There's only one thing I'm not getting in this whole thing, why Thalassocrat over Mezraq?
One base dmg on the weapon itself isn't that impressive of an upgrade, the dps listed for it is only 0.12 higher than Mezraq's, what's the big deal? You're not getting that 2 STR back for ws mods either.
I must've missed something along the way, I don't see the point of losing 2 STR to gain 1 base dmg by comparison.
because they're about the same and one costs less and is more common is simple answer but if you want the math about how thalassocrat on average will win by a less than noticable amount here we go...
you can look all this up in wiki if you want but I'll try to simplify some of the math which I find usually very strung out all over the place with a lot of variables which need explination, I've sort of wanted to put it all in one place for a while.
Damage = (D + fSTR)PDIF for normal melee attack
Damage = floor((D + fSTR + WSC)* fTP)PDIF for melee WS
fSTR = (your STR - monster VIT+correction term)/4. lower and upper bounds set by weapon rank = floor(DMG rating/9) and weapon rank+8
Correction term basically keeps the value more constant, it gives essentially free STR, and more of it the less STR you have.
correction term
Code:
STR-VIT value correction term
12 or greater 4
6 to 11 6
1 to 5 7
-2 to 0 8
-7 to -3 9
-15 to -8 10
-21 to -16 12
-22 or less 13
D= DMG rating
PDIF
this is sort of complicated so I'll start with a few terms that make it up
Melee cRatio = (your atk/monster defense) - (0.050 x level difference)
PDIF is a random value which has max and min according to your melee cRatio
max pDIF has the following formulas:
Code:
Ratio Range Function Value
0 ≤ cRatio < 0.5 fMax(cRatio) = 0.4 + 1.2 x cRatio
0.5 ≤ cRatio ≤ 5/6 fMax(cRatio) = 1
5/6 < cRatio ≤ 2 fMax(cRatio) = 1.2 x cRatio
and Min pDIF has the following formulas:
Code:
Ratio Range Function Value
0 ≤ cRatio < 1.25 fMin(cRatio) = -0.5 + 1.2 x cRatio
if fMin < 0 → fMin = 0
1.25 ≤ cRatio ≤ 1.5 fMin(cRatio) = 1
1.5 < cRatio ≤ 2 fMin(cRatio) = -0.8 + 1.2 x cRatio
WSC this is for ws's and individual to each ws I'll look at penta thrust since that's what drgs generally use,
WSC=floor(floor((STR*.20+DEX*.20))*.83), note the .83 is a level correction term for 75, the lvl for both weapons we are considering
fTP again varies by ws, penta thrust now varies acc though and has a constant 1 here.
ok now to compare. I guess I'll try to make a hypothetical situation comparable to merits, I'm sorry if some of my numbers are a bit off of what's realistic.
D = 93 and 94 respectively
fSTR, I'll assume you don't get knocked up a tier so no penalty from correction term.
Mezraq gets .5 more than thalassocrat here, I'll say STR - VIT value goes from 14 to 16 with mezraq.
PDIF, I'll assume you're fighting mobs ~lvl 82 since most merit mobs around there, defense will vary widely from mob to mob and if you get dia/angon on the mob ect. I'll say the mob has 300 defense just for sake of argument, I don't remember what mobs defense is usually around but the lower the better for mezraq so that's prolly not a bad number. I'll say 500 attack just because its a nice number, I'll assume mezraq gives you your max of 2 attack so we can compare 502 to 500.
melee cRatio with thalassocrat = 1.317
melee cRatio with Mezraq = 1.323
both of these land in the same areas of the Pdif
PDIFmax for thallasocrat = 1.580
PDIFmax for Mezraq = 1.588
PDIFmin is 1 for both
this leads to max damage (assuming this hypothetical situation, with no crits)
155.63 for thalassocrat
155.624 for mezraq
min damage of
98.5 for thalassocrat
98 for mezaq
keep in mind this is basically ideal situation for mezraq, I gave it every rounding up possible and after flooring the results they come out even but thalassocrat has 2 dex on top that may knock you up a crit tier and give acc(assuming you aren't capped which you often will be) also a note on the math if I rounded off at the wrong place and one spot or another I apologize, wiki was not terribly clear which terms rounded off where and I doubt the results would look significantly different.
finally if you look at ws, everything is the same as the WSC term has the same DEX mod as STR mod for penta thrust and ftp is constant for penta thrust.
I hope this answers your question.
oh and looking at drakesbane it does have a 50% STR mod but can crit and it will really depend on if thalassocrat moves you up a crit tier or not as to which will do better I think.
