How do I know that Thunder I/II is doing something?

Feel like a dumb question, as THM/BLM if I use Thunder or Thunder II, I see that it obviously adds the buff icon to the enemies name with the countdown, but how do I know it's actually working doing damage? Like when I cast it initially, it will say "Thunder II 100" or something, where it did a little damage. However as I'm hitting it with Fire over and over, I see it always say Fire 134, Fire 156, etc but I never see the word Thunder pop up, like Thunder 35 or something showing the DoT damage. Is that because it just doesn't show the damage, but as long as the buff icon shows it is actually doing it? I don't have my chat log set to show damage since it would be flooding it but could try there I guess. I just find I forget to cast it often because I don't see the visible effects so never think it does a lot. Thx!

One of the problems with the flying text and battle log is that they don't display dot damage well (or at all). For flying text, all dot damage from all sources is merged into one number, no matter how many people or dots that is. For the battle log, dot damage doesn't show up at all. So, if you want proof that it works in general, you can cast it on an enemy while solo and sheathe your weapon. You won't be attacking or casting anything, but it will still be taking damage you can see, which has to be Thunder (because there's nothing else on the enemy). If you want to know it's working on later content, you'll just have to trust that the debuff marker means something.

You shall see a very little, tiny, small number. That is your dots dmg. It's even small than melee auto attacks.
Btw, there is no name attached to this, it's just a small number appearing.

After cast you see the debuff icon but if you really want to see it go find a low level mob and only cast Thunder. You will see its hp continue to drop. Once you get the Thundercloud trait you will start to see the free cast come up which is probably going to be your most visually friendly cue that its still ticking.

There may also be a setting on your character configuration under display or something that you can turn on to see on screen damage ticks but I dont know.

Great thanks everyone, I'm fine even knowing that it works as long as the buff shows up. I guess it's more I assumed that some enemies it might have a lesser effect on than others, but there's no real way to tell if the Thunder spell I cast is actually helping out all that much. I'm sure it does though.

Side question, when it says something "Delivers an attack with a potency of 170", is that 170 HP it delivers, or I assumed it meant it's more of a way to compare it to say one that says delivers 100 from myself, but is more of a ratio? Was just wondering since as mentioned when I get Fire up there it will be like 134, 159 etc, haven't seen it over 170 yet so was wondering if that's what that meant. Thanks!!!

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Originally Posted by 416to305

Great thanks everyone, I'm fine even knowing that it works as long as the buff shows up. I guess it's more I assumed that some enemies it might have a lesser effect on than others, but there's no real way to tell if the Thunder spell I cast is actually helping out all that much. I'm sure it does though.

Side question, when it says something "Delivers an attack with a potency of 170", is that 170 HP it delivers, or I assumed it meant it's more of a way to compare it to say one that says delivers 100 from myself, but is more of a ratio? Was just wondering since as mentioned when I get Fire up there it will be like 134, 159 etc, haven't seen it over 170 yet so was wondering if that's what that meant. Thanks!!!

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There is a VERY complicated equation that is used to calculate potency into actual damage. This calculation is based off of a BUNCH of stats including (your magic attack damage, your determination stat, your intelligence stat, your enemy's magical defense stat, and the potency of the attack).

So no, potency is not equal to damage dealt. It is just part of an equation. This means that as your stats and gear increases, you will do more and more damage. All you really need to know is that a 100 potency attack does half of the damage of a 200 potency attack.

Potency is a % multiplier, you have a base damage which is determined by your weapon/magic damage, magic attack(same number as your INT) and your determination. Once you do the math to get the number which I'm not going to get into cause you don't really need to know it. Let's say you get 500 as your base. For now ignoring crit and astral fire. If you used a 200 potency attack you would deal 1000 damage (500x200%). Give or take anywhere up to 5% due to the random number generator which makes it so you don't deal exactly the same damage every time.

On topic, you don't really need to know thunder is doing anything, at higher levels Thunder isn't really used for the DoT damage but for the chance at thundercloud procs and believe me you'll notice those.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 416to305

Side question, when it says something "Delivers an attack with a potency of 170", is that 170 HP it delivers, or I assumed it meant it's more of a way to compare it to say one that says delivers 100 from myself, but is more of a ratio? Was just wondering since as mentioned when I get Fire up there it will be like 134, 159 etc, haven't seen it over 170 yet so was wondering if that's what that meant. Thanks!!!

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Like other people said, it's just a measure of scaling. So, five ticks of Thunder dot (35x5) would be about the same as a completely unbuffed Fire (170). It also lets us use a definite number when comparing actions and rotations. Even if sometimes the difference in potency is so tiny it doesn't really matter.

Awesome thanks that's a big help and makes sense. I figured it would be something like that, just happened to be coincidence that I noticed most of my Fire spells were in that range.

kick back and nuke shit

anyone wants proof to dot damage, then just run st or something, on occasion if it isn't outright killed beforehand bosses like Gladys will die to dot damage whilst everyone is on the platforms dodging its room wide insta kill attack.

dot damage is very powerful and can win you fights so even if you don't see the numbers ticking trust in the fact it is very much doing something.