This question seems to get asked every few months - sometimes several times in a week.
Specifically, the DISPLAYED Mana Leech and Life Leech intensities are NOT THE REAL INTENSITIES. The real intensities are almost never displayed., anymore, unless you somehow ended up with the exact combination of SSI and weapon speed needed for the multiplier to be exactly x1 (and I have no idea what that combination actually is, if it even exists).
As King Greg noted, the SSI on a weapon affects the displayed levels - the actual intensity never changes.
Originally, this was not so.
Originally, the three leeches were a "chance to trigger", with the result being the leech in question. The Intensity/display had a 2/1 ratio (so that, for example, 82% intensity displayed as 41%)
At some point after Mondain's Legacy, the devs decided that this was too powerful for HML and HLL. This was because certain fast weapons were keeping their users at full health and mana, because of Damage over time.
They changed the leeches as follows...
- All leeches went to triggering every hit, instead of rolling every hit for a chance. However, the role of the displayed number changed.
- Now, on a hit, a 1 to (displayed intensity) percentage is determined randomly, then multiplied by the old amount leeched (100% for Stamina, 40% for Mana, 30% for Life). That number is then multiplied by the damage done.
- The intensity recorded internally (as a property) stays the same, but the DISPLAYED number (which is used for the leech calculation) became based on the weapon speed.
- As a result, 40% HML or HLL on a 2s weapon is not the same as 40% on a 4s weapon - or even a 2s weapon with 10% SSI. Each has a different internal intensity for purposes of imbuing. And, adding more SSI with Imbuing will change the display numbers (as can lowering the SSI)
- SSI and stamina also were reconfirmed to be 1%/1 point being roughly equal, and that a weapon's final speed was based on multiples of 30 (so that 45% SSI and 105 stamina was the same speed as 15% SSI and 135 stamina). The base speed displayed on a weapon assumes 60 stamina and no SSI.
One of the weapons that were the reason for the change was the Soulseeker minor artifact from the ML lands.
Originally it was (plus repond slayer)
- 60% SSI (200% intensity)
- 40% HSL (80% intensity)
- 40% HML (80% intensity)
- 40% HLL (80% intensity)
After the changes, it became (plus repond slayer)
- 60% SSI (200% intensity)
- 40% HSL (80% intensity)
- 30% HML (still 80% intensity internally, but modified for SSI and base weapon speed)
- 30% HLL (still 80% intensity internally, as noted for HML)
The actual Imbuing intensity of the weapon didn't change - only the displayed values and how they worked.
This is what made slower weapons have the ability to display over 50% in HML and HLL, up to a maximum of 100%, meaning they could potentially could return numbers approaching the previous version of HML/HLL on each hit.
Current Method: If you hit your target for 50 damage with a 60% Hit Mana Leech weapon, you have a chance of recovering between 0 (50 * 40% * 1% = 0.2) and 12 (50 * 40% * 60%) mana, every hit (average of about 6 to 7 per hit).
Old Method: This compares to the same weapon, if it had been a 40% HML weapon prior to the change, leeching a flat 20 mana on 40% of your hits. (or averaging 8 mana per hit, but the mana return was a lot more random, and in chunks of 20 - you could end up getting leeches when your mana was full, and no leeches when you needed to leech)
The results are that mana return (and life, for HLL) becomes more fluid, if slightly diminished.
