Spell intensity/deathblow

[murkdizz 0]

Ok so my inquisitor has a fair share of a few stats, and pairing up with an ice elf is REALLY humbling me.

 

My inkie is-

level 97

Pure caster Astute/Nefarious

59% deathblow

45% spell intensity

44% cast speed

level 69.4 Levin Array (roughly 4,100 damage)

 

The reason for the above listed stats and inclusion of the Levin Array is for my topic's question.

 

I understand how both deathblow and spell intensity work, so that isn't the issue. The issue is my Levin Array while listed at about 4k damage, realistically does around 2400-2800 damage (on plat and niob) and whereas I know deathblow has diminishing returns, I'm forced to use it because of the partial damage I'm doing.

 

Now when I had 113% spell intensity, I was still doing around the same 60% of damage. So I guess what I'm asking is... should I sacrifice the casting speed for more spell intensity, or to get my deathblow back up to around 68%?

 

I REALLY want my spells to do the listed amount, but unless I unsocket all my +skill jewelry from my gear, I don't know how to get above 120% spell intensity.

 

Also is it worth it to use the blacksmith for +damage (pure caster remember) over socketing?

 

Seeing a high elf that used to be around same level having 2k ice shards and my extended levin array only doing 1300 (at the time) was really frustrating me. Now the ice elf one shots everything whereas I'm using my whole combo (maelstrom+levin+thrust) just to kill the same mobs.

 

I don't know if I'm equipping the wrong rings or what... but I roughly have 4 rings for deathblow, 4 for spell intensity, 2 for cast speed, and around 6 for +magic (which I don't use since I'm only getting 60% out of my spell, all for rings of 25-30% each only adds about 400 to my tooltip of levin array).

 

Please keep in mind I'm not looking for an explanation of how the skills work, I'm looking for help from someone who has had this same problem and has an understanding of how to improve an inquisitor's damage output.

 

=)

[Llama8 8]

That reduction in damage you're seeing is due to the target's resistances to magic (which is what Levin Array does, IIRC). All spell intensity does is make it more likely that your spell will "beat" the target's spell resistance & do it's full damage, but then it will still be reduced by the target's resists. Personally I'm not that much of a fan about Spell Intensity, since I think there are other mods that can be more useful if you're not suffering from the damage reduction due to the spell "failing" the spell intensity/resistance check.

 

One thing you could do to check is to see how many different numbers you're seeing when you hit things with Levin Array, you should see 3 different numbers, the lowest value (~60-70% of the normal damage) due to failing the spell intensity/resistance check, the normal value & a high value (when you suceed on a crit check). If you're seeing a lot of the low numbers, then yes, you need more SI. IIRC, SI is based on Int, so HEs will have an edge there.

 

If you can give us some sample numbers of damage you're doing & against what (& ideally, what resists it has when you've killed it), we can probably help more.

[murkdizz 0]

If you can give us some sample numbers of damage you're doing & against what (& ideally, what resists it has when you've killed it), we can probably help more.

 

As of last night at level 98, my Levin Array is tooltipped to do 4,140 with 147% spell intensity and 59% deathblow (I swapped out one of my Nlovae's Mystery for an Ignus Magica) and my typical numbers were 2100-2700 on the humans (which I do 98% damage according to bonus overview) from Grunwald Portal to the Dragon. They were around level 118 and I didn't try again after I hit 99 but I will today. I'm guessing a chunk of it is due to level difference and resistances but I want to overcome it and also... when I was on my buddys server (level 106 when I was 97) I was STILL seeing the same numbers so hmm, maybe it isn't level.

 

My Raving Thrust is tooltipped to do 7,095 and it also only does about 2,700 damage but that's physical damage so understand Niob mobs taking less damage for it.

 

I believe that plat was showing same numbers, I'll try gold later to see.

 

I just want to make sure I'm not equipping incorrectly since this is my first char lol.