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almightywood's avatar
8 years ago

Offense Mods Vs. Crit Damage mods

So I was just doing some number crunching for fun and determined a good rule of thumb as to which set of mods causes a larger overall damage increase. I thought I would share it with the community.

I will use math to establish the projected breakpoints where each is better. With random number generation this is, of course, not ALWAYS going to be the case. We'll all have fights where the numbers don't match up, but this should be good as a rule of thumb.

First, some background math: So a set of 4 offense mods produces 10% offense, while a set of 4 crit damage mods produces 30% crit damage. There is also the triangle mods that can grant up to 36% crit damage. Base crit damage is 150% of regular damage.

So to begin with, let's compare without the crit damage triangle.

In 10 attacks, with 4 crits and 6 non-crits, an offense mod set will generate 10% additional damage for each non crit, and 15% for each crit, adding up to a total of 120% bonus damage in those 10 attacks. A crit damage set will generate 30% additional damage for each crit, and no bonus damage for non-crits, adding up to a total of 120% bonus damage.
In Simple math:
Offense Set
6 non crits 110% - 100% = 10% * 6 = 60%
4 crits 165% - 150% = 15% * 4 = + 60%
120% total damage increase from the set
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Crit Damage Set
4 crits 180% - 150% = 30% * 4 = 120% total damage increase from the set

So we can see that this is the breakpoint for which set to use without a crit damage triangle mod. 4 out of 10 attacks is a 40% crit chance. If you have below that, the offense set will produce more damage. If you have above that, crit damage set will produce more damage.

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So now let's analyze with the crit damage triangle.

In 11 attacks, 5 crits will produce (5 * 18.6%) 93% bonus damage, and 6 non-crits will produce 60% bonus damage for a total of 153% bonus damage. A crit damage set on five crits will produce (5 * 30%) 150% bonus damage.
In Simple Math:
Offense Set Mods
6 non-crits 110% - 100% = 10% * 6 = 60%
5 crits 204% - 186% = 18.6% * 5 = + 93%
153% total damage from the set
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Crit Damage Set Mods
5 crits 216% - 186% = 30% * 5 = 150%

So we can see that at 5/11 = 45~% crit, offense mods slightly outweigh crit damage mods in output, but that any higher crit chance (outside of fractions of a percentage) shouldn't yield the same result. So, with a crit damage triangle, stack offense until you reach 46% crit, then switch to critical damage.
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TLDR version: With a crit damage triangle, offense set mods are better until you reach 46% or higher crit chance. After that, Crit damage is better. Without a crit damage triangle, use offense set mods until 40% crit chance, then switch to crit damage set mods.

If you see any errors, or have pointers, feel free to post. I plan on later posting in this thread about crit chance vs. crit damage breakpoints as well.
  • My original post is slightly inaccurate as I forgot to take into account the possibility of mods with offense as the primary stat. Considering the box mod only comes with offense, that means that my calculations are at least slightly skewed in favor of the offense set bonus. I'll run some more scenarios and update my original post shortly, but in the mean time, here's a small table showing the gains from an offensive mod set with varying amounts of offense and crit damage primary stats.


    So the numbers below are listed in this order: non crit damage / non crit damage with set bonus = actual damage increase by set bonus; offense set damage increase with crit ; offense set damage increase with a crit and a crit damage triangle *note 4 offense mods shows no crit damage triangle... because it is one or the other. All numbers are rounded down.
    1 offense primary stat mod 105.88% / 115.88% = 8.6% 12.9% 15.9%
    2 offense primary stat mods 111.76% / 121.76% = 8.1% 12.1% 14.9%
    3 offense primary stat mods 117.64% / 127.64% = 7.8% 11.6% 14.4%
    4 offense primary stat mods 123.52% / 133.52% = 7.4% 11.1%
  • @Woodroward

    Good starter guide. A few things to think about:

    Offense up and offense leader abilities stack with your post gear stats... so there is a multiplicative effect there. There are also multiplicative effects with abilities that do x% more damage if x.

    And if you wanna go further down the rabbit hole... the ability multipliers and base dmg play a huge role in damage output. Some characters have really high base dmg and smaller multipliers... offense sets and crit chance are relatively more valuable to these characters. If its really low base dmg with higher multipliers, flat offense secondaries are king. Theres tons more math to it than that, but I guess thats a start.