Shock Web

Throw a web of lightning to shock your enemies.

Shock Web is the second trap of the Assassin's Traps tree (level 6, requires Fire Blast; unlocks Charged Bolt Sentry). It is a thrown device that, on landing, scatters a handful of electric spikes over the ground; anything standing on them takes lightning damage for as long as they last. The two numbers that decide it are the maximum damage per second, which is where all the growth is, and the spike count, which Fire Blast's hard points raise.

The numbers

The damage is the row's EMin/EMax, halved by a HitShift of 7. The minimum is 1 at every level (EMin 2, all five EMinLev columns 0). The maximum starts at 10 and grows +3 a level to level 8, +6 to 16, +10 to 22, +15 to 28 and +21 past that (EMaxLev1–5 are 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, each halved): 1–119 a second at level 20, 1–271 at level 30. The tooltip prints it as damage per second, and +skills count.

Spikes come from Param1 and Param2: 6 at level 1 plus one per 4 levels (Param2 is "levels needed per missile"), plus one per 3 hard points in Fire Blast. The level term reads lvl, so +skills add spikes; the Fire Blast term reads blvl, so only real points do. With 20 points in Fire Blast a level 20 web lays 11 + 6 = 17 spikes.

Mana is a flat 6 (lvlmana 0). The casting delay is 15 frames, 0.6 seconds (localdelay), the same at every level, so it is left out of the table; the Basin notes it is local in D2R, blocking only Shock Web itself.

How it works

The web is a lobbed missile: the Basin's page says the target must be in line of sight, but the throw goes over obstacles and over units between the Assassin and the target. It uses the attack rate, not the cast rate. On landing the spikes (size-2 missiles, the Basin says) sit on the ground for 3.6 seconds and damage any target standing over one; the duration is a missile property not in the repo's bank, so the Basin's figure is cited. The radius the spikes cover is (spikes ÷ 4 + 1) × 2/3 yards (aurarangecalc, and the Basin's formula agrees): 2 yards at 11 spikes, 3.33 at 17.

The Basin says a next-hit delay of 25 frames stops a target being damaged more than once every 26 frames, so the real rate is 25/26 of the printed damage per second, however many spikes it stands on.

No attack rating is rolled; the damage is pure lightning and the Basin's page says Lightning Skill Damage and Enemy Lightning Resistance Reduction apply. It carries no weapon damage, so leech, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds do not ride on it. See Dealing Elemental Damage.

Synergies and +skills

EDmgSymPerCalc reads the hard points in Charged Bolt Sentry and Lightning Sentry and multiplies the sum by Param8 (17): +17% lightning damage per hard point in either. The Basin's page notes the bonus applies to the maximum only, since the minimum is fixed at 1. A level 20 web with 20 in each of the two is 1–119 × (1 + 0.17 × 40) = 1–928 a second.

Shock Web gives back: its hard points are a +17% synergy to Lightning Sentry, an +11% synergy to Fire Blast, and one extra bolt per three points to Charged Bolt Sentry. The Basin says the Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master can throw it too.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before resistances, see Player versus Player. The Basin's page says nothing else specific about players.

Build notes

• Shock Web is the carpet under a lightning trapper's sentries: 20 points in Charged Bolt Sentry and Lightning Sentry take a level 20 web from 119 to 928 maximum a second.
• Its own hard points are worth +17% to Lightning Sentry each, on top of what they do for the web itself.
• Fire Blast points add spikes; +skills add spikes and damage but not synergy.
• A 0.6-second delay and a flat 6 mana: you can lay webs between every sentry.