Talk:Whirling Defense

Scattering
I was testing against the skeleton rangers outside Bergen Hot Spring, and sometimes the rangers would move away from me after taking damage from Whirling Defense, and sometimes they wouldn't. One time 2 out of 3 rangers I was adjacent to ran away, but one stayed. So I'm not sure what's the deal with scattering. Is there a "ranged attackers should stay ranged" AI at work? -PanSola 23:28, 2 March 2006 (CST)
 * Actually I'd like to note that it does trigger AOE effects if the rate at which enemies are being hit from Whirling is fast enough. I've had warriors break aggro on my ranger if I had Whirling on and 2-3 ranged attackers trying to hit me. Has anyone else seen this? I'll see if I can test this. -Ryard 11:17, 16 March 2006 (EST)
 * Lol, it MOST CERTAINLY IS AOE! Try going into the Jade Quarry and using this skill by the groups of 3 archers, not only will they practically toast each other after a few moments, they'll flee like little piggies... all before the vampire... *Cough.* Anywho aye, the AI registers it as AoE if it happens fast enough. Kamahl 15:14, 18 September 2006 (CDT)
 * I believe it would work in the same was as other similar skills that target all adjacent foes. That is they will stay by you and fight until they start to lose health. Then only ever the 3 with highest health will fight you, allowing the others to regen. Once any of the fighters has less health that the ones not fighting they will swap. So if there is more than 3 mellee attackers then they will alternate who fights you. Ranged attackers should not affect/be affected by this fact.--Chronicinability 19:26, 7 March 2007 (CST)

It doesn't walk, talk, or squeak like piercing damage
Why should we believe that it deals piercing damage? Just because the description says so? Is there any skill or armor (besides Bonelace and that other one, which only add AL against piercing) that differentiates piercing from other kinds of damage? &mdash; Stabber 23:28, 2 March 2006 (CST)
 * Innocent until proven guilty. Even if it doesn't behave like piercing, if it also doesn't behave specifically like a different particular damage type, then let's leave it as piercing.  -PanSola 23:34, 2 March 2006 (CST)

Some questions (not trying to change the description, just for information's sake): --JoDiamonds 05:56, 18 March 2006 (CST)
 * Does it trigger off Smite? (I assume it would...)
 * Does it behave like physical damage in any way (as Piercing damage should)?
 * Does the damage more or less behave like untyped damage, i.e.: causes health loss directly (bypassing the armor system)?


 * 3. It does ignore armor, if that's what you meant by the third question.
 * 2. It triggers Essence Bond, so it's either physical or elemental damage.
 * 1. When holding a holy rod, using Smite does trigger damage from Whirling Defense. --PanSola, Table of The Lyssa Advocacy Front (sing) 03:16, 18 May 2006 (CDT)

Someone should give this a go using a warrior with Shield's Up. See if that reduces damage a bit. Other than that, i dont believe its really piercing damage, just direct damage (shadow, chaos, etc) labeled as piercing. Robin 07:58, 21 July 2006 (CDT)


 * Um, it ignores armor, so Shield's Up shouldn't do anything. Also, Essence Bond doesn't give energy for shadow, chaos etc damage.  It gives energy for Whirling Defense damage. - 10:31, 21 July 2006 (CDT)
 * so it's armor ignoring physical damage? just one more point 'twords "no damage type ignores armor, not even untyped, only specific skills ignore armor"--Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 10:37, 21 July 2006 (CDT)


 * Well Essence Bond only proves it's either physical OR elemental damage. It does not get converted by Greater Conflagration into Fire (I never bothered testing if it gets converted by Winter), so I count its skill type as bugged, and I give no points to skills with bugged skill types. - 12:32, 21 July 2006 (CDT)
 * I changed my Rune of Absorbtion from Major to Superior during a Mission and the damage I took from this skill decreased from 9 to 8. If I understand the system correctly, its armor ignoring physical damage. -Khan Reaper Kerensky 19:06, 7 March 2007 (CST)
 * This skill is affected by armor, while fighting Jade Bows I took 11 damage from this skill. When I activated "Watch Yourself!" with a +20 armor modifier I recieved only 9 damage. 65.30.20.38 10:16, 12 June 2007 (CDT)
 * But it is NOT effected by "Shields Up!".
 * That just proves that it is not affected by armor. If it was, you'd be taking less than 9 damage (a +20 armor boost reduces armor-affected damage by ~29.3%). You should have been taking 8s per activation. Check your equipment/status for anything that activated to reduce damage. --Kale Ironfist 10:43, 12 June 2007 (CDT)
 * (Damn edit conflict)I doubt that this skill is affected by armor. I use this skill a lot and the damage nearly never changes. Try it on a low level creature and you will see that armor does not modify the damage as it would happen with other skills with fixed damage like Conjure Flame. What you observed may be a hint that "Watch Yourself!" has a hidden absorbtion bonus. -Khan Reaper Kerensky 10:50, 12 June 2007 (CDT)

Shields up does not affect piercing damage any longer. It hasn't for a long time. I also verified that WY does not reduce damage from whirling. --Fyren 21:51, 12 June 2007 (CDT)
 * The first part's a lie. Just read the skill description. - [[Image:Ayumsig.jpg]] Ayumbhara [[Image:Ayumsig.jpg]] 02:23, 26 June 2007 (CDT)
 * No, what I said is correct. The description has been wrong for months.  --Fyren 03:01, 26 June 2007 (CDT)

description chage
"piercing" has been removed from the description, so now it's just untyped damage. However, Essense Bond still works as previously (gives energy). I highly suspect this is the exact same situation with talk:Dust Trap, where only the skill description got changed, butteh skill type bug remains identical to the original behavior. - 05:30, 25 September 2006 (CDT)

Why does my scythe attacks trigger whirling defense? I was taking damage attacking a kournan bowman
 * Because they were blocked? &mdash; Skuld 19:08, 2 January 2007 (CST)
 * Scythe attacks aren't projectile... Someone in the team was probably wanding or something. --Theeth (talk)   19:29, 2 January 2007 (CST)

attacking ritualist spirits
Does Whirling Defense trigger against Ritualist spirits such as Bloodsong, Pain, Shadowsong, etc?
 * Yes. --Fyren 18:18, 24 March 2007 (CDT)

Inherit damage type
I'm not positive how it all works out, but when I am weilding a fiery bowstring on my ranger, it deals out fire damage, or rather, is registered as fire damage. Here's the situation.

In alliance battles on the Salt Spray Beach, I was always able to take out the southestern points (with two rangers each) by standing next to them, laying down whirling defense, then putting Mark of Rodgort on them. I can't count the times when I was alone and just stood there not attacking, watching them cause their own death.

Conclusion: It changes from your weaponry enough to trigger a hex that acts from fire damage. Whether it deals extra to monsters weak to fire damage, I'unno. Another way to double check this would be to have an Icy anything and use it on someone who is hexed with Spinal Shivers.--Knux 05:42, 23 December 2007 (UTC)