Critical Damage Bonus and Mind Wrack

[kamikazees]

I may have found the critical damage bonus for normal attacks and Mind Wrack. The short answer, I think, is that a normal critical does 1.33x damage (+33%), and a Mind Wrack critical does 2.33x damage (+133%). Here is how I figured it.

My operative does 52.5 damage (43-62) on a regular attack on the first burrower enemies in Numa Prime - Outer Limits. Critical hits are harder to measure (I had a much smaller example), but I was hitting those averaging 69.5 damage (59 to 80). That is exactly a 1.33x increase, or 33%. Maybe a coincidence?

Maybe not. With Mind Wrack at max skill, my average is 57.5 damage (54 to 61). With a crit (and again with a smaller sample), I was getting huge numbers, like 131-137 (and some of the hits killing the mobs outright). The average was right around 134, which is a 2.33x increase, or 133% more damage.

So does a critical add 33% more damage, and does the crit bonus of Mind Wrack (which is no longer in the skill description) effectively add 133% more damage?

[WhoIsThis]

Need to test myself - but if true, that radically changes things:

1. Operatives are significantly more powerful than previously thought in terms of sustained damage to targets.

2. Against bosses, operatives are a necessity, because of 1 (previously essential for amplify pain). Any idea how long the mind wreck effect lasts? I think if it lasts for the full 6 seconds, this means that the operative's effective damage is significantly higher. Currently crit is not that high, and this is a bit of a limiting factor here.

3. As the level cap grows, it is probable new equipment will add more crit, which means that this will be more powerful than ever before.

In PL, the dex and pure int enchantresses were the glass cannons. In SL, the operative has usurped it's place, barring a major rebalance. Considering that this game has only recently been released, a major rebalance is probable, especially if more engineers cry out for a buff. Historical note: In PL, the enchantress was once considered the weakest class in PL, because of it's poor survivability and at the time, inferior damage output.


Finally, at 100% more damage, it is seriously worth considering maxing out mind wrack, perhaps even taking points from sympathetic anguish.

[kamikazees]

Any idea how long the mind wreck effect lasts? I think if it lasts for the full 6 seconds, this means that the operative's effective damage is significantly higher. Currently crit is not that high, and this is a bit of a limiting factor here.

Mind Wrack is an activated attack skill, so it does not have any lasting effect. It just recharges in 6 seconds. My op only has a 7% crit unbuffed, which is why it was difficult to get crit data.

It does more base damage than Sympathetic Anguish (about 20% from what I can tell), and recharges 4 seconds faster. Sympathetic Anguish is only better if either the DOT triggers, or it jumps to another mob. Assuming it only does that 1/2 the time (which is my unverified guess), I think Mind Wrack will still do more damage.

[WhoIsThis]

Apparently so (description from Physiologic's guide):

Mind Wrack
Lv 6: 10 energy, 6 sec. cool-down, 12m range, 15-25 damage
Average Damage: 20

Sympathetic Anguish
Lv 6: 15 energy, 10 sec. cool-down, 12m range, 10-25 damage, can jump targets up to 2 times -20% damage per jump.
Average Damage: 17.5

[WhoIsThis]

Mind Wrack is an activated attack skill, so it does not have any lasting effect. It just recharges in 6 seconds. My op only has a 7% crit unbuffed, which is why it was difficult to get crit data.

That does make mind wrack a bit less valuable, but still a very powerful attack. I think than sympathetic is less valuable than I initially thought - compare:

Neural Shock:
Lv 6: 10 energy, 7 sec. cool-down, 12m range, 12-26 damage, -20 hit chance and -4 critical chance to target for 5 sec.
Average damage: 19

Sympathetic is only useful as you said if it jumps and this is only partially good because it has a 50% jump chance.



Okay, let's do some rough calculations in average DPS (rounded to the second decimal):
Mind Wrack:
Damage / Time + Crit = 20 / 6 = 3.33
Add to this your crit % x 2 (since mind wrack adds 100% to the crit; every other spell adds 33% more so multiplying 2.33 doesn't make sense) x 3.33

Neural Shock:
19 / 7 = 2.71

Sympathetic
(17.5 + 0.5 (lets assume that you are correct) x 0.8 x 17.5 + 0.25 (if the jump probability is 50%, then the probability of a second jump should be one quarter) x 0.64 (0.8 squared) x 17.5)/10 = 2.73


Mind wrack on the other hand, is now well worth maxing.


Now complicating things is the opponents armor. Mind wrack is the undisputed champion. I suspect that because of the way armor works, neural shock with it's higher damage per hit will come out on top in both single target and net damage over sympathetic.



Edit:
One more thing, with all outlaw's equipment, you can get 19 crit.

[Physiologic]

Get all plat gear, plat dual pistols with 3 crit implant for 19 crit. Add amp pain and Thats 29 crit...current set up I use. Way more effective in damaging than Desert Rat, Imo.

[noobmigo]

Try testing with all the other skills and see if they produce the same things.

Then we shall figure out if it is just Mind Wrack, or if skills have some sort of Armor Avoiding thinger.

[kamikazees]

I doubt other skills do the same thing as Mind Wrack. Its skill description prior to the change specifically said it increased crit damage. No other skill description read like that. And come to think of it, I don't think I've ever one-hit killed a burrower with any skill besides Mind Wrack, and that's considering all 3 classes.

[Physiologic]

The biggest hurdle with both Mind Wrack and Sympathetic Anguish is that they both rely on a chance to do more damage. Mind Wrack relies primarily on Crit%; having a low crit% basically means that your Mind Wrack will infrequently activate to do more crit damage (so the skill's average damage is relatively low). Sympathetic Anguish depends on the chance that the attack will jump, which we are unsure of at this point.

Ultimately, if you have high Crit% (aka using the Platinum-only Outlaw gear), then Mind Wrack should take precedence over Sympathetic Anguish. If Crit% is low (Desert Rat gear), then Sympathetic Anguish should work better.

[Veebehal Lockhart]

Its a understatement when you imply that people can only get 19% Critical from Outlaw Equips from the platinum shop.

I can make my critical say 21% by buying one weapon from the shop....

Well....23% percent now - maybe even higher because of the Legendary equipment found from boxes in Slouch-O Productions.

[Physiologic]

Its a understatement when you imply that people can only get 19% Critical from Outlaw Equips from the platinum shop.

I can make my critical say 21% by buying one weapon from the shop....

Well....23% percent now - maybe even higher because of the Legendary equipment found from boxes in Slouch-O Productions.

My last post was created on 8/27/11, before Slouch-O Productions, Legendary equipment, or other Platinum weapons were released.