Improve Crt or Improve dmg?

[Eythen]

As mentioned in title. I'm wondering if i should focus on crt dmg or just dmg overall for souls.

I'm using this Afk build:

Str: 1

Rage of darkness: 1

Dex: 13

Huntsman:5
Devourer of light: 10
Photosyntheis: 10
Cunning: 10
Ambush: 10
Evolution: 125 (from previous ritual farming)
Nimble fingers: 22
Right on target:30

Noname dagger
ring of strength
x3 voodoos of a mix between str or dex (depends on rng at the start of the run)

[phenir]

Both, improve damage is good to keep you one shotting before crits which keeps you from stopping so you move faster. Improve crit gives you more overall damage if you have serpent complete. If you don't have serpent then just try to keep a decent balance since they multiply each other.

[rob_s_cat2]

even if you do have serpent, prefer damage to crit in most scenaria. this is because, as phenir mentioned, the longer you don't have to crit, the less you slow down, which is an increase in overall speed.

[Rehwyn]

I realize this post is a few days old, but in case anyone else finds this and is wondering the same thing, I figured I'd add a bit more info since I've looked into it.

It ends up that, assuming you're running a crit-focused build and not a pure strength build, the optimal ratio of improved damage and crit from souls is essentially exactly 50% each, if damage is your goal. This is true even if you have all 4 Serpent syllables and your "improved crit" is 3 times as strong, though that does make "Improve Crit" initially stronger for the first 3 minute (or first hour if not using Wind King).

For example, with around 10-15 souls, here's the overall multipliers after 15 minutes (or 5 hours without Wind King).

Only Damage or Crit: x6.97
50/50 Dmg & Crit: x15.88
Full Dmg & Crit (2 Souls) : x48.58
Only Serpent Crit: x18.91
50/50 Dmg & Serp Crit : x39.67
75/25 Serp Crit & Damage: x35.97*
Full Dmg & Serp Crit (2 Souls): x131.79

Here's the overall multipliers after 60 minutes (or 20 hours without Wind King...)

Only Damage or Crit: x24.88
50/50 Dmg & Crit: x167.43
Full Dmg & Crit (2 Souls) : x618.95
Only Serpent Crit: x72.64
50/50 Dmg & Serp Crit : x476.41
75/25 Serp Crit & Damage: x381.43*
Full Dmg & Serp Crit (2 Souls): x1,807.11

* Note that Serpent Crit starts off individually stronger than a split between damage and crit, however the longer it runs, the stronger a 50/50 split becomes relative to Serp Crit individually, or in other proportions.

As rob_s_cat2 mentioned, running primarily Improved Damage can potentially keep you from slowing down to crit things, but honestly if you're running a crit build your crits are probably going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of times stronger than your normal hits. If you're investing enough resources for your base damage to one-shot things, you're probably be better off running a build less focused on crits.

P.S. The secondary takeaway here is that Wind King Mask is very, very strong for progression (killing bosses). For a single skill point, you can have a x167 multiplier from souls after an hour, compared to x2.55 without Wind King. On the actual boss, turn on the Poison soul syllable from Serpent, which averages an additional x27.5 multiplier over a 3 minute period with Wind King (x2.35 without Wind King) for a total bonus multiplier of x4,592 and bosses melt very quick.

[Eythen]

Thanks for the comments, I'm going to balance it out between crt and dmg. I only have 1 point into my serpent at the moment, And unless there's something else that gives those points besides black holes, I have a long way to go before i fully complete 3 more galaxys.

[rob_s_cat2]

if you're talking in temrs of galaxies (says the drunk cat) first, appentice, then rain, you want to complete.