do they stack?

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Gotanks

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well iv heard both, once from a few ppl that said they do now since a march update. now im hear'n that they dont stack, im jst curious if anyone knows for sure if they stack dia > dia II / bio > bio II. iv seen alot of high lvl J mages use'n dia>diaII and w/ bio, but idk jst like to get this cleard up if possble
 
They don't stack. The nuke portion of the spell is the only one that goes through if something higher up the chain is on, or something that was cast by someone with higher Enfeeble if the spell is the same.

Dia > Bio > Dia II > Bio II.
 
The defence down / attack down stats don't stack. YOu can only have one of the effects on at a time. Bio II > Dia II > Bio > Dia (Bio II is the strongest, Dia is the weakest). Casting a stronger version will overwrite the weaker Attack or Defence down effect. Casting a weaker version won't change an existing stronger version.

The DoTs don't stack. Again a stronger version overwrites a weaker version. A weaker version won't affect an existing strong version.

The spell will still do normal initial damage though. Casting Bio will still do the initial damage even if Bio II is already on the mob.
 
Someone told me that a patch awhile ago allowed for Dia and Bio effects to stack, but Bio 2 > Bio and Dia 2 > Dia, and not in Ballista.
 
If you think about it logically they wouldn't be able to stack... ever. Becuase of how element based the game is layed out, they'd never have a dark element dot stack with a light element dot.
 
A simple reason you could have seen someone cast
several is skillup.
 
It's fairly easy to test it for yourself, using mobs that give you the "seems to have high defense" message, or no such message.

In theory, it works like this: Cast Dia, and it'll likely downgrade that message. Either it will go from "high defense" to no message, or from no message to "low defense." Then, cast Bio. It should have its original message back, meaning the Dia effects have been cancelled. Find another mob, and cast Bio first this time...and watch the message remain the same, since Bio can neither stack with nor be overwritten by Dia. Run through Dia II and Bio II as well, and as every test I've ever seen documented in the forums clearly shows:

Dia > Bio > Dia II > Bio II

This seems to be the hierarchy of what cancels out what, moving from right to left. I don't know about this changing in any patch, but I certainly don't recall reading any patch notes about it. I'm pretty sure it's the way it's always been. In any case, it should be simple enough to check.
 
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Them not stacking is the reason why you'll have me yelling at you in a PT if you cast Bio 2 after I cast Dia 2. . .
 
Mirewen said:
Them not stacking is the reason why you'll have me yelling at you in a PT if you cast Bio 2 after I cast Dia 2. . .
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You have no idea how many people I've seen not only casting both Dia and Bio, but actually doing so consecutively, one right after the other. o_O

Of course, I've had people in parties question me before on why I sometimes cast Dia I for no apparent reason. Easy. It's the best way to raise your enfeebling, if the skill is lagging. It's cheap MP wise (a TaruTaru like me doesn't even notice it), it doesn't step on the toes of any other spell, and even though it doesn't stack or interfere with any other Dia or Bio spell, it almost always "lands" for a good skill-up chance.

A lot of RDMs will leave out Poison II from their repertoire, so I generally stick to that, but if I feel a level coming up fast and I haven't capped enfeebling yet, I'll start tossing a token Dia into my cast mix.
 
I'd like to know where everyone actually gets there information from (the ones that don't explicitly say they've tested it) Mainly because I've had both cast on me, both in a ballista (a long time ago) and by mobs, I never actually checked my stats with both on me either time, but I do distinctively remember both symbols being up there. This is a something I really want to know a definative answer on.
 
i firmly agree with Blowy and Etdaen.

Side note, i always try to toss in a poison there. BLM's often get resisted, and it stacks with dia/bio spells.
 
Georgebobbilly said:
I'd like to know where everyone actually gets there information from (the ones that don't explicitly say they've tested it) Mainly because I've had both cast on me, both in a ballista (a long time ago) and by mobs, I never actually checked my stats with both on me either time, but I do distinctively remember both symbols being up there. This is a something I really want to know a definative answer on.
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Yes, but the rules for NPCs are different than they are for PCs.

A PC can have both active on him/her at the same time, but a mob can't. A mob can also regenerate 1/5 - 1/4th of his HP in one tick, if it's not engaged, and regenerate its MP while standing. They aren't the same as us.

In other words, the fact that something can happen to you doesn't necessarily mean it can also happen to NPCs, and vice versa. The stackability (or lack thereof) of these spells for both player and non-player targets has been fairly well documented in a number of places. Head to the Allahkahzam forums (specifically the white mage and red mage forums, and also the sections for the Bio and Dia spells) to see for yourself...you might have to do a bit of digging, but tests (screenshots and all) have been conducted many times.

Of course, you could also test for yourself, using the "defense" message method.
 
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