Crushing Prison Duration Penalty

It is pretty clear to me that duration spells such as Horror and Petrify suffer a duration penalty against bosses (Meredith being the extreme case). I think it's reasonable because you shouldn't be able to shut down bosses continuously as a Mage (Horror + Petrify + Glyph of Binding + Shackling Hex + some cold spells).

My problem is that Crushing Prison seems to suffer a similar duration penalty. Since it deals out damage over its duration, this seem to severely reduce its damage output. It goes to the point where Crushing Prison does much less damage than Winter's Grasp or Stone Fist.

There are several, mutually compatible explanations for this:

(1) A duration reduction of all spell effects against bosses and elites;

(2) A duration reduction based on difficulty level (I play one Nightmare);

(3) No duration reduction, but enemies tend to have more Physical resistance than Cold or Spiritual.

(4) None of the above, it's simply because I'm wearing some gear which vastly improves Cold damage.

Has anybody else noticed this? Is this a bug or a feature?

Anyways, Crushing Prison is really disappointing for me right now. It's supposed to be around 2~3 times as powerful against single targets as Winter's Grasp/Stone Fist/Spirit Bolt/Chain Lightning, but ends up being usually the same and often weaker. It's 'damage over duration' nature means it often allows enemies chance to drink potions.

And the paralyze effect as a CC is much inferior to Winter's Grasp's freeze effect or Golem's Fist's tremendous impact. It has only a 40% trigger, and if you have Staggered enemies you're much better off with Chain Reaction.

I'm really surprised as Prison is supposed to be the most powerful single-target spell in the game. It's been a huge letdown so far.

Modifié par iOnlySignIn, 17 mars 2011 - 01:33 .