Dark magic + Manus catalyst damage test with results

Hello all,

Ive been hearing alot of stuff about the Manus catalyst scaling with strength or having a hidden modifier for dark magic etc so thought I would try this out...

These spells were casted on all 3 of the hollows on the bridge next to the sunlight alter...


50 INT / 14 STR

Logans catalyst (236 MagAdjust)

Crystal soul spear - 765

Dark orb - 389


Tin crystal catalyst (293 MMagAdjust)

Crystal soul spear - 950

Dark orb - 492

Manus catalyst (275 MagAdjust)

Crystal soul spear - 892

Dark orb - 468



50 INT / 50 STR

Logans catalyst (236 MagAdjust)

Crystal soul spear - 765

Dark orb - 401


Tin crystal catalyst (293 MagAdjust

Crystal soul spear - 950

Dark orb - 511


Manus catalyst (275 MagAdjust)

Crystal soul spear - 892

Dark orb - 566


Conclusions

- The displayed MajAdjust doesnt change at all.

- Higher STR doesnt affect the crystal soul spear at all, no matter which catalyst is used.

- Higher STR does however, increase the dark orb damage, on all 3 catalysts.

- The Manus catalyst does also appear to have an extra (STR?) modifier for dark magic, since its dark orb damage was higher than the tin crystal caatalyst at 50/50, but not 50/14.

- Whilst I was at this, I tested black flame at both stats, the damage was the same both times, so is only affected by the lvl of the pyro hand.


I hope this helps, if theres anything else that can be added to this please feel free to set me straight, and if there is anything else you would like testing, let me know and ill get it done

Rosie =)

Just some more info...

The Manus catalyst requires 14 STR to use. Dark Orb cast at 12 STR/50 INT came out as 394, and at 14 STR/50 INT came out at 467. So the minimum STR requirement does play some part in the magic, and not just the melee attack.

(Not terribly important)

however...

The tin crystal catalyst and Manus catalyst both did 498 dark orb damage at 21 STR/50 INT. So 21 STR is the break point if you are wanting to increase dark magic with STR and the use of the Manus catalyst.


Again, hope this helps (sorry for the big post lol)

This good to know Rosie! Thank you for testing ^.^

Mind quickly two handing the catalysts and seeing if it further improves damage?

Amazing post. Thank you Rosie.

Thanks for corroborating rosie. I've found that at 27 Str/32 Int Manus and TCC basically do same damage for dark sorcery. When I did the tests Str didn't increase Dark Orb damage with the Oolacile catalyst. Based on your results it seems that Manus boosts dark sorcery damage considerably compared to other catalysts. However, the boost is small compared to as increasing Int.

I like you rosie your post and videos are ...informative most of the research I do I keep to myself

Thank goodness for there finally being some concrete testing.

So unless you don't plan on exceeding 21 Strength the Manus is worthless? Pretty much what I had suspected.

Hmm yes I love reading threads with so much info packed inside. .......yummy info Thanks.

P.s @ Rynn - You have been one of the greatest providers of yummy info since ive been here, thanks.

WhatDoesThePendantDo? wrote:Thank goodness for there finally being some concrete testing.

So unless you don't plan on exceeding 21 Strength the Manus is worthless? Pretty much what I had suspected.

I would like to point out that the minimum int requirement for the Manus is only 14 (I think).Thats WAY lower than the TCC. The MagAdjust for Manus is 198 (I think) at 14 int, which is better than the ivory catalyst. If you're doing a low lvl dark bead/GMW build then Manus might be the way to go, especially if its also a str hybrid.

True. For low levels of Intelligence it's probably the best even with castings halved.

Shakie666 wrote:

WhatDoesThePendantDo? wrote:Thank goodness for there finally being some concrete testing.

So unless you don't plan on exceeding 21 Strength the Manus is worthless? Pretty much what I had suspected.

I would like to point out that the minimum int requirement for the Manus is only 14 (I think).Thats WAY lower than the TCC. The MagAdjust for Manus is 198 (I think) at 14 int, which is better than the ivory catalyst. If you're doing a low lvl dark bead/GMW build then Manus might be the way to go, especially if its also a str hybrid.

Wrong, at 16 Int it's a mere ~120 mag adj, according to mugenmonkey.

^Mugen's been wrong before! If you want reliable Mag Adj numbers, refer to our Wiki:

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Magic+Adjustment

But I'm looking at mugenmonkey now, and the numbers seem to be the same as the wiki's. Seems it's you who was wrong!

BLA1NE wrote:^Mugen's been wrong before! If you want reliable Mag Adj numbers, refer to our Wiki:

http://darksoulswiki.wikispaces.com/Magic+Adjustment

But I'm looking at mugenmonkey now, and the numbers seem to be the same as the wiki's. Seems it's you who was wrong!

Now I feel like such an idiot :x

I was unaware that the magadjust for the Manus was so low at the minimum int required, I just read somewhere it was 198 at 14 int

Red Rosie Sugar wrote:Just some more info...

The Manus catalyst requires 14 STR to use. Dark Orb cast at 12 STR/50 INT came out as 394, and at 14 STR/50 INT came out at 467. So the minimum STR requirement does play some part in the magic, and not just the melee attack.

(Not terribly important)

however...

The tin crystal catalyst and Manus catalyst both did 498 dark orb damage at 21 STR/50 INT. So 21 STR is the break point if you are wanting to increase dark magic with STR and the use of the Manus catalyst.


Again, hope this helps (sorry for the big post lol)

Thanks for doing these tests, could you or anyone that is able to, test if the new Oolacile Catalyst has any effect on Dark Sorceries?

Oh thats a good idea! Ok ill start testing for that soon and post the results

I am also going to test if it suffers from diminishing returns, since I am at 50 strength right now. I'll be testing this over the next two or three days.

Remember you have to compare it to the normal catalysts (to see if it's better for casting Dark Sorceries)! I'm pretty sure Manus and TCC will be better, because of the augmented MAG ADJ.