I was wondering which DOT style people prefer? Hit plus overt 3 rounds, or just over 3 rounds? Like, Would you prefer if Dragon was a 3 round only like scald, or if you prefer all DoT spells to be like Fire Elf/Dragon; Hit and then over 3 rounds. I see the benefit of both, but since fire doesnt have a 4 trap spell, Im thinking it would be more in line with the 3 rounders. If we had a 4 trap spell, I think I would prefer the hit + 3 rounds.
With my Fire, what spell I prefer in a fight depends on what attributes my enemies have. If I'm up against high level Storm, Balance or Ice, for example, I expect to be dealing with shields. In that case, I prefer the back-loaded over-time spells like Scald and Volcano. Otherwise, Dragon remains a classic for a reason and I like it even better lately, since KI made it more potent upfront.
With my Ice, Reindeer is the spell used most often because it's fast and hits hard up front--great to use with Feints. But, if there are shields to deal with, then I use the back-loaded over-time spells like Snow Angel and just wait it out.
With Death, it's the Deer Knight or Scarecrow, depending on how fast and/or how much heal-back I need. (She's not high enough yet for Lulu.) If she's facing a lot of shields, she'll lean more towards Poison and Deer Knight. In fact, she soloed Belloq with those two spells.
I actually like having both options, either a higher up-front with lower over-time afterburn; or a lower or no hit up-front with a higher overtime chaser. They both have their place, often depending on whether I have to deal with shields or not. Or if I'm on a team or not. Or if I'm in a hurry or not.
I prefer hit + DoT. The smaller initial hit is handy for knocking off shields if the need arises. Larger initial hits like those on Fire Dragon, meanwhile, can often be strong enough to take out weaker enemies like street mobs or a boss's minions. 1/3 of a "pure" DoT from something like Scald probably wouldn't be able to do that.
I was wondering which DOT style people prefer? Hit plus overt 3 rounds, or just over 3 rounds? Like, Would you prefer if Dragon was a 3 round only like scald, or if you prefer all DoT spells to be like Fire Elf/Dragon; Hit and then over 3 rounds. I see the benefit of both, but since fire doesnt have a 4 trap spell, Im thinking it would be more in line with the 3 rounders. If we had a 4 trap spell, I think I would prefer the hit + 3 rounds.
For weaker spells like fire elf have a hit then DoT, but for spells that are already really strong with the dot like fire dragon you could remove the first hit.