Double dipping

Double dipping was an unofficial name for a game mechanic when the same damage modifier applies twice to a single damage source. This mechanic primarily applied to damage over time ailments, prior to its rework in Version 3.0.0.

Previously, ailments dealt damage based on the final hit after damage modifiers, which meant if a damage modifier applies to both the hit and the ailment, then the ailment will gain increased damage on top of the damage increase of the initial hit.

Mechanics

These are the conditions for double dipping to occur:

• Damage from one source is based on another source' damage (e.g. bleed, ignite or poison are based on the initial hit).
• A modifier grants a generic stat that can apply to different damage sources (e.g. increased Area Damage or increased Elemental Damage). See these other keywords for more examples.

Then the interaction can be explained as follows:

The modifier applies to the damage of the 1st source

⇒

The damage of the 2nd source is based on damage dealt from the 1st source

⇒

The modifier applies to the damage of the 2nd source

As a result the modifier has been applied twice to the second modifier. It's worth to note that the second time it applied it multiplied itself.

Examples

Ignite

Let's use FireballFireballProjectile, Spell, AoE, Fire
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-25) Mana
Cast Time: 0.75 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 240%
Projectile Speed: 1040
Radius: 9Unleashes a ball of fire towards a target which explodes, damaging nearby foes.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Projectile Speed2% reduced Projectile Speed
3% increased Area of Effect3% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments on Enemies
-2% more Damage with Ignite0.25% chance to Debilitate Enemies for 1 second on HitDeals (9-1095) to (14-1643) Fire Damage
(20-39)% chance to Ignite enemies
Projectiles gain Radius as they travel farther, up to +(0-9) RadiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. for this example. It is a fire based spell so both #% increased Elemental Damage and #% increased Spell Damage can scale it. Since the skill deals fire damage it is possible to ignite enemies, dealing 20% of the initial hit as fire damage over time. This is a different damage source compared to the initial FireballFireballProjectile, Spell, AoE, Fire
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-25) Mana
Cast Time: 0.75 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 240%
Projectile Speed: 1040
Radius: 9Unleashes a ball of fire towards a target which explodes, damaging nearby foes.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Projectile Speed2% reduced Projectile Speed
3% increased Area of Effect3% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments on Enemies
-2% more Damage with Ignite0.25% chance to Debilitate Enemies for 1 second on HitDeals (9-1095) to (14-1643) Fire Damage
(20-39)% chance to Ignite enemies
Projectiles gain Radius as they travel farther, up to +(0-9) RadiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. projectile so it's possible for double dipping to occur if the right stat is used.

Elemental Damage

Assume that the character uses a level 20 FireballFireballProjectile, Spell, AoE, Fire
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-25) Mana
Cast Time: 0.75 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 240%
Projectile Speed: 1040
Radius: 9Unleashes a ball of fire towards a target which explodes, damaging nearby foes.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Projectile Speed2% reduced Projectile Speed
3% increased Area of Effect3% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments on Enemies
-2% more Damage with Ignite0.25% chance to Debilitate Enemies for 1 second on HitDeals (9-1095) to (14-1643) Fire Damage
(20-39)% chance to Ignite enemies
Projectiles gain Radius as they travel farther, up to +(0-9) RadiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. and has 100% increased Elemental Damage that affects the skill gem.

1. The spell hits the enemy and deals $\color[RGB]{163,141,109} 1095 \times (1 + 1.00) = 2190$ fire damage to it.
2. The enemy is successfully ignited, dealing a base $\color[RGB]{163,141,109} 2190 \times 0.20 = 438$ fire damage per second.
3. The damage over time is also affected by the applicable modifiers, dealing $\color[RGB]{163,141,109} 438 \times (1 + 1.00) = 876$ fire damage per second for 4 seconds.

In this case the 100% increased Elemental Damage was applied twice because it can apply to different damage sources.

Spell Damage

Assume that the character uses a level 20 FireballFireballProjectile, Spell, AoE, Fire
Level: (1-20)
Cost: (6-25) Mana
Cast Time: 0.75 sec
Critical Strike Chance: 6.00%
Effectiveness of Added Damage: 240%
Projectile Speed: 1040
Radius: 9Unleashes a ball of fire towards a target which explodes, damaging nearby foes.Per 1% Quality:1Superior2Anomalous3Divergent4Phantasmal1% increased Projectile Speed2% reduced Projectile Speed
3% increased Area of Effect3% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments on Enemies
-2% more Damage with Ignite0.25% chance to Debilitate Enemies for 1 second on HitDeals (9-1095) to (14-1643) Fire Damage
(20-39)% chance to Ignite enemies
Projectiles gain Radius as they travel farther, up to +(0-9) RadiusPlace into an item socket of the right colour to gain this skill. Right click to remove from a socket. and has 100% increased Spell Damage that affects the skill gem.

1. The spell hits the enemy and deals $\color[RGB]{163,141,109} 1095 \times (1 + 1.00) = 2190$ fire damage to it.
2. The enemy is successfully ignited, dealing a base $\color[RGB]{163,141,109} 2190 \times 0.20 = 438$ fire damage per second.
3. The damage over time is also affected by the applicable modifiers, dealing $\color[RGB]{163,141,109} 438 \times (1 + 0.00) = 438$ fire damage per second for 4 seconds.

In this case the 100% increased Spell Damage didn't apply twice because ignite damage, which is a damage over time, does not scale off spell damage.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.0.0	Damage over Time has been reworked from the ground up, and 'double dipping' is now a thing of the past.
1.0.2	Generic modifiers to damage dealt will now apply to damage over time that your character causes. Damage over time is not spell damage, nor attack damage, so modifiers specific to those types will not apply. Non-specific "increased damage" modifiers will apply to damage over time. Type-specific modifiers will apply as well. For example, "increased fire damage" modifiers will apply to fire damage over time.