I had asked on another thread linked here
(
https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/1227757#Comment_1227757 )
whether Venom the Duck’s buffs were equally random. Since I got no official response, I teamed up with someone and recorded fights and buffs generated.
For each of the following scenarios (No Synergy/Offensive Synergy/Defensive Synergy), we staged fights and recorded 200 instances of Aberration buffs generated by VtD (600 total buff instances over three different scenarios).
Here are the results:
No SynergyFury 15.5%
Power Gain 16.5%
Precision 19.5%
Regen 14.5%
Armor Up 18%
Perf Block 16%
Offensive (Frenzy) = 51.5%
Defensive (Survival) = 48.5%
Offensive Synergy (added Carnage)Fury 26.5%
Power Gain 22%
Precision 18%
Regen 11.5%
Armor Up 8%
Perf Block 13.5
Offensive (Frenzy) = 66.5%
Defensive (Survival) = 32.5%
Defensive Synergy (added Agent Venom)Fury 12.5%
Power Gain 11.5%
Precision 11.5%
Regen 17.5%
Armor Up 23%
Perf Block 24%
Offensive (Frenzy) = 35.5%
Defensive (Survival) = 64.5%
Conclusion is pretty straightforward: each Aberration buff appears to have an equal chance of being generated when there is no synergy partner present. When there is a single synergy partner present, the +25% chance appears to provide a multiplicative increase (not additive) to the roughly 50-50 chance a buff is either Offensive (Frenzy) or Defensive (Survival).
Would more trials have produced a more precise result? Probably, but recording 30 minutes of VtD against 1.1.1 unawakened Dr. Strange and then skimming through to chronicle 600 buffs is tedious, and 200 trials per scenario seemed to provide sufficient directional accuracy.
Based on this test:
1) Each of VtD’s buffs is equally probable
2) Synergies increase the probability a type of buff will occur by something like 25% x 50%
3) Nothing can be said about other scenarios (AW, AQ, different opponents or quests), but it is reasonable to expect the same rules prevail everywhere
Did “clumpiness” occur? Of course. In some sequences, the same buff recurred up to 4 times consecutively. At other times, a particular buff didn’t occur over 20 instances. In one instance, a particular buff (Regen) occurred 8/14 times to start a fight. But that is consistent, I think, with randomness.
I think this answers my question. I hope this will be helpful. Special thanks to former forums member Hamin.
Dr. Zola