Arcane Will and other similar effects

[Nightbringer]

So, I'm getting unusual amounts of them. For example, 3 stacks of Arcane Will on my effects bar. I also have similar case with my defensive abilities. Does that mean they stack over each other or just refresh themselves? For example, would 3xArcane Will result in 390% to all damage or this stacking is completely superfificial? Same stands with all similar abilities, from a long fight I tend to come up with all myriad of stacks on me.

[KG]

Same-source buffs don't stack. If you got Arcane Will from an item it would stack with what you get from Arcanist. It would also stack if you got it from two items at the same time. I think what you're probably seeing is Arcane Will's duration timer icon and the cooldown timer icon for Arcane Will. A third one - I don't know, maybe some other effect using the same or a similar icon.

[Nightbringer]

Well, with my build I keep going below and above activation threshold and Arcane will does have longer duration than its activation cooldown. So I thought it was naturally stacking with itself. If it does not, I think it is design oversight. Like a lot of things in this game, they just confuse ♥♥♥♥ out of me. Like +100% chaos damage. Seemed like insanely much, but now at the end of my campaign, I realize that it is "only nice". Damage scaling is very non intuitive like protection building or descriptions of what does what.


Those numbers are not timers. For example, I had 2 stacks of Golemborn and they ended in less than a second.

[KG]

Oversight would mean it wasn't deliberate. Some buffs in this game would be ludicrously OP if you could find a way to stack them with themselves.

GD is kind of designed such that you can ignore the masses of complexity under the surface if you just want to beat Normal/Veteran, but for those who want to do everything on Ultimate (or just like having all these mechanics to play with) you have a higher knowledge requirement. It was sort of targeted at the people who were let down by D3 and don't like the online-only design aspects of PoE.

[Nightbringer]

So, then it DOES stack with itself? I mean, what are those bloody numbers on my Arcane will and why they are here? Why this ability is designed to stack with itself if it does not stack with itself?

[KG]

I'll be back later. I might fire up GD in a bit and experiment to see for myself what's going on. I have to admit that once I read enough about/figured out how things worked I quit paying attention to individual buff and cooldown timers on the more minor abilities. At endgame you tend to have so much of that crap going off that you can't really keep track unless you neglect actually playing the game.

[Valkez]

Originally posted by Nightbringer:

So, then it DOES stack with itself? I mean, what are those bloody numbers on my Arcane will and why they are here? Why this ability is designed to stack with itself if it does not stack with itself?

The numbers you're seeing are the seconds left on it before the effect is over, then it enters a cooldown phase (6 seconds at max, reduced by cdr like other spells) which is signaled by the same identical icon, but with a red coverup. Once that expires, the spell either reactivates automatically (if you're still under 70% hp), or it waits for you to hit the threshold again.

Judging by the difficulties you're having lately on AoM, it's quite likely that your hp is under the threshold more often than not, and thus you see the icon permanently up.

Also, I think that you're probably mis-wording your situation. By "stacking" we mean that multiple effects are up at the same time. You would have to be seeing multiple icons of Arcane Will one next to the other, which is impossible due to the recharge timer.

[Nightbringer]

It seems the case with Arcane Will, but not with others like Sanctuary. I had 3 separate instances of it. In photos you can see 2 of them, but I waited for quite a bit to see if they would change. They do not.

https://ibb.co/hCjTxz
https://ibb.co/jWP6je
https://ibb.co/dSHsPe


Furthermore, I built this hero for him to become stronger the longer fights goes. So, I took the interaction of arcane will for it to stack upon herself as other effects do. At the moment, skill is stated to recharge at 4.7 seconds while its duration is 6 seconds. I would be surprised if it does not and that would annoy me immenselly as rules of this game would become very arbitrary.

[Valkez]

It's all regular man. Like I said earlier, those red numbers you see on Arcane Will are the seconds left on the ability before it expires, not some "stacks".

Originally posted by Nightbringer:

Furthermore, I built this hero for him to become stronger the longer fights goes. So, I took the interaction of arcane will for it to stack upon herself as other effects do. At the moment, skill is stated to recharge at 4.7 seconds while its duration is 6 seconds. I would be surprised if it does not and that would annoy me immenselly as rules of this game would become very arbitrary.

The recharge timer being lower means it will take less to reactivate once it expires. But even if you managed to get it to 0, all you'd gain would be a 100% uptime (at 70% hp) of the skill.