Plague Javelin

Magically enhances your javelin to release expanding clouds of poison upon impact.

Plague Javelin is a level 18 Amazon throw (Javelin and Spear tree, requires Lightning Bolt; it unlocks Lightning Fury; the Basin's page lists the old game's requirement as level 24, the current row says 18). The thrown javelin poisons what it hits and bursts into clouds of poison that spread from the point of impact. The numbers that decide it are the poison, 1,593–1,625 over 6.8 seconds at level 20, and the one synergy, Poison Javelin at 14% a hard point.

The numbers

• Poison Damage is a rate times a length. The minimum rate is EMin 12 and the maximum EMax 18, and both grow by the same bracket columns: +8 a level to level 8, +16 to 16, +26 to 22, +55 to 28, +80 past that; the row's HitShift 3 scales the rates, and the tooltip multiplies by the length in frames and divides by 256. The total is 28–42 at level 1, 130–148 at 5, 375–397 at 10, 815–842 at 15, 1,593–1,625 at 20, 5,788–5,830 at 30. The Basin's page prints the current game's rates beside the old ones, and they agree with the row.
• Poison Length is ELen 75 frames plus 5 a level in each ELevLen bracket, 3 seconds plus 0.2 a level: 3.8 seconds at level 5, 4.8 at 10, 6.8 at 20, 8.8 at 30. The Basin's page writes it as 0.2 × slvl + 2.8 for the current game and records the old game's 0.4 a level.
• Attack Rating is ToHit 30 plus LevToHit 9 a level: +66% at level 5, +111% at 10, +201% at 20. The Basin's page warns that in the 1.10–1.13 game this bonus was displayed but not applied.
• Mana is 7 at level 1 (mana 14 with manashift 7) and rises 0.5 a level (lvlmana 1): 9 at level 5, 11.5 at 10, 16.5 at 20. The Basin's page writes it as 0.5 × slvl + 6.5.
• The casting delay is a constant 1 second (localdelay 25 frames ÷ 25) between throws; the Basin's page records the old game's 4 seconds.
• Each throw spends one javelin (decquant 1), the row allows javelins only (itypea1 jave), and the javelin carries 100% of weapon damage (SrcDam 128).

The damage, length and attack-rating lines read lvl; the synergy reads blvl.

How it works

The throw launches the plaguejavelin missile. The Basin's page describes it as a medium-range single-target and area attack: the javelin applies its poison on striking, and clouds released within about a 6-yard radius when the javelin lands or expires apply it to everything inside. Its range is short, about 10 2/3 yards by the same page, much less than a plain javelin's, and because the clouds do the work the page notes it gains less from Pierce than most missile skills. The poison is skill damage under Dealing Elemental Damage and Poison Damage, ticking against Poison Resist for the length above; Poison Skill Damage on items raises it, and the Basin's page says the skill level and that bonus are both fixed when the javelin is thrown, for the javelin and for the clouds.

By the Basin's page, poison from items is added to the javelin's rate, the lengths are added and divided by the number of sources, and the summed rate runs for that averaged length. With Venom cast, its rate is added and its length is added to the javelin's, the items' lengths being ignored.

The Basin's page lists the skill on Gargoyle's Bite (level 11, 60 charges).

Synergies and +skills

One synergy line: Poison Javelin, +14% poison damage per level (Param8 14, read as hard points in EDmgSymPerCalc); the Basin's page records 10% in the 1.10–1.13 game. Plague Javelin's hard points feed Poison Javelin in turn, at 12% each. +skills from items raise the rates, the length and the attack rating, not the synergy term.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player; the poison rate is cut the same way and then meets the other player's poison resistance and any Poison Length Reduced. The Basin's page says nothing more about this skill against players.

Build notes

• Level 20: 1,593–1,625 poison over 6.8 seconds (234–239 a second) to everything in the cloud, +201% attack rating on the javelin, 16.5 mana, one throw a second.
• Poison Javelin's 14% a hard point is the only multiplier; the two skills feed each other, so hard points split between them pay twice, and +skills from items do not reach either synergy.
• The length is short and grows 0.2 seconds a level, so the damage here is a rate, not a long tick: a cloud a second keeps it on the target, and the 1-second delay caps the throws whatever the attack speed.