When you fire a ground-cast AoE with Static Discharge, it fires at the center of the AoE. So if you drop the AoE at your feet, the bolt fires at your feet.
So I went and played around with this on Golems, because I didn’t like the sound of this, and I discovered the reality of it is even worse.
The Discharge doesn’t actually go to the center of the AoE. It’s hard to explain exactly how it works, but it essentially registers the location it SHOULD go relative to the position of your character when you cast the toolbelt skill. By this I mean if you throw your elixir 500 yards straight ahead, the Discharge will travel 500 yards straight ahead. HOWEVER. Because there is a delay between the skill activation and the Discharge, if you move AT ALL between the cast and the Discharge, the Discharge won’t be hitting where you threw the elixir, but a location relative to how you moved. So if you throw your elixir while strafing to the right, the discharge will hit the ground to the right of your thrown elixir equal to how far you moved. If you roll, it will go further.
I know that’s an unnecessarily complicated description, so basically, you can sum it up by saying the Discharge actually travels relative to you, not relative to the skill you use.
I really don’t like the way this works. It makes elixirs outright worthless with Static Discharge. Every elixir you have in a Discharge build is a waste of a proc. Even if you take the “elixirs deal damage when they land” trait and use your elixirs offensively, you will still miss 80% of the static discharges on mobile targets because of how the Discharge travels relative to targeted AoE spells.
