Archane Echo

Description: If you cast a "spell" in the next 10-26 seconds, Arcane Echo is replaced with that spell for 20 seconds. Arcane Echo ends prematurely if you use a non-spell skill.
Energy Cost: 15
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Recharge Time: 30 seconds
Skill Type: Enchantment
Linked Attribute: Illusion Magic

My question is, if I cast Arcane Echo and use a hex spell like Conjure Phantasm, and then I cast the echoed Conjure Phantasm onto the same person, will the second Conjure Phantasm overwrite the first or will they suffer health degeneration of 10?

My second question is, if I did the above steps but with an enchantment such as Healing Breeze, would they stack or not?

My third is, if I did the steps above on an enchantment with an upkeep such as Balthazar's Spirit, would it stay for as long as it is echoed (if it stacks) or would it stay as long as I maintain it?

Thanks for any help

1. Overwrite

2. Not stack - overwrite again.

3. Stay as long as you maintain it.


Assuming you are using it on the same target. Maximum for degen / regen is 10. So if you cast Healing Breeze on yourself for +8 and then cast Troll Unguent for +6, the total would still be 10.


Wonder if I beat Ensign on this one. I bet he types fast!

Edit: YES I DID!

Ratatass

Thats dissapointing. I read on the vault forums that it did stack so I was checking here. Oh well, just another build cut down to nothing.

Thanks for the info though.

Nothing is for certain untill Ensign has put his name on it!

To the best of my knowledge this is the case. PM Ensign and ask him to take a look at the thread, just to make sure.

Ratatass

Two of the same Hex, enchantment, or stance will not stack on the same person.

While I appreciate the vote of confidence, the real final word on issues like these is whether or not they work in game. If you can get it to work in game then it works, and it really doesn't matter what I've said on the issue. =)

The general answer is what ratatass said - identical skills do not stack, even if cast by different characters. If you cast Conjure Phantasm on a target, all my Conjure Phantasm is going to do is reset the duration to whichever one is longer.

The slightly more complicated answer is that each character will only be affected by one instance of a skill, but every instance of the skill is active. This is easiest to explain with an example. Let's say that both a friend of mine and myself were Necromancers with level 12 Life Siphons. We both cast Life Siphon on the same monster. That monster will have two Life Siphons on it, but only one will actually have an effect - it'll suffer a net health degeneration of 3. My friend and I both have Life Siphons running, however, so we will both gain health regeneration of 3 from our Life Siphons.

Skills don't strictly overwrite each other, they just run in parallel with only the strongest effect manifesting itself at a time.

Peace,
-CxE

Best bet for negative regen would be Life Transfer + Life Siphon. That gives you 10 arrows right away with two skills, plus gives you 10 arrows of health regen. I still maintain that if a necro is played right, he can tank as well as a War/Mo. (until he runs out of energy!)

Uh, Healing Breeze has such a short recharge time, you could just cast it again without Echoing it. Echo doesn't do anything weird to a skill to somehow make it any different than the first one you have -- it just lets you cast a spell more often than you otherwise could. It's an arcane, expensive, and cumbersome way to halve your average recharge time. Echo never does anything you couldn't do by simply recasting the first skill a second time if you could. It's pointless for a skill that recharges nearly instantly. If you want to know what Arcane Echo will do with any skill, just ask yourself what could you do with that skill if you could cast it twice instead of once before the recharge timer kicked in. That is all that Arcane Echo does.

Indeed, there would be no reason to echo Balthazar's Spirit or such maintained enchantments since they a have short to none recharge time.

I have heard the rumor too but I believe it it’s too good to be true.

The reason people think that they may stack is because they think the spell is still considered arcane echo once it’s been duplicated therefore it is not the same spell and would stack. It would be to powerful I believe so I doubt its true this doesn’t mean I’m not going to test it out though .

I have arcane echo so ill repost something about it BWE.

Last BWE, arcane echo or echo when combined with a hex stacked. I was doing a -10degen with dual conjure phantasms. I believe though this will get fixed, if it hasn't already been done. Unfortunately many people in my guild made builds around this knowledge, but it is slight abuse I guess, so its better if it is changed. Also there is no sure way to tell I was actually stacking the hex.. Other factors always apply, when your opponent can't tell you what is happening. By asking them I have heard, it only shows the icon of the hex/whatever once, but does the effect 2x.