With the new CP-System coming to live soon it will be more important to know what skill is considered what kind of damage. Is it a single-target, aoe or damage over time ability (Or a mix of multiple of these). While with the old system you tried to balance it out a bit with maybe a few more points in thaumaturge on DK and a bit more of direct damage on idk. Templar. But even if you would go with the same CP the dmg loss would be there, sure, but it wouldn't be dramatic.
With the new CP-System you only get 4 options of slotted abilities. So knowing which skill does what is more crucial.
I did some testing with the system and looked which abilities (or parts of them) are affected by:
a) Biting Aura -> Buffs AoE-Damage
b) Thaumaturge -> Buffs Damage over Time
c) Deadly Aim -> Buffs single-target damage
Spoiler: Most of it makes sense, but there are a few skills I tested that I can't figure out the reasoning behind.
TL;DR at the end.
To examine this we first need to lay some ground rules.
If I am not mistaken (if so pls correct me) the white dmg numbers indicate "direct damage" while smaller orange numbers indicate "damage over time". Direct damage isn't that improtant for this, as the examined CP do not buff direct damage but it is important to see as it is the opposite of damage over time, which is affected.
So what are some expected behaviors of the CP based on the Skill description, their indicator and the "raw gutt feeling".
- Easy one: Crystal Frags: single-Target ability, no AoE-Effect, DD indicator (so no dot) -> should only be affected by Deadly Aim. And thats the case. Nice.
- AoEs like: Wall of Elements: AoE, Dot, not single-target -> affected by Biting Aura, Thaumaturge. Perfect.
Then there are some that are a bit inconsistent when compared.
- Daedric curse: The AoE part of the ability is affected by Biting Aura, the dmg on the target itself is increased by Deadly Aim. Thaumaturg does nothing. which is fine, but if we then look at Sweeps/Jabs it gets confusing. Both skills, curse and jabs, deal direct damage all over. Both have a primary target and secondary targets. Both hit in an AoE. Yet jabs is only buffed by Biting Aura. Both primary hit and secondary hit. Sure, an argument can be made that it is because the AoE of jabs is just there while curse needs a specific target but it doesn't feel intuitive to me. But ok.
- Flames of Oblivion: indicated as direct damage, skill description has "area" for the target tag, hits 2 enemies. it is buffed by Deadly Aim. I mean, I guess? it doesn't really fit into the other ones either but it explicitly says: hits up to 2 enemies. Thats not SINGLE-target damage. But ok.
Some skills fall into the upper category, where it can be justified why it works like it does but may not be clear from the get-go.
But then there also are some, which I can't get any idea to why it works like it does.
- Skeletal Arcanist: Skill description says that the arcanist deals damage in an area, so it should be buffed by Biting aura. Damage indicator is white, so direct damage -> Thaumaturge should do nothing. And as it is an AoE, Deadly Aim should have no effect. That is what I get from all the indicators and hints I get. What is actually the case? It gets buffed ONLY by Deadly Aim. It says it right in the skill description that it deals damage in an area, the cast is on an area, yet it is not buffed by the CP-Star that buffes AoE-Damage. What?!
- Radiant Oppression vs. Soulstrike: They are practically the same skill if we are honest. Both are casted beams that lock onto one target and tick every now and then to deal damage. The funny thing is: Radiant Oppression has direct damage indicators while Soulstrike has dot indicators. Yet, they are both buffed by: Deadly aim and thaumaturge. Thats just inconsistend and confusing.
Why are there different indicators for these two skills, doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
- Jabs: If we throw jabs into the mix it just colapses on itself. Jabs has from a feeling the same attributes as radiant oppression. its both direct damage, its a casted ability that ticks every now and then while beeing casted, one is aoe, one is single-target. If we follow the logic of radiant oppression: Jabs has to be buffed by Thaumaturge.
- Rapid Strikes: It is single target and has dot indicators. Yet it is only affected by Deadly aim. So its not a dot? Why are there dot indicators then? It is practically soulstrike but upclose. So why not the same treatment?
TL;DR: Either damage number indicators are wrong (or I understand them wrong) and skill descriptions should be changed or some skills are missing the buffs from some CP-Stars. As it stands now: Skills like Radiant Oppression, Soulstrike, Jabs, Rapid strikes,.... (there are a few more) do not fit into the system that is currently active on the pts. If it is wanted for the skills to be buffed in the way they are now, ZoS would have to change damage indicators and skill descriptions to better reflect what will actually happen when slotting a specific CP-Star. If some skills are simply lacking buffs, then ZoS needs to be aware of this.