Math Question: Crit Chance

Ksariyu · January 2023

I have a probability question for those of you who did better in statistics than me.

Context: I'm using Crit Surge and want to ensure the heal procs as much as possible.
Question: If I replace a source of Major Prophecy with an ability to do damage every second, is that significantly better or worse for my chances to proc Surge?

Thanks in advance.

fred4 · January 2023

I'm not much for statistics either. Just to say that not many things proc every 1 second. Ground DOTs still do. Other DOTs are now every 2 seconds, I believe. Hurricane is probably every 2 seconds as well. Other than stacking as much ongoing damage as you can, the following skills will however increase your Crit Surge proc chances:

Flurry.
Force Shock.
Can status effects crit? I'm not sure. If they do, then an Asylum staff and / or Charged weapons may help.
Light attack weaving / bash weaving (not that you can usually sustain bash weaving).
Stampede / Crit Rush spam.
Mechanical Acuity maybe.

Major Prophecy is such an important buff, though, whether you get it from Camou Hunter / Inner Light, a potion, or from something else, you usually want it. Incidentally make sure you also proc Minor Prophecy from sorc passives.

If you are a PvE DD or healer, you want as much crit as you can get anyway.

If you are a PvE tank, Crit Surge is questionable, although I have 40% crit on my dungeon Brawler tank and I do run Crit Surge on that.

PvP is really where this question has some relevance. Use of Crit Surge is kind of borderline in PvP. Some people, probably half the stamsorc population, run Rally and forget Crit Surge, cause the latter is kind of weak.

fred4 · January 2023

AOE skills are probably your friend. As far as I know every instance of an AOE skill hitting something has it's own crit chance. In other words Hurricane, Caltrops, Arrow Barrage, Lightning Splash and so on. Also stacking DOTs on multiple enemies, I guess. You don't necessarily need another skill on your skill bar, as long as you have multiple targets to hit with, say, Rending Slashes.

OBJnoob · January 2023

What Fred said.

It would help to know if you're a stamsorc or a magsorc. And what weapons you're using.

Personally when I feel like my stamsorc needs more defense I use Quick Cloak+hurricane to keep crit surge going. When I feel like I need more damage I replace Quick Cloak with Caltrops.

I keep the fighters guild major prophecy on my bar regardless... There's the minor berserk to consider as well. Also-- and Fred touched on this as well-- IF you are a stamsorc you're going to want to stack spell damage instead of weapon damage so you can get your minor prophecy as well. And you may find potions that return stamina more useful than potions that return magicka. Well, stam pots will give you savagery but not prophecy. So you prolly need to keep major prophecy on your bar.

gariondavey · January 2023

OBJnoob wrote: »

What Fred said.

It would help to know if you're a stamsorc or a magsorc. And what weapons you're using.

Personally when I feel like my stamsorc needs more defense I use Quick Cloak+hurricane to keep crit surge going. When I feel like I need more damage I replace Quick Cloak with Caltrops.

I keep the fighters guild major prophecy on my bar regardless... There's the minor berserk to consider as well. Also-- and Fred touched on this as well-- IF you are a stamsorc you're going to want to stack spell damage instead of weapon damage so you can get your minor prophecy as well. And you may find potions that return stamina more useful than potions that return magicka. Well, stam pots will give you savagery but not prophecy. So you prolly need to keep major prophecy on your bar.

This last bit isn't entirely true. You can still stack weapon damage but use an hp + mag + major prophecy potion. (In order to get use out of minor prophecy).
The game will look for your higher value of weapon or spell damage, just like it would for your crit rating.
This is wise as you are more likely to have a dk giving you minor brutality, as templars, who would give minor sorcery, are pretty trash tier atm.

OBJnoob · January 2023

I hadn't thought about it like that (the DK versus Templar thing-- that's pretty smart.)

Still though I personally prefer potions that restore stamina. I play my stamsorc with really poor recovery due to dark deal. It is true using mag pots would help me dark deal more but... I dunno. Something to think about for sure.

Really wish they'd just hybridize the dang potions to be honest. I can sorta get down with the whole Dk minor brutality and Templar minor prophecy thing because as someone explained to me once from a PvE perspective it helps keep classes relevant to include in trials. The potions though? I don't get it.

gariondavey · January 2023

Yes, the potions thing is pretty nonsensical. It should give sorcery+brutality