12-03-2004, 11:52 PM
Dyntheos,Dec 2 2004, 08:50 PM Wrote:On a side note and not really wanting to make another thread. The Shadow Word: Pain talent that inceases the duration of the spell, does this keep the current damage per tick, and extend it a few more seconds effectively causing more damage over a longer time...
Yes, it works like this, making it a useful talent to have. It effectively improves the mana cost of the spell by making it so that you don't have to cast it as often as you would otherwise want it to. That is, it improves the mana cost, if the mob lives for the full duration of the spell. If a mob lives less than 15 seconds, then you're not getting any benefit from it. Or for that matter, if it lives like 30 seconds, where you'll end up casting Pain twice anyway, again you won't get any benefit.
My favorite use for Improved SW:Pain is in PvP situations where those extra two ticks of damage can often be the difference between winning or losing -- or the difference between only me dying and both of us dying simultaneously. There are few things as satisfying as seeing some guy who ganked you croak a few seconds later due to a last second SW:Pain you refreshed on them right before you died.