Amuga

Just wondering how much +spell dmg illy's usually run with. I have a 78 illus and have been bouncing between 350-375 boe, and couldn't find a thread that outlines how much is actually needed to get to the 50% cap. I've only been using the M2 beam as reference and you would need about 500+/- 50 depending on your int to cap out. Could someone help me out, or link a thread that shows a good number to shoot for?

Thx.

Zebsen

+500-600 is about all you need at level 80 to cap beam for most illusionists (depends on int). Other spells still get benefits (like master strikes) well beyond that, but they aren't frequent recast spells like beam so their overall effect on your DPS won't be high. If you run with high % crits, this enables more +damage to be beneficial, but you still won't need much more than 700-800 I don't think.

The easiest thing to do to see if beam is capped is to examine beam and check the damage range on the spell. Then swap out a piece of gear with/without +spell damage trying to match up the int as close as you can. Re-examine the same spell. If you see a big change, you aren't capped. Even if you are capped a little extra is good for when you crit and for other spells.

+spell damage is so ridiculously easy to come by that you won't have any problems hitting the shim beam cap, even as a solo/group player at level 80. People are basically throwing it at you for quest rewards.

My thoughts,
Zebsen

Amuga

As far as dps goes i've been ranking item bonuses in this order:
1) dmg spell crit
2) spell reuse haste
3) boe

the reason boe is last is just due to like you said, it is easy as pie to come by. crit is obv. the thing that the class lacks the most from abilities & aa lines, so its priority #1. spell reuse for #2 because the faster my spells come back the easier it is to keep perpet. running.

thx for the input. i still need to get burdened signet, and i need to hit 80 for the anaphylaxis reward as well as the robe from druscilla, that will be +11 crit right there. Theres also the tomented bracelet of doom with 4 spell crit on it that would be sweet to loot.

Pinski

Spell Re-use is fairly useless for us. We really don't need anywhere near that much at all. Getting to like 10% is more than enough for the majority of our DPS.

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Vallocke

How is this 50% cap determined? I am at +800ish spell damage and a +30 spell damage item raised my Beam max by 12 pts (based on tooltip).

Zebsen

There is a thread somewhere that tells how it's done, but basically if you remove all your +damage items and look at your spell min/max and multiply them by 1.5, that's the most you can achieve on the min/max. UV beam max damage for me is around 1470 I think with my standard buffs up. I'm well over the +damage cap, so normally my max damamge would be around 970 probably.

Int increases the min/max and there forefore increases the amount of +damage that will make an effect. So do other factors like crits and other % damage multipliers.

Zebsen

Cerium

get my beam up near 1500, 1492 i think. Brain clot gets alot of bonus from spell damage the initial nuke is well over 1k. But at this point there isnt much use going higher imo. Im focusing on crits and re-use as well.

Also seems INT right around 1k is about perfect.

yawgmoth

a little offtopic but what is better? the fabled robe from maiden with 100 + spell and 4 crit or the fabled classes chest item

Flipmode

The EoF set vest is better hands down.

Phineus

Same question but 9% crit and 125 boe.