Battle Cry

Fearsome cry that decreases enemies' defense and damage.

Battle Cry is a Barbarian Warcry (level 18, requires Taunt, unlocks War Cry). For 5 mana it puts a state on every enemy within 3 1/3 yards that cuts their defense and their damage: −50% defense and −25% damage at level 1, −88% and −44% at level 20. The defense cut is the number that matters: it starts at half and reaches −100% at level 26, past which the Basin says defense cannot go below zero. The duration is long for a debuff, 12 seconds at level 1 and 2.4 more a level.

The numbers

Mana is 5 at every level (mana 5, lvlmana 0). The duration is skills.txt Param1 (300 frames) plus Param2 (60 frames) a level at 25 frames a second: 12 seconds at level 1, 21.6 at level 5, 33.6 at level 10, 57.6 at level 20, 81.6 at level 30; the Basin's page writes it as 9.6 + (2.4 × slvl). The defense cut is Param3 (−50, "Enemy Armor % baseline") plus Param4 (−2) a level, applied through the target's skill_armor_percent: −50% at level 1, −58% at level 5, −68% at level 10, −78% at level 15, −88% at level 20, −108% at level 30. The damage cut is Param5 (−25, "Enemy Damage % baseline") plus Param6 (−1) a level, through damagepercent: −25% at level 1, −29% at level 5, −34% at level 10, −44% at level 20, −54% at level 30. The radius is fixed at 3 1/3 yards (5 sub-tiles × 2/3) and never changes. All three lines read lvl, so +skills from items count in full.

How it works

The Basin's page gives the engine's rules. Battle Cry is a cast, uses cast rate and has a next-hit delay of 4 frames; it lands on every target within the 3 1/3-yard radius, with no hit roll and no damage of its own. The defense cut goes into the attacker's roll against the monster, see Chance to Hit and Defense Rating; the damage cut lowers what the monster deals to anyone. Battle Cry can overwrite a curse, and it also applies to targets that cannot be cursed, so it reaches monsters a curse would not.

The defense cut has no floor in the formula but defense stops at zero: the Basin's page says level 26 (−100%) and up is potentially, though not always, redundant. Your character screen does not show it: the displayed chance to hit ignores a monster's reduced defense.

The Basin's page adds that the Resurrected two-handed Barbarian mercenary uses Battle Cry, and that Call to Arms grants it as a +1–4 oskill, which is how every class casts it.

Synergies and +skills

Battle Cry has no synergies of its own: no dsc3 line and no synergy calc. It feeds one skill, by hard points only (blvl): War Cry gains +6% physical damage per hard point of Battle Cry (War Cry's Param8, shared with Howl and Taunt). Battle Cry's own three lines read lvl, so a +skill from an item deepens both cuts and lengthens the duration as a hard point does, but gives War Cry nothing. The Basin's page says +1–3 Battle Cry can spawn on a primal helm of item level 25 or higher.

Against players

Battle Cry never damages anything of its own. The Basin's page describes its cuts only on monsters and says nothing about Battle Cry against players. See Player versus Player for the rules that do apply between players.

Build notes

• One point is already −50% defense and −25% damage for 12 seconds; each further point is −2% and −1% and 2.4 seconds, and a +skill does the same.
• Twenty hard points are a War Cry decision: +120% physical damage to War Cry, with a −88% / −44% Battle Cry as the by-product.
• The 3 1/3-yard radius never grows, so the cry has to be cast in the pack; the 5 mana never changes.