I know that for procs, for example, each mob in the AOE gets a separate check. Is that also true for crits? In other words, is it good to put something like a Devotion that procs on a crit onto an AOE skill, as opposed to single target?
It’s super great. You got the right idea.
Crit roll is performed per skill use. Usually, if your (AoE) skill crits, its crits all enemies, or none (exclusions happen because enemies has have different DA value, but rarely).
So, if you have something with 100% on-crit proc, you may put it to single-target skill, it wont make a major difference compared to AoE.
From my experience this is not true. Even on training dummy’s if I have Assassin’s Mark attached to Grenado and hurl my Grenado at a training dummy and it crits the training dummy next to it, but not the intended target then Assassin’s Mark will only be applied training dummy which was crit.
Hence it’s better to attach it to AoE skills. Canister Bomb for example I’m 90% sure the hit/miss/crit is rolled per canister in the bomb. It will always apply Assassin’s Mark if it’s at a high enough level because 1 out of the 7 canister’s will usually register a crit. etc etc.
I didnt tested it with Grenado, but with various attack skills i’ve tested on dummy, it was true (Blitz, Feral Hunger, Primal Strike, etc). I suspect it works the following way - a “roll” (1-100 for example) is made for skill use, and the number rolled is used (acoordingly to OA-DA difference) to determine whether skill will crit an enemy or not.
Yeah, just subjectively observing I’m not getting nearly as many crits as you might think if it was the other way 'round.
I tested it with Blitz, Zolhan’s Technique and Flame Breath. Still the same. If one is crit but the other is not then only one of the dummy’s will have “Assassin’s Mark” applied. AoE just seems to be better if you want a specific “on crit” proc.
Having said that I’ve had mixed gameplay results with Blitz where I charge in and kill all enemies but don’t see a single number display. I’m assuming that’s just an unrelated bug.
Blitz has zero range, it’s direct melee contact only, and max 3 targets (5 with Blindside). So unless there are at least 3 mobs in physical contact with you, the results of a proc won’t be all that great. I have the same issue with Bloodbath, even though it supports up to 8 targets. I’m lucky if I hit 3, because they have to be literally touching you.