Difference damage and attack?

[Lukk]

Heya

Just a question, what's the difference between +damage and +attack? Will attack and damage increase damage for all classes or is it like attack is for melee and damage for ranged?

And if I find an item which has +3-6 fire damage, will that damage be added by only melee attacks or will spells such as frost nova also be affected?

Cheers

[Mewy]

As far as I've seen in the beta the +attack is the attack stat and it's basically +% to you damage. While +damage only adds to your weapons damage.

I'm 90% sure spells don't sure the added fire or whatever damage. Even the spells that say 120% weapon damage.

[RazeBarb]

+Attack increases your attacks per second, no?

[HardRock]

what's the difference between +damage and +attack? Will attack and damage increase damage for all classes or is it like attack is for melee and damage for ranged?

Bonus damage on gear (even elemental damage) is added to your weapon's damage. There's an exception to this for Wizards and Witch Doctors. They have a stat that multiplies all their damage.

Bonus damage from your Attack attribute will always multiply all your damage.

if I find an item which has +3-6 fire damage, will that damage be added by only melee attacks or will spells such as frost nova also be affected?

It will be added to all attacks that use your weapon's damage (melee or ranged) and it doesn't matter if it was a normal attack or a skill.

I don't think it will be added to spells, but this still needs testing.

[Grunthex]

+Attack increases your attacks per second, no?

No. Just damage.

[ancalagon]

I was thinking about this too.

So if I have a suffix adding 60 - 95 arcane damage will that be multiplied by 6 if I have 500 attack stat and give me 360 - 570 arcane damage? And will this also be effected by crit chance and +crit damage?

[HardRock]

So if I have a suffix adding 60 - 95 arcane damage will that be multiplied by 6 if I have 500 attack stat and give me 360 - 570 arcane damage? And will this also be effected by crit chance and +crit damage?

That's correct.

[dandylion]

It looks like attributes scale down with level. So if 100 Attack at level 10 is +100% damage, it may only be +40% damage at level 40.

And although the comparison will be made to WoW, I like it. It makes those affixes more valuable at the low end without having the best items be completely overpowered.

In contrast, +X% Damage would not scale.

[Zediono]

It looks like attributes scale down with level. So if 100 Attack at level 10 is +100% damage, it may only be +40% damage at level 40.

And although the comparison will be made to WoW, I like it. It makes those affixes more valuable at the low end without having the best items be completely overpowered.

In contrast, +X% Damage would not scale.

I think that is true for stats that would be game breaking if they reached a certain value (for example 100%), such as Dodge or Critical strike chances. I don't think this will be true for stats like attack though.

[cacophony]

I'm actually pleasantly surprised how intuitive it is. Look at it like this.

A regular, non critical strike would do X damage.
X = B * A
B is the base damage of the skill. A is the multiplier bonus provided by the attack stat, buffs, elixirs, etc.

Let's look at B, the base damage. For barbs, monks, and hunters, that B number is a function of your weapon damage, usually a simple multiplier. Wizards and Doctors have "fixed" base spell damages. Then, their weapons get a special caster only bonus that works like a multiplier. It's backwards from the weapon users, but works the same way. Casters raise the coefficients and keep the damage constant, weapon users keep the coefficients constant and raise the damage. In either system, better weapon --> more base damage.

This is all important, b/c it looks like max level characters are going to have a LOT of Attack, which leads to really large multipliers. For instance, that show off of the stats between a level 1 barb and a level 60 barb showed she had 700% bonus at level 60. That's 8 to 1. If you find a new weapon that increases your base damage by 1 (all else being constant), that gives you 8 more damage overall. That's some pretty good bang for your buck, and underscores the importance of good weapons.