I don’t study metas or anything and I don’t know, but everyone I meet here seems to say Vulnerable dmg is the most important. Why is this the case? Many of the complaints i see are about how everyone is locked to Ice because it’s the only way to proc Vulnerable.
Why is this important? Aren’t other dmg modifiers just as valuable as Vulnerable, or is there something about Vulnerable dmg. that makes it better than any other kind of damage?
Most damage types add all the multipliers together and then this big group multiplies by weapon damage, main stat, critical damage and vulnerable.
The big group contains all the vs. with, while damage types.
Int, vulnerable and crit are always going to be the lower multipliers compared the the big group so benefit the most from any boost.
I can think of 2 factors that lead up to vul being the most important.
They also use it as a conditional component. Examples being increased DR (damage resistance) to damage from Vulnerable enemies, barrier refresh increased from Vulnerable enemies, (x) multiplier damage to Vulnerable enemies (separate buckets) ETC…
So if they did manage to fix the damage buckets, limiting application of it still limits your build diversity.
Blizzard wants you to: Play it your way® but, is not giving us the tools to do so.
Vulnerable dmg is the most important. Why is this the case?
Because of the ease of acquisition (or in this case the lack thereof). If you multiply multiple stats with each other then then adding onto the lowest number gets you the best results. Most stars are additive but that in and of itself doesn’t really mean much as they still multiply with the rest.
The main reason as for why the stuff in the additive bucket is generally so undesirable to have on gear is because the paragon board overloads the bucket which completely diminishes the value of anything else that goes into this category while at the same time adding immense value to things like crit and vuln damage.
If the paragon board was better balanced then most people would actually value things like [insert the elemental damage type for the element you’re playing] over crit / vuln dmg.
Because there is only 1 condition for Vuln. Either the mob is vulnerable or it isn’t.
Unlike the 3,795 damage vs types in the game there is only 1 vulnerable type.
It’s like having a damage type that says +100% damage when using a wand. Either you’re using a wand as a sorc or you’re not. So of course you’re going to use a wand for the extra dmg bonus.
Prolly cus its easy to make enemies vulnerable and its almost always dmg you can count on. Just my take on it.
Simple. Because it add a LOT of damage like Critical damage more than anything else.
Who doesn’t want more damage? Who doesn’t want A LOT?
Ah so basically Critical Damage and Vulnerable are Multiplicative buckets? And everything else is additive?
Is that right?
Yes and no, as I said every bucket is multiplicative with every other bucket it’s just that the “additive one” is completely overloaded mainly thanks to the paragon board.
eli5:
now take a 1 from the left set and give it to the right set
The first total is bigger because multiplication is magic. For the biggest total number you want each number you multiply to be as close as possible.
Using that reference, D4’s “damage buckets” look a bit like this…
(1+1) * (1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1)
think of that as the vulnerability bucket.
its small. making it bigger makes total lots bigger. making the right set bigger makes total only little bigger.
Vulnerable is a mini-crit with an ON switch. It doesn’t do as much damage as crit, but it also doesn’t rely on chance.
The additive bucket will multiply as well. Dmg formula is something like:
stats dmg x additive dmg x crit dmg x vul dmg x global dmg
U get the most dmg output when numbers from various sources are evenly distributed to all buckets.
edit: global dmg (for lack of better term) are those with tooltips that says [x]%