Static Field math... How many times is enough?

[htfy]

Hi all,

I have a math question here. How many times should I cast Static Field on a boss/S.U. before it becomes inefficient?

After speaking to a few people, most say 2 times is the most you should cast it on a boss and not even bother casting it on a S.U..

What does everyone here think?
How many times before it is better to go with just Lightning?

BTW this is about using SF in Hell mode only.

[krischan]

I assume this is about hell mode where static is stops working as soon as life is 50% or less.

It depends on the amount of lightning res of the enemy. A monster with 0% lightning ress will need 3 castings because static deals 25% of the remaining life, so after casting it twice, the enemy is still a bit above 50%.

[htfy]

I assume this is about hell mode where static is stops working as soon as life is 50% or less.

It depends on the amount of lightning res of the enemy. A monster with 0% lightning ress will need 3 castings because static deals 25% of the remaining life, so after casting it twice, the enemy is still a bit above 50%.

Yes this is about hell mode only.

But each time you cast Static Field it does less and less damage right?

So 3 castings is the perfect ammount?

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[krischan]

It's only 25% of the remaining life, so it becomes less and less. In addition, 50% it will suddenly stop working in hell mode and not approach that value slowly. As I wrote, it's only 25% if the enemy has 0% lightning res. A lot of monsters have lightning res and with e.g. 50%, it will deal only half as much, i.e. 12.5% of the remaining life, for example.

The exact formula needs a pocket calculator:

Hell: N=ln(1/2)/ln((100-25*(1-lres/100))/100), rounded up
Nightmare: N=ln(1/3)/ln((100-25*(1-lres/100))/100), rounded up
Normal: Infinite

N is the number of castings, lres is the lightning res of the enemy in percent (might be adjusted by conviction, the lower resist curse or -lightning res gear), ln is the natural logarithm, every scientific calculator has a key for it. You can switch the Windows calculator to scientific via its menu.

BTW, you can use any logarithm, like lg or log, the logarithm to the base of 10, but a discussion of that topic is beyond the scope of this :whistling:

The simple version: Keep an eye on the enemy's life bar and stop casting static field when it's halved in hell, down to 1/3 in nightmare or just a sliver in normal mode (or in any difficulty level in classic). If the enemy is lightning immune, don't cast it at all :azn:

[UltraOverClock]

there is nothing like perfect amount... u should static untill only 50% of monster life is remaining.