Is it where they are standing in relation to me when I cast it? Or do I have to move to them after casting? Also, how does it work with Glacial aspect, is it how close the ice spikes are to enemies? Or does this stat just not work at all? Very confused.
I cannot speak for Blizzard particularly, but with burning DoT, if you move closer to the mobs after casting your spell and have +damage to close enemy, your DoT will tick for more. Once you step away, it will go back to whatever damage it was.
DoT seems to be dynamic in its damage calculation. It makes it so that if you have a 8 seconds DoT, cast the spell, then an effect triggers +20% damage afterward, your subsquent DoT tick should be higher for as long as this damage increase is active, even if you didn’t cast the spell again. It’s probably made so that DoT spells would benefit from the occasional and situational damage increase.
The contrary is also true : If you have + damage against close targets, cast your spell in melee range then go away as soon as it’s cast, your DoT ticks will be lower as soon as you leave melee range.
The only thing that seems to escape that mechanic is vulnerability damage. It takes a snapshot of whatever casts you did during the vulnerability period and keep the damage increased from vulnerability active in a way even after vulnerability is gone. It’s hard to verify though, but I’ve seen some bigger subsequent DoT ticks from elites that were previously affected by vulnerability compared to typical ticks against elites that were not, so vulnerability seems to persist at least for some time for DoT that were cast during vulnerability.
Now, this DoT damage calculation is not always entirely true for some reason. For example, my Firewall tick for 4.5K, give or take. If I cast Firewall and chill the enemy afterward (even with a 0 damage attack), my Firewall will do 7k or 7.5 per tick. If I chill first, then throw my Firewall, it does 11k or so per tick. These are the same statuses (burning + chilled), but the fact that the enemy was initially in the condition might trigger a higher damage boost. It might be limited to Chill and/or to how Firewall damage is calculated, though, so YMMV.
As for Glacier Aspect, I can’t answer.
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