When is spell/weapon damage applied to the ability?

technohic · January 2017

As the title says. I think I have seen it answered before but I cannot find it. Just curious that if you have something like a damage boost from stealth and a long projectile like snipe or something. If you activate an ability before it hits and are still stealth; does the second ability still get the damage boost?

PhxOldGamer68 · January 2017

I believe I've been able to get 2 Snipe shots in stealth before detection because of animation cancelling, therefore the 2 hit kill. Haven't PVE'd in a while with a bow, but I remember the 2 hit kill and see the health bar drop a lot on the 2 shots.

davey1107 · January 2017

Hmm...

So weapon dmg is applied to any stamina-based ability proceed while equipped with that weapon. Spell damage is the same for magic based abilities.

Any buffs you have are calculated into the attack/heal upon activation. If I've activated major brutality for 20% more weapon damage and launch a snipe with 1/2 second remaining, the buff is built into the attack even when the snipe hits slightly later than the buff expir. (I confirmed this on a mammoth in wrothgar. Sorry, mammoth. Looking forward to housing target dummy for this sort of thing.) This can be dramatic in pvp, as I've seen snipes follow the target for several seconds before landing.

Stealth/sneak buffs operate on a somewhat different mechanism. As soon an you do any damage to anything, you're pulled out of stealth and the buffs no longer apply. Very sneaky trying to cram in multiple stealth attacks...that's the thinking of a true assassin. However, sadly for my stamblade, the computer knows when a launched attack is going to pull you from stealth, and it doesn't apply the buff to attacks launched between the initial volley and when it hits.

You can, of course, stack multiple buffs onto that initial hit. When bow ganking in pvp I open with focus aim after rally and cloak and magelight for the might of the guild bonus. That's a guaranteed crit x 1.2 x 1.2 = bad times for squishy players on mounts.

technohic · January 2017

Thanks for the responses. I too will be glad to test things on a dummy.

Now I am also wondering if you have something like the Soulshine set where spell damage is increased while casting or channeling spells. I wonder if you cancel the channel and hit an instant spell quick enough if the instant will benefit