with the respective passives)
Bleed is its own damage type and as such there are bleed immune enemies (everyTHING without blood).
Additionally bleed will not apply to blocking enemies or enemies with absorption shields. While it will persist after being applied to a target that starts blocking afterwards im not sure wether they get mitigated by blocking or not and o have heard rumors that recasting shields would remove bleed effects buti am not sure here either

Edit: forgot bleed

Ahzek · June 2015

Concerning the "thick skinned" CP passive keep in mind that most people will probably invest in otehr CP such as elemental defender first when looking to mitigate a certain amount of skills instead of dot damage reduction, because they cover a wider array of spells.
Against phisical dots though " thick skinned" would likely be the best choice as there are no other physical defense CP apart form the hialriously bad armor boni.