diablo-3
We already know from this question (and the various others that one links) that the DPS is calculated taking into account the different affixes like Increased Attack Speed, Critical Chance, and Critical Damage.
When searching the action house, should I care to filter for one of those 3, or should I just order the list by highest DPS and only look at that (and other affixes that do not affect damage, like life steal)?
Should I prioritise one of them, or are all the same in practical terms?
From the standpoint of your weapon: Weapon Damage is king. Above all else, you want the highest possible amount of raw damage and DPS possible. Beyond that, you'll want to take a look at this formula to understand the value of other stats.
In short: at low levels, nothing is going to beat raw +Damage on any slot where you can get it (Rings, Neck, Offhand). As you increase in level, you'll eventually reach a point of inflection where the multiplicative scaling gained from adding +Dex is more valuable than the straight + Damage. This point of inflection will vary with other stats, and particularly with the base DPS of your weapon - your best bet is to simply keep an eye on the +Damage portion of the tooltip when comparing items.
As for stats like Crit and Attack Speed, the same basic rules apply. In general, .1 attack speed is worth 10 Dex, but this ignores the defensive benefits of Dexterity, and since attack speed bonuses are provided as percentage multipliers, you'll need to do some math. You'll need to run similar calculations with +Crit and +Crit Damage, but in general, unless you use skills or passives that rely on Crit, you can assume those stats are less valuable than the others.
Really, all of this comes back to one key point: Trust the Damage Stat on your Character Sheet. So long as you're doing the basics right (using a level appropriate, high DPS weapon), it isn't going to steer you far wrong. Beyond that, Dexterity is King, and everything else depends entirely on the magnitude of the stat that you get. An item with +Crit might be better than an item with +Attack Speed, based purely on how much of it is there.
I take no credit for the following, as I did not do the work. All credit goes to nxmehta#1150.
This is the equation to calculate your total DPS (two handed weapon ONLY):
DPS = (Weapon DPS) * (Attack Speed Bonus) * (Dexterity/100 + 1) * [(1 - Crit Chance/100) + (Crit Chance/100) * (Crit Damage/100 + 1)]
Weapon DPS = This is the number on your weapon. If the weapon already has increased attack speed, it's already calculated into this DPS. For example, my crossbow has 900 DPS.
Attack Speed Bonus = This is the sum of all your attack speed bonuses (again, weapon attack speed is already in your weapon DPS). For example, my ring and amulet both give 15% attack speed, so this number would be 1.30.
Dexterity = Self explanatory- mine is 1300.
Crit Chance = Self explanatory- mine 10%, so that would be 10 here. IF YOU HAVE THE SHARSHOOTER PASSIVE ACTIVATED THIS WILL BE SET TO 100. TURN IT OFF IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR REAL DPS.
Crit Damage = Self explanatory- mine is 100%, so that would be 100 here.
So for example, my DPS = (900) * (1.10) * (1300/100 + 1) * [(1 - 10/100) + (10/100) * (100/100 + 1)] = 15264.
So how can you compare attack speed and dexterity? The simplest way is to calculate, for a given increase in dex, what is the equivalent increase in attack speed bonus that would yield the same DPS increase. Here's how you do that:
Equivalent attack speed bonus = (New Dex + 100) / (Old Dex + 100)
For example, lets say I increase my dex from 1300 to 1400 using some gloves. The equivalent attack speed bonus would be:
(1400 + 100) / (1300 + 100) = 1.071
Or roughly 7%. This means that with 1300 dex, a 100 dex glove is equivalent to a 7% increased attack speed glove, all other things about the glove being equal.
Now, let's say I had 1500 dex instead of 1300, and I add that 100 dex glove again. The equivalent attack speed bonus would be:
(1600 + 100) / (1500 + 100) = 1.062
Or roughly 6%. So here, adding a 7% increased attack speed glove would be better than adding a 100 dex glove.
This is why it's important to know what your dex is and making this calculation before deciding which gear to get. The higher your dex is, the more diminishing returns you get from adding a fixed amount of dex. The lower your dex is, the more valuable it is to add that same amount of dex.
Here's a quick table that might help you decide if you should go for attack speed or dexterity in items, depending on your base dex and the dex of the item you are adding. (ID = Item Dexterity)
Equivalent Attack Speed as a function of Base and Item Dex
ID 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
----------------------------------------------------
BaseDex
200 6.7% 13.3% 20.0% 26.7% 33.3% 40.0% 46.7% 53.3%
300 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0%
400 4.0% 8.0% 12.0% 16.0% 20.0% 24.0% 28.0% 32.0%
500 3.3% 6.7% 10.0% 13.3% 16.7% 20.0% 23.3% 26.7%
600 2.9% 5.7% 8.6% 11.4% 14.3% 17.1% 20.0% 22.9%
700 2.5% 5.0% 7.5% 10.0% 12.5% 15.0% 17.5% 20.0%
800 2.2% 4.4% 6.7% 8.9% 11.1% 13.3% 15.6% 17.8%
900 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0%
1000 1.8% 3.6% 5.5% 7.3% 9.1% 10.9% 12.7% 14.5%
1100 1.7% 3.3% 5.0% 6.7% 8.3% 10.0% 11.7% 13.3%
1200 1.5% 3.1% 4.6% 6.2% 7.7% 9.2% 10.8% 12.3%
1300 1.4% 2.9% 4.3% 5.7% 7.1% 8.6% 10.0% 11.4%
1400 1.3% 2.7% 4.0% 5.3% 6.7% 8.0% 9.3% 10.7%
1500 1.2% 2.5% 3.8% 5.0% 6.2% 7.5% 8.7% 10.0%
1600 1.2% 2.4% 3.5% 4.7% 5.9% 7.1% 8.2% 9.4%
1700 1.1% 2.2% 3.3% 4.4% 5.6% 6.7% 7.8% 8.9%
1800 1.1% 2.1% 3.2% 4.2% 5.3% 6.3% 7.4% 8.4%
1900 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% 8.0%
2000 1.0% 1.9% 2.9% 3.8% 4.8% 5.7% 6.7% 7.6%
Say you have a base dex of 1300 and comparing something like a 100 dex glove with 10% attack speed vs a 130 dex glove with 8% attack speed? Which is better? Well, we know that 10% is better than 8%. But will 30 points of dex make up for the 2% difference in attack speed? Look at this table to find out.
Base Dex Dex Equal to 1% Attack Speed
-------- ----------------------------
200 3
300 4
400 5
500 6
600 7
700 8
800 9
900 10
1000 11
1100 12
1200 13
1300 14
1400 15
1500 16
1600 17
1700 18
1800 19
1900 20
2000 21
Here we can see that at 1300 base dex, 14 points of dex is equivalent to 1% attack speed. So the 2% difference in attack speed is equal to 2 * 14 = 28 points of dex. So that 2% difference is only worth 28 dex, which isn't as good as the +30 dex gloves. Those are the better ones, even though they are slower.
Notice that this changes if you have a higher dex, say 1500. Here, 16 points of dex are equivalent to 1% attack speed. So 2% attack speed is equal to 32 points of dex. Here, you would want the faster, lower dex gloves.
The below table illustrates how to go from crit chance and damage to an equivalent attack speed bonus. So for instance, an item with 50% crit damage and a 10% crit chance is equivalent to a 5% attack speed bonus.
Equivalent Attack Speed as a function of Crit Chance and Damage
Crit Crit Damage
Chance 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
----------------------------------------------------------------
0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
1% 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% 0.6% 0.7% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0%
2% 0.2% 0.4% 0.6% 0.8% 1.0% 1.2% 1.4% 1.6% 1.8% 2.0%
3% 0.3% 0.6% 0.9% 1.2% 1.5% 1.8% 2.1% 2.4% 2.7% 3.0%
4% 0.4% 0.8% 1.2% 1.6% 2.0% 2.4% 2.8% 3.2% 3.6% 4.0%
5% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0% 3.5% 4.0% 4.5% 5.0%
6% 0.6% 1.2% 1.8% 2.4% 3.0% 3.6% 4.2% 4.8% 5.4% 6.0%
7% 0.7% 1.4% 2.1% 2.8% 3.5% 4.2% 4.9% 5.6% 6.3% 7.0%
8% 0.8% 1.6% 2.4% 3.2% 4.0% 4.8% 5.6% 6.4% 7.2% 8.0%
9% 0.9% 1.8% 2.7% 3.6% 4.5% 5.4% 6.3% 7.2% 8.1% 9.0%
10% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% 8.0% 9.0% 10.0%
11% 1.1% 2.2% 3.3% 4.4% 5.5% 6.6% 7.7% 8.8% 9.9% 11.0%
12% 1.2% 2.4% 3.6% 4.8% 6.0% 7.2% 8.4% 9.6% 10.8% 12.0%
13% 1.3% 2.6% 3.9% 5.2% 6.5% 7.8% 9.1% 10.4% 11.7% 13.0%
14% 1.4% 2.8% 4.2% 5.6% 7.0% 8.4% 9.8% 11.2% 12.6% 14.0%
15% 1.5% 3.0% 4.5% 6.0% 7.5% 9.0% 10.5% 12.0% 13.5% 15.0%
16% 1.6% 3.2% 4.8% 6.4% 8.0% 9.6% 11.2% 12.8% 14.4% 16.0%
17% 1.7% 3.4% 5.1% 6.8% 8.5% 10.2% 11.9% 13.6% 15.3% 17.0%
18% 1.8% 3.6% 5.4% 7.2% 9.0% 10.8% 12.6% 14.4% 16.2% 18.0%
19% 1.9% 3.8% 5.7% 7.6% 9.5% 11.4% 13.3% 15.2% 17.1% 19.0%
20% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0% 18.0% 20.0%
21% 2.1% 4.2% 6.3% 8.4% 10.5% 12.6% 14.7% 16.8% 18.9% 21.0%
22% 2.2% 4.4% 6.6% 8.8% 11.0% 13.2% 15.4% 17.6% 19.8% 22.0%
23% 2.3% 4.6% 6.9% 9.2% 11.5% 13.8% 16.1% 18.4% 20.7% 23.0%
24% 2.4% 4.8% 7.2% 9.6% 12.0% 14.4% 16.8% 19.2% 21.6% 24.0%
25% 2.5% 5.0% 7.5% 10.0% 12.5% 15.0% 17.5% 20.0% 22.5% 25.0%
Best Answer
There are many calculators out there that can figure out how much DPS increase a primary stat, a single point of crit chance, attack speed, and crit hit damage will do for your character. It is beneficial to take all of them into consideration.
Some skills only take into account of weapon damage, and not DPS. For that reason, you may want to consider average weapon damage instead. Using the monk's seven sided strike for example, even though a 1.0 attack speed 1k average damage hammer has the same dps as a 1.5 attack speed 667 average damage dagger, your SSS will do a lot more damage with the hammer than the dagger.
On top of that, there are many hidden attack speed thresholds for many skills that you may not know.
There are very specific IAS break points for many skills that can make a huge difference. For example, a WW Tornado barbarian or a Wicked Wind Wizard have specific target attacks per second for their main killing skills. Even though your dps character sheet might show that you are 'losing' some DPS, your damage output may be increased if you hit one of those breakpoints.
Some builds rely on having high crit chance, such as the popular critical mass wizard build so you may want to prioritize crit chance over crit hit damage.
Lastly, when considering a weapon, 'black weapon damage' is very popular as it comes into play when you have items that add % damage as elemental (such as the stone of jordan). That's why those tend to be more expensive. And this is also why cold damage SOJs are more valuable since a lot of people like it to add a snaring effect to their attacks.