Skill Modifiers and Combat Effects

There are 7 Parts of this guide.


 * Part 1 is mostly about effects that have no entry in the spell database and usually stack.
 * Accuracy, Attack, Attack skill DMG: +##, Avoidance, Combat Effects, Damage Shield, Dodge, DoT Shielding, Mana Regeneration, Regeneration, Shielding, Spellshield, Strikethrough, Stun Resist
 * Part 2 is mostly about effects that do have a spell entry and don't stack.
 * Cleave, Ferocity, Furious Bash, Improved Block, Improved Dodge, Improved Parry, Skill mod: "Skill" +##%
 * Part 3 is about Haste.
 * Worn Haste, Haste Spells/Songs, overcap bardsongs (Overhaste)
 * Part 4 is about the game mechanics behind Damage, AC and Attack.
 * Melee Damage, Armor Class, Attack
 * Part 5 part contains some notes and tidbits.
 * How things work: % mods, Dodge, Lockpicking, Bash, Processing (Procing)
 * Part 6: Worn Effects caps.
 * Part 7 adds information about buffs, including disciplines, auras, and similar stuff.

Part 1
Non spell based effects

The first part of the compilation contains effects which can be a bit cryptic since they have no explanation in Lucy. They are not in the spell database and thus cannot be analyzed the same way as focus effects and spells can. They each have their own mechanics and differ from focuses in the way they stack.

Also you should pay extra attention to the fact that both AC and Attack have two different parts that have to do with hit chance vs damage. See section about AC, Attack and Damage below for an explanation on some terms used in this part.

 Accuracy -  Improved chance to hit. This adds to the "hit chance" part of your Attack. 15 accuracy would equal to 1% more landed hits on the mob. According to the Safehouse, the cap is at 150 (wich there is no reason to doubt since the information is said to have come from a dev). See below for information on Attack and Accuracy.

 Attack -  This used to be called Vengeance wich no longer exists, it's now just "+X attack". 10 attack = around 1% more dps. The +Attack stats on items add to the "Power" part of the whole Attack rating. Caps at 250. We should also note that spells that add to Attack to like Spirit of Bi'Lih and Ferine Avatar does  not  count towards this cap while it seems that  Avatar procced from Primals/Prismatic weapons in fact do count towards this 250 cap . See explanation below on difference between the "to hit" and "damage" parts of Attack. Paladins love +Attack items more than apple pie.

 Attack skill  DMG: +## -  A very good example of this Damage mod is backstab, so I'm going to use the Rogues special skill as the prime example. On the new Rogue epic Nightshade we see two modifiers to backstab. The interesting one in this context is  "Backstab DMG: +15" . This is damage that is directly added to your fixed damage. So if you normally hit for 600, you will hit for 615 with this effect. Sources indicate that this damage is not mitigated, and adds unmodified to your total damage score. As of yet, no rogues have accumulated enough of this gear to verify where the cap is, but one would assume that it might be around 100-150. As another example, Monks have a Flying Kick DMG: +15 on their epic 2.0 which works the same way.

 Avoidance -  According to Magelo's script, Avoidance adds to the "avoidance" part of the AC. Taraddar also states: "Normally your defense skill and agility contribute to your "avoidance" ac and increase your chance of being missed. AC from gear doesn't effect this at all. The Avoidance stat directly adds to this and therefore increases ac." See details on AC below. Caps at 100. Parsing has shown these rough figures:  "10 avoidance = +1% to avoidance. Compare to CA3 = +10% avoidance, LR5=+5% avoidance, RM5=+2.5% avoidance.  I assume that the results of the parse points to total number of evaded hits, and not "evasion AC". See Table 1. Melee Avoidance and Mitigation AAs on the Shaman AAs Demystified! page for return per cost info on Avoidance AAs.

 Clairvoyance -  Gives a chance to gain mana equal to the total amount of the modifier when casting spells. This believed to apply to spells close to your level and possibly of minimum amount of mana to cast.

 Combat Effects -  Increases your chance of having your weapons proc. Parses show +10 combat effects is equal to 1 level of weapon affinity on normal weapons. Since weapons have different innate proc rate, the effect varies. 10 Combat Effects would have a higher impact on for example the Ethereal Destroyer, with a low innate proc rate of 85 (100 being standard). Bloodfrenzy has an innate proc rate of 155 while Hammer of Holy Vengeance has whooping 630, where adding 10 extra would do little difference. No parses have been made to suggest a cap, since no one has accumulated enough Combat Effects yet, but we can assume that a cap of 100 is realistic.

 Damage Shield -  Permanent damage shield. Each point equals to one point of DS. Cap  is 15    upped to 30 as of 22 Sep 2005. Stacks with DS spells. You also need to have some kind of spell damage shield spell or effect active in order to use the worn DS to be active. This would probably both include clickies and potions.

 Dodge -  Once a dodge attempt is triggered, the Dodge skill (and +% modifiers) determine success. Dodges are attempted against swings prior to the hit/miss determination, so some of your dodges will be against swings that would have missed anyway. +Dodge mods do not stack, only the highest one is used for calculations.

 DoT Shielding -  Percentage of dot damage mitigation. This works on the total amount of incoming damage, not part of it as it does when calculating melee damage. Your percentage on gear indicates exactly how much less each tick does to you in damage. Caps at 35%.

 Mana Regeneration -  Points of extra mana regeneration each tick. Used to be Flowing Thought. Stacks up to 15 and can be increased up to 20 with AA. Mental Clarity 3 stacks. Player cast and clicky buffs generally stack with no cap. Tribute Mana Regen is subject to the worn cap though.

 Regeneration -  The number of extra HP regeneration each tick. Cap increases with levels and can be increased with AA. Worn cap is 45 at level 70.

 Shielding -  Percentage of fixed damage mitigation. Shielding works on the part of the damage that is fixed and not affected by AC. See [http://samanna.net/sham.info/demystified.shtml Table 1. Melee Avoidance and Mitigation AAs on the Shaman AAs Demystified! page ] for return per cost info on Mitigation AAs.

"Quote from the ranger boards: 'If a mob has a hit range of 500-1000, the damage bonus portion is 500, and 1% shielding would reduce all hits by 5.'  This makes Shielding grant a higher percentage of total damage reduction to characters who's AC is high. Characters with low AC still get the same reduction in damage per point, but the damage reduced for them less percent-ably since they take more damage from the non fixed damage portion of each hit. See details about Damage and AC in the corresponding section below. Caps at 35%."

 Spellshield -  Percentage of spell damage mitigation. The same thing as with DoT Shielding. The percentage on your gear is the raw damage you miss out on. Caps at 35%.

 Strikethrough -  Percentage chance to ignore a dodge, parry or riposte and thus landing a hit even if the mobs succeeds with his skill. Does nothing if you are attacking from behind. Caps at 35%.

 Stun Resist -  Percentage chance of avoiding being stunned. Caps at 35%.

Part 2
Spell based melee foci and percentual skill mods

I name the following entries "spell effects" because their effects are listed in Lucy's spell database. These are in fact focus effects for melee. This also applies to Instrument modifiers and skill modifiers like Alteration and Tradeskills (for example). None of these effects stack, and the highest one always is the only one that takes effect.

Note that there is a big difference between direct skill mods and "Improved" skill mods. The "Improved" are spells (or focus) if you like, while percentual skillmods are processed differently since they are not in the skill database. See Improved Dodge below for details.

Also, there seems to be a special exception to lockpicking, see Fandele Longtooth's note at the bottom of this guide.

 Cleave -  Added (or increased) chance of scoring critical hits. ''Does not require any initial, class-based Critical Melee Hit ability to modify; adds a flat +% to do so for all classes. '' Does not stack with other Cleave, only the higher one applies.

Cleave I adds 4% Cleave II adds 8% Cleave III adds 12% Cleave IV adds 16% Cleave V adds 20% Cleave VI adds 24%

 Ferocity -  Improved chance to double attack. ''Only applies to classes which have the Double Attack skill. '' Does not stack with other Ferocity, only the higher one applies.

Ferocity I Increases chance by 3% Ferocity II Increases chance by 6% Ferocity III Increases chance by 9% Ferocity IV Increases chance by 12% Ferocity V Increases chance by 15% Ferocity VI Increases chance by 18%

 Furious Bash -  Increases the hate generated by the Bash skill from 10% to 70%. ''Only applies to classes which have the Bash skill (not shield block Warrior AA). '' It does not affect the hit chance for bash (though I believe there are items that increase this skill separately). Does not stack with other Furious Bash, only the higher one applies. This skill is for tanks who like to be able to use their shield while retaining a high aggro generation.

Furious Bash I Increases generated by the Bash skill by 10% Furious Bash II Increases generated by the Bash skill by 20% Furious Bash III Increases generated by the Bash skill by 30% Furious Bash IV Increases generated by the Bash skill by 40% Furious Bash V Increases generated by the Bash skill by 50% Furious Bash VI Increases generated by the Bash skill by 60% Furious Bash VII Increases generated by the Bash skill by 70%

 Improved Block -  Improves your chance of blocking. ''Only applies to classes which have the Block skill. '' Does not stack with other Improved Block, only the higher one applies. See notes on Improved Parry and Dodge.

Improved Block I Increases chance of attempting a Block by 8% Improved Block II Increases chance of attempting a Block by 16% Improved Block III Increases chance of attempting a Block by 24% Improved Block IV Increases chance of attempting a Block by 32%

 Improved Dodge -  Improves your chance of triggering a dodge attempt. ''All classes have the Dodge skill. '' Does not stack with other Improved Dodge, only the higher one applies. Certain sources have expressed displeasure with the usefulness of this effect. See Urdegish's note below concerning the actual effect of Improved Dodge and +% Dodge items. Therefore we assume that the best worn Improved Dodge and the best worn +% Dodge will stack, since they are in fact two different effects that do two different things. Improved Dodge gives different effects to different classes based on those classes' innate Dodge cap.

Improved Dodge I Increases chance of attempting a Dodge by 10% Improved Dodge II Increases chance of attempting a Dodge by 20% Improved Dodge III Increases chance of attempting a Dodge by 30% Improved Dodge IV Increases chance of attempting a Dodge by 40%

 Improved Parry -  Improves your chance of parrying. ''Only applies to classes which have the parry skill. '' Does not stack with other Improved Parry, only the higher one applies. We can assume that Improved Parry is similar to Improved Dodge and thus affects the Success rate of the actual parry. Therefore the effect should stack with effects that give a percentage increase to the Parry skill.

Improved Parry I Increases chance of attempting a Parry by 8% Improved Parry II Increases chance of attempting a Parry by 16% Improved Parry III Increases chance of attempting a Parry by 24% Improved Parry IV Increases chance of attempting a Parry by 32%

 Skill mod: "Skill" +##% - ''Requires an initial, class-based ability to modify. '' For reference I also decided to include one example of a skill modifier that affects one of the characters skills. I'm using rogues as an example again.
 *  Skill mod: Backstab +12%  is found on the new rogue epic, and affect the skill, not the damage. This effect thus increases your chance to land a backstab, not do more damage. The effect that increases damage is listed in the previous part of the guide. Since this is a percentual skill modifier, it does not stack with itself. If you have two or more pieces with Skill mod: Backstab +xx%, only the highest one will be in effect.

There are numerous items that modify different skills this way, for instance the Shaman PoTime BP has a Skill Mod: Specialize Alteration +8%. See Fandele Longtooth's note on lock picking and stacking below.

Part 3
Haste

Haste is the original Melee Focus, and has been in the game since day 1. Haste basically consists of 3 parts. There are a few exceptions to this, but to put it simply Haste is made up from Worn Haste + Haste Spells/Songs + overcap bardsongs.

Worn Haste and Haste spells/normal bard songs have a haste cap of 100%.

Some bard songs have a higher haste cap, at 125%; if you check Lucy you can identify these higher-cap bardsongs with the denotation v3. Example for Eriki's Psalm of Power "'' Slot 2: Increase Haste v3 by 30%". '' All Bardsongs with the v3 stacks with worn haste and haste spells, up to 125%. Chanter and Shaman haste spells are generally called "Haste v1".

 For example:  You have a worn haste of 45% and have Speed of Salik cast upon you wich has 68%. You would hit the first cap of 100%. You also find yourself with a bard who is playing Eriki's Psalm of Power that potentially adds another 30% v3 haste wich takes you to the second cap of 125% haste, which currently is the highest haste you can receive.

There are many false ideas on how haste actually works, so let me explain the correct way to interpret haste. If you consider your normal attack speed without any type of haste to be 100% of your attack speed, then full haste makes your attack speed 225% in total. This means you attack 125% more times than if you had no haste. ''' With 125% haste you get 125% more attacks in the same time it took you to make one attack with no haste. '''

An example: You attack your opponent with a Reaver wich has a delay of 40 (attacking every 4 seconds). With 100% haste you land 100% more attacks in the same amount of time, and your effective delay will thus be 20 (attacking every 2 seconds). If you had a bard with you who played the v3 haste song you would end up with a delay of 17.4 (attacking every 1.74 seconds).

There are a few items that add overcap haste like the Symbol of the Overlord from Mata Muram and Silverhoop of Speed from Quarm. These have effects with v3 haste and sources indicate that only the highest v3 haste component takes effect, so they would only be beneficial in a group without a bard (even if the other components stack, like regen etc).

There is also a third type of Haste which is called v2, and are from old Velious era bard songs. They are subject to the 100% cap, and could be used to bring people up to the 100% cap even if they had no 41% haste item at the time. V2 haste is now more or less obsolete, but is still in the game.

There is one more type of haste which is a Monk discipline. This directly lowers the delay of weapons and is unaffected by haste stacking rules.

Part 4
Attack, AC and Damage

To be able to fully understand how some of these effects work, we need to take a look at how AC and Attack really work, and how Damage is calculated. The first thing you need to know is that AC and Attack ''' both conisists of two parts, one part about damage, and one about hit chance. ''' But in order to understand this better need to start off with melee damage.

 Melee Damage 

Brohg writes the following description of melee damage recieved from mobs:  "Mob damage is two parts, DB  (Damage Base/Bonus or Fixed Damage /Vig) '', and (1-20)*DI, which is Damage Interval. You can see this by parsing, that there are 20 discrete amounts of damage any mob can deal on a successful hit. It's not quite /random 1 20, because AC makes a big huge difference in how many low hits you have, but you still have the whole range. If a mob has a damage base of 200, and a damage interval of 20, then (once they hit you) they'll deal either 220 damage, or 240, 260... etc ... 580, or 600 damage." ''

 "High AC  (from gear /Vig) '' reduces the damage taken from the (1-20)*DI portion a lot, making many more low #*DI than high." ''

So all melee damage has two parts, one wich is random and affected by the AC on your gear, and one part that is never modified by AC. The Shielding effect in particular is extra interesting heresince Shielding affects only the Fixed Damage (and is the only thing that affects it), not the random Damage Interval.

 Armor Class 

Armor Class is what decides how much damage you take and how often you take damage. It mitigates damage and it makes the mob miss it's attacks against you. The first part of the AC is "mitigation AC" wich is calculated from the worn AC you gain from your gear. Taraddar writes: '' "Your "mitigation" ac comes from the AC on your gear and is what effects the distribution you get in the 1-20 portion of attacks. Higher ac gets more lower hits etc." ''

This means that the gear you wear decides how much of the random part ie Damage Interval (as described above) of the damage coming your way actually hits you.

The other part of AC is the "avoidance AC" wich is defined by your Defense Skill and your AGI stat. Taraddar writes: '' "Normally your defense skill and agility contribute to your "avoidance" ac and increase your chance of being missed. AC from gear doesn't effect this at all." ''

 Attack 

Attack, like AC, is also composed of two parts. One is based on your Strength and wielded weapon to decided how hard you hit the mob when you connect. Let's call this Power. Brohg writes: '' The Power part of Attack is how hard you hit, when you hit. No amount of power will raise your max hit, but those who are familiar with the (1-20)*DI nature of Everquest damage will understand that shifting your average hits higher on the 1-20 scale will lead to much more overall damage. This is what Power does. Power is modified by Offense skill, Strength score, and +ATK mods on items. In combat, Power is opposed by the target's Mitigation. ''

The other part of Attack decides how often you hit. This is based on your weapon skills. We can also safely assume that your Offense skill is also one part of the calculation. Again, Brohg teaches us: '' "Displayed "Attack" is Accuracy+Power. Accuracy is how likely one is to hit one's target, and in combat is compared to the Avoidance part of AC (more on that later). Accuracy comes from two sources, Weapon Skills and +Accuracy mods on items." ''

 A graph to illustrate the diminishing returns of AC: 



Note that Attack reduction debuffs will move the line from red to blue.

Part 5
Notes and Trivia

 Taraddar's note on how it used to be in Beta: 

On ac (attack too). Each used to be 2 separate values. One for chance to hit or avoid hit and one for how hard you hit or got hit but apparently in beta they decided that was to confusing and just combined them into one number.

 Orruar's note on Percentage mods: 

Rule of thumb: Any % mods that affect skills you can find in your skills window do not stack.

 Urdegish's note on Improved Dodge and Dodge modifiers: 

Improved Dodge increases your chance of triggering a dodge. +% Dodge increases your chance of a successful dodge. As Brohg said, the best mod of each works, and they are not the same and therefore both have an affect when worn.

 Fandele Longtooth's note on lock pick and stacking: 

Lockpick modifiers do indeed stack, but in a very unique way. Modifiers that are equipped will not stack with each other, but a % mod that is HELD on the cursor will stack with worn mods. In order to pick a lock, the rogue needs to have their lockpicks held on their cursor to perform the action. My rogue, with 210 base lockpick skill, raises it to 216 while cheirometric lockpick device (3% mod) is equipped in the hand slot. I can now pick up mechanized lockpicks (2% mod) on to my cursor and go to 220 lockpick skill. Easily seen these days with the new green print in the skill window.

 A note on Bash: 

As a side investigation, we asked the Devs why a bash that failed to stun was so much more likely to interrupt casting than a bash that would have stunned, but didn't (due to resist or immunity). It turns out that the mechanism first determines if a bash will stun or not; if not a stun, it checks for interrupt or not. When bash was put in to the game, they did not take into account stun immunity or the development of stun resist mods; so that if the first check yeilds a (potential) stun, it doesn't check for interrupt (assuming the stun would do the interrupting). The Ogre racial immunity to frontal stuns seems to be well worth the 70 levels of experience penalty at this point.

 The order of Processing - and what actually happens: 

 A) Mob attacking you: 

Per Maddoc, in this post, here is the order that a mob's combat check against you is made:

1. Block check 2. Parry check 3. Riposte check 4. Dodge check 5. Shield Block check 6. Avoidance check 7. Start calculating damage taken if all those checks fail.

 B) You Proccing on mob: 

Here is the order that a player's combat check is against a mob is made (based on info at EvilGamer ):

1. Primary (and Secondary if Dual Wielding) Weapon/Aug/Powersource-based proc checks 2. Buff-based proc checks 3. AA-based proc check (SK AA: Touch of the Cursed) 4. Swing (Swings if Dual Wielding) 5. Double Attack check 6. Triple Attack check

These two distinct categories of procs are considered separately (based on info from Yoda at The Steel Warrior ):

 Category 1  - Procs from Weapons and Augs (and probably Powersources):

a) Only a single proc can fire in this first category for each combat round.

b) The order is innate weapon proc first, aug proc second.

c) No tests have further defined the check, but we predict multiple augs in slot order, then powersource.

d) Procs from this first category are modified by Weapon Affinity AA, Combat Effects mods, and Dexterity (benefit caps at 255).

 Category 2  - Procs from Buffs and Innate (SK TotC AA) Procs:

a) Although a single proc can only proc once per round, multiple procs from this second category can fire within the same combat round, even if a proc of the first category fires too.

b) Procs from this second category fire only in the combat round of the primary hand.

c) Procs from the second category are modified by Dexterity (benefit caps at 255), but not by Weapon Affinity AA or Combat Effects mods.

d) Each individual proc can have a proc rate mod built in that lets  this particular proc  fire at an increased or decreased rate; this individual proc rate mod is  not  applied to other procs.

e) Warrior auras: Myrmidon's Aura shows a +1% proc rate mod and Champion's Aura shows a +2% proc rate mod. This is such a small boost that parsing has been inconclusive.

 Note: Mainhand Modifier  - There is a global proc rate modifier for the primary hand that multiplies by two every single proc rate.

ex: the bloodfrenzy has a proc rate mod of +55%; assuming a Dexterity of 255+ (giving the "1"): - in offhand it would fire at (1+55%+WA%+CE%) - in primary it would fire at 2*(1+55%+WA%+CE%)

Part 7
 Buffs, Disciplines, Auras, etc. 

 Critical Damage Mob: 

Slot 10: (110) - Shaman, Prophet's Gift of the Ruchu (own group only) Slot 10: (70) - Shaman, Fateseer's Boon (own group only) Slot 7: (30) - Berserker, Bloodlust Aura Effect (own group only) Slot 7: (20) - Berserker, Aura of Rage Effect (own group only)

 Increase Accuracy: 

Slot 12: 130% - Bard, Kinsong (own group only) Slot 2: 45% - Ranger, Auspice of the Hunter Slot 10: 40% - Shadowknight, Lich Sting (own group only) Slot 10: 30% - Shadowknight, Reaper Strike (own group only)

 Increase All Skills Damage Modifier by: 

Slot 9: 30% - Berserker, Bloodthirst Effect (own group only) Slot 4: 10% - Shaman, Champion Slot 7: 5% - Shaman, Spirit/Talisman of Might Slot 7: 5% - Druid, Lion's Strength

 Increase Attack: 

Slot 3: 140 - Shaman, Champion Slot 2: 90 - Ranger, Howl of the Predator Slot 1: 60 - Ranger, Strength of Tunare Slot 6: 15 - Shaman, Spirit of Bih'li Slot ?: 50 - Offense Enhancement (Group Leader Ability) Slot ?: 50 - Offense Enhancement (Raid Leader Ability)

 Increase Chance to Critical Hit by: 

Slot 5: 120% - Circle of Power III Effect Slot 1: 100% - Berserker, Cry Havoc (own group only in practical use) Slot 4: 90% - Ranger, Auspice of the Hunter Slot 5: 80% - Circle of Power II Effect (own group only) Slot 11: 65% - Shaman, Prophet's Gift of the Ruchu (own group only) Slot 11: 50% - Shaman, Fateseer's Boon (own group only) Slot 5: 40% - Circle of Power I Effect Slot 6: 20% - Enchanter, Hastening of Salik

 Increase Chance to Hit by (with All Skills): 

Slot 5: 5% - Rogue, Theif's Eyes

 Increase Chance to Riposte (and Parry and Block): 

Slot 3: 10% - Monk, Master's Aura Effect Slot 3: 5% - Monk, Disciple's Aura Effect

 Increase Double Attack by: 

Slot 4: 6% - Monk, Fists of Wu (own group only) Slot 3: 3% - Ranger, Howl of the Predator

 Increase Dual Wield (by): 

?

 Procs: 

Slot 5: (400) Add Proc: Panther Maw rate mod 400 - Shaman, Spirit of Panther (own group only) Slot 1: (100) Add Proc: Storm Blade Strike rate mod 400 - Bard, Storm Blade (own group only)

Slot 11: Increase Proc Modifier by 2% - Warrior, Champion's Aura Effect (own group only) Slot 11: Increase Proc Modifier by 1% - Warrior, Myrmidon's Aura Effect (own grouip only)

 Special Haste-like Stuff: 

Slot 2: Hundred Hands Effect - Berserker, Ancient Cry of Chaos (own group only)

 Overhaste v3: 

Slot 2: 30% - Bard, Eriki's Psalm of Power (own group only) Slot 2: 30% - Bard, Aura of the Muse Effect (own group only)

Credit
Originally from http://samanna.net/eq.general/effects.shtml

Compiled here from various sources by Vigdis of Zek (with the occasional spot heal by Hamlon of Zek).

Contributors who have been ninjaquoted and whose posts have been cornered and tanked for information (in no particular order): Shackleton/decius1, Payn_Prexus, Hurk, Brohg, Kevagron, Rydeon, Castina Solomnus, The Ranger Forums, Ladwenae, Orruar, Retron, Urdegish, Taraddar, Scowl, Jayabalard, Samanna, Swiftkique. Without you guys this compilation would not have been possible.