Chain lightning next hit delay?

[LD50]

Hi,

I seem to remember that CL has a feature that the same target can't be hit by it again in 4 frames or something. Playing a lightning sorc, groups, even large ones, often seem to not take as much damage as I would think, spamming CL their way. If one CL makes 12 hits, and you spam it at 12 fpc, you'd basically have CL hitting roughly once every frame, and the 4 frame limit would be pretty much always "on", unless the CL jumps just right between monsters, right?

Or, does the limit only apply to hits by the same CL cast, so two different CLs could hit more often? Or is this whole thing just a voice in my head?

Anyone have any detailed info on this one? Thanks!

[sirpoopsalot]

4 frames is only 0.16 seconds, so in a large pack the CL will often bounce from target to target to target and that time will expire before the CL returns to a previous target. So in large packs, next delay isn't really more of a problem than CL's low minimum damage.

But in a pack of only 2 or 3 monsters, the CL might bounce back & forth quicker than the 0.16 timer, and some hits would be negated by next delay.


I'm 90+% sure that next delay applies to that damage type, not to the individual spell cast. So 2 CL sorcs would likely trigger next delay often. I can't remember if it also applies to different damage-types that also have next delay (for example, iirc Tornado has next delay too, so if your CL sorc is attacking at the same time as a wind druid, do they both do damage?)

[LD50]

4 frames is only 0.16 seconds, so in a large pack the CL will often bounce from target to target to target and that time will expire before the CL returns to a previous target. So in large packs, next delay isn't really more of a problem than CL's low minimum damage.

But in a pack of only 2 or 3 monsters, the CL might bounce back & forth quicker than the 0.16 timer, and some hits would be negated by next delay.
Yes, this much I figured. I was wondering about a situation where you are casting CL multiple times to the same pack, and so there are more than 1 CL bouncing about. But since ...

I'm 90+% sure that next delay applies to that damage type, not to the individual spell cast. So 2 CL sorcs would likely trigger next delay often.
... it would seem that it would be the same regardless if it's two sorcs or just one. The reason I started to wonder this is that it may be better to use lightning with tight packs of monsters, even if they're not in perfect line for it.

Something to test out while Baaling :)

[sirpoopsalot]

Considering Lightning has (roughly) twice as much average/max damage, in my opinion it's better on tight packs - with or without next delay. :p

Still, with the 11+ frame casting speed of CL, I would think it would be finished before you can cast it a 2nd time anyways.

[stephan]

Next delay affects all further spells that also have next delay.

[droid]

Addressing Lightning vs CL, not really the OP :):

Its entirely situational, of course, and depends on how the monsters happen to be oriented. Even if you dont get re-hits with your chain, everyone gets hit at least once.

That means, assuming Lightning will do about twice as much damage as CL, the question reduces to: Will I hit at least half the monsters in the pack? If you think you can, then Lightning becomes the better alternative. If you can only hit 2 out of 5, say, then CL will still be better since it hits all 5.

As you can imagine, the difference usually is negligible. And its probably pretty impractical to try and make that analysis for every monster pack, every time, fast enough that your decision-making delay doesnt overcome the benefit from choosing the right spell.

You're usually fine, strategically speaking, just sticking with CL for groups of 2 or more, and then switching to Lightning for the 2 or 1 left at the end.

And if you're in a group with other CL sorcs, and you're getting nextDelay on everything, then it doesnt really matter since everything's already taking damage as fast as the game allows :D

[AnimeCraze]

You don't need to make the decision perfectly. I mean, it is usually easy to tell in a glance whether 1 will do significantly more damage than the other, and if you can't, the damage difference is small anyways.