Ranger's armour break doesn't stack

I noticed that my armour break doesn't stack with other classes' armour breaks. Is this a bug or what?
I hit 4k in vortex and when I used armour break on top of vortex I still hit 4k. I should have hit about 8k with double AB.

 

I can confirm that at least visually it stacks. However explosive shot armor break seems pretty bugged and often does not activate.

 

The armor symbol on top of mobs is buggy. It dissapears early at times, reappears sometimes and is generally hard to tell what the condition is. I have been moslty soloing so haven't tested it much with other classes where I can tell what is happening. It visually looks like it's stacking but I don't know what the hell my damage is doing anymore. Things just die and I can't tell what happened because the rez window is covering things.

 

How do you use the new shot? Do you combine precision with Explosive shot?

I completelly replaced precision with ES and put 1,3,5 skill points on it. ES is much more powerful if you use it at the right time, but it costs soooo much concentration and concentration doesn't grow on trees. 66 is a lot for a ranger

 

Yes ES is a hog. I selectively use ES on bigger mobs once ive cleared the traffic and have a clear shot. But, most stuff burns down with a mark and Precision and with new maps and tons of little squishies on them I am relying more on an exploding thicket.

On the 66 cost, I put some information HERE that might be useful.

 

Ok I think the idea about the new ability for Rangers might be misunderstood. Or the way I understand it is misunderstood.

The damage it does is BEFORE it breaks the armor. So you will need more than 100% concentration to perform back to back skills. Normal once you reach enough concentration to launch another one the past armor break has dminished by the time it is ready again. Best if used Behind one another but you will loose some damage if you use the ability adrenalin. You can test if you have a concentration potion.

 

Wassup Mega! Hey check the link I gave above for a possible solution with back-to-back shots. Also, Adren does not reduce damage anymore.

 

@BigPapa

I did check out the link but I did not read down to you post. Well till you told me to read lol. So does your secound hit deal more than the first? That would give or take credence from what I said... Oh thankx for the adrian line info.

 

To be competely honest: I don't know wth it's doin'. It doesn't look like the second and third are getting the armor break bonus but I can tell for sure cause sometimes I get 17k crits and I dont know how much the level dif for things effects damage. I'd have to test in PW's but I'm boycotting them lol. In any case even without the armor break the damage to main target is significant because of the double hit of each shot. in any case basic math says it is better-

66 concentration = 2 Precision shots for 300% dmg or 1 Explosion shot for 2x200%. Both take advantage of marking so 2 precision for 600, or 1 ES for 800.

 

Yeh it's pretty buggy, my bow has been completely broken at least once since the new update yet before it didn't notify me that the armour was getting to a low durability level, but i've also noticed the durability is going down far quicker than before the new skills system too... i'm now repairing my bow and armour like 3 times a day compared to the 1 or 2 times a day when i farm even green monsters, i guess that is because of the higher dmg from monsters?, i definitely wouldn't rely on the game telling you your stuff is about to break though and your weapon is always the first thing to go, check the durability yourself.

 

And actually, no one's armor breaks stack anymore. Thanks Devs.

 

This in not correct. The explosion's damage is no longer doubled on marked enemies, like it's been the case on the testserver. So max skilled damage is 600% for 66 conc.

And yes, I've tested this today with a mage and later on with a DK, with neither of them double armor break debuff worked.

 

Hello... About ES.
What I saw in ES is that It does Double DMG to the mark enemy but its EXPLOSION DOES NOT GIVE DOUBLE DMG to marked enemies. You can try by shooting ES on mob and check its exlposion DMG and then mark another and shoot ES... explosion DMG output is same.. so
1 ES is 600% DMG = 2 PS.
Correct me if I'm wrong

 

It is not correct ...

You are wrong ... I am correcting you.

 

Just checked again, you guys are right, I am wrong.
I must have had my eyes somewhere else the last time I checked it...

 

Not a big deal ... it happens sometimes.

Because on this picture I can see 199% + 200% (not 200%+200%) with all upgrades selected on.



And the other thing is it says 53 conc. not 66.
Yes I am using long bow but it should be mentioned because it is the same skill for both builds (long/short bow).
With no gear and flat damage of 226



... it resulted in two different output numbers. (for the arrow and for the explosion)

 

I think the best way to use 100 concentration would be like this: use trap to mark a group, shoot 1 ES, shoot 1 thicket (0 conc), 1 precision (for 300 + 300*85% dmg).
This way you break the armour of the group and then you shoot precision through all of them. The problem with ES is that it only does 400% to 1 target and only 200% to the whole group (and only 3.2 meters across).

First I thought: well ok I'll break their armour and do 200% and then the second ES will do 400% because they already have lower armour. But it doesn't work like that. The second ES will be the same 200%. Plus, you can't shoot ES right after the second one because you only have 33 conc left (with short bow and typical normal build with 100 conc). So this means you have to use adrenaline to recharge and waste that remaining 30-40 concentration. But instead of wasting, just shoot a precision first. Then use adrenaline and shoot another ES. And then again precision for 600% dmg (or 555% dmg, but it's actually close to 600% physical dmg, because precision is 75% physical and 25% fire, so the dmg you do, depends on how much armour and resistance the mobs have, but usually resistance is lower, so 555% precision = about 600% physical dmg I think).

So this way you get 200% (ES) + 600% (precision) with 100 concentration
Or you could use 3 precisions and do 3x300%
Apparently it's 900% (3x PS) > 800% (ES + 1PS), but there are many advantages to using ES + PS instead of 3 x PS.
First, you also use a thicket and the 55%x6 poison damage does much more dmg if the mobs have lower armour.
Second it's also much better for the group, if you're playing in a group. Because they also hit more dmg. Everyone loves armour break, so your group will love you for helping them kill the mobs easier this way.

The slight advantage of using 3xPS is that precision requires only 5 skill points to use (20% more dmg with precision), but for ES + PS, you need 15 points. Therefore you have to sacrifice other things. And we only have 50, so it's hard to choose. I wish we had at least 10 more points.


Also, if you are in a group with many armour breakers, if bugpoint won't "unfix" the bug with double armour break stacking, then it's no use to shoot armour break on top of another armour break, it seems like a waste. So when a mage uses a vortex, it would seem like a good idea to just use 3x precisions for 600% x3. Then adrenaline and another 3x precision. For a total of 3600% dmg.

Another scenario would be if you are running with a tank only. The tank doesn't have group armour break. So maybe it would be best to shoot an ES, then use deadly blow on the broken mobs while you wait for the concentration to get back up to 66 and then throw again an ES and wait again for 3-4 seconds (meanwhile maybe you are lucky and regenerate your conc from one of those deadly blows), then use adrenaline and repeat. This way you keep the mobs broken constantly for your tank to kill easier and you don't waste your concentration on precisions, you only use it for as much armour break as possible.

I mentioned that if you shoot the ES for the second time, the damage won't increase. Well there's 1 exception. The single target you will hit first, if he already has AB, then he'll get even more dmg. He'll get 800% + 200%
You can test this out for yourselves. Correct me if I'm wrong.
This is very useful for knights in m2. So for the knights, I think the best way would be like this: ES + PS + adrenaline + ES (for 800%) +PS
So it would be the same combo, but you have to be fast. Because you only have 3 seconds of AB available in which you have to shoot that precision and then the next ES.

 

The main problem here is the explosion itself... ( selected symbol of nature talent so have 131 conc.)
>1. It does break armor... so 1st ES does 200% + if you shoot 2nd ES it will do 200% +85% dmg.. (now i don't know how to calculate that EDIT but my 1st ES does approx 2314 and 2nd ES approx 3921). BUT
>2. Explosion dmg does not increase 85% on mob whose armor is already broke... it only does 200%. don't know if its a bug or else.

 

You misunderstand how armor break work. It does not increase you damage by 85%. It decreases their armor by 85%.
The example below is for a LVL 45 attacking a LVL 45 opponent because that is the level I know the constant for off the top of my head but the principal and result is the same.

The equation for armor is 100%*[x/(x+1919)]. All monsters have 50% physical resistance meaning that if you work backwards, all LVL 45 monsters have 1919 armor. Reduce that by 85% and it becomes 288 armor. Plug that back into the original equation and you get 13.05%. The end result is that your attacks are only reduced by 13% as opposed to 50%. If your attack usually would do 1000 damage, under normal circumstances, it would do 500, but against an armor broken opponent, it would do 870. This 370 damage increase is actually equivalent to doing 74% more damage against an armor broken opponent when compared to a non armor broken one, not 85%.

This could also be looked at as 37% more of you total damage when compared to an unarmored foe, but that isn't as easy to wrap your head around, so just go with the 74% more damage than a normal attack.

 

My favourite rotation in m2 is: thicket, net, es, ps , adrenaline, ps, ps, ps

I use the net cause it's very easy to use when mobs are stacked on the thicket, and i will be in the right place as soon as the net lands. If you use the trap you have to move to find the best place to shoot.

And PS does an additional double damage to marked mobs with something behind them.