End game builds always consist of wearing a 1h scythe/phylactery combo with a cubed 2h scythe. However, in the early stages when you have suboptimal gear, could a 2h be better?
Take Bone Spear for example: if you have a 1h SotC, a random phylactery without CC or BS damage (and it’s early so you don’t have enough mats to reroll), a 2h Maltorius, and a low level Rank 5 or 10 LoD, wouldn’t it be better to equip the 2h and cube the 1h? The damage increase of a 2h over a 1h (usually ~3k vs ~2k for non-ancient) seems to outweigh the ~400 extra damage from a Phylactery.
Or are there other benefits of a Phylactery to consider even when it has no synergizing stats or legendary powers?
I know that d3planner is a thing, but the time consuming nature of it (at least for my novice skills) seems more suited for the end game when you are making minor tweaks as opposed to the early gearing stages when you are constantly getting new gear and have a frankenstein setup without much synergy between skills and gear.
For me it always comes down to the secondary effects. My necros all seem to roll terrible 2H-ers… if the range is 300% to 400% I get 305%. So cubing it gives me WAY better boost to damage than equipping it.
If we ignore the legendary effects of the weapons - 2h weapon can definitely be better on early stages if you use secondary skills for the damage. They have higher damage per shot, compared to higher attack speed of 1h weapons.
In early stages, resource is spent fast. 2h weapon uses it a little more efficiently.
1h + phylectary always out perform 2h at any stages of progression. Unless a Primal 2h drops and on hand 1h+OH is really bad for temporary usage.
The DPH from weapon is slightly more but not overall damage. First it’s 3 legendary powers vs 2, and 1h has more 500 more mainstat. At early stages, best multiplier is from INT and crit chance.
In cases where the offhand doesn’t have synergizing legendary powers (eg: Bone Spear, Corpse Explosion, Rats), would it be sufficient to just look at sheet damage comparisons to see which combo is better? The only additional mental math adjustments I can think of needing to make would be the LoD bonus, skills damage, and possibly +essence if using Reilena’s Shadowhook. I don’t think other non-sheet damage attributes such as Area Damage would matter until you start pushing.
Before you have any synergizing legendary powers, you can look mostly sheet dmg. There are multipliers not visible in sheet dmg (aread dmg etc), but they are relatively meaningless at that phase.
So, generally at early phases it’s better to take option which has higher sheet dmg.
In case 2h option has sheet dmg quite close to 1h setup, then 2h has better dmg output due to higher damage per cast - but only if you are resource starving.
Similarly to other direction: in case slow attack speed or low toughness is a problem, usually 1h setup gives better end result.
Damage in D3 doesnt factor in sheet damage at all. Sheet damage is an overview on:
*Weapon Damage
Main stat
Att speed
Critical stats
D3 damage is:
Weapon dmgskill dmg(the% actually on your skill)mainstat Crit stats (1+cit chancecrit damage) *Cat A buff * Cat B buff *Cat C buff * Cat D buff
Cat A is additive, strongarm, + skill% on gear (excluding pets)
Cat B is elemental damage% , items like Mask of Jeram
Cat C is bonus against humans/beasts/demons etc
Cat D is multiplicative, elite damage, set bonuses, majority of legendary% relating to damages.
Due to majority of skills are actually DPH mechanics, Att spd is an inaccurate dmg judgement hence early days we simulate dmg on spreadsheet later evolved into d3planner type of simulators.
Yes, exactly this.
Also I forgot to mention for LoD purposes, 2H has 1x less LoD bonuses. its 13 with offhand but only 12 with 2H.