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A GF Guide to Weapon Enchants
ayroux
Member Posts: 4,271 Arc User
I will start by saying I am NOT the best GF out there. Nor do I possess all the right answers. With that said I wanted to give a place for fellow GFs to discuss weapon enchants and theory craft about the better ones for different situations. I will post my thoughts and keep this post updated with consensus regarding others opinions about the different enchants.
Vorpal Enchant
Vorpal is arguably one of the best enchants in the game for any class. If you think about it, typical classes have a base of 75% crit severity, add a Greater Vorpal and you are well over 100% crit severity MEANING that for every 1% crit you can add, thats over 1% DPS added...
The downside of Vorpal for GFs is we have the lowest base crit and on most gear inorder to get decent crit, you sacrifice other stats such as Arp. Also since +crit stat has dim returns after around 1600, youll start seeing less and less crit % meaning eventually youll hit a solid cap at your crit %.
The big advantage is GFs arguably hit the hardest meaning that with Knights Challenge, you can add thousands of added damage on a crit making that 1 shot a true possibility (under the right conditions).
Since this can go to a perfect enchant (Perfect Vorpal) it is arguably the best enchant.
Plague Fire
This enchant is very interesting and went from being he strongest (hands down) pre nerf to being still a formidable enchant...
GFs should not really be focused on the "added weapon damage" of each enchant since our weapons are the second lowest in the game (beat by only TR). So the real value here is the burn AND reduction in defense that stacks.
The burn is great because it will dismount people and in PVP that is very good. The reduction in defense is very very good. Almost anyone you talk to says ARP is the best stat, and this operates LIKE arp in that it flat out drops the effected targets defense by 15%. Pretty decent drop in damage resistance right there...
EDIT: The burn is NOT considered a control, and the defense reduction does NOT stack three times, only the DoT stacks 3 times.
(SIDE NOTE: This is why stacking defense PAST the soft cap can pay off)
The disadvantage is that it does not (from my knowledge) go to a perfect enchant meaning greater is as good as it gets. Some have parsed the data to say it adds about a 14% damage boost in PVE situations. So if you wanted the same effect from a greater vorpal enchant, you need to have about a 38% crit chance to even out (DPS wise).
Bilethorn
Honestly, this enchant seems pretty worthless for a GF. We have the lowest weapon damage (aside from TRs) so the added damage here is much smaller than on a GWF/DC/CW. I dont think the damage added here is greater than the plaguefire bonus or the vorpal, but would love to hear a case made for it...
Only advantage I can see here is SOME added damage and, like the plague fire, knock someone off their mount.
Frost
This, in my opinion, is the worst weapon enchant in the game. Recovery is almost useless for almost every class (except CWs) in PVP and in PVE I dont think this matters much... So basically your looking at just the damage... Enough said there...
Holy Avenger
This enchant has me intrigued quite a bit. It does pretty decent damage and has a chance to increase damage resistance by 15% for 10 seconds.. Basically a "counter" to plague fires debuff or a serious help against people stacking arp. Dont knock the 15% BUT since GFs have low weapon damage, I would choose plague fire over this. However this is a strong candidate for a GWF I think, both in PVE and in PVP situations.
Life Drinker
The only real benefits here are the added agro for GFs in PVE. In PVP if you are a tene set up, I could see SOME value but 1) GFs weapon damage is low meaning itll heal a low amount in PVP and 2) It doesnt scale very well compared to other enchants. The higher ones are still good. But to give an example. Lesser Vorpal -> Vorpal is a double bonus to crit severity. a Lesser lifedrinker -> a Lifedrinker is only a 38% increase... AKA doesnt scale well. If you want to be a beast tank and really only care about PVE, this could work GREAT for you since GFs have increased agro and the agro from the heal combined with GFs AoE damage will make EVERYTHING go after you, just dont expect to be uber leet dps with this enchant.
Lightning
Again GFs dont have the best weapon damage AND this enchant scales horribly for PVP purposes. PVE its fairly decent at damage output in groups. Lesser 10% regular 12% and can hit nearby enemies. I have not experimented much with this but can imagine that some min/maxers who want to grow their epeen more by topping damage meters in 5 mans might use this. Personally I dont think its the "main" focus of a GF (although I try to top meters everytime) I would PERSONALLY rather use something that will benefit my group (aka plague fire/lifedrinker/holy avenger) versus upping my personal DPS.
OVERALL:
I think that a plague fire enchant well suits the GF for both PVP and PVE play. It has great synergy with a group, adds good bonus damage, and enables some good DPS as a tank. Vorpal is a strong contender being that its the "top DPS/burst damage" enchant, but I dont think the DPS added will beat out the GROUP benefit of some1 using plaguefire and I would rather see higher crit classes using this with myself using GPF. Either that or lifedrinker for added "threat" however I personally dont have any issues with that in 5 mans...
Feel free to leave feedback below!
Vorpal Enchant
Vorpal is arguably one of the best enchants in the game for any class. If you think about it, typical classes have a base of 75% crit severity, add a Greater Vorpal and you are well over 100% crit severity MEANING that for every 1% crit you can add, thats over 1% DPS added...
The downside of Vorpal for GFs is we have the lowest base crit and on most gear inorder to get decent crit, you sacrifice other stats such as Arp. Also since +crit stat has dim returns after around 1600, youll start seeing less and less crit % meaning eventually youll hit a solid cap at your crit %.
The big advantage is GFs arguably hit the hardest meaning that with Knights Challenge, you can add thousands of added damage on a crit making that 1 shot a true possibility (under the right conditions).
Since this can go to a perfect enchant (Perfect Vorpal) it is arguably the best enchant.
Plague Fire
This enchant is very interesting and went from being he strongest (hands down) pre nerf to being still a formidable enchant...
GFs should not really be focused on the "added weapon damage" of each enchant since our weapons are the second lowest in the game (beat by only TR). So the real value here is the burn AND reduction in defense that stacks.
The burn is great because it will dismount people and in PVP that is very good. The reduction in defense is very very good. Almost anyone you talk to says ARP is the best stat, and this operates LIKE arp in that it flat out drops the effected targets defense by 15%. Pretty decent drop in damage resistance right there...
EDIT: The burn is NOT considered a control, and the defense reduction does NOT stack three times, only the DoT stacks 3 times.
(SIDE NOTE: This is why stacking defense PAST the soft cap can pay off)
The disadvantage is that it does not (from my knowledge) go to a perfect enchant meaning greater is as good as it gets. Some have parsed the data to say it adds about a 14% damage boost in PVE situations. So if you wanted the same effect from a greater vorpal enchant, you need to have about a 38% crit chance to even out (DPS wise).
Bilethorn
Honestly, this enchant seems pretty worthless for a GF. We have the lowest weapon damage (aside from TRs) so the added damage here is much smaller than on a GWF/DC/CW. I dont think the damage added here is greater than the plaguefire bonus or the vorpal, but would love to hear a case made for it...
Only advantage I can see here is SOME added damage and, like the plague fire, knock someone off their mount.
Frost
This, in my opinion, is the worst weapon enchant in the game. Recovery is almost useless for almost every class (except CWs) in PVP and in PVE I dont think this matters much... So basically your looking at just the damage... Enough said there...
Holy Avenger
This enchant has me intrigued quite a bit. It does pretty decent damage and has a chance to increase damage resistance by 15% for 10 seconds.. Basically a "counter" to plague fires debuff or a serious help against people stacking arp. Dont knock the 15% BUT since GFs have low weapon damage, I would choose plague fire over this. However this is a strong candidate for a GWF I think, both in PVE and in PVP situations.
Life Drinker
The only real benefits here are the added agro for GFs in PVE. In PVP if you are a tene set up, I could see SOME value but 1) GFs weapon damage is low meaning itll heal a low amount in PVP and 2) It doesnt scale very well compared to other enchants. The higher ones are still good. But to give an example. Lesser Vorpal -> Vorpal is a double bonus to crit severity. a Lesser lifedrinker -> a Lifedrinker is only a 38% increase... AKA doesnt scale well. If you want to be a beast tank and really only care about PVE, this could work GREAT for you since GFs have increased agro and the agro from the heal combined with GFs AoE damage will make EVERYTHING go after you, just dont expect to be uber leet dps with this enchant.
Lightning
Again GFs dont have the best weapon damage AND this enchant scales horribly for PVP purposes. PVE its fairly decent at damage output in groups. Lesser 10% regular 12% and can hit nearby enemies. I have not experimented much with this but can imagine that some min/maxers who want to grow their epeen more by topping damage meters in 5 mans might use this. Personally I dont think its the "main" focus of a GF (although I try to top meters everytime) I would PERSONALLY rather use something that will benefit my group (aka plague fire/lifedrinker/holy avenger) versus upping my personal DPS.
OVERALL:
I think that a plague fire enchant well suits the GF for both PVP and PVE play. It has great synergy with a group, adds good bonus damage, and enables some good DPS as a tank. Vorpal is a strong contender being that its the "top DPS/burst damage" enchant, but I dont think the DPS added will beat out the GROUP benefit of some1 using plaguefire and I would rather see higher crit classes using this with myself using GPF. Either that or lifedrinker for added "threat" however I personally dont have any issues with that in 5 mans...
Feel free to leave feedback below!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Anyone can confirm this ? Because if so I will just keep Trample the Fallen in my bar at all time ... Otherwise I pretty much agree with everything you said, that being said, I think GPF/lifedrinker is for Stalwart Bulwark, Vorpal/GPF for Timeless, though you will most likely always end up using GPF since the normal vorpal is bugged (hasn't been fixed or it hasn't been mentionned) AND super expensive.
,
Even though it is -defence and not DR it still gives +9% damage on 0 DR target.
Also -defence and -damage resistance debuffs don't work additively but rather like this:
(basedmg+a%)+b%
Where a or b can be either debuff.
Things like Tide of Iron, Student of the Sword and Wicked Reminder are all in one category (+ other debuffs that -dr) and stack additively.
Things like GF Valiant set 4pc, Cleric High Prophet 4pc and GPF stack additively too.
So for example with all those:
(base damage+49%)+85%
Because of the way these debuffs interact with each other, total bonus damage isn't just +134%, but +175.65%~!
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
TR:Anirul Corrino@Fimconte
GF:Irulan Corrino@Fimconte
Is this regular plague fire and regular vorpal or greaters etc...
This is why I still think greater plague is very very good in both PVE and PVP...
Both...I was going to get some numbers down through ACT this weekend, but then remembered it was double AD so I've been doing that.Currently I have lessers and normals for all the enchants, and greaters for vorpal and plaguefire. Working on greaters for the others.
I just tested and at least with the LesserPF it DOESNT count as a "control power".
Yeah crit will affect this a ton. It would be nice to know your DPS unenchanted then put the greater plague in an see the dps boost.
Same with Vorpal...
WHats the point of saying its 9% on a 0 DR traget? Arent PVP targets always +DR by a TON? I mean GFs have like mid 40s total DR...
And to simplify what your saying above for those who dont get the math, if I understand it right, every type of -DR (including -Defense) works in tandem with eachother making the boosts even greater when stacked together versus by themselves? Like the sum of the total is greater than the individual reductions?
IN otherwords, having plaguefire will make strudent of the sword (gwf) even stronger, or the plaguefire making tide of iron and 4 pc valiant even stronger?
Do you know an average DPS increase from greater? I have heard about 14%, but could be wrong...
Greater Plague is +9% damage when 3 stacks is up.
Vorpal is (crit%)*crit severity bonus from vorpal (12/25/38/50) on average.
f.ex. 50% crit + greater vorpal = +19% dmg on avg.
This is somewhat simplified math, as GPF can interact with other debuffs to offer slightly higher damage.
But, for the most part a Greater Vorpal will be superior to GPF in most cases.
Granted, if no one else in the party is bringing GPF and you want to be the buffboy, then GPF will offer superior Party DPS.
Gods Glory to the Heroes.
TR:Anirul Corrino@Fimconte
GF:Irulan Corrino@Fimconte
DO you have any idea if Vorpal+tene is fixed? It used to cap you out at 80% crit severity... I was also wondering if it made a difference which order you equipped your gear, so if you equip tene first then vorpal wont work but if you do vorpal first then put tene on...? just a thought...
Still for a GF, when you have mid 20s% crit... A greater will only add around 10% DPS boost. So it seems that unless you can get around 30 crit % or better (11.4% DPS boost roughly) the GPF will out DPS the vorpal... Its really only the "perfect" vorpal that will largly out DPS the GPF (with enough crit). If you only have 22% crit chance (pretty common) Then the perfect is only adding 11% more DPS...
Now you have to realize thats 11% more in BURST dps so obviously its going to play a much bigger role in PVP, but for PVE the GPF is still very good for GFs because of the low crit...
Now any other class will benefit MUCH more from vorpal because crit is provided by stats... so a TR/GWF can get into the 40s in crit pretty easy meaning that perfect just became a 22% increase in DPS...
Correct me if I am wrong here
the math is even worse 4 vorpal actually.
perfect vorpal adds 18.18% dps (instead of 25%) if u have 50% crit for instance... and greater vorpal adds 9.4% dps (instead of 11.4%) if u have 30% crit.
the correct formula to calc dps increase is:
dps_increase (%) = 100*crit*vorpal_severity / (100+crit*0.75)
where
vorpal_severity = 0.5 for perfect, 0.38 for normal and so on
crit = 30 if u have 30% crit
You calced dps increase like there is no base 75% crit severity without any vorpal, which would mean that without vorpal crit doesn't work at all
(and btw if u have any other crit severity buffs then the dps increase (%) from vorpal is even less:
dps_increase (%) = 100*crit*vorpal_severity / (100+crit*(0.75+other_crit_severity_buffs)))