Fist BM path comparison

Just a quick comparison guide I was making for an over-all fist master guide. Seems to be alot of confusion on strength and dexterity based builds, so here's wha I had written up a month ago. Was waiting until I made 99 for the final write-up on interval effects at high amounts, but should be helpful enough now. Also was written to be a Legendary guide, if wondering about the Nefarious TW comment.



This is a write-up for fist BMs to see possible paths and guideline to check their own set-up against for an idea of how they are progressing.

First off every fist BM should know the whole premise behind a fist BM is damage through faster attack rate leading to more DPS from the multiplying effect it has on base phys attack. We also build chi faster, meaning we can use special skills more often. Also, the legendary/TT fists tend to have unique effects as adds on them, allowing for debuffs while dealing damage at the same time.

DAMAGE DEALING

First off, people need to know the formula for determining damage to see how it works.

(1 + ((2*STR/3)/100) + MAS%) * (LVL + Phys Atk)

So a base of 1, plus 2/3 of your str divided by 100, + your mastery boost (.6 with 60% added dmg) will be multiplied against the combination of your total phys atk added to current lvl. With commonality, we can compare different builds against each other to see which should have the better over-all damage that works with your specific playstyle.

To compare str or dex focus, we will go with the commonly done allocation of either 2 or 3 strength per level. Will do a 60 lvl and 90 lvl comparison. Won't count eq boosts as that can vary. For FYI, every % in Mastery acts as 1.5 str boost.

2 Str:
60
(1+(81/100) +.42) = 2.23 multiplier

90
(1+(123/100) +.6) = 2.83 multiplier


3 Str:
60
(1+(123/100) +.42) = 2.65 multiplier

90
(1+(183/100) +.6) = 3.43 multiplier

Other allocations will vary, generally between those ranges.

So at lvl 60, 3 str will deal 19% more damage than a 2 str build. 90 lvl will be 21%. The higher the str goes, the larger the damage gap will become. However, this only counts for stat points unless the bias for gear adds continues with adding dex over str. This is why there is generally a bias towards heavier str, since this increase occurs no matter which weapon path is chosen.

Now the problem for fist users, is that to have 3 str and still use latest fists, they must be fully spec'ed as 3 str 2 dex every lvl, leaving no points to add to vit. This is a rather large drawback, as it lessens their ability to survive in pvp environments. Possible ways to alleviate this is through:

1. Don't use most recent weaponry, borrow a bit from str and dex to put towards vit when you start to reach high enough lvl to be doing pvp. Best time is around lvl 70, when you can use Calamity and Dark Flash. Can stall out here and refine these two weapons to make up for not being able to upgrade once you hit lvl 80.

2. Refine the heck out of some mold armor and keep it for a while. You could also visit AH often, and buy some 3* with good vit and health adds and refine that as an option. It really depends on what you plan on doing, and what is required. Nef TW will need alot of health, other factions will require much less.

ATTACK RATE

This is how we make the most of fists, the already high attack rate of 1.43 per second means we have an interval of under .7 for determining our attack increases. Each added -interval piece has a greater effect for attack speed the more it gets stacked. -.2 total -interval is what is needed for 2 attacks per second.

For skills that state attack speed increase as a %, this is actually incorrect. They use the percent and convert it to a -interval modifier that adds on to already existing ones.

*NOTE*This section will be under revision until my BM finishes skilling up Cyclone Heel for the most accurate info*

Now, the attack buff skills do not always stack properly. For instance, cyclone heel will stack with certain intervals only after its level has increased to various points. Tried this with -.05 interval, and then -.1. It stacked with the lower one 1 level earlier than the -.1 version. It seems that on its own, skills will increase at a rate of each 5% acting as a -.05 interval. Finding the exact stack rate will take higher lvl gear and larger speed increases.

Cyclone Heel at lvl 1 with 3% increase does nothing no matter what. Lvl 2 with 4% acts as -.05 interval and combines with existing interval gear reduct of -.05. Anything higher it will not stack. Lvl 3 will stack with 5% will stack with -.1 and below, don't have the gear at that point to check with higher -interval.

*ENDNOTE*

So going just off of an attack rate of 2, which any decently geared fist BM should be able to get through gear/skills from 80 on,
This is multiplied against your damage to find out how much DPS you will be doing.

CRITICALS

Many dex BMs use the critical increase as the reason behind forgoing increasing str more than they are. Unfortunately they may also sacrifice the ability to use heavy armor, which is very helpful for grinding purposes.

The thing to remember, is that a critical does not increase in power the more critical you have; it simply increases the frequency. So it becomes a matter of whether the increase is enough to offset the guaranteed damage loss suffered by having less str. Usually there is a difference of 1% per every 20 lvls off of most builds currently done. Keeping in mind that all builds will have crit, at lvl 60 a BM that is dex will have 3% more crit, 4% at lvl 90. Seems nice, but even a str fister will have a base of 6% at lvl 60. With crit arrow, crit rings, a 9% is the minimum a lvl 60 should be running around with, if 3 str 2 dex.

90 lvl, rings will usually be at least 2% crit per ring, crit arrow, and abilities that can boost crit by 25% for periods of time as needed. But dex with just rings, arrow, and base should have 18% crit with 3 dex. This is compared to 14% crit on 2 dex builds.

Now it comes back to DPS. For a rough average of damage counting crits, just multiply them out.

2 str is 1 * 1.18 for 1.18 total comparative dmg. This is multiplied against attack rate and phys attack for rough average damage.

3 str is 1.21 * 1.14 for 1.38 total comparative dmg. Meaning even with crits added on, dex does not deal as much DPS as a higher str will. when you factor in crit spiking, or berserk status TT90 weapons, the difference becomes larger when multiplied by 4.

Dex build also misses out on the opportunity to swap to TT90 'serk axes for spiking, which would really increase the damage difference. Str build deals more DPS, even after crit adjustment, has higher spike, and higher DPS.