Nova procs? Are they really that good?

[Keywing]

So I wanted to discuss the nova procs
When I say nova I mean Glacial Nova, Cataclysm and Supernova
Now I do enjoy the freeze effect of Glacial nova but that is of course the primary reason for it.
As for Cataclysm, the damage range seems to be much more well rounded than Supernova but it is considerably less common
Supernova has the chance of dealing nice damage up close but also stands a chance of dealing absolutely terrible damage

So this brings to question, are they really that good?

Last ladder I was obsessed over the idea of a Supernova Paladin so I made the enhanced AmnXis staff runeword with Black Dwarf amulet.
My supernova was around level 90 and I had over 1,000% lightning spell damage bonus.
To be honest, it was pretty awful.
Granted, part of this was because it costs ungodly amounts of mana and in Superbeast form you burn through mana like there's no tomorrow but the damage was also not even half of what I expected.
I don't remember the actual numbers for Supernova's damage but I do know that is sucked for clearing dcows. To the point that an Apocalypse, that was pieced together with mostly junk, was able to clear substantially faster.

So I'm curious, why is Supernova so incredibly popular?

[ChuckNoRis]

So I'm curious, why is Supernova so incredibly popular?

eyecandy mostley

[Keywing]

So I'm curious, why is Supernova so incredibly popular?

eyecandy mostley

Which makes sense but at the same time on certain builds it overloads the sprite limit and makes gameplay more difficult

[qweqwe]

Last ladder I was obsessed over the idea of a Supernova Paladin so I made the enhanced AmnXis staff runeword with Black Dwarf amulet. My supernova was around level 90 and I had over 1,000% lightning spell damage bonus.

I don't remember the actual numbers for Supernova's damage but I do know that is sucked for clearing dcows. To the point that an Apocalypse, that was pieced together with mostly junk, was able to clear substantially faster.

Wow thanks man. I was going to use Black Dwarf with %light spell dmg and various +skill items to determine the light spell dmg progression of Supernova per level and calculate it at slvl 49 so I know how much my 5%ctc slvl 49 Supernova does, and then calculate it with +spell dmg etc etc. Now I know it sux even when buffed with +8-12 all skills and +21-36 Supernova and 1000% spell dmg. Seriously that's a huge buff.

So I'm curious, why is Supernova so incredibly popular?

For me at least, it was because I couldn't tell how much damage it was doing (until I find the oskill at least), so I just used it. Now I know it sux.

[hellgrind]

To deal some dmg all elem proc require at least -100 en res and a lot of spell dmg. For caster it's easy to reach but for wdm char it's only eyecandy like Chuck said. Neither to say they will deal some dmg but not the one you wanna build around it.

[Keywing]

Last ladder I was obsessed over the idea of a Supernova Paladin so I made the enhanced AmnXis staff runeword with Black Dwarf amulet. My supernova was around level 90 and I had over 1,000% lightning spell damage bonus.

I don't remember the actual numbers for Supernova's damage but I do know that is sucked for clearing dcows. To the point that an Apocalypse, that was pieced together with mostly junk, was able to clear substantially faster.

Wow thanks man. I was going to use Black Dwarf with %light spell dmg and various +skill items to determine the light spell dmg progression of Supernova per level and calculate it at slvl 49 so I know how much my 5%ctc slvl 49 Supernova does, and then calculate it with +spell dmg etc etc. Now I know it sux even when buffed with +8-12 all skills and +21-36 Supernova and 1000% spell dmg. Seriously that's a huge buff.

So I'm curious, why is Supernova so incredibly popular?

For me at least, it was because I couldn't tell how much damage it was doing (until I find the oskill at least), so I just used it. Now I know it sux.

I mean the max damage on mine was pretty high.
I wanna say somewhere around 45k but since it hits multiple times it had a chance of being pretty high
The problem is it's one of those skills (As with many lightning spells) that range from 1-XXXXXX So in a perfect situation each both could hit for 45k dealing unbelievable damage but in the worst situation it could deal 1 damage each bolt. There's just a lot of room for fluctuation and in a game like Median, I feel fluctuation is rarely something a build can the based around.

Though on items like Flying Saucer, the massive number of novas does make a difference but honestly, to me, it seemed like a mild benefit. Nothing to warrant the extreme supernova fan base.

To deal some dmg all elem proc require at least -100 en res and a lot of spell dmg. For caster it's easy to reach but for wdm char it's only eyecandy like Chuck said. Neither to say they will deal some dmg but not the one you wanna build around it.

Even on my pally with 200 pierce (I know only 100 is necessary for normal monsters) at level 90 with my very high spell damage buffer, it still wasn't very substantial.


Cata on the other hand, if I'm not mistaken can deal epic damage if multiple fireballs hit a single target due to their splashing explosion.

[qweqwe]

I mean the max damage on mine was pretty high. I wanna say somewhere around 45k but since it hits multiple times it had a chance of being pretty high. The problem is it's one of those skills (As with many lightning spells) that range from 1-XXXXXX So in a perfect situation each both could hit for 45k dealing unbelievable damage but in the worst situation it could deal 1 damage each bolt. There's just a lot of room for fluctuation and in a game like Median, I feel fluctuation is rarely something a build can the based around.

Even on my pally with 200 pierce (I know only 100 is necessary for normal monsters) at level 90 with my very high spell damage buffer, it still wasn't very substantial.

Yup, at slvl 90 with 1000%light spell dmg buff, dmg isn't high since it is 1-45k and let's say we take average of 22.5k per bolt.

At more realistic values e.g. the rare ring affix of 5%ctc slvl49 supernova and with a more realistic light spell dmg of 400%, the max dmg will be less than 1/4, i.e. 11.25k.Average of 5.6k per bolt, so damage actually not very high. Probably good only for the single target it spawns under, other targets will take very little damage.

Cata on the other hand, if I'm not mistaken can deal epic damage if multiple fireballs hit a single target due to their splashing explosion.

I'm curious about cataclysm as well, but I haven't got a Sha'ad rune. Maybe you want to test it out and tell us the dmg at slvl 16 with 0 fire spell dmg?

[Keywing]

I'm curious about cataclysm as well, but I haven't got a Sha'ad rune. Maybe you want to test it out and tell us the dmg at slvl 16 with 0 fire spell dmg?

Tested.
Without any charms or spell damage or even +1 to all skills from any source level 24 Cata (lowest possible on sha'ad scepter RW) the damage is 387-1162 per fireball.
it fires 32 fireballs around you.

[qweqwe]

I'm curious about cataclysm as well, but I haven't got a Sha'ad rune. Maybe you want to test it out and tell us the dmg at slvl 16 with 0 fire spell dmg?

Tested.
Without any charms or spell damage or even +1 to all skills from any source level 24 Cata (lowest possible on sha'ad scepter RW) the damage is 387-1162 per fireball.
it fires 32 fireballs around you.

awww thanks. how about at slvl 25, slvl 27, slvl 30 etc (i.e. with a few charms)? just wanted to get an idea of the progression per level so i can extrapolate it back to slvl 16. thanks!

[Keywing]

slvl 25 is 395-1185 Barely any jump at all

slvl 29 is 543-1630

Again with no spell damage buffs and only 50 energy added with the slvl 29