Merciless Resolve and Soulshine

Dionysus · June 2017

Does anyone know if the Assassin's Will spectral bow proc is buffed by Soulshine? I don't have the gold to test, in case someone knows off hand.

Considering a DW magicka NB build with War Maiden + Soulshine using a DW execute bar with Soul Assault and Merciless proc (and Invigorating Drain as the CC on that bar).

davey1107 · June 2017

I do not see any reason that set would affect the spectral bow. Soul shine is channeled abilities...which are things like heals....or soul assault which does direct damage over time, making them oddly not a DOT even though the damage hits over time. (Seen in combat text as main, above-enemy damage numbers versus smaller, orange numbers to the lower right, which is DOT damage. Note that most channeled abilities say so in the tool tip: "channel your magic to blah blah blah..."

The spectral bow just hits for one major direct damage magic based smack. So, things that increase either direct damage or magic damage affect it.

Ahzek · June 2017

In theory the spectral bow should be affected since it has a cast time, but its ZOS, so we never know.

Danksta · June 2017

Ahzek wrote: »

In theory the spectral bow should be affected since it has a cast time, but its ZOS, so we never know.

No it doesn't, it's an instant cast ability.

casparian · June 2017

Danksta wrote: »

Ahzek wrote: »

In theory the spectral bow should be affected since it has a cast time, but its ZOS, so we never know.

No it doesn't, it's an instant cast ability.

I don't want to get into he said-she said, but the spectral bow most definitely has a cast time on PC (about 0.1 seconds), and is not instant cast. So technically and going by the literal meaning of the Soulshine tooltip, the set should buff the spectral bow, just like it buffs Dark Flare (another direct damage ability that has a cast time). But I would be surprised if it did.

Even if it did, it's far better to use War Maiden, which gives you almost as much spell damage but also affects all of your other magblade class skills (and comes in Arcane jewelry).

code65536 · June 2017

Danksta wrote: »

Ahzek wrote: »

In theory the spectral bow should be affected since it has a cast time, but its ZOS, so we never know.

No it doesn't, it's an instant cast ability.

That's incorrect.

Grim Focus and its morphs are instant-cast. But the proc ability, Assassin's Will, has a 0.1s cast time.

The cast time is short enough that it feels like it's an instant cast, but it's not. And there are two implications of it not being instant-cast.

It's possible to cancel/interrupt the cast. If you've ever dodge rolled right after attempting to fire a proc, you'll sometimes notice that your character is interrupted midway through the animation to fire, but nothing is fired and you lose/waste the proc.
Since it has a non-zero cast time, enemy players will receive a combat event. This is why addons like Miat's can notify you about incoming Assassin's Will casts but not notify you about incoming Funnel Health casts.

I'm not sure whether or not Soulshine will buff Assassin's Will procs--I've never tested it. But if I had to guess, I would say yes. But I don't think it's a good idea, since this is literally the only ability in a magblade's toolkit that would be buffed by Soulshine. It simply doesn't seem worth it to wear a 5pc set to buff a single ability.

Dionysus · June 2017

My thought was a build around solely buffing and light/heavy attacking to activate 2 or 3 bow procs per Merciless cast, and using Molag Kena proc + War Maiden + Soulshine simultaneously, giving +1500 spell damage on three Spectrals or so every 20 seconds. Maybe mixed in with Soul Assault to start, or even Inevitable Detonation (also a cast time) to line up simultaneous damage.

If only I didn't blow all my gold on Knight Slayer and War Maiden....

Thanks for the responses so far. If anybody does happen to know, appreciate the info!

code65536 · June 2017

Just go buy 5 pieces of trash Soulshine gear (get the green jewelry and junk-traited armor that people dump on the guild traders for pennies). See how much Merciless hits for with the 5pc Soulshine. Then replace one of the jewelry pieces with a non-set jewelry piece with the same trait and enchantment to break the 5pc bonus. Then test again.

If you're really determined to find out, it's very cheap and easy to set up such a test. Just annoying and a hassle.

Danksta · June 2017

casparian wrote: »

Danksta wrote: »

Ahzek wrote: »

In theory the spectral bow should be affected since it has a cast time, but its ZOS, so we never know.

No it doesn't, it's an instant cast ability.

I don't want to get into he said-she said, but the spectral bow most definitely has a cast time on PC (about 0.1 seconds), and is not instant cast. So technically and going by the literal meaning of the Soulshine tooltip, the set should buff the spectral bow, just like it buffs Dark Flare (another direct damage ability that has a cast time). But I would be surprised if it did.

Even if it did, it's far better to use War Maiden, which gives you almost as much spell damage but also affects all of your other magblade class skills (and comes in Arcane jewelry).

Sorry, didn't realize the proc had a cast time. In that case it should buff the spectral bow, but I don't think it'd be worth running on a NB. I used to run it on my Templar and found it to be kind of "meh", and they have a lot more channeled/cast time abilities.