Questions about Igni and Quen signs

[Wahooka]

I hope someone can help me with this, thanks in advance:

1. Does the damage the Igni sign causes depend on the level of the sign, or just on the base intensity determined by Intelligence? In other words, will Igni level 1 cause the same damage as Igni level 3, but just with a larger angle?

2. I am confused about the Quen sign, because when I cast it and monsters swing at me, they don't appear to be losing hit points. I have level 2 and they should lose 10% of their vitality each time they attack me, right? Or is it only when they hit you, if they miss they are not damaged? Or is it possible certain monsters are immune to Quen?

Thanks.

Wahooka

[Vashra]

Are you ... sure ... you want this math? :)

TL;dnr:

Intelligence purchases boost your sign intensity (and therefore your damage) for ALL the signs you have that cause damage. Place of Power buffs and Petri's Philter do the same thing (and all 3 stack, assuming you have at least three buff slots open (yes you can load up on *ALL* the potions and foods and so on and run out of buff slots, lol).

Specific boosts within the talent tree of specific signs boost the only power of those specific signs. Similarly, Circle of Element buffs boost only the sign to which that Element applies.

Individual points purchased in a Sign such as Igni only add to the damage if they explicitly say they do. Otherwise you're pretty much just adding a wider angle of up-close boom, or a longer distance of far away boom....and unlocking access to purchase the talents that *do* up the power of the boom ;)

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The relationship between Intelligence, any specific sign's level, and sign intensity is intertwined. Yes, the sign's "level" matters, but no it doesn't always....lemme see if I can explain.

Let's pretend we're unlocking these "in order" for when they'd take effect on your Igni:

1) Start with ZERO talent points in Igni, ZERO talent points in Intelligence, and you haven't even found the Igni element stone yet.

2) Having for some odd reason managed to get to the Igni stone without putting ANY points into Intelligence (unlikely, but let's pretend), you discover and click upon the Igni stone, learning the sign. If I remember right, you still have to put at least one point into it to be able to actually cast it, but I could be wrong.

3) Let's say you go ahead and put one Bronze talent into Igni. Your Igni would now only be as powerful as the default starting sign intensity. It tells you on the Bronze talent that your damage will depend on Sign Intensity...which since you've put zero points into Intelligence, is at the game's base default. You can nudge it up by visiting a Place of Power (affects ALL signs), putting the Igni Circle of Element buff on (only ups Igni), and/or drinking a Petri's Philter (buffs ALL signs like a liquid Place of Power, stacks with other buffs).

If you put a talent point into "Harm's Way I" as well, now your Igni has +10% damage.

If we pretend that all signs do 100 damage as a default, and that you've put no points into Intelligence or into any other signs, this means all your signs that can do damage do 100 damage (if you can even cast them at all having spent no points), but now Igni does 110 damage because of that 10% boost.

However, there are all sorts of internal game mechanic rolls that happen, such as "is this mob weak vs. fire?" or "how far away am I?" or "is the mob's back facing me?" etc. which determine whether or not any given blast of Igni will incinerate a mob (causing damage over time as well), and how much actual damage that initial burst hits for (if any). (Helps if you've purchased Incinerate, but you can possibly land Incinerate by wacking mobs with a *torch* a few times if you're lacking Igni-Incinerate.)

If you spend a point in "Student" (the only other point you can spend in Igni at this stage), then in addition to being able to flame folks standing in your face, you may now flame folks a little distance away from you, by powering up the Sign. My own experiments have *seemed* to indicate that taking the time to power the sign all the way up increases the *chances* it will hit with full intensity when it hits, increases the number of mobs that can possibly be hit and/or Incinerated, and increases the distance the fire ball will go. Other than that, this is pretty much nothing but "ranged Igni" with exactly the same results as "in your face Igni" overall ;)

You *can't* upgrade Igni any further until you put at least one point into Intelligence...and putting that one point into Intelligence is *going* to increase your Sign Intensity for all signs (including Igni) by 10%.

At that point, you can now purchase all the level 2 Igni talents, but only Harms Way II increases the damage of your initial Igni blast further (of the purchaseable talents at this stage). Purchasing Incineration adds the potential for additional damage-over-time beyond the first Igni blast. All getting "level 2 Igni" does is widen the angle of your up-close igni (potentially hitting more mobs at one go)..and unlock the other talents in level 2 for purchase.

Now it's back to *having* to purchase the next level of Intelligence, and that's *going* to up your Sign Intensity (including Igni) again....see the pattern?

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Honestly not sure about Quen...It doesn't much fit my play style, so I haven't messed around with it much at all. I *think* it only has the potential to do the mob vitality drain if you cast its powered up version.

[Wahooka]

So you're saying that basically the Igni damage is dependent on the Intelligence level that increases sign intensity, and that merely purchasing level 3 Igni doesn't itself boost the damage level but changes the angle, but other things increase damage like "harm's way" and other perks.

Am I right?

Still would like to know about Quen. I'm specifically wondering if perhaps increasing Dexterity is causing monsters to miss me and avoid damage when i have Quen cast, or are some monsters just immune to Quen?

Any Quen fans out there? :)

[max.strauss]

Originally posted by Wahooka:

Any Quen fans out there? :)

Quen is a very interesting sign in combination with Yrden. Amazing effects are assured. But it's something for tinkerers, while a fully developed Igni is brute force.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx-Q8n1rufg

[Wahooka]

I am just wondering why when I am casting Quen and it is supposed to be damaging those who attack me, it actually isn't. That is really my only question. Is it because they are missing me, or are some immune, or is there another reason?