Maximizing command or spear

Looking at a spear and command paragon, most recommendations have been to maximize spear mastery but a few say to maximize command. It wasn't immediately obvious to me which way to go as high command will increase the chance to critical through GftE. After reviewing the damage calculations on GuildWiki I decided to analyze the options using no attack skills but including the extra damage from GftE with and without Focused Anger. In summary, high spear mastery is superior to high command for increased damage. Including attack skills will make high spear mastery look even better.

Here are a few of the DPS results to illustrate why I come to this conclusion. All calculations assume Aggressive Refrain is active and that Leadership is at least 10 (100% adrenaline gain with Focused Anger). Some of these attribute combinations are not practical to achieve.

No GftE:
SM AL60 AL100
12 19.6 10
16 25.3 12.8

GftE - Command 12:
SM AL60 AL100
12 21.2 10.7
16 28.9 14.6

FA GftE - Command 12:
SM AL60 AL100
12 22.9 11.5
16 32.5 16.3

GftE - SM 12:
C AL60 AL100
16 22.2 11.2

FA GftE - SM 12:
C AL60 AL100
16 24.8 12.5

If my calculations are correct, Focused Anger and Go for the Eyes yield a 28.7% increase in damage per second over base damage with spear mastery 16, command 12 and leadership 10.

Edit: Found an error in computing probability of a critical hit influenced by GtfE. Numbers have been corrected. Added a statement about leadership as Focused Anger's effect is calculated assuming 100% adrenaline gain. The increase from FA and GftE is less than first stated.

thats a healthy buff . ppl will run command higher for non selfish reasons (team protection and DPS), is interesting to know how it effects solo dps

Sorry but I can't make anything out of it :S

Its much more difficult to analyze the benefit of high command to party performance than for the paragon alone. Most of the command skills are too situational for me to carry on a regular basis. I stick with GftE and SYG although I may add Bladeturn Refrain as an optional. GftE and SYG at least can be compared with modest effort for a standard party build and I'll be doing that for my survivor's PvE party.

I completed the analysis for the non-caster members of my typical PvE party. I used a scenario with one flesh golem, 2 vampiric horrors, 6 bone fiends, 1 warrior and 1 paragon. I then calculated DPS for each non-caster per the method used in the opening post and details provided on GuildWiki. The DPS was summed to create a team DPS. This process was repeated for different opponent armor levels and command ranks.

Increasing command from 12 to 16 and dropping spear from 16 to 12 while using Focused Anger and GftE yields a 7.5% increase in team DPS against AL60 and 8.9% against AL100. Team damage is reduced without the minions.

A quick comparison of SYG at command rank 12 and 16 was made. Command rank 12 provides 18.7% reduction in DPS averaged over the 30 s recharge time of SYG while rank 16 provides 23.1% reduction in DPS. Assuming damage doesn't ignore armor of course! I think this compares favorably with the current ToF.

My take on all this is that the differences aren't large enough to drive the decision. Either way is useful and it can be the player's preference. I'll probably create a second set of armor so I can go either way depending on the situation. In a high pressure situation (incoming damage that is) the improved damage reduction of high command is likely of sufficient benefit to warrant going that way.

Edit: Dropped the motivation paragon from the calculations as the time spent throwing spears vs. chanting is unpredictable. Also noticed in game that more bone fiends and fewer vampiric horrors were summoned than assumed. Also found an error in calculation of percent improvement of SYG, it is less than originally stated.

Had to make a few corrections after finding errors in my calculations. Changes weren't big and didn't change my conclusions. It should be obvious from the numbers but probably isn't , the command paragon is a viable and useful member of any team. Those that are saying the class is worthless or won't allow them in their party are missing out! That statement is made from analysis and testing in game.

It is interesting to note that flesh golem DPS against AL60 increases from a base of 27.5 to 56.1 from Focused Anger and "Go for the Eyes!" with command at 16. A paragon can be an excellent compliment to a minion master, or two! Or to a dervish for that matter.

In fact, this demonstrates that this use of command works best for weapons with a high maximum damage, even with slow attack speed. I think a scythe wielding paragon could be a viable alternative to spears for a little variety and fun, possibly similar in performance to the axe wielding ToF build.

ill haveto mess about on my assassin, and see if a wand/staff can critical, i wand alot with my monk (must add up to large amount of damage over the course of a mission), gfte is triggered by wanding (or atleast ive seen the little square disapear).

and yeah a paragon is a really nice combo with a MM, and also a assassin imo
+al, + chance to critical, + burning on his/her attacks