Howl

Sends nearby monsters scrambling away in fear.

Howl is the first Barbarian Warcry (level 1, no prerequisites, unlocks Taunt and Shout). For 4 mana it sends a ring of missiles out from the Barbarian, and every ordinary monster they touch turns and runs: at level 1 for 3 seconds and up to 16 yards, at level 20 for 22 seconds and up to 79 1/3 yards. Two numbers decide whether it is worth more than one point: the radius, which grows two thirds of a yard a level, and the monster level check, which the Basin's page gives as mlvl < clvl + slvl + 1.

The numbers

Mana is 4 at every level (mana 4, lvlmana 0). The flee duration is skills.txt Param5 (75 frames) plus Param6 (25 frames) a level, at 25 frames a second: 3 seconds at level 1, 7 at level 5, 22 at level 20, 32 at level 30. The flee distance is Param3 (24) plus Param4 (5) a level, in the game's sub-tiles, which the tooltip turns into yards at two thirds each: 16 yards at level 1, 46 at level 10, 79 1/3 at level 20. The radius comes from the missile's speed, Param1 (12) plus Param2 (2) a level, and the table prints it as 2 2/3 yards at level 1, 5 1/3 at level 5, 8 2/3 at level 10, 12 at level 15, 15 1/3 at level 20, 22 at level 30; the Basin's page writes the same curve as (slvl + 3) × 2/3 and marks it as Resurrected's. All three lines read lvl, so +skills from items count in full.

How it works

The Basin's page describes the shape: the fear is carried by missiles fired in every direction from the Barbarian, the skill level sets their velocity, and the velocity sets the area; deceleration means the area does not grow in a straight line with level, and gaps open between the missiles as they travel, though a target's size usually closes them. A monster the missile touches flees immediately in the opposite direction, for the distance and duration above, and carries the terror overlay (the row's auratargetstate is terror, the same state Grim Ward and the Necromancer's curse use). It is not an attack: there is no hit roll, no damage, no leech and nothing for Blocking to stop.

Howl only works on normal and minion monsters, with the Basin's few AI exceptions, and only when the monster's level is lower than your character level plus the skill level plus one. A level 85 monster needs clvl + slvl of at least 85; uniques, champions and bosses never run.

The Basin ranks the fear effects: Grim Ward cannot be overwritten by Terror, Terror not by Hit Causes Monster to Flee, and none of them by Howl, which sits at the bottom of the list. Howl is a cast and uses cast rate; the Basin's page says a Myth body armour casts a level 1 Howl at 3% when struck.

Synergies and +skills

Howl has no synergies of its own: no dsc3 line and no synergy calc. It feeds two skills, both by hard points only (blvl):

• Berserk: +10% magic damage per hard point of Howl (Berserk's Param8).
• War Cry: +6% physical damage per hard point of Howl (War Cry's Param8, shared with Taunt and Battle Cry).

Howl's own three lines read lvl, so a +skill from an item widens the radius and lengthens the flee as a hard point does, but gives Berserk and War Cry nothing.

Against players

Howl never damages anything, and its fear is an AI state the Basin's page describes only for normal and minion monsters; it says nothing about Howl against players. See Player versus Player for the rules that do apply between players.

Build notes

• One point gives the whole effect at 2 2/3 yards; the level check reads your character level plus the skill level, so a high-level Barbarian with +skills clears most normal monsters with that one point.
• Twenty hard points are a Berserk or War Cry decision, not a Howl one: +200% magic damage to Berserk, +120% physical damage to War Cry, with a 15 1/3-yard, 22-second Howl as the by-product.
• The 4 mana never changes, and no level of Howl moves a unique, a champion or a boss.