Inconsistencies in how "Blinding Ashes" (Fire lane's trait) does function.

I've been experimenting with different builds hitting target golems in Heart of the Mists when I first noted this. Before starting recording videos and submitting bug reports, I first wanted to make sure I'm not missing something here.

The problem is when I appy skills which set enemies on fire with this trait enabled, some of those skills correctly blind enemies, while others blind them, yet not all the time, and not at the same time, for some reason (judging by the "dark cloud" thingy which appears above the blinded foe); I only tested with dagger/dagger weapon set, using the place on the map when golems stand in a big group close to each other (so each AoE skill was hitting 5+ of them). Here is the list:

1. Overload fire: usually blinds a few foes (1-3) at the start of it, and then just keeps pulsing burning without blinding the rest, until the very end - then usually blinds a few more, despite it pulses burning each second
2. Burning speed - usually only blinds one of the foes you slide through, the first one
3. Drake's Breath - strange one, it seems to blind foes randomly, without any clear pattern, usually 1-3 foes, even though skill can affect up to 5 enemies and I made sure I set 4-5 on fire each time
4. Signet of Fire - that one always blinds all enemies it sets on fire
5. Ring of Fire - same as the Signet, works perfectly all the time, burning and blinding up to 5 foes immediately

Trait's description reads "Blind foes that you burn" (note the plural form), also in wiki I see this: "If multiple enemies are burned by the same hit (such as with Flame Burst) they will all be blinded. Attacks that burn several times, such as Burning Retreat or "Feel the Burn!" will only blind the enemies struck by the first hit." So I assume behavior I observe in case of "Signet of Fire" and "Ring of Fire" is correct one, and others are bugged.

Any explanations to this, perhaps?

Ok, answering my questions here :)

Done some more tests. Fire Overload so far is the one which was the most confusing, but now I see it may actually work as the wiki mentions: "Attacks that burn several times, such as Burning Retreat or "Feel the Burn!" will only blind the enemies struck by the first hit". As it consists of 5 pulses + 5 pulses pas the channeling has ended, according to that wiki's note only the first pulse should apply Blindness - and that is what I seem to observe now. It's a bit more complicated as during channeling you also spew out those fire projectiles due to the Overload being also a whirl finisher, and they in turn blind those they hit in an sporadic manner. That probably was what initially confused me by its randomness.

Burning speed still behaves.. strange. As other know, probably, it deploys a final fire blow at the end of its trajectory. So, if you aim at a tight group of enemies in such way you'll hit them at the end of your run, they will all be blinded. But if instead you'll pass any other enemy on your way there, that enemy will be blinded, but the final group - won't. Very weird.

Finally, I can't reproduce the previous issue with Drake's Breath anymore. It seems to correctly blind everybody it sets on fire, even though it sort of consists of several bursts, it will blind enemies with any of those bursts.

One more weird thing about this trait. Though skills like Ring of Fire can blind a lot of foes simultaneously, and skill like Drake Breath seem to be able to blind many foes again and again, repeatedly, it's different for case when a fire is set on critical hit, like if Burning Precision trait is enabled. In such case it seems like a cooldown is shared across all possible critical hits. So if you start to attack a pack of golems with Lightning Whip repeatedly, you'll see that first critical hit it lands which manages to set a golem on fire will always cause blindness, but the next few in some narrow time frame, though will also apply burning, won't blind golems. Then after some time the next critical hit burns a golem and blinds it as well - then again a few such hits follow which burn them, but not blind.

The trait had a 8 seconds internal cooldown to apply the blind, did you take it in consideration?

@"whoknocks.4935" said:The trait had a 8 seconds internal cooldown to apply the blind, did you take it in consideration?

Yes, more tests shows it's related to this CD. But it surely works strange. As long as blind condi was applied by any means using this trait, be it direct application through burning caused by Drake's Breath, or indirect through burning caused by crit strike due to Burning Precision, it all counts.

So, for example, you could blind 5 golems with Ring of Fire, or you could blind just one by critting it and setting it on fire due to Burning Precision - it all counts, and you won't be able to "burn & blind" any other golems until that CD has ended.

Thus why no one uses it. Being weak and rather inconsistent. Only useful traits are those that proc when you want them to proc.

They need to make its icd much longer say 15 sec BUT make the icd per person. Though a lot of icd on ele needs to be per person but longer.

@Jski.6180 said:They need to make its icd much longer say 15 sec BUT make the icd per person. Though a lot of icd on ele needs to be per person but longer.

Usually, I think you've got extremly OP idea, but here... Seriously, I don't think having an ICD per target need an increase of the ICD. 8s per unique foe is fine, that's merely blind we are talking about here.

@"MyPuppy.8970" said:Thus why no one uses it. Being weak and rather inconsistent. Only useful traits are those that proc when you want them to proc.

I wouldn't be so categorical. After a few hours of testing with it and without it on dummy AI opponents in Heart of the Mists yesterday, I can surely say I feel the difference. Though must be noted I don't use meta-builds for my "combat tempest" (i.e. the only viable efficient combat build out there, which assumes you use horn OH and is built around abusing Fresh Air / Air overload), and use all overloads and attunements (just more fun for me that way), including Fire Overload. Without Blinding Ashes I receive much more severe beating when trying to execute it. So at least it works in PvE against a single strong opponent pretty well, it's pretty reliable as you can cast Ring of Fire / Drake Breath initially and be sure a few enemies struck by it will be blinded.

@MoriMoriMori.5349 said:

@"MyPuppy.8970" said:Thus why no one uses it. Being weak and rather inconsistent. Only useful traits are those that proc when you want them to proc.

You have enough blinds on wh 5 and sandstorm already. Your "severe beating" isnt as severe as you think.

@steki.1478Don't use warhorn, it's too.. static, for the lack of a better word. Minus one mobility and 2 CC skills, and makes you to stand still and just rain damage on enemies more, not my kind of gameplay. And Sandstorm has 40 seconds cooldown, and pins you down to a certain spot, and only affects those enemies who are inside it (so if you casted it and they moved out of it, for any reason, it's of little use).

@MoriMoriMori.5349 said:@steki.1478Don't use warhorn, it's too.. static, for the lack of a better word. Minus one mobility and 2 CC skills, and makes you to stand still and just rain damage on enemies more, not my kind of gameplay. And Sandstorm has 40 seconds cooldown, and pins you down to a certain spot, and only affects those enemies who are inside it (so if you casted it and they moved out of it, for any reason, it's of little use).

That's the whole point, instead of chasing down enemies 1 by 1, you can group them up and burst them all down while being invincible. They don't move out of you kite them to stay in your fields, you even have CC to keep them in.

40 seconds for about 6 second duration on aoe pulsing field is far better than random proc once every 8 seconds which isn't even aoe in most situations. You'll get more value from downed lava font (especially with lifesteal signet mastery) as a rally tool than a random blind.