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Extreme Variation in Absolute Resolution Damage Proc

Started by Kismet, August 30, 2021, 07:13:36 PM

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Kismet

After spending about an hour playing around with Catalyzed versions of the two Guardian proc ATOs I noticed wildly variable amounts of bonus energy damage.

In my crude testing I tried to make sure that I was piling up roughly the same number of Resolve stacks (4-5) before firing off Tremor (which I love the new shorter animation time on, btw), the power that I'd stuck the Absolute Resolution proc into (along with a whole pile of other procs).

Unfortunately, I'd chosen to test on +3 Freaks (mostly because I like smashing Freaks), so their moderate vulnerability to Energy damage might throw off the math. That said, I got wildly different results each time I hit a spawn of Freaks with Tremor.

Numbers that I recorded (mind you, this was by hand with scrap paper, so there's only so much science here) ranged from 351.55 bonus Energy damage (yeah, that much from a single proc... on every enemy in the spawn hit) down to 114.64 bonus Energy Damage. I also had results in between these two extremes such as 296.43 and 244.02 bonus Energy Damage.

For comparison's sake, a regular damage proc (Obliteration's) did 50.13 smashing damage against the same enemy. A better comparison might be the Eradication proc that did 65.17, since it's Energy Damage. My Armageddon purple proc only did 74.82 against +3 Freaks.

Even if I did screw up the number of Resolve stacks before firing Absolute Resolution I don't see how you get a 236.91 point swing since Resolve is supposed to only add 30% per stack!

I did try experimenting with and without Build Up and Soul Drain and I didn't notice much a difference (i.e. sometimes with both of those running the bonus Energy proc would be in the low one hundreds, other times with neither active the bonus damage would be in the high two hundreds.)

Now, I do like doing all that damage, but it seems like a bit much, doesn't it?

Kismet

I decided to test the Absolution Resolution proc again and it's still giving out wild results.

Just playing normally against large spawns of mixed +0/+1 Council from a paper mission I recorded 20 damage proc numbers that ranged from 107.8 damage up to 513.47!

Mind you, the proc seems to fire as often as the proc formula allows (I believe that's 90% chance). I've slotted the Absolution Resolution proc in Tremor (once more, I love the faster animation... would love to see all the breath attacks trimmed a half-second or so, as well). I use Tremor after I've fired Fissure (which houses the other Guardian ATO proc for Resolve stacking) The vast majority of the damage numbers I saw were in the mid 200's, so that's rather a lot of damage to attach to whichever AoE you prefer.

The average of the 20 numbers in my little set was 280.32.

While the average damage yielded from a proc that seems to fire as often as the game will allow seems a little high to me (assuming you have stacks of Resolve, which are granted at the same generous rate by the other Guardian ATO proc). Really, though, I'm more concerned with how wildly variable the damage yield is. I had 4 damage numbers in the 400s and 4 damage numbers in the 100s... that's a huge range... making me wonder if something that should be added is being multiplied, instead.

Working only from the brief text descriptions (i.e. not seeing the actual numbers for either of the new ATO procs) I can't make any sense of this extreme variability that was abundantly obvious to me from casual experimentation.

I'd appreciate it if someone who can look at the math behind this proc checks it out and either fixes what's off or explains why it works the way it does (and why it's intended to be so variable and potentially game-changing).

Otherwise, I'm happy to finally have ATOs for my Guardian(s), so thanks for all the hard work!