Damage Over Time

[OREGRIM]

Would it be more efficient to invest in straight spell damage? I am using ignite and spreading flames but it seems to tickle mobs not delete them.

[kknd]

Well you can't do critical hits with DoTs, so more straight damage seems the way to go.

[GOD OF WAR SANCHEZ]

Take a look at my vid, I am playing damage over time setup, no crit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4_h5elqnog

[Chadwick Strongpants]

The thing with DoTs is, you want to apply stacks (ignite, damned ect.) as fast and frequently as possible. As with direct damage, the more you invest in it the more potent it gets, and it has the added benefit of ignoring armour (but not resistances).

Dunno about which approach is "better", but playing DoT builds is very viable.

[Urza]

Originally posted by Copper Knight:

Dunno about which approach is "better", but playing DoT builds is very viable.

neither is inherently better based on the fundamental mechanics involved
which is better in a particular case is entirely based on the support for either mechanic mostly in the tree for the skill you intend to use itself.
which skills are the best is just patch-to-patch balance meta

[Gilver Redgrave]

In my experience DoT damage is a bad main damage source.

While i can crit with my skills for 20k DoTs cant do that kind of damage even when build up. Before DoTs start dealing damage i already did way waaaaay more with my skills. DoTs are a nice "addition" to the damage you already deal but they are not a good main source of damage.

[KarakuraLimChan]

I find DOT more fun to play (doing bleed on rogue now). There are some interesting approaches like doing more damage based on stacks, or consuming the stacks to do a higher damage single hit etc, which seems more interesting in gameplay. In POE there was something that helped do the ignite overtime damage faster, which increased the DPS a lot more.

[theslay66]

Ailment based builds can be very potent, but you have to approach it differently than direct damage for the reason that ailments have their own base damage, independant of the damage of the hit that applied them.

First, let's clarify something : although ailment damage is a damage over time, it doesn't works like a damage over time spell.
Damage over time spells do scale with your flat spell damage, however they don't crit nor stack, which makes them quite difficult to scale into end game (with a few exceptions that relies on stacking multiple instances of the spell, like Maelstrom.)

Ailments are applied by 'hits' (any damage that can crit is also a 'hit') and don't scale with your flat damage, so the most important factor is to use a skill that hits as fast as possible. The amount or type of damage doesn't matter as long as it hits (so you can hit with skills triggered by your main skill hits for even more stacks).

The main ways to scale up ailment damage is with :
- attack/cast speed
- %increased damage other time, and relevant %increased damage (fire for ignite, etc.)
- %chance of applying the ailment. Remember, having 200% chance to apply on hit means you will apply 2 stacks at once on each hit, so it directly acts as a damage multiplier (and that's how it can compete with crit-based damage).

Also, remember that nodes in a skill tree that boost the damage of the skill, will also boost the damage of the ailment applied by it, as long it doesn't specifically boost the damage of the 'hit'.

One of the major advantage of DoT damages is that they bypass armor, so their damages stay more consistent as you progress in the game. The inconvenient part is, of course, that DoTs takes time to act, you also need some time to apply multiple stacks as well, so you generally need to have a strong defense to survive while they are taking effect.

[Grimbor]

Most DoTs got nerfed to hell. Back in the day, builds were fun with these like the poison spear using beastmaster that could stack up insane attack speed with poison stacks or bleed spinner sentinels. Now, the only builds I'd consider it with are acolyte type builds where you can get nodes for extra benefits like more damage or cast speed for each stacked curse or ailment. You also need noded skills that apply multiple stacks at a time, like 5+ and quickly- a 100% on hit application won't cut it...

[Tyyne]

Isn't ignite still the worst DoT in the game?