120 Spellweaving, why?

[Kramer73]

I'm using SW on a red mage/sw/necro and I'm wondering if I should take the skill above 78. Right now with 78 I get no-fail pixies, and with 106 I could get no-fail wildfire, but why would you take the skill higher.

It seems like all intensity/boosts/damage increases/timers come from your focus strength, and that the skill is basically just used to figure if you can cast the spell or not.

Is there any benefit to having higher skill or is my "many failures" wildfire at 78 just as strong and as large at the 120 wildfire?

I can't seem to find definitive information anywhere, please enlighten me.

Thanks!

 

[imported_Farsight]

According to UO guide's wildfire page, the duration of wildfire increases significantly with higher skill levels.

Your skill level changes the duration of all spellweaving spells that have a duration, including the negative effects of essence of wind and thunderstorm. Mostly, the difference is significant, for example, at 80 skill, wildfire lasts 3.3 seconds according to the math on the page. At 120 skill, wildfire lasts for 5 seconds.

That, while significant, is nothing compared to the change of duration in spells like attunement, gift of life and gift of renewal, where the difference in duration isn't a second and a half, but instead it's closer to two minutes.

As far as I can tell, the amount of damage doesn't change with skill level.

 

[Kramer73]

Thanks for the reply, link, and info!

I realized I could just hop on TC and see for myself what some of the differences are in 78 to 120 and yes, it's significant. Especially since you're increasing the base numbers that get multiplied when you get a focus!

In my tests, even the damage of wildfire increased with higher skill. 78 skill does 13 per tick to a grizzly, while 120 skill does 15 per tick. Not huge increases, but the fact that its almost twice as long and more damaging makes me think 120 weaving is for me.

I can't wait to fry all those stealth archers that hide outside my house. Hitting 10 guys at once for multiple ticks, and being able to cast it over and over is inspiring.

At 78, wildfire is a tough cast, at 106 though, no more fails!

 

[Guest]

At 120 you will also never fail casting Word of Death.

 

[imported_Farsight]

In addition to never fail, I just did a test with a friend involving two spellweavers, a level 4 focus and Melisande.

I had 100 spellweaving, he had 120 spellweaving. We had the same focus and the same SDI.

He did nearly 100 points of damage more per WoD.

 

[Guest]

Word of Death does random chaos damage. You would have to do the test on a Dark Father which has uniform resists.