Noob stat question.

[Tacred]

Just started this as an engineer. Is it right to assume that any skill that requires a melee wep and has the % of weapon dps uses the STR stat, any with rng rewuire uses DEX, and skills with neither listed use the focus stat modifier?

[Tomberry Blue]

Actually. It doesn't quite work like that.

You are correct about % of weapon damage skills scaling with STR but only for physical weapon. Focus makes you do more elemental damage so if you're using a staff or wand(s) Focus will help those skills do more damage.

Any skill that does elemental damage only that isn't weapon related like ice, fire, poinson, etc scales off of dex and levels.

All remaining skills that do damage that isn't specified as elemental only scales out of levels. The skill level and your character's level to be clear.

[gytfunke]

Err... The Legendary Beast doesn't quite have it right either.

In Vanilla TL2, this is how it works:

Strength increases all weapon damage (bows, swords, staves all included). It also increases crit damage bonus.

Dex increases crit chance, dodge and fumble recovery. It does not increase ranged damage, only crit chance, which is good too.

Focus increases elemental damage (either elemental damage on weapons or flat damage on a skill) and MP

Vit doesn't increase damage, just defensive stuff


There are two types of skills, Weapon Damage and Flat Damage skills. Weapon damage skills will say something like 'deals 25% Weapon DPS'. An example is Flame Hammer.

Flat damage skills will say something like 'Deals 15-25 Fire Damage'. An example is Shield Bash.

Increased Weapon Damage (from Str! or Focus as well if you have a staff/wand) will increase Weapon Damage skills like Flamehammer OR Blast Cannon. It doesn't matter if its ranged or melee.

Increased Focus will increase your Flat Damage skills like Shield Bash. Your weapon DPS has nothing to do with this damage. Crit chance and crit damage bonus will work. Again, there's no difference between ranged and melee.

[Tacred]

Ok, so skills like flame hammer and onslaught would use STR. But would also use focus as well if I performed them with a staff or wand?

Then skills like seismic slam and spider mines would use just focus to boost damage? Am I getting it right?

If I dont take points in focus are flat damage skills best avoided or will the level scaling keep them viable?

[Kukko]

Originally posted by Tacred:

Ok, so skills like flame hammer and onslaught would use STR. But would also use focus as well if I performed them with a staff or wand?

Then skills like seismic slam and spider mines would use just focus to boost damage? Am I getting it right?

If I dont take points in focus are flat damage skills best avoided or will the level scaling keep them viable?

Actually I heard that if something deals weapon damage as electric(not as physical) for example benefits from str and focus equally. Also summons (spider mines, turret bots) only benefit from your level and +X% pets and minion damage bonuses from items. So flame hammer uses both equally (str + foc) no matter what weapon you use. I'm not sure about onslaught because can't remember damage type. Seismic slam only scales with level and focus (note dmg over time effects from skills cannot be increased.)

[Kukko]

Originally posted by Tacred:

Ok, so skills like flame hammer and onslaught would use STR. But would also use focus as well if I performed them with a staff or wand?

Then skills like seismic slam and spider mines would use just focus to boost damage? Am I getting it right?

If I dont take points in focus are flat damage skills best avoided or will the level scaling keep them viable?

Some flat damage skills are worth it.

[Embryo Selection]

I could be wrong but I believe using an elemental weapon for %dps as an element skills gets double bonus from focus & once from strength.

Attributes in TL2 are pretty straightforward generally; you want, after bonuses from gear; 109-470ish dex, 999 str and as much focus as you can possibly get.

Crit damage bonus from STR caps at 999, Dexterity bonuses suffer from rapidly diminishing returns after 109 and Focus is pretty much always good.

On your first playthrough as an engineer I'd simply recommend using staves and getting as much focus as possible. Vitality is as good as useless in vanilla TL2, especially for engineers (forcefield blocks damage before your shield gets a chance to check for a block)

[Kukko]

Originally posted by Vealie:

I could be wrong but I believe using an elemental weapon for %dps as an element skills gets double bonus from focus & once from strength.

Attributes in TL2 are pretty straightforward generally; you want, after bonuses from gear; 109-470ish dex, 999 str and as much focus as you can possibly get.

Crit damage bonus from STR caps at 999, Dexterity bonuses suffer from rapidly diminishing returns after 109 and Focus is pretty much always good.

On your first playthrough as an engineer I'd simply recommend using staves and getting as much focus as possible. Vitality is as good as useless in vanilla TL2, especially for engineers (forcefield blocks damage before your shield gets a chance to check for a block)

No, it does not double it. Damage is first taken from weapon DPS then converted to that element and after this focus+str modifiers are added. Heres intresting link for everyone to read.
http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=44975/

[Tiomasta]

So, to put everything simply:

-Str boosts your weapon damage of all kinds (therefore helping WeaponDPS skills), with Foc doing the same at the same rate except Foc can't increase your weapon's Physical damage, if it has any.

-Foc also increases all skill damage that isn't weapon-based ("+X damage")
-Str increases global crit damage instead

So skills that only do +XDamage benefit only from Foc, and weapon-based skills work from either but are better with Str. And Str lets you use any weapon instead of only elemental ones. Now there's two things to complicate this:
-Skills that do "WeaponDPS as Fire/Ice/Electric/Poison" work alright from Str, but get two boosts from Focus if your weapon was elemental to begin with, being even stronger that way
-A few skills deal damage in BOTH weapon-based and non-weapon based (ENG Emberquake and BSK Wolfpack). With these, as it happens, pure Foc while using an elemental weapon beats anything else. (Borris'd Dexterity is always neat, but more Foc is always the best)

Originally posted by Tacred:

If I dont take points in focus, are flat damage skills best avoided or will the level scaling keep them viable?

If not doing a Foc build, avoiding them is the idea. (if intending to use them for their damage rather than some support)

[Kukko]

Originally posted by Tiomasta:

So, to put everything simply:

-Str boosts your weapon damage of all kinds (therefore helping WeaponDPS skills), with Foc doing the same at the same rate except Foc can't increase your weapon's Physical damage, if it has any.

-Foc also increases all skill damage that isn't weapon-based ("+X damage")
-Str increases global crit damage instead

So skills that only do +XDamage benefit only from Foc, and weapon-based skills work from either but are better with Str. And Str lets you use any weapon instead of only elemental ones. Now there's two things to complicate this:
-Skills that do "WeaponDPS as Fire/Ice/Electric/Poison" work alright from Str, but get two boosts from Focus if your weapon was elemental to begin with, being even stronger that way
-A few skills deal damage in BOTH weapon-based and non-weapon based (ENG Emberquake and BSK Wolfpack). With these, as it happens, pure Foc while using an elemental weapon beats anything else. (Borris'd Dexterity is always neat, but more Foc is always the best)

Originally posted by Tacred:

If I dont take points in focus, are flat damage skills best avoided or will the level scaling keep them viable?

If not doing a Foc build, avoiding them is the idea. (if intending to use them for their damage rather than some support)

You don't get double boost from focus to any skill. Your weapons damage is first converted to that element and then gets bonus from foc and str.

[Tiomasta]

You're right. I just double-checked with a console character, and DPS skills that change to elemental still get about the same boost from Str and Foc.

I could swear Focus used to make it much better...

[Kukko]

Originally posted by Tiomasta:

You're right. I just double-checked with a console character, and DPS skills that change to elemental still get about the same boost from Str and Foc.

I could swear Focus used to make it much better...

Well theres been a lot of people in the internet making their own assumptions without testing. Even in that link I posted somebody started claiming you get extra from foc, even thou op had all explained and tested properly. So everyone should use criticism when reading forums (especially nowa days people seem to make complete non-sense statements in every game, I could almost swear I saw someone claiming you get ranged damage from dex.). If you don't know it's better to ask rather than assuming. Sorry if this text sounds offensive.

[gytfunke]

It's not offensive. TL2's stats are different than most other games and its really confusing how they work. Most games use Dex to augment ranged damage.

Keep a look out for RnF's upcoming item/stat overhaul mod. We simplified the way stats work to make it easier to understand.