Portal Beaters for a wiz

[Ytteri]

Been thinking about making a portal beater so I can contribute ever so slightly to portal DPS (currently I just whack them with my caster mod weapons).

With my current crafting levels, I could make a +2 vicious (blank) of lesser construct bane, and I'm not willing to really grind out the levels to make something significantly better.

Another option would be dual Midnight Greetings from sentinels of stormreach (Int mod to damage instead of Str).

So assuming a +3 or 4 Str mod and a +14 Int mod (which should increase as I get closer to my ideal gear) which would be better for whacking those portals?

If the winner is the crafted one, should I go with greataxe for the higher base damage or staff for the slightly higher swing speed (Portals have virtually no AC as I understand, I don't think non-proficiency would be an issue)?

[Therigar]

Portals are DR 10/- so you want whatever does the most damage.

Previous threads on the subject suggest Holy Burst, Anarchic Burst or Vicious of <whatever> Construct Bane. IMO the choice would be whichever prefix gives the highest damage. Weapon type is whatever swings fastest unless there is a huge damage difference (on the assumption that faster swings produce more damage even if each hit is marginally lower). And obviously Greater bane is the preferred suffix.

Since the DR is /- there's no reason to choose adamantine or some other metal.

Now, your question about crafting or not. Craft if the crafted weapon's damage is higher on average (don't forget to take the DR into account). Pretty simple really.

[kyleann]

Get a Smiting weapon. That would probably be the simplest way to have a portal beater. Ideally having a anarchic burst of greater construct bane would be nice, but that's much too expensive and of such limited use on a wiz that it's simplest just to go with a smiting weapon.

as for using the weapon with INT modifiers, I doubt it's going to put out enough damage to beat a holy/bane weapon unless it has other procs on it. Even with a high INT mid it's only a +1 weapon with no other proc damage...

[Ytteri]

The thing is I'm not really wanting to invest a whole lot in these weapons, so a non-crafted holy of greater bane is right out the door, as is smiting.

So the kukris should be 1d4+15 (avg 17.5) in each hand, a 4d6 +10 (avg 23) on a quarterstaff, or 1d12 + 3d6 +10 (avg 27) on a G Axe.

In each case the non-proc damage is just barely enough to overcome DR, so subtract 10 from each and we still have a viable comparison.

So really it comes down to swing speed and off-hand procs vs. glancing blows (will those even break DR? can I get procs on them at all with no feats?) on a char with no combat feats, and I'm looking for guidance on that aspect.

[Kahless_of_Cannith]

Buy a generic greater bane or smiter off the auction house, for a seldom-used (light mace or something) weapon it shouldn't set you back terribly far.

[LeLoric]

I use epic midnight greetings. Int mod to damage and a disintegrate proc works for me.

[Matuse]

Previous threads on the subject suggest Holy Burst, Anarchic Burst or Vicious of <whatever> Construct Bane. IMO the choice would be whichever prefix gives the highest damage.

Holy or Anarchic burst would be the highest damage, and tie each other in that regard.

Weapon type is whatever swings fastest unless there is a huge damage difference (on the assumption that faster swings produce more damage even if each hit is marginally lower).

LOLWhut? Weapons all swing at the same speed.

And obviously Greater bane is the preferred suffix.

No. Smiting is the preferred suffix.

[Truga]

Holy/Anarchic Burst of Smiting. Aww yeah.

[Sarisa]

The named Mace of Smiting (ML:6, Adamatine heavy mace of smiting) is common and fairly cheap; along with being a useful TR tool.

It commonly drops from Garamol's chest in the Subterrane (where people do Icy Raiment runs).

[Therigar]

Holy or Anarchic burst would be the highest damage, and tie each other in that regard.

LOLWhut? Weapons all swing at the same speed.

No. Smiting is the preferred suffix.

Portals as constructs are supposed to be immune to critical damage. So all 3 do 2d6 damage (holy burst/anarchic burst/vicious).

TWF is faster than THF, monk Wind w wraps is faster than w kamas, etc. Weapons don't swing at same speed which is the reason certain combat styles cause more DPS even though the individual attacks proc lower damage numbers.

Against that creature type, a this weapon's effective enhancement bonus is +4 better than its normal enhancement bonus.

So smiting is 4d6 but greater bane is 3d6+4. 4*3.5 average = 14. 3*3.5 average + 4 = 14.5. Greater bane is better.

[Gkar]

Get a Smiting weapon. .

Yup, since U9 smiters rule and do solid damage against any construt, including portals. Even if you get nothing on the first number, you will be doing 4d6 per swing.

[Truga]

Portals as constructs are supposed to be immune to critical damage. So all 3 do 2d6 damage (holy burst/anarchic burst/vicious).

TWF is faster than THF, monk Wind w wraps is faster than w kamas, etc. Weapons don't swing at same speed which is the reason certain combat styles cause more DPS even though the individual attacks proc lower damage numbers.

Against that creature type, a this weapon's effective enhancement bonus is +4 better than its normal enhancement bonus.

So smiting is 4d6 but greater bane is 3d6+4. 4*3.5 average = 14. 3*3.5 average + 4 = 14.5. Greater bane is better.

This is all wrong.

Extra damage from bursts happens on crits always. If the enemy is immune to crit it won't get extra crit damage. All other effects apply normally.

Smiting is 4d6+5. 4d6 and +100 every 20 hits from vorpal. :P

[samho]

Truga is right (and this is not only apply to portal, but also apply to other target which has resist to critical hit / sneak attack)



Here's the example of using a holy burst Scimitar of Shattermantle hitting portal on vale. You can see both good damage apply (while on non critical hit, it only apply once)

[Therigar]

This is all wrong.

Extra damage from bursts happens on crits always. If the enemy is immune to crit it won't get extra crit damage. All other effects apply normally.

Smiting is 4d6+5. 4d6 and +100 every 20 hits from vorpal. :P

I wasn't looking at post U9 changes to smiting. The bonus damage on natural 20 results in extra damage. So I'll conceed that post U9 smiting is a better choice.

Prefix information is correct unless burst damage procs on rolls in the crit range even when crits are not possible. That should not be the case because it isn't an on crit effect then. Burst damage should only take place on a confirmed crit. Otherwise all 3 prefix types do the same 2d6 bonus damage.

The increase in attack speed is in fact accurate even if you don't like the simplified way of explaining it as "whichever weapon attacks faster." The entire point of TWF is the 40% off-hand proc creating what are effectively 1.4 attacks per animation vs 1 attack. Even if not skilled in TWF you get a 20% boost for 1.2 attacks per animation. So the question is which gives more damage which OP will have to determine based on weapon options.

Last, OP mentions quarterstaff. My observation of the animation causes me to feel like it attacks faster than other two-handed weapons. It could just be perception but I choose quarterstaff over maul in some cases because it seems like the staff is faster.

[Therigar]

Truga is right (and this is not only apply to portal, but also apply to other target which has resist to critical hit / sneak attack)

Alright then. The burst options are better than the vicious prefix. Thanks for the post, I was wrong to include vicious.

[Therigar]

So, at this point I'm concluding that the best weapon is Holy or Anarchic Burst <weapon> of Smiting. The only remaining question is, "Which weapon?"

Two-handed for higher base damage or one-handed for dual wielding for 20% off-hand procs.

I'm expecting someone to post that the quarterstaff animation bit really doesn't give faster attacks even though my eyes have me thinking it does.

I'm also expecting the answer about which weapon to be that it doesn't really matter in the case of most wizards (although it obviously does for other classes or if the wizard has the full TWF enhancement line).

[Truga]

So, at this point I'm concluding that the best weapon is Holy or Anarchic Burst <weapon> of Smiting. The only remaining question is, "Which weapon?"

Two-handed for higher base damage or one-handed for dual wielding for 20% off-hand procs.

I'm expecting someone to post that the quarterstaff animation bit really doesn't give faster attacks even though my eyes have me thinking it does.

I'm also expecting the answer about which weapon to be that it doesn't really matter in the case of most wizards (although it obviously does for other classes or if the wizard has the full TWF enhancement line).

I'd say two weapons if your STR is low (it probably is on a wiz). To be honest I'd take two weapons always, unless the character has invested in two-handed feat/enhancement lines, since those can help the effects proc on glancing blows. The extra procs from glancing, and 1,5x str and 2x PA would probably win out over 2 weapons on such a character.

Quarterstaff really doesn't get a faster attack speed (though it wouldn't matter much if it would, seeing how it has terrible crit profile). Acrobats (and I think monks) can get an attack speed bonus with staves though.

Edit: About bursts. A critical hit is always a critical hit. If the target is immune, it won't get the extra damage from the weapon multiplier, however any weapon effects that apply on critical hits will still apply, unless the target is immune to those too, which is often the case. I.e. slowburst won't work on constructs, etc.

[Tyrande]

If you are a Pale Master and have the undead aura going; Necrotic Bolt/Blast can deal good damage to the portals for No SP cost. (Add Necrotic Touch if you are at close range)

Coupled with Ice Storm DOTs on it and you don't need any portal beater weapon and can deal good damage from range.

[Tyrande]

If Archmage, the Arcane Bolt/Blast deal with SLA MMs and CMs together with Ice Storm deal good damage too.

[Matuse]

Base damage of the weapon is, to me, not super important. You're only talking about 1-3 points AT MOST per hit, and with wizard strength, you're unlikely to even break the portal's DR with that.

Instead, look to getting the most benefit out of the burst. Which means either a khopesh for the 19-20x3, or rapier/scimitar/kukri for the 18-20x2.

Proficiency doesn't matter, since you only miss portals on a 1.