The shuricannon is a great starter build for someone new to Shuriken. It is not EVEN CLOSE to the highest DPS possible in a Shuriken builds.
For that you need to run AA/Adreanline/Slayer in FoTW. The DPS you gain from 20 Monk (really just Vorpal which is 5dmg/Shuriken) is pretty minor compared to how much DPS you can gain from other class splits. Moreover, Shiradi is not very good DPS at all on a ranged character that isn't utilizing it's ability to increase spell damage somehow (like my 15Wiz/3Monk/2FvS Shiradi Missle Spammer with Shurikens for CC using Otto, Pin, and Nerve Venom). Shiradi is all in all about the worst DPS ED for a shuriken build, just as it is with a bow or xbow. However, it has some essential twists (Whirling Wrists, Pin, Otto) which makes it seems like the only choice, but really, it's one of 3 or 4 (SD, LD, FoTW are all very viable, compared to SC).
All of the Shiradi procs added up are right around 16.45 Dmg/Shuriken
Proc Name |
Average Damage/Die |
# of Damage Dice |
Proc Rate |
Dmg/Shuriken |
Favorable Wind |
5.5/Average (d10) |
10d10 |
7% |
3.85 Dmg/Shuriken |
Fey Vision |
+1 Ranged Damage |
1d1 (essentially) |
100% |
1 Dmg/Shuriken |
6th Sense |
+1 Ranged Damage |
1d1 (essentially) |
100% |
1 Dmg/Shuriken |
Fey Power |
50.5/Average (d100) |
2d100 |
7% |
7.07 Dmg/Shuriken |
Rainbow |
50.5 |
1d100 |
7% |
3.535 Dmg/Shuriken |
Total |
|
|
|
16.455 Dmg/Shuriken |
Add to that 5 Dmg/Shuriken from Vorpal (NS Capstone) and you have about 21 Dmg/Shuriken, which is nothing to sneeze at.
However, you can get that with about 6 SA Dice, or accounting for not having SA all the time, say 10, to be generous. Plus maybe killer, or some other good stuff. With AA, you get stances which are awesome. With Ranger you get Sniper shot, more SA dice, FE, and Pos Spell Power.
But really, the thing that eclipses this so much is when you add in Slayer Arrows, and an adrenaline. When that hit's 3 or 4 times during a 10k, my highest crit ever on my FoTW thrower is 12k for 1 SHURIKEN. That very rarely but can proc multiple times. It's usually more like 1.5-3k a shuriken when I hit adrenaline/slayer. If that procs 3 times, it's 4500-9000 damage. You would need to throw 300 shuriken (x21Dmg/Shuriken = ~6000 Avg/Damage) with your build every 30 Seconds (cooldown on Slayer arrows) to be even. Do you throw 10 Shuriken a second? I don't think so. And don't forget, that damage every slayer arrow can spike up to more like 24k with a 19-20 on one of the shuriken (my build uses Overwhelming Crit).
So, in reality, Shiradi is very mediocre DPS. But, it is convenient, low on the button mashing threshold, and relatively consistent damage. It also allows nerve venom which is nice.
It not however anything like top DPS for a shuriken build. That still goes to AA/Slayer/Adrenaline with OC.
I purposefully did not include NS poison in here because the description is bizarre and it's impossible to calculate (for me) the DPS consistently. However, you're so far behind the FoTW numbers that is doesn't matter, unless the poison was like another 30 to 40 Dmg/Shuriken and even then I don't think it would be competitive.