Level 1 DPS Competition

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Fatigue wrote:

In my oppinion GGG shouldn't only give an award for the winner. Prizes for the top 5 entries or so would be great.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one who invested quite some time/orbs here.

Would be nice; this was a painfully tedious and unrewarding experience for everyone involved, I'd imagine. And before I forget, since this competition is drawing to a close, I'll post some numbers I ran using a few different assumptions and methods for average maximum DPS of a level 1 given optimal/perfect gear.

12 Passive Points, Optimal Gear, Error ± 11.5%
1. Templar - Dual Wield Short Sword (173 DPS Average)
2. Duelist - Dual Wield Short Sword (153 DPS Average)
3. Ranger - Bow (145 DPS Average)
4. Marauder - 2H Sword (133 DPS Average)

Templar came in first place under the assumption that the 65% weapon elemental damage bonus obtainable in the passive tree worked with every elemental damage source from items. If this isn't the case, then he drops pretty far down.

Duelist came in second place. The raw attack speed advantage here combined with strength benefiting melee but not ranged is what put this over the ranger.

Ranger came in third place with a combination of high attack speed and the massive benefits associated with the 20% projectile damage (3 nodes) in the passive tree.

Marauder came in last place, sporting his 2H sword. The speed and accuracy advantage from the sword outweighed the additional damage of other 2H weapons.

I didn't even bother running anything on a Witch... for obvious reasons. Now for the 0 passive point arrangement. These calculations were done much more loosely as a last-minute thing, so they may not be quite as accurate.

0 Passive Points, Optimal Gear, Error % Not Recorded
1. Marauder/Other - Dual Wield Short Sword (129 DPS average)
2. Marauder/Other - 2H Sword (90 DPS average)
3. Ranger - Bow (86 DPS average)

Melee has the overwhelming advantage when there are no passive points to be considered because of the benefits strength offers to melee damage. In regards to class priority with builds here stat-wise, Marauder comes in first, followed by the Duelist, then Templar, and finally Ranger. Once again, I'm not going to bother touching Witch on this one, as there's not really any point.

Once again, dual wielding short swords provides an enormous advantage in raw speed over the alternatives, landing it first place. In order of class efficiency (read: base stats): Marauder, Duelist, Templar, Ranger, Witch.

2H sword beats out the Ranger's bow this time around with raw physical damage, although just barely, as the Ranger can't rely on its projectile damage nodes to bolster its effectiveness. Once again, class efficiency order is: Marauder, Duelist, Templar, Ranger, Witch.

The bow comes in last place, although just barely. If ranged weapon damage benefited from dexterity in a similar fashion to melee with strength, this wouldn't have been the case. Class efficiency order: Ranger, Duelist, Marauder/Templar/Witch (tied for third).

Finally, keep in mind that these calculations were performed assuming the best possible rare equipment with perfect modifier values in every case. The actual time and effort required to obtain even one such rare out of this set would be laughable. I still don't see any legitimate purpose to anyone going out of their way to twink a level 1, however, as experience gain mechanics tether you to similar-level areas anyways, and characters gain experience quickly enough at lower levels to make the short term benefits of this futile.

TL;DR - Wall of text, numbers, and analysis.

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Chris wrote:

In 100 minutes when the competition ends, we'll copy the characters to our local 0.9.3 server to test their damage and award some prizes!

Patch 0.9.4 in 100 min? :)

Chris, dual wield swords have an advantage for several reasons.

First of all, the short swords have a base speed of 1.65, working multiplicatively with all other bonuses (including the 10% dual wield bonus). Compare that to the best available bow for a level 1 (flat bow), which has a mere 1.55. The average damage per hit on each is relatively equal. Yes, you'll get slightly more elemental damage off the quiver, but the dual wield + increased base speed of the swords makes up for it.

Secondly, from what limited in-game testing I did, most of the damage values shown in the character screen lead me to believe that most if not all of the weapon modifiers (ie: elemental damage) were processed globally rather than locally. That means that if you had +2-4 cold damage on one sword, you'd see that damage applied to the other sword as well. Essentially, the offhand sword can act as a quiver, modifier-wise, while granting the 10% ias bonus rather than the 2-5 elemental damage quiver base.

Thirdly, melee has a raw advantage over ranged simply because they benefit from %ED via the strength stat. Ranged weapon users have no comparable benefit from dexterity, and both stats can be stacked on magic or rare level 1 armors.

Lastly, not only are swords the fastest weapon, but they also provide you with that convenient +25% base accuracy mod, essentially guaranteeing a 95% hit rate at level 1. Of course, a ranger won't have much trouble with this, either, but it gives it an advantage over other melee types.

Generally speaking, the bow can deal more damage when your gear is junk, but the increased speed, global modifier effects, and strength benefits outweigh what advantage the bow has quite considerably once you break a certain gear quality threshold. The more +elemental/physical damage you have working globally, the less useful that base quiver modifier is compared to the 10% ias dual wield bonus.

So, patch coming now or after an hour of downtime?

Is it a Valve soon?

And as soon as Chris said that, GGG's herd of hamsters died and all their power went out.