How to choose gear

[ektoplasme]

Hi,

When choosing gear to maximize damage, is there a simple rule to decide which piece of gear is better than the other in term of DPS?

For weapons this is easy, just choose the one with the highest DPS, right ? But how do you decide between 1H and 2H for a barbarian for example ? Is it better to have 2 one-hand weapons with 11 DPS each or a 15 DPS two-hand weapon ?

For armor, how do you compare +1 force, +1 attack, +1 attack speed to each other? Is there a tool already available to theorycraft this stuff? Is there an equivalent to the elitistjerks (deep theorycrafting on WoW with math arguments) website for Diablo?

Last question : for barbarian, force is the main stat. Does dexterity brings something or is it completely useless? In other words, for a barbarian, is it possible for a very strong piece of gear with +10 dexterity on it to be superior to an average piece of gear with +5 force?

Thanks !

[waijie]

based on this page http://www.diablowiki.net/Dexterity and this page http://www.diablowiki.net/Strength
for barbarian, you will always choose strength over dexterity for dps, unless you value dodge rate more, as dexterity do not add damage for barbarian.
However, I am also interested to know how single one-hand weapons vs dual one-hand weapons vs two hand weapon in dps.
Will dual one-hand weapons attack in a faster speed than single one-hand weapons?
I would appreciate any knowledgeable people to answer this question.
I only know that dual one-hand weapons will generate resources(fury) faster as their attack speed is higher than two-hand weapon.

[Urzuxo]

Good questions newcomers! :)

I can tell you that Dual wielding gives you a 15% attack speed bonus. So if you're just looking at DPS, dual wielding will do 15% more DPS. (Example, two one handed weapons that each do 10 DPS will do 11.5 DPS if dual wielded.) Understand?

But there are other things that dictate what weapon you should use. Some people like slower hitting weapons that hit harder, and some like faster hitting weapons, chose what you think is most fun!

The word you're looking for is strength, not force. Dexterity does bring something to the Barbarian. If you read the text that appears when you mouse over "Dexterity" in the inventory you'll see that id gives you a better dodge %. You'll have to decide what you want more!

[ektoplasme]

Good questions newcomers! :)
I can tell you that Dual wielding gives you a 15% attack speed bonus. So if you're just looking at DPS, dual wielding will do 15% more DPS.

(Example, two one handed weapons that each do 10 DPS will do 11.5 DPS if dual wielded.) Understand?

Yeah that part is pretty obvious but that's not what I asked.
In term of DPS done, how do you compare dual wielding X DPS weapons with a Y DPS 2 hand? Basicaly I need a math formula to calculate the DPS based on the skill, the weapon type and DPS etc. Did someone already figure out this formula?



But there are other things that dictate what weapon you should use. Some people like slower hitting weapons that hit harder, and some like faster hitting weapons, chose what you think is most fun!


Sure you can choose based on the style (fast and small strikes or slow and strong) but I prefer to min max my character to optimise my DPS. I'm more of a spreadsheet guy.

In wow I loved reading Elitist Jerks, that's why I'm looking for a Diablo equivalent to learn the basic formulae that make the game.

[Urzuxo]

Yeah that part is pretty obvious but that's not what I asked.
In term of DPS done, how do you compare dual wielding X DPS weapons with a Y DPS 2 hand? Basicaly I need a math formula to calculate the DPS based on the skill, the weapon type and DPS etc. Did someone already figure out this formula?

You don't need a formula, the game does it for you. Look at these three screen shots:
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[z00t]

Each class has a primary stat - if raw damage is what you're after, get items which are high in your class' primary statistic (Strength for Barbarians, Dexterity for Demon Hunters and Monks, and Intelligence for Witch Doctors and Wizards).

Dual-wielding does indeed increase your attack speed by 15%, but another thing to keep in mind is that in order to balance this out against the slower 2-handed weapons, 2-handed weapons are expected to do about 30% more damage per hit, even though the DPS should be about the same.

Basically, it's a choice between fast-hitting powerful attacks or slower-hitting VERY powerful attacks.

[MRR]

As Urzuxo has pointed out, the "simple rule" you're looking for is to equip whatever gives you the highest DPS value on your character sheet, not just the highest DPS value on the weapon itself. The DPS value on the character sheet already takes all sorts of things (like attack speed) into account.

However...

Things do get a bit more complicated when resource management enters the equation. Let's say, hypothetically, that you're playing a Barbarian and you have two skills: a fury-generator that deals 100% weapon damage, and a fury-spender that deals 500% weapon damage to all nearby enemies. In this case, a weapon that increases your attack speed might be a lot more valuable, since higher attack speed means faster fury generation, and that will allow you to use your big 500% skill a lot more often. You might get more actual damage per second overall by equipping an increased-attack-speed weapon, even if it has slightly less DPS than a slow weapon, just because of how fury generation works.

On the other hand, a Wizard might benefit more from a slower, higher-max-damage weapon, since arcane power replenishes itself automatically. Between two equal-DPS weapons, the slower one (which has the higher damage value) will multiply better with the Wizard's arcane power-spending skills. This happens to some extent with the Barbarian's fury spenders as well, but their fury generation is a bit more complicated overall.

In the end it's tough to say. This is the kind of thing that elitistjerks would model out mathematically, but Diablo 3 is much less predictable than that. You know how elitistjerks would sometimes have different values (or different ideal specs) for a battle with a lot of movement, or a battle with a lot of AoE damage required? Every fight in Diablo 3 is that way, and that makes it much more difficult to accurately model what gives you the best overall DPS.

[Enlil]

How to choose gear you ask.Thats a question no one can awnser but yourself.
It all depends on what type of build you want. i.e magic find, gold find, dps, vitality e.t.c so many possible builds.

[nailertn]

On the other hand, a Wizard might benefit more from a slower, higher-max-damage weapon, since arcane power replenishes itself automatically. Between two equal-DPS weapons, the slower one (which has the higher damage value) will multiply better with the Wizard's arcane power-spending skills. This happens to some extent with the Barbarian's fury spenders as well, but their fury generation is a bit more complicated overall.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't spell damage based on DPS as opposed to damage per hit?

[Enlil]

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't spell damage based on DPS as opposed to damage per hit?

All offensive skills are based on weapon damage.

[nZifnab]

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't spell damage based on DPS as opposed to damage per hit?

Spell damage is based on weapon damage, and spell casting speed is based on weapon attack speed. So it is correct to say that Spell DP is based on weapon DPS. But each shot itself is based on the weapon's damage.

[MRR]

I could be wrong about spell damage being based on weapon damage rather than weapon DPS, but that's not what the in-game text seems to indicate. Wouldn't be the first time a tooltip was incorrect, though. On the one hand, having spell damage based on DPS (rather than damage) would help balance things and make the math easier for new players - on the other, having a system that prioritizes different weapon speeds in different ways adds complexity to the game and is the sort of thing that min-maxers really enjoy (and it doesn't really break the experience for anyone else).

For instance, there's a wizard passive that gives you arcane power every time you use a "signature" spell, effectively turning them into AP-builders. The implications of that are somewhat different in a system where spell damage is based on DPS rather than weapon damage. If it's based on DPS, then you just want the weapon that attacks faster while using that passive, period. If it's based on damage, you'd have to weigh out the benefits of slower AP generation and bigger spell hits when they happen against faster AP generation and weaker spells.