Sunshine and Death's Swiftness
Sunshine
Info
Sunshine is an ultimate magic ability with a requirement of 85 Magic. It is a reward for completing the grandmaster quest The World Wakes.
The player creates a circle of light covering a 7x7 area, granting them an increase of 50% to their magic damage as long as they stay inside the beam. A damage-over-time effect is applied to the primary target (at time of casting) if they enter the beam, causing damage for 10% to 20% of main-hand weapon damage every 2 seconds, for a total of 30 seconds. This damage-over-time is not influenced by magic level or stats for other equipment.
The tooltip for this ability is somewhat misleading. Only if your current target is within the sunbeam upon cast will they begin to take the damage-over-time. They will be damaged until either the sunbeam disappears, they leave the sunbeam, or they die. Should your target die and you attack another enemy or you simply switch targets, the next enemy will not be affected by the damage-over-time effects of Sunshine.
Damage of magic ability bleeds like Combust or Corruption Blast are not increased. Onslaught is also unaffected by Sunshine.
The ability was buffed with the release of the sirenic armour. Previously the effects only lasted for 10 seconds, making it quite impractical and inferior in comparison to Metamorphosis. However, now that it lasts 30 seconds, coupled with the damage over time effect, Sunshine is superior to Metamorphosis. The user is able to squeeze in both Asphyxiate and Wild Magic, the most damaging magic thresholds, or build up to an ultimate ability, both resulting in devastating damage. If a player uses the ring of vigour when using sunshine and drinks an adrenaline potion afterwards, Wild Magic should be used before Asphyxiate because Wild Magic will be off cooldown a few seconds before sunshine ends.
Sunshine shares its cooldown with Metamorphosis.
The advantage of this ability is that the Sunshine area effect does not seem to be affected by high defence, making this useful against bosses that are hard to hit.
With the Planted Feet perk, Sunshine will last for 37.8 seconds but the damage-over-time effect is removed. This perk may be worth using if training in multi-combat, as the damage-over-time effect only applies to the primary target when it was cast.
Death's Swiftness is Ranged's equivalent to Magic's Sunshine, and similar to Melee's Berserk and Magic's Metamorphosis. In the below comparison Sunshine is excluded, as it is identical to Death's Swiftness.
Ability Pros Cons
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Increases damage by 100%, rather than 50%
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Allows free mobility
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Increases damage taken by 50%
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Lasts for 20 seconds as opposed to 30
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Has no area-of-effect damage
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Allows free mobility
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Magic bleed abilities are affected, dealing 62.5% or 31.25% more damage
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Lasts for 15 seconds as opposed to 30
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Has no area-of-effect damage
Death's Swiftness
Info
Death's Swiftness is an ultimate Ranged ability that is received as a reward for completing the quest The World Wakes.
The player creates a black dome covering a 7x7 area, which increases the user's ranged damage by 50% as long as they remain inside as well as dealing 10-20% weapon damage every 2 seconds to any enemy who enters the shroud.
The tooltip for this ability is somewhat misleading. Only if your current target is within the shroud upon cast will they begin to take the damage-over-time. They will be damaged until either the shroud disappears, they leave the shroud, or they die. Should your target die and you attack another enemy or you simply switch targets, the next enemy will not be affected by the damage-over-time effects of Death's Swiftness.
Damage of range ability bleeds like Fragmentation Shot, Corruption Shot, Puncture, or Deadshot are not increased. In addition to bleeds not being boosted, Incendiary Shot and Onslaught are also unaffected.
If a player uses the ring of vigour when using Death's Swiftness and drinks an adrenaline potion afterwards, Snap Shot should be used before Rapid Fire because Snap Shot will be off cooldown a few seconds before Death's Swiftness ends.
If fighting against monsters, use Natural Instinct and quickly build back to full adrenaline and use Death's Swiftness. The effect of Natural Instinct will still be lingering, allowing the player to build up to half adrenaline quickly and use powerful thresholds abilities like Rapid Fire, Snap-Shot, or Shadow Tendrils with a 50% damage boost.
With the Planted Feet perk, Death's Swiftness will last for 37.8 seconds but the damage over time caused by the shroud is removed.
Death's Swiftness is Ranged's equivalent to Magic's Sunshine, and similar to Melee's Berserk and Magic's Metamorphosis. In the below comparison Sunshine is excluded, as it is identical to Death's Swiftness.
Ability Pros Cons
-
Increases damage by 100%, rather than 50%
-
Allows free mobility
-
Increases damage taken by 50%
-
Lasts for 20 seconds as opposed to 30
-
Has no area-of-effect damage
-
Allows free mobility
-
Magic bleed abilities are affected, dealing 62.5% or 31.25% more damage
-
Lasts for 15 seconds as opposed to 30
-
Has no area-of-effect damage