I’m new to this game and this is my first character (level 52). I’m using a 2H melee savagery/lifesteal build, and I get 14k DPS in combat with max savagery stacks.
Is this a good amount of damage to have for entering into elite, or should I try to raise it a bit before continuing to the next difficulty?
Seems fine, also you can just go ahead and teast it and if it seems too dificult you can always go back and enter normal/vet anytime you like.
DPS is good, but check your OA/DA and resistances.
Paper DPS doesn’t really say much, it just gives very rough indication in terms of damage.
Just try it in Elite and see how that goes, if you feel you are missing damage, switch things up or go back to Veteran. That’s the only reliable way to know what your character can or cannot do. But you will need to go in Elite to gain xp and drop better items at one point anyway.
My little Sorcerer (who i rolled 3 years ago) is about to ding 60 in normal- you can easily level that high if you like; plenty to do now- FIVE rogue like dungeons, hidden path, and extra zones like pine barrens and cultist’s area.
all depends on how it’s working for you- 2H is rather finesse melee, if you’re still totally wrecking the mobs you’re fine, but if you have to potion retreat a fair amount may want to take it back to normal and get a bit more faction/xp/loots etc. Mobs in normal will hard cap at around lvl 61 i believe.
Run Steps of Torment on Veteran. If you are progressing through it ok you’ll be fine for Elite.
There’s not too much difference between Normal Veteran and Elite so you won’t suddenly get one-shotted if you step into Elite to test it out.
Elite -> Ultimate is a bit scarier 
Character is fine defense wise despite using a two hander… I can just sit in the dead center of a huge mass of level 60+ monsters in the Bastion of Chaos and tank damage for a good 9 or 10 seconds before my sustain skills go on cooldown. I have very intense life regeneration between Menhir’s Will, Ghoulish Hunger, Wendigo Totem + Blood Pact, and Feral Hunger.
I was hesitant to start Elite because I didn’t know you could go back to normal. Now that I know I can just switch at any time I have no qualms with trying Elite. I completed both Bastion of Chaos and Steps of Torment; Steps of Torment I completed on the first try with no problems at all, but Bastion of Chaos took me about 3 tries to complete because I wasn’t paying attention to my defense skills going on cooldown.
That being said, from what I’ve experienced so far - aside from acid nearly killing me instantly any time it hits me since it’s my only weak resistance - Elite does not feel like it’s any more difficult than Normal Veteran. I’m actually kind of disappointed, I got so used to the monster density and hero spawn rate of Normal Veteran that the world just feels very empty when playing on Elite. I hope they add a Veteran mode for all difficulties in the future.
Elite will feel rather tame coming from veteran, but luckily things crank back up by the time you get to Ultimate and your resistances really start taking a hit. Keep at at.
14k is perfectly fine, you just need 1600+ OA to ensure attacks land and try and try and get your resistances about 50%+.
As for acid/poison, since it’s one of the most common damage over time types you’ll encounter in all acts, it’s always a good idea to push to have it 80%+ and for the sake of your toon, never stand in the rift spawn acid pools, they hit stupidly hard.
Though once you get to Ultimate, you’ll really want 80%+ resistances on as many damage types as you can possibly get, since enemies hit very hard. Though with sufficient life steal/regen you can potentially out-heal a lot of damage.
Honestly at this point either sheet DPS mean nothing or it is pure crap for a build that inflict DOT
I’m running with a sheet DPS below 2k…I killed Guardian of Dreeg yesterday in Elite (he was 6-7 level higher than me) yeah it was kinda long but unless I played stupid not dangerous (took a single potion).
I kill trash on hit or if they survive the initial hit (like Hulk creature) they fall VERY fast to the dot (never need to throw a 2nd spell at them.
My resist are horrendrous (in Elite screen nearly all below 50 and some of them are in the negative) yeah I need to be aware of Poison Damage (my Resist is at 20) but I’m gonna solve that part fast with Blood of Dreeg as I have point available to pump into a skill.
I did fear lacking damage so I was keeping point to pump into my main atk skill considering everyone speak of 10k+ damage in Elite but not that I did start I realise that I’m in a good spot in term of damage and I can boost my defensive skill.