Pandaxxxx

After reading all the posts i keep coming around to the same saying for buckler specs " use slow weapons pref over 3 seconds" What my question is why use a slow weapon?

Atm im level 57 with a weapon 5 sec delay , 19 stam , 19 str , 19 agi , 51.2 dps and i think its like 250 max damage.

So why a slow weapon? is it the higher max daamage? as a guard with buckler spec what should i be looking for in a weapon? dps ? stats?

btw my spec is STR 4 4 8 STA 4 4 8 6 2 INT 4 5

thanks all

Halbarad

Sorry, only a short and rough sketched answer:

There are 2 reasons for a high delay weapon (maybe more, but those 2 are the most important I think):

1. High Delay - High Damage Spread

As a rule of thumb, the higher the delay, the bigger the damage spread of a weapon.
- Weapon 1: Damage 100-500 - Delay 3.0 -> DPS 100
- Weapon 2: Damage 100-200 - Delay 1.5 -> DPS 100

While both weapons do the same normal auto-attack damage over time, the picture changes drastically with crits. Since a crit's minimum hit is always max damage +1 you want the highest possible max hit of a weapon.

2. the slower the weapon, the easier it is to fit your CA's between auto-attacks.

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Pandaxxxx

Thanks for the info dude so im looking for a weapon with a higher damage spread!

Banditman

Higher top end damage. Crits are ALWAYS highest damage listed +1 *or greater*. What you're trying to do is leverage yourself to the point that you are crit'ing a LOT, thereby increasing your auto attack DPS significantly.

100-200 / 3 = 50 DPS

150-350 / 5 = 50 DPS

300-400 / 7 = 50 DPS

Three weapons with equal DPS. Now, the 5 second weapon actually has a larger SPREAD, at 200 HP, but the 7 second weapon will actually give you more DPS with crits.

The general rule however is that a weapon with a big top number will have a huge spread, but it's important to understand that the fact is you are looking for a big high end, not a big spread. Obviously it holds true when comparing weapons with equal DPS. The complexity comes in when DPS is not the same and you have to judge whether crits make up the difference or not.

Judist

You do the math on those examples? Lets imagine 100% crit rate. Assuming your DR calcs are correct and those examples are all equal DR's...

Delay (spread ratio) hits per minute x crit dmg = total damage

7s (1 : 1.333~) 8.5 x 401 = 3409
3s (1 : 2) 20 x 201 = 4020
5s (1 : 2.333~) 12 x 351 = 4212

Spread won.

Gildamethy

You must be using the Cobalt long sword panda. I use the same thing and if you notice the crits you should see them at 600 or higher a lot and if your getting the # of crits like I am the crit happens quite a lot. Normal attacks do a lot of damage also stick with the long sword I love it as should you. But if I may and others correct me if im wrong what I did to try and cut down on that massive delay that is a big difference in 3 second delay is I switched to tower shield and went down the INT and STR lines so I get more attack speed and higher avoidance and mit as well as a hate mod. But I will say that I am only keeping the hate mod till I get to 70 when I will have access to more AA spending and switch back to buckler spec. My aggro control has gone up tho funny enough by switching to this setup from buckler spec which is what I had pre50. Anyways thats my 2c

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SirAmoel

Is it worth getting the highest (and I mean damn highest) delay you can get your hands on? I've been told 2.5 or higher. But it's quite easy to get up to 6.0 with mc stuff. What about going that high?

Judist

dbl post

Fouk

Look at spread and max dam on weapons with higher delay than 3.0.

Other than that, it's personal preference I gues - how many CA's are you comfortable with firing off between hits? I like 2.5/3.0 spread because I don't idle much (almost always a CA or taunt up to cast). With a 6.0 delay weapon you can fire off like 3 CA's (maybe 4?) leaving you idle on longer fights (Brock's Thermal Shocker FTW!).

I personally think our Epic is about perfect. At first I whined about the delay (wanted a tad higher), but overall it seems to make sense.

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Judist

Delay doesnt dictate DPS potential of a weapon. So if the DR and spread are equal between your choices, pick a delay your most comfortable with for timing CA's between swings. My suggestion is to keep it around 3-4 seconds.

With long delay weapons, if you miss 2-3 hits in a row thats a long period of time your not generating good hate. After those misses you then spend too much time waiting for additional swings to gain your hate buffer back. With 3 second delay weapons your hate-stream is much more constant.

This is especially true over short fights (instances/solo/trash). Imagine a 6s delay weapon that missed twice on a mob that takes 20 seconds to kill. Your mage will end up tanking.