Advice on weapon choice

[Bergie]

HI All,

I need some expert advice from all you Vets out there (or anyone good at number crunching) :

I have a capped Dwarf Barb, full axe enhancement line. Lets go on a sustainable Str of say 56 (yes, I know not the best, but hey I am still grinding gear :-) )

So my main question is about weapon choice! I dont get alot of time to play, so when I do play I like running Raids and Epic only. My only three weaps atm are a Min2 Greataxe, Lit2 Greataxe, and the newly revamped post u11 Epic Antique Greataxe which I slotted with a +7 Augment Crystal.

I guess for trash, Lit2 is still a great option.

So, both the Min2 and EAG break DR. But which is better against bosses like Epic Lailat and Horoth/Sulu (norm) etc? The reason I ask is because so many times you see everyone whip out their eSOS and there I am with my humble Min2 or EAG with +7 augment.

To me, not by crunching any numbers, and purely looking at the info from the weap, an eSOS does 15-40 DMG, and my EAG does 10-37, and breaks DR. So if I am a dwarf, with full axe enhancements, am I really that far behind the eSOS?

I know this has probably been asked many times before, but your advice would be awesome!

please note I dont have crafting levels to get +4 holy silver gaxe of glob.'

TYVM in advance :-)

[blade_of_will]

Im going to go out on a limb and say that (if you have IC slash) Epic antique should be better. Figuring out the damage difference if you dont have it is more than I want to do in my head at 5 am.

For comparing your damage vs esos, I'm guessing where esos is significantly better is when your hitting something with 0 fort, due to its crit range. Against something with 100% fort, I dont think you will be very far behind an esos. But, I'm not a numbers-cruncher person :P at least not a detailed and in depth one, so you'll have to wait a bit for their reply.

[Kinerd]

If the eSoS in question is not breaking DR, you are between comparable and ahead depending on how much DR we're talking about. If it is slotted with the appropriate crystal, you are not.

Between Min 2 and epic AG, the comparison is relatively straightforward because the weapons have identical critical profiles and swing speeds.

base damage: 25.5 vs. 15.5
magical damage: (3.5 per hit + 22) force vs. (7 holy + 3.5 acid) per hit + 58 acid

Base damage is by far the most important part for a THF barb. Base damage is multiplied on crits and goes into glancing blow damage with a 60% modifier. Magical effects, on the other hand, are not multiplied and occur at a 20% rate. Therefore, we can compare the two against a generic opponent with no resistances or fortification and see:

+10 base damage, -9ish magical damage

The eAG is superior. Pit fiends have enough acid resistance to ignore all the acid damage, so the eAG is still better there. Lailat does not have acid resistance, but neither did our generic opponent, so the eAG is still better. The target would have to have 100% fortification and force resistance for it to even be a question, and even then it would probably still be the eAG.