Ok. After some testing, I think I finally figured out how this type of skill really, really works.
And again the truth, once found, is simple:
[b]The linear charges work as they should. While it lasts, every level of charge gives its bonus corresponding to the skill’s values at that level. So a charge level 3 is a temporary buff that grants everything the tooltip says at skill level 3.
However, the attack itself also gets the full effect of the skill because, besides the charging, it behaves just like a regular, non-charging weapon skill. For some reason this was not removed. And, both physical damage effects being %, they add.[/b]
So presume you had a skill giving 10% damage per level/charge, at level 5. You will get:
Charge Level 0: 50% + 0% --> 50%
Charge Level 1: 50% + 10% --> 60%
Charge Level 2: 50% + 20% --> 70%
Charge Level 3: 50% + 30% --> 80%
Charge Level 4: 50% + 40% --> 90%
Charge Level 5: 50% + 50% --> 100%
That explains the “starts out at max charge and doubles” pattern which was observed before. It is the expected result when the maximum charge level equals the skill level, as it is the case with Onslaught.
When making new skills with the skill_weaponpool_chargedlinear template, however, the maximum reachable charge (“SkillChargeLevel”) can be set independently for every level of the skill. And now that we know the true mechanics, we can play with this:
Allowing only a single level of charge, for example, but more levels in the skill, creates a normally behaving bonus-per-skillpoint skill with an additional on/off buff with effects corresponding to its first level - which could add nothing at all, if that first level is set to grant no bonus, while the attack still has effects from later levels. But you can use that timed charge to have some visual effect remaining after an attack. Or, more importantly, some buff/debuff that you cannot have on any normal (momentary) weapon attack!
Limiting the charges to any number lower than the skill’s max (say, allowing one extra charge every 2 levels) lessens the damage increase gained through consecutive attacks, giving hard points a greater influence on the overall strength.
You can even allow a number of charges above the maximum learnable level of the skill, in order to get mainly charge effects, but a lower base boost from hard points.
The downside is that all of those tricks will mess up the (dumb) automatic skill tooltips, which will stop updating at whichever limit is lower. Though I, for one, find that a small price to pay, because the possibilities of all this will be invaluable in recreating the Barb and Assassin skills.
EDIT: And they were. Check out D2I to see them in action.
This works with all damage types, btw. Any speed bonuses, however, are not doubled.
- They belong to the group of buffs that simply do not work in a weapon attack skill, so you only get the effect in the charges.
Other effects that come from skill modifiers (Hamstring) would need more testing, but should follow the same pattern.
