Damage calculations for beginners?

[Hoccleve]

So while the game is down...

While I've been playing for some time, I remain very hazy about how weapon damage is calculated. So, for example, on my current wis-based q-staff monk, I get that the normal damage numbers are some combination of Base weapon dice/ Wis modifier / THF feat chain / Deadly / Melee Power / Enhancement weapon bonuses, with Doublestrike going off on some hits, and Criticals (range and multiplier affected by various feats and enhancements). Then there are special hits like Cleave, Great Cleave, Whirlwind, and then special Monk hits, or Falconry hits. Damage may be reduced by mob DR, foritification, which in turn may be got around by things like metalline and armour piercing. I have a general sense that crits are very significant for overall damage, and obviously maximising everything is good.

Is there a formula with all these elements (and any I have forgotten), so I can see more easily how they relate, and what really makes a difference to DPS?

 

[DBZ]

Try looking at some Tronko builds his are very detailed about all those things and he answers questions

His barb build was really well written up

 

[LurkingVeteran]

Adlibbing it, it's basically this:
(
(weapon_damage + attr_mod + deadly + enhancement_extra_dmg)*(1+melee_power/100)*(1+crit%*(crit_mult-1))
+ special_weapon_damage
+ sneak_attack_dmg*(1+1.5*melee_power/100
+ special_move_extra_dmg*move_mp_scaling
+ imbue_dmg*spell_power/100
)
* double_strike * special_move_mult * reaper_reduction - mob_DR)
* (1 - mob_immunity%/100)

Where most variable names are obvious. Some guidance below:
- Special_move_mult is e.g. 1.3 for a +30% special move like a cleave.
- Reaper reduction scales with skull according to a formula on the wiki.
- Mob immunity% (up to 100) can be negative for a vulnerability. There can also be multiple types of vulnerabilities, and I think they add in multiplicatively.
- special weapon damage includes elemental and most other flat bonuses found on weapons. These do not multipliy with MP or crit.
- some damage bonuses do not properly multiply with double strike, but most of these are probably bugs.
Caveats: I am not entirely sure if new special move multipliers apply to anything but the first physical damage part. I also do not remember if sneak attacks got fixed to be 1.5x only for the extra melee power or if it is still 1.5x for the total sneak damage.
I think the (elemental) DR against imbues is also actually applied earlier in the formula before you multiple with spell power. I am not entirely sure if this also happens for melee power. This behavior is possibly bug and rather controversial for imbue builds.

As you can see the first part is the regular attack damage and it scales with both MP and crit, which means it scales best with level.

Did this help?