Is XXX Blast Really Worth It?

[Grenfell]

For those who have tier3 mineral weapons...

Is XXX Blast (Good Blast for example) really worth it?

It's only on a natural 20, and only for 4d6...

Vs, say, +2 exceptional bonus to Con or Str which is constant and consistent.

Your thoughts?

/gren

[Vhlad]

4d6 = 14 average damage per natural 20, or rather, 0.7 avg damage per swing

+2 str = 1 damage per swing, and +1 to hit, and +1 to your trip/stun/jump, etc, and the str bonus benefits both weapons, and the +1 is multiplied when you score a critical. So its over 3x more DPS than a blast effect for twf.

corrected below

[brshelton]

ummm blast is on a crit AND even more on a natural 20 they changed it....

[SteeleTrueheart]

Anyone know what the actual numbers are now?

[Vhlad]

ummm blast is on a crit AND even more on a natural 20 they changed it....

oh right.
flaming blast for example on a critical hit adds 1d10 for x2, 2d10 for x3, 3d10 for x4, and it adds 4d6 additional if you roll a 20.

so then..
I'll take that 4d6 (i.e. 14 average damage) and take it over 19 swings (since 1 is a miss), so that's 0.7368 average damage per hit. I'll input that as extra damage. And I'll put in a 15/x3 threat range (i.e. a barb with a khopesh) with 44 str and compare it to one with 46 str.

Sword and shield: blast is better than str (except at high AC)
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/...ac=10&maxac=70
(you can click modify to see input)

The benefit of str is greater for 2H, since it's 1.5x. Also used a maul here. +2 str wins
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/...ac=10&maxac=70

and then say for twf one is a blast and one is +2 str, VS both being blast:
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/...ac=10&maxac=70
(str edges out here since it helps both weapons)

If you want to compare good blast (4d6 for x3) instead of fire blast on a twf khopesh barb, then you get this:
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/...ac=10&maxac=70
(it's 14 avg damage instead of 11, so good blast is stronger than elemental blast, but still not as good as +2 str except just barely at the lowest AC range)

So we can see that the blast critical effect on both weapons is actually not as good as +2 str on one of them and blast on the other for a twf barb using the best craftable shroud crit weapon. For a non-barb or a barb using a weapon with a worse threat range/multiplier, then the +2 str on 1 weapon comes ahead even more.

Problem is, +2 str only comes on water or negative, and the tier 1 & tier 2 effects and final tier specials for those are not as good. Like you could go frost, icy burst (or +1 str), and +2 str, but then you get crushing wave. A mineral II or a radiance II or a lightning II would be better, although I guess for single shard water water water is OK, but you wont get the max DPS using +2 str because the associated upgrade paths arent as good.

This may be off, because the melee damage tool is only using 8 attacks for twf (5 main hand, 3 off hand). It's over representing the main hand. It's supposed to be 5 and 5.

[Shade]

Blast was changed in 6.1.

It now does the same critical damage as burst effect, AND the additional 4d6 on a 20 + confirm.

Elemental Burst = d10 for x2 and +d10 per critical multiplier
Energy (good/evil) Burst = 3d6 for x2 and +d6 per critical multiplier

Other cool thing about it is when it does the nautral 20 hit - it has a different sound effect and special effect too.. For good blast it kinda sounds like your disrupting something and looks like bane damage.

Still overall not as good as burst (no not crit dmg) but well worth it vs any other effect out there.

One of my barbarians dual wields triple positive warhamers, they work pretty good.