Dragon Nest Guide: Screamer's Summon Puppet

Before I begin, I would like to thank Azure for all the help he has rendered, not just in conducting the tests but for sharing his insights as well. What is contained henceforth is the result of a few days of hard work, complete with game play videos to prove my points. I will however state first that I am no experienced Screamer, it is possible for the data gathered to be wrong if there has been any oversight.

So what is Puppet? Puppet is a damage transfer summon. When I say summon, I mean it in every sense of the word in Dragon Nest, meaning it shares the mechanics of the other summons in Dragon Nest. By a damage transfer summon, I mean that all damage dealt to the Puppet is transferred to the target.

This means that when Puppet is summoned

- Buffs/Debuffs on the target that changes the stats of the target is copied

- Buffs/Debuffs on the target that do NOT change the stat of the target is NOT copied

- The Puppet starts on a clean slate with no buffs/debuffs ASIDE from the damage amplification debuff from the Puppet itself

From the point Puppet is summoned, it is treated as a new unit on the field, separate from the target it spawned from. Further buffs/debuffs that target the boss will not be transferred to the Puppet, further buffs/debuffs to the Puppet will not be transferred to the boss. The simplest way to take note of this is Puppet’s curse layer – it will only apply to the target and not the Puppet itself. The only exception to this rule is Puppet’s damage increase debuff.

Aside from the damage transfer aspect of Puppet, it has 2 other uses

- induces a 22% (at Level 6) damage debuff that lasts for 15s, continues even after Puppet has left the field in the event of shortened duration

- Induces a curse layer that reduces target elemental resistance by 5%. This curse layer is NOT given immediately at the point Puppet is spawned.

Firstly, let us address the claim that Puppet goes beyond the 100% damage amplification cap.

Here is a link to the original post that contains the Puppet damage debuff test

For those who wish to argue the point – You know that Hemo is at least Level 8, Cyclone Slash EX gives 30%. Level 5 Puppet is 19%, giving us a total of 99% damage amplification. Level 6 Puppet is 22%, giving us a total of 102% damage amplification. How did we arrive at just 2x the damage if Puppet is not in the same multiplier group? Let us assume that Puppet is a separate multiplier altogether.

768 * 1.8 (Hemo + Cyclone EX) * 1.22 (Level 6 Puppet) = 1686.528

768 * 1.8 * 1.19 = 1645

Both are far higher than the 1538 obtained.

Let us now address the transferring of debuffs. In order to address those that might say that Puppet transfers its debuffs AFTER it has left the field for cases with shortened duration, we will use a boss that Puppet has shortened duration on to test this instead of good old Gardener.

Poison King (Guardian Nest)

All elemental resistance 20%

Soul Wind (raw): 19215

Soul Wind (3 curse layers – Soul Gate): 22818

X * (1 – 0.2) = 19215, where X = Soul Wind damage pre resistance reduction

X = 19215 / 0.8

= 24018.75

At 3 curse layers, target elemental resistance = 5%

24018.75 * (1 – 0.05) = 22817.8125 (tallies)

Last Soul Wind hit at 0:27, meaning the next 3 hits came from Soul Gate

Puppet -> Spirit Paper on Puppet -> Soul Wind

0:36, Soul Wind damage 32233 (Soul Gate curse debuff lasts for 10s)

22817.8125 * 1.22 (Level 6 Puppet) / 0.95 (To get back to 0% Dark resist value) * 1.10 (The new stack of 3 curse layers) = 32233.1625 (tallies)

0:46, Soul Wind damage 23443

Last hit of Spirit Paper was at 0:34. Spirit Paper curse layer lasts for 16s, meaning if the curse layer was transferred, target elemental resistance would be at 5% instead of 20%

Expected value if curse layers do transfer: X * 0.95 * 1.22 = 27837.73125

Expected value if curse layers do NOT transfer: X * 0.8 * 1.22 = 23442.3 (tallies)

Puppet summoned: 0:32 (Debuff lasts for 15s)

0:51, Soul Wind damage 19215 (back to raw damage)

Test repeated, but boss targeted with Soul Wind instead of Puppet this time after Puppet + Double Curse Layers

1:06, Soul Wind damage 19215 (raw)

1:18, Stigma was used on boss, causing the 6th hit in a combo

1:20, combo counter reached 10, meaning there were 4 hits on the boss from Soul Gate

1:21, Puppet was cast

1:23, Last hit of Spirit Paper on puppet

1:25, Soul Wind damage 27838

Double curse value is 32233 as previously derived.

X * 0.95 (3 curse layers from Soul Gate) * 1.22 = 27837.73125 (tallies)

1:30, Soul Wind damage 27838 (Last hit of Soul Gate was at the 1:20 range, so still in effect)

We can tell from this test that

- The curse stack on the Puppet was NOT transferred over to the boss regardless of if Puppet has left the field

There is however 2 possibilities that this can be attributed to.

- Curse being unable to overwrite itself (Curse stacking issues)

- Curse being a unique case

Let us first take a look at

Soul Wind (Raw): 604

After Spirit Paper

Soul Wind: 622

After Soul Gate

Soul Wind: 622

After 1 Cast of Puppet

Soul Wind: 717

622/604= ~1.03, giving us 1% per layer

717/604/1.13 (Level 6 Puppet Damage amplification in PvP) = ~1.05, giving us 5% per layer

Since the curse layer works differently in PvP, we can determine values far more accurately.

Puppet -> Spirit Paper

Soul Wind: 730

Spirit Paper -> Puppet

Soul Wind: 703

Puppet Expires, Curse Still in Effect

Soul Wind: 646, 604

730/1.13/604 = ~1.07 (5% Puppet, 2% Spirit Paper)

703/1.13/604 = ~1.03 (3% Spirit Paper)

How does Curse Stacking work then, from these results? Curse layers are first come first served, each curse layer is separate but only 3 can be active at a time, resolved in order the curse layer was induced.

Is Curse itself a unique case?

Since we are exploring the possibility of other effects, let us conduct even more of the relevant tests then.

0:23, Divine Punishment: 3912, 7954 (Crit)

0:29. Zap was used

Gardener light resist is 10%, Zap reduces it by 15%

3912 / 0.9 * 1.05 = 4564

After Zap

Divine Punishment: 4564 (tallies), 9278

1:16, Puppet was summoned

1:20, Smite on Puppet

1:21, Charged Volt on Puppet

1:25 Divine Punishment: 4772

3912 * 1.22 (Puppet) = 4772.64 (Smite and Charged Volt resist reduction were NOT transferred) – (tallies)

1:31 Divine Punishment: 3912 (Raw, puppet debuff over since it lasts for 15s only)

- Curse is not the only debuff that cannot be transferred, if any can

- Even different resist reduction layers do not transfer

Smasher, 1:45 onwards

Left Click (Raw): 2542, 5136 (Crit)

Puppet was used first, followed by Mirror. Same pulse of Mirror would have hit both.

Left Click on Boss: 3990/3991

Left Click on Puppet: 3990

Left Click after Puppet expired: 3432

2542 * (1.35 [Mirror] + 1.22 [Puppet]) = 3990.94

2542 * 1.35 = 3431.7

2:27, Mirror summoned, boss debuffed

2:32, Puppet summoned

If Mirror debuff on boss was transferred to Puppet, expected damage value would be

2542 * (1.35 + 1.35 + 1.22) = 4880.64

Left Click on Boss: 3990

Left Click on Puppet: 3990

- Double mirror debuff did NOT occur

3:16, LC 2542

3:17, LC 3102 (2542 * 1.22 = 3101.24, tallies)

3:25, Mirror summoned, puppet debuffed, boss not debuffed

3:28, LC 3102 (No change)

- Mirror debuff from Puppet did not transfer to the boss

3:37, Mirror summoned, boss debuffed

3:39, Force Shield activated

LC with Force Shield + Mirror: 4460

3:44, Puppet summoned

LC on Puppet with Force Shield and no mirror debuff: 4030

4460/ 1.35 (Mirror) * 1.22 (Puppet) = 4030.5185 (tallies)

- Mirror debuff from Boss did not transfer to the Puppet

3:57, LC on Boss (Mirror + Puppet) = 5187

4460 / 1.35 * 1.57 = 5186.8148 (tallies)

Abyss Walker, 3:59 onwards

4:02, Nightfall cast

Nightfall per hit damage: 50390 (Crit)

4:05, Puppet summoned

Nightfall damage: 0, Totally removed. You can see for yourselves, no healing circle from the small orc, no numbers at all, HP bar of Gardener did not move

4:40, Puppet summoned

4:42, Nightfall cast

Nightfall per hit damage: 58662 (Crit)

50390 / 1.34 (Nightfall) * 1.56 (Nightfall + Puppet) = 58662.985 (tallies)

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Why does the curse layer have no effect?

AoE skills such as Nightfall and Consecration, if it hits both the target and the puppet, will prioritize the damage to the puppet. As such, the effect from the curse layer is not utilized since Puppet does not benefit from its own curse layer.

The way this works is also the most likely reason why Nightfall (and I suspect it is the same for Consecration and the like) does 0 damage if Puppet is cast after Nightfall. Nightfall can only damage one out of the 2, and has selected Gardener as its target, but the Puppet being prioritized means that no damage is dealt instead.

*** This is just a hypothesis ***

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5:27, Puppet summoned

5:31, Nightfall cast

Nightfall per hit damage transferred: 58662 (Crit), same as above scenario.

Skills which affect stats, i.e. elemental resist, critical resist, even Devastating Howl (although reducing the board damage of Puppet has no meaning) are transferred to the Puppet.

Skills which do not affect stats, including ALL damage amplification debuffs are NOT transferred to the Puppet ASIDE from puppet’s own damage amplification.

Puppet however, can be further debuffed as a new unit on the field. This means that you can double debuff as demonstrated in the second video. However, the moment Puppet leaves the field, that damage avenue is lost.

It is impossible to more than double debuff because you cannot summon a Puppet from a Puppet. If the boss stats remains the same, the Puppet that spawns from the boss is the maximum limit that you can debuff.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to go below -100% Elemental Resistance on the Puppet. Since it copies the boss stats, if the boss is already at -100% Elemental Resistance, the Puppet will be too

Double debuffing Critical Resistance reduction is very unrewarding. Let us use an imaginary scenario, Critical Resistance is 10000, Crit Resist Reduction 50%. Boss is debuffed, left with 5000 Crit Resistance. A further debuff on Puppet will reduce it to 2500, not 0.

- If there is a scenario where double debuffing could prove useful (near negligible)

- If the damage amplification debuff cap is not hit

Or else

You will be wasting time casting a Puppet that

- Does not exceed the damage amplification debuff cap

- An unnecessary curse layer

- Removes the effects of Finishing Attack / Dance 2

- Potentially removes the damage from Nightfall/Consecration, both of which are priority moves BEFORE Puppet (according to the Screamer rotation priority)

- Waste any debuffs that hits the puppet instead of the boss (If both are hit both will be debuffed though)

If anyone has some other evidence to present or other conclusions that were derived, feel free to share them.