Talk:Deathfire Touch (Season 2016 Mastery)/@comment-4167645-20160113201914/@comment-1905446-20160118220902

If you think of it from a perspective of being grouped, it makes a lot more sense. Sure, I think the numbers should be higher overall, but if you're hitting 2+ people with one spell, the total damage is equal to or higher than base.

The advantage DFT has over other keystones is that it has no cooldown, so Karthus or someone with a similarly spammable ability can keep the damage output pretty constant. And in this kind of situation, Thunderlord's is better because you can quickly proc the burst when it's needed, whereas DFT would just make someone realize that they're getting low and back.

When you look at the potential DPS output of DFT, it destroys Thunderlord's. 2.5 AoE hits at level 1 equal the damage Thunderlord's puts out in one proc, and then you have 20 seconds where you can still apply this damage where a Thunderlord's user would be waiting for cooldown. The ratio on DFT is also better, but you'll have fewer opportunities to continually apply it as the game gets later and burst becomes more important.