Battle Command

Increases all current skill levels for you and your party.

Battle Command is the last Barbarian Warcry (level 30, requires Battle Orders). For 11 mana it gives the Barbarian and every ally within 12 2/3 yards +1 to all skills, for 30 seconds at level 1 and 220 at level 20 plus 5 seconds for every hard point in Shout and Battle Orders. The +1 never grows: a level 1 Battle Command and a level 20 one give the same bonus, and the levels buy only duration. That is the whole decision about the skill, and it is why one point is the usual answer.

The numbers

Mana is 11 at every level (mana 11, lvlmana 0). The bonus is skills.txt Param3 (1, "Bonus to All Skills"), applied through item_allskills, and does not change with level; the Basin's page lists it as a flat +1. The duration is Param1 (750 frames) plus Param2 (250 frames) a level at 25 frames a second, 30 seconds at level 1 and 10 more a level, 70 at level 5, 120 at level 10, 220 at level 20, 320 at level 30; the Basin's page keeps the original game's (10 × slvl) − 5 (5 seconds at level 1) beside Resurrected's 20 + (10 × slvl), and the table confirms the 30. On top of that the row's auralencalc adds Param8 (125 frames, 5 seconds) for every hard point in Shout and Battle Orders. The radius is fixed at 12 2/3 yards (19 sub-tiles × 2/3). The base duration reads lvl, so +skills count; the duration synergy reads blvl, hard points only.

duration in seconds = 30 + 10 × (Battle Command level − 1) + 5 × (Shout hard points + Battle Orders hard points)

How it works

The Basin's page gives the rules. The buff is carried by missiles from the Barbarian's position and lands on the caster and every allied player, mercenary and pet in the 12 2/3-yard area; gaps open between the missiles as they travel but are not normally wide enough to miss anyone. The +1 is the same stat as All Skills on an item: it raises every skill the receiver has, and it applies to Battle Command itself, so the Basin's page says casting it a second time while it is up gives a duration 10 seconds longer. It is a cast, uses cast rate, and has a next-hit delay of 4 frames. The last Battle Command cast is the one applied, so a lower-level cast overwrites a higher one, though with the bonus fixed at +1 that only changes the duration.

The Basin's order for a summoner: cast Battle Command, summon the pet so the summoning skill is one level higher, then cast Battle Command again so the pet's own skills get the +1 too.

A Barbarian casts Battle Orders after Battle Command for the same reason: under the +1 it is cast a level higher, 3% more life and 10 more seconds.

Synergies and +skills

Battle Command's two synergy lines are both duration: +5 seconds per hard point in Shout and +5 seconds per hard point in Battle Orders (the dsc3 lines, Param8 ÷ 25), read as blvl. It gives the same back: its own hard points add 5 seconds to each of Shout and Battle Orders. Its base duration reads lvl, so a +skill from an item is worth a hard point to the buff itself, 10 seconds, but adds nothing to the other two Warcries' duration; the +1 itself never changes with level. The Basin's page says +1–3 Battle Command can spawn on a primal helm of item level 37 or higher, Halaberd's Reign gives +1–2, and Call to Arms grants it as a +2–6 oskill to any class.

Against players

Battle Command never touches a player; it raises only the skill levels of the Barbarian and the allies in range. There is nothing here for the player-versus-player damage rule to cut, see Player versus Player.

Build notes

• One hard point is the whole bonus; every further point is 10 seconds of duration, and so is a +skill. The duration synergies are the cheaper way to make it long: 20 in Shout and 20 in Battle Orders is +200 seconds.
• Each hard point is also 5 seconds on Shout and Battle Orders, which is the only reason to put more than one here.
• Cast it first, then Battle Orders and Shout, then Battle Command again: the +1 raises the other cries a level and the second cast is 10 seconds longer.