Potency vs. Impulse

[Grimstad]

I'm a new spellcaster, working toward completionist. I was wondering if someone could explain the difference between Potency and Impulse.

For example, as a Fire Savant sorcerer, which is better- a +50 Combustion item, a +50 Potency item, or a +50 Impulse item?

I understand they don't stack.

Do they all give the same result? +50 to Fire spell power? (as well as other powers for Potency and Impulse)

This is important to me when choosing which items to equip.

 

[PraetorPlato]

Impulse is for force spellpower. Impulse will help untyped damage, force damage, and physical damage from spells (e.g. blade barrier), but will do nothing for fire.

 

[rabidfox]

If all 3 were +50, then potency would be the better choice to use as it would boost some of your non-fire spells too. But potency items at the same item level will be a smaller value then individual spell power choices.

 

[DDO Gaming]

+50 combustion offers +50 Spell Power to all your fire spells
+50 Impulse offers +50 Spell Power to all your force spells
+50 Potency offers +50 Spell Power to every spell.

Guys sometimes you need to offer complete sentences

 

[Almghandi]

For example, as a Fire Savant sorcerer, which is better- a +50 Combustion item, a +50 Potency item, or a +50 Impulse item?

+50 is kinda small and really at that niveau also kinda not relevant.....
as always I think it depends on what you are doing... or planning /hoping to do.
I'd personally prioritise a crit% boost over an only +50 spellpower... if I had to choose. If getting near the higher level stuff its always good to not completely ignore the DC stuff for cc etc...

 

[Grimstad]

Impulse is for force spellpower. Impulse will help untyped damage, force damage, and physical damage from spells (e.g. blade barrier), but will do nothing for fire.

I think this is my problem. I'm not understanding what force power is, and untyped damage. In my mind, elemental damage is force, but that seems not to be the case.

If all 3 were +50, then potency would be the better choice to use as it would boost some of your non-fire spells too. But potency items at the same item level will be a smaller value then individual spell power choices.

I've noticed that Potency items have a lesser value. In this case, Combustion would be the better choice.

+50 is kinda small and really at that niveau also kinda not relevant.....
as always I think it depends on what you are doing... or planning /hoping to do.
I'd personally prioritise a crit% boost over an only +50 spellpower... if I had to choose. If getting near the higher level stuff its always good to not completely ignore the DC stuff for cc etc...

The +50 was just an example, as I am only at L7 at this time. Once I hit 20, I'm reincarnating again. However, do you think a crit boost is always better than a power boost?

 

[PraetorPlato]

I think this is my problem. I'm not understanding what force power is, and untyped damage. In my mind, elemental damage is force, but that seems not to be the case.

Yeah, it's not. Damage is typed—so you can deal fire damage, slashing damage, force damage, acid damage, electric damage, etc.

Impulse (force spellpower) helps force damage, bludgeoning damage, slashing damage, piercing damage, bane damage and untyped damage from spells (e.g. ruin). Kind of a catch-all category. A fireball does fire damage, so force spellpower doesn't do you any good. Your meteor swarm, on the other hand, benefits from fire spellpower for its fire damage and force spellpower for its bludgeoning damage.

 

[Almghandi]

The +50 was just an example, as I am only at L7 at this time. Once I hit 20, I'm reincarnating again. However, do you think a crit boost is always better than a power boost?

Personally I would always prioritise crit boost for an heroic levelling build.... search and keep those and for basic spellpower use the rng stuff...

 

[Grimstad]

Thanks everyone. My understanding of Force is now just a little foggy, instead of opaque

 

[Grimstad]

Fire spell power is currently 146 at level 7. Is that okay or sucky?

 

[Almghandi]

Fire spell power is currently 146 at level 7. Is that okay or sucky?

do the mobs fall down or do you have to jump back and forth until the cooldown is out?
I normally dont spend enough time at lvl 7 to merit thinking about the gear really.

 

[Grimstad]

do the mobs fall down or do you have to jump back and forth until the cooldown is out?
I normally dont spend enough time at lvl 7 to merit thinking about the gear really.

Depends. In some cases I can one or two shot with metamagics off (eats too much SP). I save metamagics for end fights.
I was very surprised that fire does so small an amount of damage to slime and oozes. I thought they'd all one-shot melt into a puddle of goo. On the other hand, it works well on constructs, which also surprised me.

 

[DBZ]

Crits crits and more crits

1500+ at 32

 

[Buddha5440]

Potency covers every damage dealing or healing spell but has a lesser value. Specialized, like Combustion or Impulse, affect a single type of spell damage (or in the case of Impulse, Force, Physical (slash/pierce/bludg), and Untyped (Bane, etc.) See here for what effects what (near the bottom "Affected damage types" table).

The most you will likely get from any combination of equipment at lv 7 is +99 SP for a single element (+66 regular (ie. Combustion) and +33 Insightful). For Potency the max would be +57 SP (+38 regular and +19 insightful).

As for what resists what, take a look here: Monster DR and weakness. It is woefully incomplete as far as what monsters are on it but the info on it is correct.

 

[Fauxknight]

I think this is my problem. I'm not understanding what force power is, and untyped damage. In my mind, elemental damage is force, but that seems not to be the case.

Elemental damage more is from the elemental energy of the spell rather than from a physical object. Fire burns, acid melts, cold freezes, and lightning zaps. A Fireball is not a solid, it is made from pure fire and deals only fire damage. These type spells can include a physical form (like ice and acid), but the damage is still generally from their elemental energy and not blunt force trauma.

Force damage is from objects slamming into things. Pure Force damage that actually uses the force descriptor is something like magic missile, which exists in the physical and ethereal plane as objects of pure magic. In DDO the spellpower also covers purely physical objects created from magic which can deal Untyped, Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing damage.

Spells that deal damage from both an elemental effect and a physical object hitting the target often have the damage split between both the elemental damage and some sort of force damage (usually bludgeoning/untyped). Examples are Meteor Swarm and Ice Storm.

In short read the spell descriptor to know what type of damage it outputs.

 

[Archest]

Lore increases the chance for a critical hit which will cause double damage++
Impulse is Force damage
Impulse + Insightful Impulse increases spell power
Potency is the same as Impulse so it doesn't stack with it but adds spell power to other spell powers.
Damage = spell power x critical if critical hit is successful

 

[h46av8r]

To confuse things further, there is also universal spell power - this will add to each type of spell power and, unlike potency, does stack with other sources of spell power.

 

[dur]

..was gonna ask but decided to not. lol

 

[Shardrena]

I think this is my problem. I'm not understanding what force power is, and untyped damage. In my mind, elemental damage is force, but that seems not to be the case.

As others have said, "force" is a catch all for non-elemental damage. Force spell power applies to spells like Magic Missile, Chain Missile, Force Missile, and the like. If the spell creates an object that causes non-elemental damage (blades, thorns, salt, giant stones, excreta) then it'll also uses force damage.

What type of Potency you want can really depend on if your a specialist or generalist. A fire savant who specializes in fire spells is going to probably want Combustion items to raise fire spellpower, rather then general Potency items. Even then, there are a lot of things that highly resist or are immune to fire. So you'd want to have a secondary specialization planned, or opt for as good of a general Potency item as you can get in addition to the Combustion one. This way your non-fire spells don't lag behind too much. Well, cold based spells would suck, but that's due to Fire Savant.

Take my alchemist Rijor Slickscale, for example. for offense she specializes in acid damage. But I also use general Potency gear, because Acid is sometimes a bad idea. Some enemies are immune to or healed by acid, for example. In those situations, being able to use other damage types is a Good Idea. They wont be quite as effective due to not having free metamagic applied, but the option is good to have.

 

[dur]

I've noticed that Potency items have a lesser value. In this case, Combustion would be the better choice.

Potency levels on items vary. C.Crafting is helpful here. Depending on character level.

Potency covers every damage dealing or healing spell but has a lesser value. Specialized, like Combustion or Impulse, affect a single type of spell damage (or in the case of Impulse, Force, Physical (slash/pierce/bludg), and Untyped (Bane, etc.) See here for what effects what (near the bottom "Affected damage types" table).
[]
As for what resists what, take a look here: Monster DR and weakness. It is woefully incomplete as far as what monsters are on it but the info on it is correct.

bold mine; I thought so but can't keep all this stuff str8 on top of RL Yeah, would love to see more monster info on inspection (esp as we fill monster manual; grr)

Elemental damage more is from the elemental energy of the spell rather than from a physical object. Fire burns, acid melts, cold freezes, and lightning zaps. A Fireball is not a solid, it is made from pure fire and deals only fire damage. These type spells can include a physical form (like ice and acid), but the damage is still generally from their elemental energy and not blunt force trauma.

Force damage is from objects slamming into things. Pure Force damage that actually uses the force descriptor is something like magic missile, which exists in the physical and ethereal plane as objects of pure magic. In DDO the spellpower also covers purely physical objects created from magic which can deal Untyped, Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing damage.

Spells that deal damage from both an elemental effect and a physical object hitting the target often have the damage split between both the elemental damage and some sort of force damage (usually bludgeoning/untyped). Examples are Meteor Swarm and Ice Storm.

In short read the spell descriptor to know what type of damage it outputs.

Spell descriptors n damage type/saves are not always clear, or clear as mud (along with inscription level.) This really should have been rectified a loooonnnnggg time ago IMO so many magic/spell classes n seeming overlap.. it's all v.confusing to me.