Need to know how Wickerbottom & Maxwell work

[truepurple 7]

Wickerbottom

- After dealing sufficient damage, your next spell will become amplified and deal more damage.

So how much damage does it take? Does any damage count? Like does the damage dealt by the summoning from the book of beckoning count?

Whats called a spell. Are the normal blasts from staves spells? If they do, and it's only the NEXT single one spell that's boosted, does that mean that if you use a normal blast your amplification is lost?

Is the summoning of the book of beckoning boosted by her amplification?

Maxwell

-After focusing attacks on one enemy, Shadow Duelists will be summoned and quickly do some slashes to pile on the damage.

What does it mean "focusing attacks on one enemy"? I tried Maxwell a few times, others have use him too. None of us have actually ever seen this Shadow duelist. Is it bugged?

Maxwell is called by this a "glass cannon" Surely I see the glass part, his health is half that of Wicker. But what is the cannon part? That shadow duelist that never comes out? Does have a unlisted trait of doing more damage with his attacks or something?

 

[D7X 262]

Wicker's amplified spell applies to the special attack (right click). So petrify longer, heal more, more damaging meteor or more damaging fire elemental. You can work towards the amplified effect by doing any damage that isn't a special move, even hitting stuff with your book/fist.

With Maxwell if you continuously attack one enemy for long enough (usually with the fire staff) a bunch of shadows will spawn surrounding the enemy you're attacking and dart through it dealing damage. It's a fast animation so you might have missed it but it definitely happens.

[truepurple 7]

Is there a indication when Wicker will amplify the next special move? Can you space out wickers attacks and have it still work? Like if 10 attacks is enough normally, if you do 5 attacks, run around a bit, do a special attack, 5 more attacks, will it still trigger the amp?

Do attacks that do more damage help contribute more to Wickers amp?

If you hit another enemy, does that reset Maxwells count? If you say use special to hit a bunch of enemies including your target, does that reset count? Similar to Wicker, if there is time between the attacks, does the count time out and reset?

 

[TheFacelessMane 79]

42 minutes ago, truepurple said:

Is there a indication when Wicker will amplify the next special move? Can you space out wickers attacks and have it still work? Like if 10 attacks is enough normally, if you do 5 attacks, run around a bit, do a special attack, 5 more attacks, will it still trigger the amp?

Yes to everything. There is a jingle-like sound when wicker's spell amplification is ready. Also, if you notice her hands there is some sparkling there too. If you count the attacks you will learn how many it takes for spell amplify to kick in. It's around 15.

Do attacks that do more damage help contribute more to Wickers amp?
I dont think so but not 100% sure.

If you hit another enemy, does that reset Maxwells count? If you say use special to hit a bunch of enemies including your target, does that reset count? Similar to Wicker, if there is time between the attacks, does the count time out and reset?
Yes, hitting another enemy resets the count. Don't know if using the special resets it too. No timeout for Max or Wicker

 

 

[D7X 262]

Yes more damage will charge Wicker's amp ability quicker, and using a special won't reset the progress.

Also not sure about the special resseting Maxwell's but that's honestly not something you need to worry about, his ability is way more of a passive bonus, Wicker's is the one you need to plan around.

[Tumalu 547]

Wicker charges juuust fast enough to manage off heal staff, but with fire staff she can absolutely juggle multiple items because it charges very quickly. Wicker with fire staff and golem book deals enormous damage once you actually have them.

Still, it takes a lot of swapping effort for her to actually catch up in damage versus Willow having the stronger start, so she's not generally the character of choice for using Fire Staff. If we unlock a second final boss eventually or something from community goals, Wicker might start winning out.

It's been awhile, but IIRC Wickerbottom's boost is like ~33% bonus? It's very big, and the reason she's way better for healing than Winona, in addition to being able to petrify on the side.

I'm pretty sure Max's thing resets it's count if you target something else once, so once you get fire staff you just want to focus down single targets when you can. Honestly, the best part of Max's special is just that it stuns Boarrior for awhile. If you just want the most damage, play Willow or Wickerbottom. Especially if you use the rapidfire trick (manually click between multiple targets), which lets Willow/Wicker beat his damage even harder.

And while we're at it; Max shouldn't even bother with the golem book. All the time spent swapping, summoning, and NOT using fire staff with shadows, the net gain in damage is -very- low. Choose Wicker if you want to do that. (Just make sure the team isn't assuming you're gonna heal)

[FreyaMaluk 5623]

wicker + max = best besties ... masters of crowd control... can swap for wicker mage to one shot piggies on boarrior... win team IMO...

they have a disadvantage dmg-wise cuz no darts in the begining... but they are real team players...

in comparison, willow is kinda braindead pressing F looking pretty xD

 

[Atkvin 561]

You shush, Willow is my low ping crutch in these trying times.

And yes, there is a very clear tell for when the amp is ready. She sparkles (visual stays until the amp is used up) and there's a sound effect for when you get it, as well as after you have cast a spell and used up the amp. You can get it earlier on by whacking enemies with your book (after letting them target the tanks first!), and unlike Max's perk it's cumulative and will simply keep building up if you stop attacking the same enemy or stop attacking altogether.

It's a cool mechanic to encourage her to keep contributing as a damage dealer to get up that amp that can save her team in critical health, cc enemies for a longer time, and if you have the time/coordination/resources deal a heavy amount of damage with the meteor staff.

[Tumalu 547]

If you use the rapidfire trick to target multiple enemies at once, Willow's the best dps there is. I rank at 50~55k damage when I choose her. So she's not just a "hold F" easytimes character! XD But as I said before, if the community unlocks add more rounds onto the end of forge, Wicker's heavy dps once she gets fire+golem might win out.

[FreyaMaluk 5623]

even with rapid fire willow is simply easier... cuz wicker with rapid fire juggling charged golem and fireball is way more fun IMO. Besides, I easily get 50k with wicker and beyond that even without rapid fire. It also depends on party comp too.

[Nanoking308 45]

I believe Wickbottom's amplified effect happens after about 200 damage is done with normal attacks.

[truepurple 7]

It was a case of not knowing what to look for with Maxwells ability

So no one knows if more damage causes Maxwells ability to go off more? Or go off for more damage?

I think more damage causes Maxwells to go off more because early game before you have the staff your hitting stuff with books and I don't recall any Maxwell triggering special ability with that. Since against boars and with everyone else you only get a few hits, but surely if it was the same rate as with staff it would be every now and again.

[Tumalu 547]

It's probably damage based, but you'd have to have the healstaff to really test, and no one's willing to let Maxwell's frail, frail hands on that thing.

Even though technically, it's the most efficient thing to do, since he could surely trigger it every now and then for some extra damage. I've tried to trigger it off books but no dice. Pit pigs die too fast and his own abysmal HP often forces a retreat.

So yeah, fire staff is honestly the only option he's even got.

[Sinister_Fang 9348]

From what I remember from last year, yeah, it's damaged based. There was one time I had the healing staff as Max (our healer disconnected and I was the only other staff user) and the shadows appeared much less frequently with it.

[bioRival 9]

On 11.11.2018 at 4:35 PM, truepurple said:

It was a case of not knowing what to look for with Maxwells ability

So no one knows if more damage causes Maxwells ability to go off more? Or go off for more damage?

I think more damage causes Maxwells to go off more because early game before you have the staff your hitting stuff with books and I don't recall any Maxwell triggering special ability with that. Since against boars and with everyone else you only get a few hits, but surely if it was the same rate as with staff it would be every now and again.

Not damage based. For instance you can hit enemies while they in guard stance (dealing 0 damage) and still your duelists will come off. Can't quite recall the number of hits needed though

[truepurple 7]

Do the shadows break guard etc.? If so, do they deliver their damage as they break the guard?

[bioRival 9]

10 hours ago, truepurple said:

Do the shadows break guard etc.?

No, duelists do not break guards, each of them will just do 0 damage. Though they stagger the Boarrior and other enemies for a brief moment

[Monkey Cups 510]

On 11/11/2018 at 7:41 AM, Tumalu said:

It's probably damage based, but you'd have to have the healstaff to really test, and no one's willing to let Maxwell's frail, frail hands on that thing.

Haha...actually ended up healing as Max in one match because no one else wanted to do it. It's not damage based, just number of hits.