Damage = (Base Damage) x (1 + Elemental Bonus%) x (1 + Attribute Bonus% + Weapon Skill Bonus% + Misc Bonuses%) x (1 + High Ground Bonus% + Crit Bonus%)
- Base Damage can be from weapons or spells
- Warfare is the "physical" Elemental Bonus%
- Weapon Skill Bonus% = Single-Handed, Dual Wielding, Ranged. **
- Misc Bonuses% = other damage buffs, usually granted from spells such as Death Wish ***
** Two Handed is a notable exception because it gives 5% damage per point and 5% crit bonus.
*** Death Wish is probably not a good example because the math works as stated above for weapon damage. Its different for spell damage. Death Wish buff results in much, much more damage from spells than from weapons. Is this intentional? Only Larian knows.
When people talk about "additive" buffs, they mean damage buffs that are added together in one factor. So Finesse and Dual Wielding are the same class of damage buff because 1 point in Finesse is functionally the same as 1 point in Dual Wielding. You add them up and the sum is multiplied against everything else.
Damage calculation in D:OS2 is a multiplication of factors. If you have 10 points in Warfare (50% damage buff), 15 Finesse (25% damage buff) and 5 Dual Wielding (25% damage buff) then on a melee non crit you do
Base Damage x 1.5 x 1.5
You get 2 attribute points per level up but only 1 combat ability point. Over the entire game your attribute/weapon skill factor is going to be a bigger multiplier than your elemental factor because its much easier to get points in Finesse than it is to get points in Warfare. Finesse also has a much higher cap. The more Finesse you have relative to Warfare, the more valuable each point in Warfare becomes.
Lets say your attribute/weapon skill factor is x1.8 and your elemental factor is x1.2. Again, melee non crit.
1.8 x 1.2 = 2.16 times base damage
1.5 x 1.5 = 2.25 times base damage
Due to stat allocation on level up and stat distribution on gear, 1 point in Warfare is always more valuable than 1 point in Dual Wielding for damage output. The only time it makes sense to get Dual Wielding is if you get it on an item slot where Warfare cannot roll but Dual Wielding can. That or you really want the dodge% for whatever reason.
Last edited by Hayte; 27/10/17 08:06 PM.