Clean Sweep

[frdnwsm]

I am a little confused about the mechanics for Clean Sweep, which is the Transmuter for the Soldier's Blade Arc skill. Now, a lot of weapon skill transmuters, like Tremors (for Force Wave) or Thunderous Strike (for Primal Strike) work by lowering the damage done per hit, but reducing the CD so that you can spam the skill, resulting in an overall increase in DPS.

The description for Clean Sweep, however, seems a little different:
+15 energy
5 second recharge
-25 weapon Damage
+25% critical damage
Total damage +175%

There is no reduction in CD, so the skill cannot be spammed. It looks like there is an initial damage reduction, followed by a final net increase in damage. I mean, that's cool, but I am just wondering why, mechanically there is a 2 step process. Why bother lowering the damage done at all, if you are going to end up increasing it? It would seem simpler just increase the damage by a certain amount directly.

The only reason I can think of is that it has something to do with how the game engine is coded.

[FlamingX21]

Skill can be spammed from original release, with that I mean without transmuter.

With transmuter, "Blade Arc" becomes unspammable.

[Enfild]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

Why bother lowering the damage done at all, if you are going to end up increasing it? It would seem simpler just increase the damage by a certain amount directly.

It lowers damage from the weapon, so it has lees effect on damage output.

[frdnwsm]

Originally posted by FlamingX21:

Skill can be spammed from original release, with that I mean without transmuter.

With transmuter, "Blade Arc" becomes unspammable.

I don't believe that's the case; there is a 5 second CD even without the transmuter.

Originally posted by Enfild:

It lowers damage from the weapon, so it has lees effect on damage output. [/quote]

Yes, I know; all the weapon skill transmuters seem to do that. My point was that they could achieve the same result in one step (just adjust the end damage to be in the range they want it) rather than a decrease followed by an increase. Seems a bit of a roundabout way of doing it.

[imfratman]

use it on my warlord to great effect at higher levels. look at how my enemies it hits.. with additional 175 % to damage i have had numerous crits of over 300000 on bosses. takes down the trash very fast while spamming force wave

[OrbPlaytime]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

Originally posted by FlamingX21:

Skill can be spammed from original release, with that I mean without transmuter.

With transmuter, "Blade Arc" becomes unspammable.

I don't believe that's the case; there is a 5 second CD even without the transmuter.


It lowers damage from the weapon, so it has lees effect on damage output.

Yes, I know; all the weapon skill transmuters seem to do that. My point was that they could achieve the same result in one step (just adjust the end damage to be in the range they want it) rather than a decrease followed by an increase. Seems a bit of a roundabout way of doing it.

Blade Arc is spammable without the transmuter, (just tested it as well to be sure).

There is a couple of good builds on the Crate forum that use it, but it does require some nice items and has a pretty big hit on Energy once in it a lot.
The Clean Sweep tranmuter is useful even with wpn damage % reduced because Blade Arc has several important dmg increases, and Clean Sweep has Total Damage modified by 175% along with +25% crit dmg (which would also be nice for DoTs).
One use for transmuter could be along with a bleed build (along with Laceration even though it is Internal Trauma) that uses a fair amount of DoTs; kinda expensive commitments though in this setup relative to others.

[frdnwsm]

Bah! OK, you CAN spam Blade Arc without the transmuter. I must have been thinking about a different skill, maybe Force Wave.

It's also partially why I was confused; it does the reverse of the other weapon skill transmuters; it makes the skill not spammable, while the others do the opposite.

[Childe Roland]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

It's also partially why I was confused; it does the reverse of the other weapon skill transmuters; it makes the skill not spammable, while the others do the opposite.

::half-joking::
May I remind you of Dreeg's Evil Eye and it's transmuter, Focused Gaze.

[frdnwsm]

>"::half-joking::
May I remind you of Dreeg's Evil Eye and it's transmuter, Focused Gaze."<

Dreeg's EE isn't a weapon skill; not the same thing at all.

[frdnwsm]

>"Actually, I had the same thought as ChildeRoland -> it´s completely the same mechanic"<

Potato, potahto ... we're talking semantics here. DEE may look the same mechanically, but since it's a spell, it should be governed by casting speed, not attack speed, so technically it's a different thing.

>"CleanSweep does not just add a Cooldown and increase Damage.. you also get: +KnockdownDuration / +Crit / +Threat"<

I know, I just left that part out of the description since I thought it was less germane to the discussion.

[Childe Roland]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

>"Actually, I had the same thought as ChildeRoland -> it´s completely the same mechanic"<

Potato, potahto ... we're talking semantics here. DEE may look the same mechanically, but since it's a spell, it should be governed by casting speed, not attack speed, so technically it's a different thing.

Attack/Cast speed has nothing to do with whether you can spam a skill or not, only cooldown.

Focused Gaze and Clean Sweep both change a spammable skill into a non-spammable one in exchange for more burst damage and some other add ons. It's exactly the same concept. Are you just being a troll or are you really that ignorant of the game mechanics?

Granted DEE isn't a weapon skill (assuming you don't have the Blood Burst node), but given that, of the transmuters that affect skill cooldowns, a third of them add cooldown rather than get rid of it, it's not as odd a concept as you made it out to be.

[OrbPlaytime]

This is slightly off-topic but somewhat relevant.
Speed matters for a spam-channelled skill in that it occurs quicker and so more frequently due to quicker animation if you keep the chars cooldown same.
AAR is a good example really benefiting from it, sure Cooldown is pretty critical but a very high casting speed in this example really helps a lot as well.
Might be helpful a little bit as well for a kiting char for animation-skill completing quicker, but this situation your comparing a attack/cast speed boost of pretty mediocre to that of near max.

[Hot Wet Fart]

Originally posted by frdnwsm:

I am a little confused about the mechanics for Clean Sweep . . . It looks like there is an initial damage reduction, followed by a final net increase in damage. I mean, that's cool, but I am just wondering why, mechanically there is a 2 step process. Why bother lowering the damage done at all, if you are going to end up increasing it? It would seem simpler just increase the damage by a certain amount directly.

From what I understand the "total damage" modifier applies to the total damage the skill inflicts including any damage NOT tied to the weapon you are using AND any bonus damage granted to the skill by a passive specifically tied to that skill. So for example the -25% weapon damage applies to the damage from the weapon itself but NOT to the bleed damage from the Blade Arc skill itself. However the +175% total damage modifier from Clean Sweep DOES apply to the bleed damage from the Blade Arc skill itself. The total damage modifier should also apply to the bonus physical damage that the Laceration skill adds to the Blade Arc skill.