Arcane amplification drone (talent)

Arcane Amplification Drone
Game Version	1.7.6
Category Type	Prodigies
Category	Magic
Requirements	Magic 50 Have gained the Tales of the Spellblaze achievement with this or any previous character for the current difficulty & permadeath settings.
Use Mode	Activated
Cost	-
Range	7
Cooldown	10
Travel Speed	Instantaneous
Use Speed	Instant
Description	You create an Arcane Amplification Drone at the selected location for 3 turns. When you cast a spell that damages the drone it will ripple the damage as 130% Arcane damage of the initial hit in radius 4.
Availability	-

Notes

• The drone has the same faction as the player, but a hostile personal reaction, so it can be targeted and attacked by all player spells. It can also be targeted by player talents like Rush, and thus be used as an escape beacon.
• No attacks will actually damage the drone, so there is no risk of killing it early. Because of this it can be used as a blocking unit.
• The 3 turn duration of the drone runs on global time, so players with any amount of speed increase can usually hit the drone 4 times.
• Enemies treat the drone as a hostile creature and target whichever enemy is closest to them, so a drone placed nearer to them than you will usually be attacked first, letting it tank attacks for the player. Enemies hurt by the ripple will also target the drone.
• The ripple is produced by a passive talent carried by the drone itself, Arcane Amplification Drone Effect.
• It will only amplify damage that can be directly attributed to the player and identified as a spell. Due to limitations in the game code, most lingering area of effect damage will not be amplified.
  • Besides the spell categories of each class, runes and some racial talents also count as spells.
• Each instance of damage is amplified separately, so spells that hit several times ripple several times.
• Amplified damage will not harm the player, but can hurt friendly or neutral units like escorts.
• The amplified damage is always Arcane, whatever the element of the spell, and is dealt by the drone rather than the player:
  • It is based on the initial hit after your damage bonuses and critical hits, but it does not gain your Arcane damage bonus and cannot critically hit by itself.
  • The drone inherits the player's resistance penetration when it is created, but no other stats.
  • Debuffs like stun, daze, and freeze on the drone can significantly reduce its damage output.
  • It does not count as damage dealt by you, for example towards prodigy requirements. You still gain the experience for kills.
• The drone is a summoned construct, so bonus damage against constructs or summoned creatures increases the initial hit, and therefore the ripple. Only the largest such bonus is used.
• The drone counts as a summon. Each use counts towards the requirement of Blighted Summoning. If you know that prodigy, 10% of the ripple is dealt as Blight damage instead of Arcane; the total is unchanged.
• If you inspect the summoned drone itself, its creature description says the ripple is 160% Arcane damage. This is outdated: the talent description and the code both say 130%.