Oddity of the Warrior Elemental Life Gain finally understood!

Platform
Android

Apocalypse

Loreseeker
Joined
05/05/2021
Messages
835
Hey guys!

Remember the oddity of the warrior gaining life from elemental attacks? From what I've found on the forum and on the web, the oddity has been known for years, but nobody seemed to understand where the bug came from.

I just discovered why (and how) the oddity occurs, if you're curious!


Warrior skill SHIELD EXPERT gives an armor bonus of 2, 3 or 4 against projectiles, including elemental projectiles.


But here's the bug.

SHIELD EXPERT doesn't, in fact, reduce damage from elemental projectiles. Rather, it adds the amount to your HP total. It's not noticeable though, since the attack usually deals more damage than the HP you gain from it, resulting in a net loss of HP.

The bug becomes noticeable when your appropriate elemental resistance is high enough to reduce the projectile's damage BELOW the amount of HP gained from Shield Expert.

For example, SHIELD EXPERT III will gain you 1-4 HP from any elemental projectile. If your resistance reduces the damage to 0, you will notice a net gain of 1-4 HP per attack.

Exploiting this oddity to increase HP is absolutely not worth it, since getting a resistance high enough to reduce damage to 0 is extremely hard and will seriously limit your equipment choices, and the lifegain is very slow. But it's fun! Bad, but really fun! It literally turns some enemies into unwitting allies!!! (I just went through the Mausoleum followed by my own personal army of Skeletal Evokers; they kept healing me while I destroyed the other undead loll)


Details​

The HP gain doesn't appear in the combat log, and can exceed your maximum HP total. There doesn't seem to be a limit. Your red life bar will expand until it becomes longer than the screen. Any other modification to your HP (rest, potion, etc.) will reset it to your normal maximum total.

Note that the bug only occurs with projectile attacks from enemies that exclusively deal elemental damage, like Skeletal Evokers and Imps for example. It does not occur with normal projectiles, even when they have an elemental damage bonus like Skeletal Archers' frost arrows. Environmental damage, like toxic fumes or cold winds, does not trigger the bug either.

Finally, the bug will only occur while SHIELD EXPERT's armor bonus against projectiles is in effect. Therefore, you need to wield a shield*.


*Bonus SHIELD EXPERT oddity!!!

Oddly, the skill's armor bonus against projectiles is also in effect while holding an OFF-HAND weapon. But you don't get the skill's full armor bonus, only the bonus against projectiles. Apparently, a good hatchet can divert arrows! Loll

 
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