I have two of the same ‘unique’ items. Interesting use of the word, but never mind. They dropped at different points in leveling, so the power levels are also about 100 apart. But the lower power level one has better stats.
I am so confused. I understand that power level controls how the stats roll, but after that, does it matter? Which one should I use? Higher power level, or better stats???
ill try to keep it simple
Power Level (or item level) will determine the range at which the affixes can roll.
There are noticeable Item PL that are considered plateaus, from which the Item goes Sacred and then Ancestral. Even within Ancestral Power level, there are plateaus. To see an easy example of this would be using Amulets or Rings that roll with a garanteed (no min-max affix) on the first innate affix (ie. the resistance all for amulet). Having a higher Powerlevel wont necessarily guarantee better rolls on the affixes, but the lower margin and the higher margin will be higher from 1 plateau to the next. However, armor rating and attack power from items other than jewelry will rise proportionately with Item Powerlevel.
In short, better min-max on affixes but a max low level can roll higher than a min high level.
Drawing:
[min-------------max] lower PL
____________[min-----------------max] higher PL
i realize i didnt answer ur question
Weapon: most often opt for Item level because higher atk range (above 850-875 a 4 min-max rolled affixes could be better than a 925 item without any good affixes, depending on stuff): offhand weapons that arent used (ie. range rogue’s daggers), affixes. Because you use bow atk rating when attacking, daggers atk rating wont be calculated, but the affixes will (vice versa for a TB rogue, the bow needs better affixes than atk).
Armor: opt for affixes, as long as you’re Ancestral, you lose like 1 armor per item level at most, per item.
jewelry: opt for affixes, especially if you’re maxed out on resist. higher item level once Ancestral jut ups the range of the resist innate affixes.
By ‘affixes’, do you mean stats? Like if, in my case, the lower power level gloves have a higher percentage on several identical stats (since duplicate uniques all have the same stats), the power level doesn’t matter and I should use the lower one with better stats.?
What I don’t understand is, once the item has rolled its stats when it is created, does the power level ever have any further effect? Does it make any difference during a fight?
Thanks so much for your willingness to help.