Thoughts on Haunt and rune options

[z00t]

My Haunt does 185 damage to Leoric on average, which means 6.16 damage per tick.

The interesting thing is that during my testing one of my Haunts did 278 damage, which is the expected number for a crit, so DoTs can crit after all. This Haunt ticked for 9 damage constantly, but still displayed white damage numbers. I think this means, that on crit bonuses will be gained only once with DoTs, when we use them.

That would suck....it'd mean that the +skill item affix for Locust Swarm would be almost-useless, since all it does is increase the crit chance of Locust Swarm, instead of giving it a flat damage increase. Locust Swarm isn't even a spam spell - it's one that you only need to cast a few times in a fight. I don't get that +skill affix choice :S.

[Jaago]

A critting Locust Swarm gets the critical damage bonus. If you equip enough gear to boost it to over 100%, the increase in crit% would be a larger increase in the spell's average damage than an equivalent increase in spell damage. But true, WD has no special use for critical hits, so the worth of crit affixes is very low for the class. I could almost call that bad design.

[Jaago]

The interesting thing is that during my testing one of my Haunts did 278 damage, which is the expected number for a crit, so DoTs can crit after all. This Haunt ticked for 9 damage constantly, but still displayed white damage numbers. I think this means, that on crit bonuses will be gained only once with DoTs, when we use them.

That almost raises more questions than it answers, such as what happens if it is an AoE spell that hits multiple monsters. Channeled spells must work with some other mechanic still, but this could indicate that over-the-range numbers are indeed crits. Maybe its so difficult to say because cycle rates and damage number pop-up rates do not match, so that a critting cycle is split into two numbers or something.

[HardRock]

Maybe its so difficult to say because cycle rates and damage number pop-up rates do not match, so that a critting cycle is split into two numbers or something.

That would explain certain things, yeah. Making cycles crit, instead of ticks would make sense for channeled spell and it would be consistent with how other skills work. I mean a "cycle" for a normal attack is one hit and for a DoT it's the full duration. Good luck testing this though.

[Santosvella]

My Haunt does 185 damage to Leoric on average, which means 6.16 damage per tick.

The interesting thing is that during my testing one of my Haunts did 278 damage, which is the expected number for a crit, so DoTs can crit after all.

According to the updated DiabloNut there are at least 2 WD skill affixes which boost crit%, one for Acid cloud and one for Locust Swarm.
Granted, the former is half-DD half-DoT, but the latter definitely has to be 100% DoT.

Edit: nevermind, I'll refresh the thread before posting next time