Intermediate Necromancer Questions

[Nocte]

This thread is about gameplay mechanics; I'm not actually investigating techniques that I'd use regularly.

How does Feign Death affect the ratio between pet damage and my damage as far as the experience split is concerned?
Example: I send pet in. Pet taunts/smacks/laughs and generally holds aggro. I DoT it too heavily for my pet to maintain aggro, so to get rid of aggro, I Feign Death.


What happens to the damage that I did prior to FD? Is it wiped or still attributed to me with respect to the ratio between me and my pet?
How is the damage from the DoT(s) that occur while I'm still FD attributed?

[Uteunayr]

As for the first question, I cannot assist you. That is a question that requires testing I have not done. However, I think I can offer some insight into your second question.

When you FD, all pure damage DoT damage is no longer attributed to you for the sake of experience/faction. Only the application of the DoT, into clear, successive ticks will build up to this value. Once you Feign Death, you remove yourself from it entirely. This is how Necromancers can power level, as you get someone else to hit a mob for 1 damage, and then you root it, DoT it up, and feign death. Once it is feigned, you can stand up, and sit down while the successive ticks kill the mob, but none of it counts to you, and your PLee will get the full experience for their 1 damage.

Note that this does not work for DoTs with alternate effects. What my tests have resulted in is showing that the healing aspect of the Bond of Death/Vexing Mordinia spell line (Lifetap over time) will give you back experience/faction even after a FD. What I can not say with certainty is if it is the damage of those DoTs specifically, or if it is the outcome of the HoT placed on you. This is easily testable, however, as you would need to simply place the DoT on an enemy, feign death, and while feigned, click off the HoT effect, and then stand up and see if you get experience/faction when it dies.

That's the best insight I can offer from my time powerleveling.

[Asap]

When you FD, doesn't your pet die?

[Nocte]

When you FD, doesn't your pet die?

Nope!

[Asap]

Nope!

Nice to know, haven't reached the FD level yet!

[Uteunayr]

When you FD, doesn't your pet die?

A Charm pet will break though.

[Swish]

I'd imagine any damage done before the FD is completely wiped, so your braver-than-you pet will be claiming his 50% :D

[Estu]

Here's how I think it works. Damage attribution is based on aggro, so once you wipe your aggro by FD, that DoT is no longer attributed to anyone - you can test this by DoTing a mob without your pet up, then FDing, and either staying FD or getting up - either way, I think you won't get aggro and the mob will just take damage and be like "hey why am I slowly dying? Oh well!" What this means is that the DoT damage that occurred before you cast FD and during/after as well is no longer attributed to anyone - it's like a DS - and so your pet is effectively doing 100% of the damage to the mob for purposes of EXP distribution.

I'm not 100% on this, so again, I would encourage you to test the aggro mechanics. The EXP stuff should line up with the aggro stuff. But I think this is what necromancers exploit to powerlevel. They'll DoT and fear a mob, go FD, and then the mob will be dying on its own, and all the PLee has to do is one point of damage to get the EXP.

[Uteunayr]

Here's how I think it works. Damage attribution is based on aggro, so once you wipe your aggro by FD, that DoT is no longer attributed to anyone - you can test this by DoTing a mob without your pet up, then FDing, and either staying FD or getting up - either way, I think you won't get aggro and the mob will just take damage and be like "hey why am I slowly dying? Oh well!" What this means is that the DoT damage that occurred before you cast FD and during/after as well is no longer attributed to anyone - it's like a DS - and so your pet is effectively doing 100% of the damage to the mob for purposes of EXP distribution.

I'm not 100% on this, so again, I would encourage you to test the aggro mechanics. The EXP stuff should line up with the aggro stuff. But I think this is what necromancers exploit to powerlevel. They'll DoT and fear a mob, go FD, and then the mob will be dying on its own, and all the PLee has to do is one point of damage to get the EXP.

I remember from a year and a half to two years ago on Toll Booth, that it was not the case that a DoT Tick post-FD would not reassert aggro if there was a clear aggro table. The guards would run back to me (or walk, as it was a Darkness dot that I remember this happening with) if I stood up while a DoT remained. However, this could be due to the snare, rather than due to the DoT, but I know that Roots, once FDed, do not reassert aggro, so snare (being a CC) might not have been the reason.

[Estu]

I remember from a year and a half to two years ago on Toll Booth, that it was not the case that a DoT Tick post-FD would not reassert aggro if there was a clear aggro table. The guards would run back to me (or walk, as it was a Darkness dot that I remember this happening with) if I stood up while a DoT remained. However, this could be due to the snare, rather than due to the DoT, but I know that Roots, once FDed, do not reassert aggro, so snare (being a CC) might not have been the reason.

Hmm, interesting. I wonder, then, how necro PL works. I guess you have to stay FD until the mob dies.

[Uteunayr]

Hmm, interesting. I wonder, then, how necro PL works. I guess you have to stay FD until the mob dies.

Only if the DoT has a secondary effect such as a heal, and possibly a snare. It is possible that aggro and experience are not on the same table, and so although successive DoT ticks do give you aggro (to pull the guard with the dot post FD), they do not give you anything on the experience table without further action or a secondary effect that is not wiped by the FD.