HMM.... Penetration or Damage?

which of these gets priority?

penetration or +damage %?

for example lets say you have 10 ranks in strenght which is 10%AP

and you custmized your sword (+20%).

how much dmg would you do? (you have 12 swordsmanship and foe has 60 armor) both lvl 20


would you count AP first then apply the +20% dmg?

or would you count +20% dmg then AP?


thanks everyone!

It wouldn't change anything either way.

oh and also when you apply Ap and Dmg, do you take both it out of the original damage? i.e 15-22 becomes 15-22 + 20% which is 18-26 aprroximately, and then add the AP to the 18-26?


or do you add dmg which is 18-26 and the apply AP to original dmg(15-22)

and add them together?

thnaks again

ps why wouldnt it matter?

if you have more armor penetration and more +dmg than my example it would, wouldnt it?


lets say you have a hammer 19-35
and +50%damage and +30%AP

if you go dmg first it will be (50% of 35, which is 17, then add it=52) then apply ap to 52 which is approx. +18 dmg. so it becomes +70 dmg.


if you go AP fisrt it will be (30% of 60 armor which is reduced to 42 ARwhic h lets you do approximately +18dmg. it becomes 53. then you apply +50% dmg and it becomes+26 dmg so it makes about 80 dmg)

wait your right if you apply it to teh original damage for both AP and dMG

Okay, example: say you're doing max with hammer - 35 damage - against a 60 AL target.

Read the Treatise on Combat Mathematics by Ensign here. It'll help in understanding this explanation.

10% AP against a 60 AL target means it basically has 50 AL. You'd be doing 18.9% more damage. You also have 20% more damage from customization.

Damage done:
AP first: (35 * 1.189) * 1.2 = 41.615 * 1.2 = 49.938
Customization first: (35 * 1.2) * 1.189 = 42 * 1.189 = 49.938

Either way, whether you're calculating AP or customization first, it's the same amount of damage. It's called the associative property in mathematics; it doesn't matter what you multiply in first. Hope that helps.

So the 25% AP of lightning damage acutally does a lot more damage? I thought it meant < 25% extra damage, but I guess Lightning might be worth investing in if you're actually getting much greater returns than that. About how much extra damage would 25% AP on a Lightning Spear at 50 damage add to the real damage caused on a level 60 AL foe?

Actually 10% of 60 is 6 which is 54. Not trying to flame or troll.

If this game were all about "damage" then fire ele. would always win versus everything.

What about HEXES? Conditions? Interrupts? Armor ignoring damage? Cooldown? Energy... The list goes on.

All but fire has a versatile line of utility, air has blind, knockdown ; water has snares, blurred vision, wards, defbuffs; earth has wards, armor boost, armor ignoring damage.

To say "fire is the best" is to still be in the ignorant mentality that this a typical RPG where your level matters and equipment too. THIS IS NOT THAT KIND OF GAME.

You must use your strategy to outperform the opponent, not smack the most damaging skills and then achieve victory.

thnaks the link!

Yeah, sometimes I mess up on my math. It doesn't change much anyway.

Well, 25% armor penetration would bring an AL 60 target down to AL 45. Plugging that into the damage equations from the link above for a spell with a base damage of 50 would give you (obviously) 50 damage when there is no armor penetration involved, and approximately 65 damage when you take into account the armor penetration. Keep in mind that 60 is the low end of final armor, and the higher your opponent's AL, the more armor penetration is going to damage.

As much as 30% eh? Thanks for the explanation Jenosavel.

@ LifeInfusion : You're right, but what has that got to do with this thread? This thread is asking which does more damage so we can choose which spells work best with our strategies.