Spark + Crit Mechanics Question

All projectiles (and in general, all hits form a single skill use) use the same crit roll. That is not the same as them either all critting or all not critting (although it leads to that behaviour in many situations).

When you cast spark, the skill makes it's critical strike roll. You can think of this as a number between 0 and 99 (inclusive). A hit is a critical strike if that number is lower than your critical strike chance, and is a regular hit if not.

If your standard critical strike chance with spark is 50%, and you get a critical strike roll of 60, then the sparks will not critically strike. If you drink a diamond flask, then for the duration of that flask use, you have 100% critical strike chance, and thus during that time, the sparks will critically strike anything they hit. Once the flask wears off, the critical strike chance is back to 50%, and thus hits after that point are not critical strikes.

Note that there are other cases where critical strike chances can be different with the same roll, such as the critical weakness curse - it adds an additional % to your chance to critically strike the cursed monsters, so if the cursed monsters have 20% additional chance to be critted, then in the example above the sparks would crit those monsters but not others.

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Mr_Cee wrote:

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Mark_GGG wrote:

When you cast spark, the skill makes it's critical strike roll.

So am I right, that its absolutely unimportant, how long the skill "lasts" for this: I cast spark and it rolls a crit, then even the very last hits of the sparks do that critical damage?

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WhiteBoy88 wrote:

Correct, it doesn't matter if the flask wears off before the projectile hits a target. The projectile has already rolled its crit chance when it was cast, and it will retain the result of that roll regardless of any buff changes that happen during its lifetime.

Similarly, if you cast Spark and then immediately use a Diamond Flask, the flask will have no effect on the projectiles that have already been cast, since they've already rolled their crit chance.

No. That is the opposite of what happens.

Nothing, ever, can affect the critical strike roll. It is always a number between 0-99 inclusive chosen completely at random. It cannot be changed once rolled.

Diamond flasks do not in any way, affect the crit roll. They affect the crit chance, which is compared to the roll at the point the hit occurs.

Example from above, broken down:
Spart rolls a 60 for crit roll. Crit chance is 50%.
One projectile hits something: Not a crit, because the crit roll (60) is not less than the critical strike chance (50).
Drink Diamond flask. Crit roll was still 60, but chance is now 100%.
Second projectile hits something: Crit, because 100% > 60
Flask wears off. Chance goes back to 50%. Roll still unchanged at 60
Third projectile hits something: Not a crit, because 50% < 60.