Credit to Placta at
Homecoming for posting this information in the first place concerning
Interface slot abilities. For purposes of this discussion, I'm going to be looking at the T4 effects, just to keep the permutations simple.
Increased level of detail obtained from
City of Data v2 for Homecoming with some modifications to the information layout added by me.
CognitiveConfuse (20% Core/10% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: 4.3 seecond magnitude 2 confuse (I know the text says 12.5%, but the power data says 10%)
Psionic DoT (25% Core/75% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 10.709 psionic damage per second for 4.3 seconds
DegenerativeMax HP (75% Core/25% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -3.5% max hp (capped at 1000 for archvillains and similarly strong enemies) for 8.3 seconds
Toxic DoT (25% Core/75% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 10.709 toxic damage per second for 4.3 seconds
DiamagneticToHit (100% Core/50% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -5% tohit for 8.3 seconds
Regeneration (50% Core/100% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% regeneration for 8.3 seconds
GraviticRecharge (75% Core and Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% recharge for 8.3 seconds
Recovery (50% Core and Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% recovery for 8.3 seconds
(75% Core) Movement, stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% jump height, run speed, flying speed, jumping speed for 8.3 seconds
(75% Radial) Special, stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% defense (ALL), healing, tohit, run speed, flying speed, confuse, terrorize, hold, immobilize, stun, sleep, knockup, knockback, repel for 8.3 seconds
ParalyticDefense (75% Core/25% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -2.5% base defense for 8.3 seconds
Damage (25% Core/75% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -5% damage for 8.3 seconds
PreemptiveEndurance/Recovery (75% Core/25% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -1% endurance per second for 4.3 seconds, -5% recovery for 4.3 seconds
Energy DoT (25% Core/75% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 13.3863 energy damage per second for 4.3 seconds
ReactiveResistance (75% Core/25% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -2.5% damage resistance for 8.3 seconds
Fire DoT (25% Core/75% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 13.3863 fire damage per second for 4.3 seconds
SpectralImmobilize (25% Core/12.5% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: 4.3 second magnitude 2 immobilize
Negative DoT (25% Core/75% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 13.3863 negative damage per second for 4.3 seconds
The thing that stands out to me from this presentation of information is just how GOOD of a debuffer the T4 Gravitic Radial option is, simply because of how many things it does adequately well.
Gravitic (Radial) is better than Diamagnetic for tohit debuffing (-10% vs -5%) over 8.3 seconds.
Gravitic (Radial) is better than Preemptive for recovery debuffing (-10% for 8.3s vs -5% for 4.3s).
Gravitic (Radial) is possibly even better than Paralytic at defense debuffing when the target's defense is over 25% ... however, considering that defense debuffing is largely superfluous/wasted effort at Level 45+ the value/merit of this distinction is more a matter of quibbling rather than decisive.
Gravitic (Radial) just winds up being remarkably good at a wide variety of debuffing opportunities ... so much so that I'm starting to wonder if END Sapper builds might be better off using Gravitic (Radial) to further augment their blue bar drain potential than relying on Preemptive.
Another thing to consider is that of the 5 DoT proc options, Cognitive (Psionic) and Degenerative (Toxic) are both slightly lower per damage tick (13.3863-10.709=2.6773 difference) but are also two of the most heavily resisted damage types when playing at Level 45+ (when the Interface slot option is relevant). Robots and Seers heavily resist psionic damage. Devouring Earth heavily resist toxic damage. Both of which tend to be "plentiful" during Incarnate Trials.
Bopper has a very good primer on how the
DoT procs compute due to their Cancel On Miss behavior posted on the Homecoming forums.
Bottom Line:
- 25% proc means on average, each attack will do 0.333 ticks of damage. Given that a Minor DoT does 10.71 damage (Major DoT does 13.39 damage), this equates to averaging only +3.57 and +4.46 more damage per hit for the Minor and Major DoTs, respectively.
- 50% proc on average, each attack will do 0.96875 ticks of damage, which equates to averaging +10.375 and +12.969 more damage per hit for the Minor and Major DoTs, respectively. In this case, doubling our Proc probability nearly tripled out added damage performance.
- 75% proc on average, each attack will do 2.288 ticks of damage, which equates to averaging +24.505 and +30.632 more damage per hit for the Minor and Major DoTs, respectively. In this case, using a 75% DoT proc instead of a 25% DoT proc has increased the average DoT output by 587% (so nearly 7x damage). Using a 75% DoT proc instead of a 50% DoT proc increased the average DoT output by 136% (more than 2x damage).
What this means in practice is that in order to make an Interface DoT "relevant" as a dependable factor in your damage throughput, you need to be using the 75% chance T4 Radial. The best way to be thinking about using T4 Radial Interface slotting for DoT stacking is that the DoT is the purpose of your choice of Interface to slot, with the "other effect" being more or less a "nice to have bonus" that happens occasionally, rather than something that happens consistently.
Another thing to consider when looking at DoT vs -Resist with respect to slotting Reactive is the notion that a single DoT delivering an average of +30.632 damage (Preemptive, Reactive or Spectral) achieves parity of throughput with a -2.5% Resist debuff if 1,225.28 damage gets delivered over 8.3 seconds.
1/0.025=40
30.632*40=1,225.28
24.505*40=980.2
My point being that although -Resist debuffing is REALLY NICE in large groups, in Solo through Team-8 situations it's probably better to rely on DoT stacking rather than -Resist debuff stacking as a means to power through to defeating hard targets. The knock on side effect of that being that a diversity of DoT proc damage types will easily overpower the results of everyone in a raid all slotting nothing but Degenerative and Reactive for their Interface slot choices.
So viewed in that light, how do the Raidal "proc extra effects" compare (which can all stack up to 4x) when your primary concern is to inflict maximum DoT(age)?
- Cognitive (12.5%): Mag 2 Confuse for 4.3s
- Degenerative (25%): -3.5% Max HP for 8.3s
- Preemptive (25%): -1 END and -5% Recovery for 4.3s
- Reactive (25%): -2.5% Damage Resistance (All) for 8.3s
- Spectral (12.5%): Mag 2 Immobilize for 4.3s
Cognitive and Spectral have the side benefit of setting up Containment for Controllers and also having synergies with the Hybrid: T4 Control Core which has a 75% chance to deal additional psionic damage to controlled foes (confuse and immobilize count for this).
The discussion of Degenerative vs Reactive has already been argued at length previously, so I'll gloss over those options here for brevity.
Preemptive delivers such a short window of Recovery debuffing as to make the effect marginal at best (especially at a 25% proc chance), effectively making this additional effect something of a "rounding error" in how this choice of Interface slot behaves.
However, what makes all of these considerations MUCH more interesting to contemplate is the synergy with the
Genesis: Socket slot options.
Genesis: T4 Socket (Core and Radial) both offer +10% Max HP and +10 Max END @ Levels 45+ ... but also includes a +10% chance to proc on whatever you've got slotted into Interface ... which makes things REALLY interesting.
Take the listing I provided at the top of this post and add +10% to all the proc chances and look what happens!
Genesis: T4 Socket (Core or Radial) @ Levels 45+
CognitiveConfuse (30% Core/20% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: 4.3 seecond magnitude 2 confuse
Psionic DoT (35% Core/85% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 10.709 psionic damage per second for 4.3 seconds
DegenerativeMax HP (85% Core/35% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -3.5% max hp (capped at 1000 for archvillains and similarly strong enemies) for 8.3 seconds
Toxic DoT (35% Core/85% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 10.709 toxic damage per second for 4.3 seconds
DiamagneticToHit (110% Core/60% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -5% tohit for 8.3 seconds
Regeneration (60% Core/110% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% regeneration for 8.3 seconds
GraviticRecharge (85% Core and Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% recharge for 8.3 seconds
Recovery (60% Core and Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% recovery for 8.3 seconds
(85% Core) Movement, stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% jump height, run speed, flying speed, jumping speed for 8.3 seconds
(85% Radial) Special, stacks up to
4 times collectively: -10% defense (ALL), healing, tohit, run speed, flying speed, confuse, terrorize, hold, immobilize, stun, sleep, knockup, knockback, repel for 8.3 seconds
ParalyticDefense (85% Core/35% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -2.5% base defense for 8.3 seconds
Damage (35% Core/85% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -5% damage for 8.3 seconds
PreemptiveEndurance/Recovery (85% Core/35% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -1% endurance per second for 4.3 seconds, -5% recovery for 4.3 seconds
Energy DoT (35% Core/85% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 13.3863 energy damage per second for 4.3 seconds
ReactiveResistance (85% Core/35% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: -2.5% damage resistance for 8.3 seconds
Fire DoT (35% Core/85% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 13.3863 fire damage per second for 4.3 seconds
SpectralImmobilize (35% Core/22.5% Radial), stacks up to
4 times collectively: 4.3 second magnitude 2 immobilize
Negative DoT (35% Core/85% Radial), stacks up to
8 times collectively: 13.3863 negative damage per second for 4.3 seconds
As already demonstrated above, increasing the proc chance for DoTs dramatically improves their opportunities to deal damage and to keep dealing damage beyond the first damage tick. I haven't done a full computation of the throughput, but consider it safe to say that +24 to +30 more damage per hit for the Minor and Major DoTs starts to feel like a lowball estimate of the damage opportunity from Interface DoTs. For one thing, the odds of getting DoT stacks to last the full 4 ticks rises dramatically. And just to be clear, 4 DoT ticks yields (4*10.709)=
+42.836 and (4*13.3863)=
+53.5452 more damage per hit for the Minor (Cognitive, Degenerative) and Major (Preemptive, Reactive, Spectral) DoTs at maximum, which starts feeling ... respectable ... like "have an extra damage proc set IO slotted into every damage power" respectable. Now start stacking those bonus DoT ticks up to 4-8 deep and watch the green bars just BLEED AWAY ...
I acutually tested this using a Spectral T4 Radial + Socket T4 Radial during last night's iTrials being run out of Dark Astoria while playing on Redlynne, my SR/MA Tanker (
NO GET HITSU!!).
The results were pretty stark and impressive.
I don't think anyone else in the those trial raids was using Spectral in their Interface slot, so every time I saw and black pool with rings appear at the feet of my $Target(s), I knew that it was my Interface slot responsible for that effect. I was seeing Negative Energy DoTs proc VERY RELIABLY on almost everything I kicked. LOTS of DoT damage "smoking" off $Target(s) getting stacked up and doing some pretty respectable bonus damage ... enough so that it started to feel a bit like being able to "critical hit" for extra damage from a Scrapper, rather than being a Tanker. The nice thing about stacking up the DoT damage from Interface was that it would occasionally "finish off the last slivers" of HP all by itself, saving me the effort of animating another attack to deliver defeats. It was actually kind of remarkable, because all of those extra DoT ticks were something that was NOT limited by the +damage buff cap on a Tanker, allowing me to "go beyond" the amount of damage output I ought to have been capable of while using my Build Up power (Focus Chi, 6-slotted with Gaussian's to enable a 2x Buildup when activated because of the Gaussian's proc).
So for anyone who has been itching to "diversify" their options with Interface slotting in iTrials ... I would honestly recommend moving away from Degenerative or Reactive into Cognitive, Preemptive or Spectral when you have your Genesis slot loaded with Socket for +10% proc chances. Increasing the diversity of DoT damage types will deliver much harder "beatdowns" in trial leagues onto AVs and the like, simply due to the 8x collective stacking limit for DoTs of specific damage types.
After all ... DEFEAT IS THE ULTIMATE DEBUFF ... ^_~
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