So far we have a couple of threads explaining how it works (The one I read by Chiz was great) and that one video that Sansivie uploaded.
After extensive tests by myself and Rosie on the rats and hollows in the depths (Thanks Rosie), just to see how much damage we could get out of the spell (highest we managed was 2500 on a rat) I decided to see how it fares in pvp...
First, a quick summary of how KJ works...
- It doesnt matter what you cast it with, in either hand, only your magic adjust or magic damage of the right hand, at the time of explosion. So this can be a catalyst, pyro flame, talisman, moonlight sword/spear or any magic/Enchanted weapon. However this does NOT include buffs, I found by spell swapping DMB onto MLGS, TCC and enchanted katana, actually lowered the damage (So no cheating guys!)
- The highest there being the TCC at 99 INT, followed by Manus catalyst and MLGS (Note the bonus STR modifier that Manus catalyst gives to dark spells does NOT work with KJ)
- The build up to the explosion works in the same way as bleed / poison build up (Imagine a separate KJ bar that builds as you get hit, just like bleed) As you will see in the video, the quickest activation possible is 5 quick hits, and pauses in between hits take 6 or 7 etc.
- Hits after you die count as well! If you attack someone as they are dying with a chaos blade, youll notice you take the 20 damage per hit, this is the case with KJ You will see evidence of this at the end of the video...
- This means several ways of activation : Taking the hit, blocking with something that lets some damage through, or rolling through a hit, the same way as bleed cancel (Youll see in the video I rolled a dark bead and it went off with no damage to me, and also I rolled the 5th hit in a series of quick attacks for the same result)
- The damage you take with each hit is irreverent, you can eat 5 hits with a demon great hammer, or block 5 punches with a shield thats less than 100% PHYS resist, the important thing is that you same SOME damage, no matter how small. (So if anyone decides to have a go at this kind of thing, people using a gold tracer 2H spam, pursuers, dark bead, fire surge or soul mass are a VERY easy kill if you have the right shield)
- Counter hits make a huge difference with the activation, so a katana spam to activate it will do a massive amount more than a soul mass (If the person is not mid-animation at the time the spell hits you) For an example, the rat in the depths that attacked me took 2500 damage, while the nearby rats only took 1800 or so.
- The most important thing to remember with KJ is to NEVER underestimate it, when you see that purple aura, slow down your attack speed and avoid spells that hit multiple times. You'll probably think the ruse is incredibly obvious in my video (And it kinda is) But you can bet that none of them thought it would one shot them...
Anyway here is the video of it all in action, Enjoy...
The character level is around 240, it has :
- 99 VIT (So I can invade on red tear hp and still have enough to take a few hits)
- 40 END (so I could block as many hits as possible)
- 99INT (So I get as much magic adjust on the TCC as possible)
- Suns firstborn ring
- Red tearstone ring
- Dusk Crown
- Tin Crystal Catalyst in right hand (See above)
- Crystal ring shield - The cleansing shield and grass crest are the most efficient ones for this, since they block the heavier melee weapons alot better (My crystal ring got owned against ultra greatswords) But the crystal ring does block magic very well (Youll notice I charged right at soul mass users for zero damage)
- You COULD use dragon form for this and get a huge damage boost if you manage to get an activation whilst the roar is still active, but that would work on even fewer people, would mean no dusk crown and the damage was already around 1900 on most people... But most importantly Karma is a blonde mage not a dragon dammit!
Anyway sorry for the essay, I hope this benefits in someway, it was a relly enjoyable video to film, (goes without saying that it didnt work on everyone) and even more fun to discover a hidden gem of a spell that can be super powerful!
Let me know if there is anything I missed here or anything you would like to know