Seeking Explanation of Attack Sequence

[seobanio]

Greetings.

I can't find an explanation of attack sequence, can anyone point me to one?

And, in case my terminology is wrong, here is what I mean/need:

I'm looking at various builds, and one question that presented itself was how much dps 100% off hand attacks (tempest II) gives. However, I don't understand how the attacks work in ddo, so was hoping for an explanation.

One thing I was doing was thinking in terms of like ten swings. If I am fighting an enemy and I have 10 swings with main hand, the ranger build will have 10 swings with off hand whereas a different build will get 8 swings with off hand. So a 20% off hand proc chance would give 10% more dps. However, I don't know if this is how things actually work, because from what I see in game and things I've read it seems like there might be sequences of attacks, meaning that my formula of halving the offhand swing rate is incorrect.

Anyway, any help/linkage would be most appreciated.

-Xexa

[Kinerd]

Attack sequence refers to the different animations a character can have while attacking. The maximum number of animations is 4, which a fairly trivial amount of BAB will allow. The only mechanical difference between these animations as far as TWF is concerned is that the third has +5 to-hit and the fourth has +10 to-hit. It used to be that each animation could have off-hand "hooks" depending on feat, enhancement, and profession choices, which is to say that there would be a 100% or 0% chance that there would be an off-hand attack on that particular animation. This is no longer the case: on any swing animation there is an x% chance of generating an off-hand attack. If you have 10 swings with the main hand, the Tempest ranger with GTWF will have 10 swings with the off hand and the non-Tempest with GTWF will expect 8 swings with the off hand. It is entirely possible to have anywhere from 0 to 10 off-hand attacks with an 80% off-hand chance, but the majority of observations will be near 8. Because DPS calculations are always given as the expectation value (as opposed to an incredibly cumbersome series of ranges), this is treated as 8 off-hand attacks.

Because the off-hand only receives half Strength bonus to damage, it is not possible to universally state how much of a DPS increase going from 80% to 100% off-hand chance will be. It is also almost certainly the case that the builds involved will differ substantially between those that have Tempest II and those that do not.

[dkyle]

/snip

Because the off-hand only receives half Strength bonus to damage, it is not possible to universally state how much of a DPS increase going from 80% to 100% off-hand chance will be. It is also almost certainly the case that the builds involved will differ substantially between those that have Tempest II and those that do not.

+1, good summary

Just wanted to add so the OP'll know: Monks get full STR mod on both hands while fighting unarmed.

[seobanio]

Ah ok, thanks for the explanation. I didn't know that offhand only gets half strength mod, but it makes sense.

As far as all the other modifiers to damage: extra crit chances/extra damage from enhancements/etc. does offhand get all of those benefits?

[dkyle]

As far as all the other modifiers to damage: extra crit chances/extra damage from enhancements/etc. does offhand get all of those benefits?

Yes. This is why TWF benefits more than THF from things that apply a damage bonus, like Bard songs, and extra crits, like Kensei III.