yesterday I decided that I didn’t need Arcanist Set and replaced it with Rage Set instead. I was really surprised by the results!
my Build already has Epiphany, which I use to get Crit Chance & Cool Down over Cap. both Caps are 60, but with Epiphany, my Crit Chance is +74.?% (new Cap is 75 for both) and Cool Down is almost at +70%.
now for the surprise! Epiphany (5) also increased my Crit DMG Cap from 350 to 437.5. before I added Rage, my Crit DMG was +300%, but after I added Rage, it was at the new Cap! I did a little testing by taking off the Epic Crit DMG, and with a Crystal Crit DMG of +225%, I still had +433.5% Crit DMG! when my Crit Chance gets to +75%, I will test it again and see if I can get to the max without the Epic Crit DMG. since I only need +4%, I was thinking of just adding a Strength Nature if +75% Crit Chance doesn’t get my Crit DMG to +437.5%. if it does, then I will have an extra space for an affix.
Edit: I finally got my Crit Chance to +75%. with Epiphany (5), Rage (5) and a Crystal Crit DMG of +225%, Crit DMG goes up to +435.9%. to get Crit DMG to the Cap of +437.5%, you could add a +75% Crit DMG, but if you don’t want to use a space for that, you could add one Death or Strength Nature. I tested both and got the same results.
this is on my Farm Build, and I felt that my play style wasn’t using Arcanist to it’s full potential, which is why I decided to try Rage.
Epiphany & Rage would be a great combo for players who want to Craft a high Crit DMG Build. normally, a maxed out Crit DMG Build takes up 7 spaces and 2 Natures slots.
2 Death Natures (to get Crit Chance to +60% Cap), 1 Crystal Crit Chance, 1 Crystal Crit DMG, 2 Epic Crit DMG, 2 Crystal Deadly Strike, 1 Mythic - Brutal. this gives you +60% Crit Chance, +400% Crit DMG (including +50% base Crit DMG everyone starts with), +60% chance to Deadly Strike on Critical Hit for double Crit DMG, with Brutal automatically making Deadly Strike do triple Crit DMG.
here is a post on how good Crit DMG is.
when I saw my Crit DMG go up so high, I thought of how Epiphany & Rage would affect Critical Hits as shown in my Post above. you would need 9 spaces, 8 if I only need the Crystal Crit DMG without an Epic Crit DMG. just so you know, in the above Post, an average of 36% of all attacks would be Deadly Strikes. a 60% Deadly Strike with +75% Crit Chance gives an average of 45% of all attacks being Deadly Strikes. adding an Epic or Myth Sone +10% Deadly Strike would give an average of 52.5% of all attacks being Deadly Strikes.
8 Spaces: 1 Rage Set (5), 1 Epiphany Set (5), 1 Crystal Crit Chance, 1 Crystal Crit DMG, 2 Crystal Deadly Strike, 1 Mythic Brutal, 1 Epic Crit Chance. don’t forget the 2 Death Natures to get Crit Chance to +75%. a third Nature of either Death or Strength will get you to the +437.5% Crit DMG Cap. if you feel like +435.9% Crit DMG is good enough, then that leaves you with 4 Natures instead of 3.
now to look at how the new DMG numbers compare to those in my Post.
Crit Chance: +60% vs. +75%. 60 out of 100 hits vs. 75 out of 100 hits are Critical Hits, on average.
Deadly Strike: using +60% for both Builds, 36 of 100 hits vs. 45 of 100 hits would be Deadly Strikes, on average. Deadly Strike of +70% with the second Build gives 52.5 of 100 hits, or 105 of 200 hits, would be Deadly Strikes, on average.
now I am going to use the imaginary Weapon: 100 DMG I used in my other Post, and we can see how the DMG looks when compared with using Epiphany & Rage.
+50% Crit DMG = 150 DMG.
+400% Crit DMG = 500 DMG.
+487.5% Crit DMG = 587.5 DMG.
+400% Crit DMG & Deadly Strike = 1000 DMG.
+487.5% Crit DMG & Deadly Strike = 1175 DMG.
+400% Crit DMG & Deadly Strike & Brutal Mythic = 1500 DMG.
+487.5% Crit DMG & Deadly Strike & Brutal Mythic = 1762.5 DMG.
well, after looking at the numbers, the end Crit DMG doesn’t go up that much, but DPS goes up like crazy. from 60% to 75% hits being Critical, and ~36% to ~45% of hits being Deadly Strikes, just by having 8 spaces dedicated to Critical Hits! and you still have 2 spaces left for Crystal Affixes!
not all players like using Brutal Mythic. the extra DMG from Brutal is dependent on getting Deadly Strikes, and there are other affixes that give more constant DMG. but going from ~1 in 3 attacks to ~1 in 2 attacks being a Deadly Strike, Brutal becomes more effective.
I was using an Imaginary Weapon that did 100 DMG. if you use actual Weapons and add Power, WD, & ED, the Crit DMG numbers will look a lot better. and that is before you even add Skill Points to your Skills, and other affixes that affect DMG & DPS. these 2 posts look at increasing the DMG on the Weapon itself, and the Link to Mid’s Guide on Damage Maximization can help with increasing total DMG & DPS with other Sets & Affixes.
