Math of Exile

I am trying to figure out how to just look at a gem description and read it and know what gives a better outcome for any combination. The only way to do this is to do the math?

Let me explain what I'm talking about with an example. I searched "path exile spell damage vs crit damage" and found https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/18u4y3/spell_damage_vs_crit_chance_vs_cast_speed_pure/ as it is hard to know when you pick a particular gem over another gem when you are making a build what that dps (damage per second) will convert to on any given character without actually playing it. Path of building itself is only standard textbook ideal. Your gear and environments vary (such as reflect enemies or burning ground areas, to name 2 examples) from the standard number expectation. You might have 20% increased value on PoB (Path of Building) but your gear only has 16% increased value.

The main reason I am making this post is I've come to realize the only way to truly get good at this game is to make your own build compared to other builds that are just as good, or ideally better.

What can I do to calculate any build to make it better, or at least understand the variants?


I love Shadow but he lacks life. So with him I must focus on energy shield and ghost reaver.
I love speed and should focus more on Ranger for that reason.
I could go on about how I want to make a 2-handed axe Slayer double strike boss killer and it becomes clear that to do this I would need to calculate the best outcome with flexibility as I might not get the six link by the time I reach a certain boss or the right color sockets for this standard (expensive disguised as cheap) build.

Reading the gem descriptions do not show what the dps will be until I put it on. And is dps continuously the same number, or does it vary like your gear mentions how much you vary.

Reading on critical strike chance multiplier and critical strike chance, being different things,
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Critical_Strike_Chance_(passive_skill)
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Critical_strike
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Critical_strike#Critical_Strike_Multiplier

is an equation of it's own. Knowing this makes me wonder if I will always be a noob at this game.

Short answer: use a tool like Path of Building to compare your options https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1716360

At the end of the day, it's all about the "more" modifiers. You try to find a skill that gives good usability (this is mainly about attack/cast speed, mana cost and area coverage), then you try to stack a reasonable amount of "increased" modifiers (usually just those you pass by during pathing in the passives tree) and as many "more" modifiers on top of it as you can. Sources are support gems like Elemental Focus, passive nodes like Pain Attunement, Crit. Multiplier, Frenzy Charges, etc.

Of course, many of those choices have side effects or drawbacks that have to be compensated somehow. And I didn't even touch items or special stuff such as ailments or temporary buffs like Unholy Might etc. And you also have to consider your defense and life/mana recovery of course.

Yes, it's a complex game, but this is also one of the reasons why it is so successful.

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ThunderBiome wrote:

I am trying to figure out how to just look at a gem description and read it and know what gives a better outcome for any combination. The only way to do this is to do the math?

For specific comparisons? Absolutely. Aside from anything else, the natural diminishing returns of stacking any one stat mean that every single change to any stat will result in changing the value of every stat.

For playing the game successfully, having fun, and achieving any goal you set yourself? You are way over-thinking this. You don't need to min-max nearly so much as some guides and players suggest to be able to do whatever you want in the game.

Also, player skill is a more significant part of the game than many of the min-max number fiddling things would suggest: you are highly likely to have your map clear speed or boss kill speed fluctuate more than many of those tiny increments at the end of min-maxing because of how exactly you, say, time the transition from the end of one damage flask to the next.