Burn + Crit - How does it work?

Sorcerer
1

I’m currently playing a Firewall Sorc, my idea was to go for Crit / Burn since both seem very accessible for fire builds.
I’m lvl 41 now and it’s working just fine.

I just found a nice unique ring that gives me +13% chance to crit against injured enemies and this got me thinking.

If you go to your character → Material & Stats → Critical Strike Chance it mentions: “Damage over time cannot Critically Strike.”

Does burn damage fall under this?
I did some research and apparently there are different types of burn damage.

  1. An enemy standing on top of a Firewall
  2. An enemy taking burning damage from a skill like Fire Bolt, not the direct damage, but the secondary burn effect
  3. An enemy that is no longer in the Firewall when you have the skill “Mage’s Firewall” - “Enemies continue Burning for 3 seconds after leaving Firewall.”

My guess is that:

  1. would apply Critical Hits
  2. probably does not apply Critical Hits
  3. no idea, hoping it does apply them

I’ve taken a lot of Skills and gear that increases my Crit chance and damage.
There are skills specifically for Fire that increase Crit chance and damage, so it would be very weird if none if them applied to burn damage?

For example:

  • Devouring Blaze: You deal 30%x increased Critical Strike damage to Burning enemies. If they are also Immobilized, this bonus is increased to 75%x.

Some of these seem to be specifically for Firewall, or at least work very well with it.

Anyone got more info on this?

2

Burning damage (all sources) can Not crit

1 Like
3

There is a Paragon board that increases your Burning damage based on your Crit damage. Without that, Burning does not benefit from crit stats at all.

4

All dmg over time effect cant crit. Stuff like Firewall or Blizzard is a dot effect too.

5

There is a way to convert your burn dot damage into Crit however. Using the fireball modifier that deals 10% of the total burning damage on an enemy as direct damage.