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[[Image:Skullofflame multistrike.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Witch Doctor]]'s [[Skull of Flame]]. Multiple Areas of Effect.]]'''Area of Effect''' is a general term for effects, skills, spells or AoEabilities that will affect an area, refers to a spell or other effect and the inhabitants of that covers a locationarea, rather than hitting just one individual monstera single target. AoE attacks are generally less damaging per target, but they make up for it by potentially hitting many targets at once, often with damage over time, for greater total damageAlso known as '''Splash Damage''' or '''Line Damage'''.
==AoE In the Game==Many attacks in [[Diablo III]] will have the potential to affect more than one target. Some skills seem will need to combine direct damage be upgraded with AoE; points in a mastery skill (the [[FireballWizard]]'s [[Tornado]] originally produces one tornado, but adding skill points to [[Epic Storms]] increases the amount of tornados allowed at once) or used in conjunction with splash damage, for instance. In those cases [[Rune|Skill Runes]] (the extra damage dealt to nearby monsters is somewhat [[Witch Doctor]]'s [[Skull of Flame]] used with a bonus, rather than multi-strike rune allows the reason for using skull to ''bounce'' along the spell in the first placeground and explode multiple times) to affect muliple targets.
The effect of an AoE varies from a damaging attack to a [[Wizardbuff]]'s /[[Blizzarddebuff]] spell is probably the prototypical AoE spell. It sends down cold damage cast on a location, hitting every monster there. Like msot AoE spells, Blizzard deals damage over time: X damageallies/Y secondsenemies.
AoE attacks are best used on multiple targets, especially when they're grouped by some expert [[crowd control]]. AoE attacks are usually less effective on single targets, especially ones with a lot of hit points like a boss, though some AoE spells are so powerful that they can work well against anything. Especially if the target moves around a bit, making single-target attacks less effective.
<gallery>
Image:Barb cleave3.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Female [[Barbarian]] using [[Cleave]]. Crescent shaped AoE damage.</span>
Image:Barb-warcry1.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Male Barbarian using [[Battle Cry]]. Circular AoE [[buff]]</span>
Image:WD SoulHarvest.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Female [[Witch Doctor]] using [[Soul Harvest]]. Circular AoE damage and self-[[buff]]</span>
</gallery>
===Effects===
An AoE spell or effect does not need to cause damage. It can give nearby players a [[buff]], give [[monsters]] a [[debuff]], or be a combination of the above. Some AoE effects will affect the environment, which in turn effects anyone walking in to that environment.
====Friendly Fire====
Diablo II and Diablo III does not have friendly fire for allies, and this includes AoE spells. The game would not be even remotely the same if friendly fire was used. Generally, only positive effects will apply to allies of an AoE [[caster]].
==Shapes==
The actual area of an AoE skill can be of any shape or size. Some examples are: circular AoE emanating from the player ([[Wizard]]'s [[Frost Nova]]), a specific area the player chooses (Wizard's [[Meteor Storm]]), Line Damage (Wizard's [[Disintegrate]]), or jumping from one target to another (Wizard's [[Electrocute]]). Out of the lot, the
A "line AoE" damage does not need to be a straight line either. It can be crescent shaped, or swirly, but the main part is usually that it's significantly longer than wide in the area of effect.
<gallery>
Image:Wiz-FrostNova.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Female [[Wizard]] using [[Frost Nova]]. Circle expanding, self-consuming damage and [[debuff]] spell.</span>
Image:Wiz-meteor1.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Female Wizard using [[Meteor Storm]]. Multiple AoEs spell.</span>
Image:Wiz-Disintegrate.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Female Wizard using [[Disintegrate]]. Line AoE spell.</span>
Image:Wiz-electrocute1.jpg|<span style="font-size:10px; line-height:12px;">Female Wizard using [[Electrocute]]. multiple target direct damage spell that's "AoE-like".</span>
</gallery>
===Functionality===
Besides different shapes, there are also different ways that the AoE effect functions. It's usually a stationary effect, or moving, and when it's moving, it usually consumes itself on obstacles and enemies. The area can also expand or contract, depending on effect.
A few examples:
* A classic '''Fire Wall''' in [[Diablo II]] or [[Diablo I]] will be stationary, and anyone walking in to it will be damaged. The duration is set in the spell cast, as is damage. This is a quite classical shape and functionality to a spell. It's a long shaped cube of fire damage.
* [[Wizard]] '''[[Frost Nova]]''' is an expanding circle (note: not "circular") that will hit anything that is not behind cover from other monsters, or obstacles. It only hits the first few enemies close to the caster. It's another classical shape, and works very different from the Fire Wall.
** Some similar spells are not a true circle AoE, but rather a large array of "bolts" of one form or another. The effect is very similar, but at a little further range, the space between the individual magical projectiles can be so large it misses enemies, wasting that projectile. It's not a real AoE spell, but it has AoE-like functionality.
* Wizard '''[[Disintegrate]]''' is a line AoE damage that is not consumed when hitting monsters. All monsters in a line will get damaged by the spell.
* Wizard '''[[Meteor Storm]]''' can be seen as a large AoE damage spell in general, but in reality it's a barrage of smaller AoE damage effects. Each meteor has a small circular AoE damage, and multiple of them will cover a large area.
* Wizard '''[[Electrocute]]''' is not exactly a real AoE spell either, as it's a multiple target direct damage spell. The spell will hit a designated target, and then a few other randomly selected nearby targets, but not necessarily all targets. It's different than the [[Witch Doctor]] spell [[Skull of Flame]] combined with multi-strike [[rune]], which work more similar to the [[Meteor Storm]] spell, as it has multiple small areas of effect.
[[Category:Abbreviations and Acronyms]]
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