Level 49. Offensive abilities or DPS? There are a lot of numbers to take into account. However, I plan on knowing them inside and out within the next 6 months.
It’s my understanding that DPS does not take elemental, aether, vitality, offensive ability etc… into account. From what I have read it’s flat dps. Also does not take into skills and devotions…
These are some interesting number :rolleyes:
Don’t confuse my statement about the numbers being confusing as a bad thing. These types of stats are what make theory-crafting fun and building characters around them addictive. Do not dumb it down!
Welcome to the forums :), while other players with a far deeper understanding of the mechanics will be able to give you a much better understanding of how it all works the Game Guide has a very good range of info. I’ve linked to the combat page which will help a lot regards what numbers are processed and in what order etc.
DPS meter in GD doesn’t take into account % damage type (vitality, cold, physical and so on). Also applicable bonuses from devotion constellations. But it is just for weapon damage. If you are a caster who doesn’t care for weapon damage then it is useless. And no, Offensive ability can’t be included into DPS calculation in GD because we can’t predict DA of a monster.
Weapon DPS (the number on the item’s stats) is the damage the weapon would deal (including modifiers) if you swung it against a target with 0 resists and 0 armor. This number is not very helpful, as it doesn’t take into account skills, enemy defenses, etc. It really only helps in doing a quick comparison between items for characters that use default weapon attacks.
Sheet DPS is, quite literally, the damage per second (including modifiers) if you were to spam your LMB skill against a target with 0 resists and 0 armor. If you change you LMB skill, it will show different DPS on your sheet based on the skill and your modifiers to the types of damage the skill deals. This number, too, is not very helpful, because it doesn’t take into account enemy defenses, crits, etc. At the best, it gives you a basic understanding of your damage output using that skill. At the worst, it misleads you into thinking that big 2handed axe is better than the scepter that makes all your skills much stronger.
Kill time is a much more reliable measure of your damage output, because it includes enemy resists and defenses, DoTs, and all the other shinies that make up your actual damage output. DPS is just a small part of the picture.
