Hello everyone. Today, while looking at the skill tree, I noticed something strange. Essentially, when I look at the three options for a given skill—specifically the modifiers that provide a damage percentage—adding points via the skill tree causes the percentage to scale linearly.
The issue arises when I use affixes from talismans or skill rank bonuses; in these cases, the percentage doubles instead of scaling as it should.
To give you an example: if a skill deals 100% damage and I manually add 3 points from the skill tree, it should reach 130%.
However, if I use “+3” affixes, it reaches 160%.
I’m not sure if this is a bug or if it’s intended behavior, but it only seems to affect the three options within the skill.
Could you test this yourselves and let me know? It happens with all classes.
Just tried this for you. For reference, I am a Druid using Storm Strike as my main damage ability…
For me, unequipping a +3 Werewolf charm reduces my damage by the same amount as manually removing 3 skill points from Storm Strike.
At 49/15 it’s at 375% - 6,125,990 Damage (Base)
At 46/15 it’s at 357% - 5,831,943 Damage (removed charm)
At 46/15 it’s at 357% - 5,831,943 Damage (removed ability points, replaced charm)
Now, I don’t currently have any wearable gear with a usable +skill to test, but from my findings, the charms at least provided exactly what I expected.
That’s for a Druid at least.
Do you perhaps have other abilities also getting buffed by the +skills affixes? Leading to a double dip for your main damage ability?
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The issue does not occur with the core skill itself, but rather with its three variants. For example, the three options for Hammer of the Ancients are: Fissure, Explosive, and Ancestral.
It is these types of skill variants that see their percentages double.
If I increase damage via skill points, the damage scales correctly for both the core skill and its three variants. However, if I use talismans or gear with “skill rank” affixes, the problem arises: the damage of the core skill scales linearly, while the damage of its variants is doubled.
I am referring to percentages; I verified this by testing with my character unequipped.
HOTA Base 175
1 variant= 280%
2 variant = 280%
3 variant = 66% and 17%
With 3 manual Skill point is :
Hota base 175 +3 = 227.5 GRADE 4
1 variant 280+3 = 364 GRADE 4
With +3 Affix on talisman
Hota base 175+3 = 227,5 GRADE 4
1 variant 280+3 = 462 ( why? It’s like+6 with only skill points) SAME GRADE 4!
Yeah that looks really odd. Might need a Barb to chime in. It’s one class I haven’t really played properly yet.
The Paladin and the Rogue do exactly the same thing for every skill. I think all classes do this.
Perhaps it’s related to certain skills. It’s definitely not the case on my Druid and that particular ability.
Interesting though. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some hidden mechanic or bug. This game isn’t the clearest with how interactions work.
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If you can, try testing it on skills that have variants with damage percentages. First, allocate points manually using the skill tree, then remove them and apply them instead via affixes like “all skills” or “core skills.” I have a talisman with +3 to core skills; I added and removed that +3, resulting in Rank 4.
You can try Storm Strike with 1 variant i think.
Storm Hammer
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Sure, tried the other 2 variants. I did find a discrepancy with the Storm Hammer Variant which turns it into a ranged nuke instead of chaining.
Focused Strike
49 - 6,125,990 damage - 375% (Full)
46 - 5,831,943 damage - 357% (+3 Werewolf charm removed)
46 - 5,831,943 damage - 357% (3x ability points removed)
(as expected)
Storm Hammer
49 - 15,682,534 damage - 960% (Full)
46 - 14,663,171 damage - 898% (+3 Werewolf charm removed)
46 - 15,212,060 damage - 931% (3x ability points removed)
(Equipped ability points provide more value than skill points)
The Storm Hammer variant definitely has similar behavior on my end. Indeed, this doesn’t make sense. Nice find.
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I think that to get a clearer picture, you should set the ranks to 1 and then adjust them—increasing or decreasing as needed—based on the affixes you have on your charms or items. According to the wiki, Storm Strike has a base value of 60%, while the Storm Hammer variant has 96%. Therefore, at rank 4, it should have a base value of 78%, and the variant should be at 124.8% (with each rank adding 6% to the base and 9.6% to the variant). These figures come from the wiki. I’m not sure, though, whether the percentage in the game is the same as what the wiki says.
Check to see if there are any discrepancies in the percentages at lower levels. It seems to me that there might be an issue with the “skill ranks” affixes.
If I’m not mistaken, the percentage value you see with the skill affix is the same percentage you would get by manually allocating twice as many skill points. It seems that “Skill Ranks” effectively doubles the percentage value
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It stands to reason even at the high end.
The variance is still 9.6% per ability point for Storm Hammer
960-931 = 29
29/3 = 9.6
Even at the low end, base ability gains 6% p/ability point.
And approx 9% (won’t show further detail in game) for the Storm Hammer variant.
Equipped +skill affixes are definitely more powerful… All the way through it seems and yeah, looks like double.
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Okay, but do you think this is a mistake or intentional? Because if it is a mistake, we’re talking about significant scaling issues for every character—this needs to be brought to the devs’ attention immediately!
Because by doubling every rank, the damage scales significantly—potentially in ways that weren’t intended. The developers might not even be aware of this issue, and it could lead to balancing errors.
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That part we can only guess.
Best to report it as a bug either way.
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Okay, I’ve moved the post to the Console Bugs section. Although it’s about the PS5 version of the game, this “issue” could potentially exist on PC as well.
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I am on PC, so it seems global.
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I ran some tests on the training dummy using the “Ancient Hammer” while disabling damage variance. The damage output is identical, even though the tooltip on skill claims otherwise. I also tried equipping and unequipping items that provide “+3 to all skills.” As we noted, the tooltip shows different values, but in-game the damage remains the same—so the bug is limited to the tooltip info.
In any case, this remains a misinterpretation of information and should be corrected, as the skill’s tooltip provides the player with misleading information.
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Nice work. I’ll see if I can confirm your findings. Won’t be able to jump on until a bit later, but I’ll see if I can replicate your results.
Would make sense though, these skills would be 100% meta if it worked as was listed… I would assume.
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Apologies for the delay, been a crazy couple days.
Finally was able to jump on for a bit.
I found the same results. I didn’t notice any difference in damage. It seems the tooltip is miscalculating the equipped +skill affixes by giving them double their allotted value.
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I caught a Twitch stream by Wudijo and mentioned the issue to him. He explained that it’s a tooltip bug that has been around since the *Lord of Hatred* expansion. I’m not sure if the devs are aware of it, but I hope this post helps them get it fixed.
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