Zealot's Fire nerf??

I'm wondering why the skill Zealot's fire seems to have been severly nerfed, or is suffering some some major bug.

I had a good idea for a build using this skill, however I was very dissapointed when I actually tested it.

When I put my smiting prayers to 8, I should have been dealing 21 fire damage with this skill. However, I was only doing 12... I tested this against Mountain trolls and the Avicara, and both only took 12 damage.

Another thing I found was if I spammed skills to get a lot of damage output from this skill, enemies would flee as if it were an AoE spell. I suppose it is an AoE spell, but it requires other skills to activate it, so I don't see why ANet would make monster AI's flee from this skill...

My question is was there ever a nerf targeted at this skill?

Fire dmg doesnt ignore armour, hense 12 instead of the full amount.

If you use skills more than every 3 seconds they will flee, more than that and they wont.

Hope that helps

it is fire damage (I think) so their armor level affects it. If you use it against something made of wood (like the little aloe type things or oakheart types) they will take much more than the listed amount.

It is AoE dmg so that is why they flee.

At least, this is the way it has always worked for me. I still find it very useful in some situations though.

reason its doing less dam than described is the armour of ur target and its area dam so its not unusual to find things running away from u

21 *FIRE* Damage, not Holy damage.
The armor reduces the damage.

They count it as AoE because it is smiting...And the AoE nerf was basically a farming nerf - Monks used to use Symbol of Wrath, Balt Aura, and Zealots Fire to WTFPWN everything in like 2 secs... Ele's AoE could also WTFPWN everything in PvE...

YOu'll notice other "Aoe Style" spells in other classes didn't get touched. Like Barrage, or Spiteful Spirit.

Barrage isn't a spell and Spiteful is on a mob, the mobs get confused by the other friendly mobs hitting them so they don't know what to do about Spiteful

Neither does Cyclone Axe or Triple Chop. I guess there is a gray area of AoE damage and like dargon said it seems related to spells only. Odd that SS doesn't trigger it, but I think that's a good thing and hopefully won't ever get "fixed".

It is not spells only...That I can back that up.

The PREPARATION (not Spell, actually as far away form a spell as you can get) Ignite Arrows is also effected by it.

I guess if it's a non-elite and it kills too fast, enemies run away. That's about how I see the formula.

If you are doing what I think your doing, which is using a 55 monk with Zealot's than 8 in smiting is way low. If you are using it on a warrior, it's not worth it IMHO. I use Zealot's with my 55 monk in combination with Shield of Judgment for my dmg. My smiting is up to 13 or 14 I think. I generally only do 17 to 20 dmg with Zealot's. In order to bypass the AOE, you have to time it far enough apart so that they don't run away. Piece of cake.

By the way, it's been nerfed as an AOE for a little while now.

i think if mobs are hit by aoe for like 2 or 3 secs they start to flee... you can use to your adv as well... if your softies are targeted by melee atks, just send in an aoe and watch them flee... nicest exp ever...

and yeh, agreed on that fire dmg does not ignore armour...

its funny cause enemy's flee from whirling defence