Where Are the Caster Weapons?

[TE5LA]

I've noticed that 99.99% of the weapons seem to be "Physical Damage" oriented. I have a level 5 rare dagger that I'm still using at level 24 because it is the only weapon I've found so far that isn't physical damage and is far more powerful than any level 24 epic weapon I've seen.

If I use a level 24 Epic 2H axe that stats show 60-193 damage, I get a DPS of 1326. If I use my level 5 rare dagger with 13-25 "Fire" damage, I get 1833 DPS.

How do I find better daggers? None of the shops I've visited even carry daggers or scepters.

[Uzul]

the blacksmith can make magic weapons with any given type of damage.

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Daggers and sceptres start becoming available shorting after you get around the Foggy Bank area I've found. The DC traders will have them as will all the others as you progress. Just look at the bottom of the melee weapons tab at the vendors.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

base dmg type of the weapon doesn't matter if you're a caster using non WD skills...
what matters is the bonus stats
most common weapons have a base dmg type of phys dmg, this can't be changed as such
but also matter little usually, since it's the bonus stats the weapon rolls with that most matter
so if a base phys dmg pistol, offers you more %fire dmg and cast speed, than an acid scepter, and you're a fire build, obv you still pick the pistol

[Chronusaur]

The base damage of a weapon has 0 effect of almost all caster skills, all that matters is the bonus effects listed. In fact, that goes for all playstyles. The weapons themselves hardly matter compared to the effects they give. It's much better to look for weapons that give extra points to skills you use, extra damage for the element you use, and high resistances.

[Vriska 8/8 Waifu]

other people have covered the basics of this, that damage type and amount literally doesn't matter for casters on their weapons, so i'm going to repost a slightly edited version of something i wrote the last time someone started asking questions about casters and weapons, hopefully this is useful:

"weapons are stat sticks first and foremost in GD. you can make almost literally any weapon type work with any class combo if you build right. unlike a lot of RPGS you aren't locked to certain types of gear by class, and there's almost nothing in terms of skills that lock you into certain gear types. a handful of skills and devotions only work with certain types of gear equipped, but beyond that you can use whatever gives the best stats, and even the things that do lock you to an item type are broad. for example the Kraken devotion only works with a 2 handed weapon equipped, but it can be any 2h weapon, whereas a lot of games would have things that only work with, say, daggers or greathammers or such. for example my current favourite build is a spellbinder (necromancer/arcanist) using 2h melee that mostly fights with tempest and transmuted bone harvest. this works because the temporal arcblade is a fantastic stat stick for this sort of playstyle.

imo you don't actually need to worry about gear beyond the basic idea of using things that help your main damage dealer until you hit ~level 70 at least, and arguably as late as ~90. as long as you play decently and have good skills and devotions, you'll be totally fine through normal, elite, and early-midgame ultimate with a bit of common sense and self-found gear."

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

another thing worth to point out
the dps tooltip comparison (when you hover over new weapons) only cover the skill you have slotted to LMB - if you have no skill/move to slotted to LMB it will show dps comparison for RMB
and, the dps tooltip comparison is very rudimentary and not fully accurate

[Vriska 8/8 Waifu]

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

another thing worth to point out
the dps tooltip comparison (when you hover over new weapons) only cover the skill you have slotted to LMB - if you have no skill/move to slotted to LMB it will show dps comparison for RMB
and, the dps tooltip comparison is very rudimentary and not fully accurate

exactly, a better measuring stick is the DPS indicator on your character sheet, if you mouse over that it will list the DPS of your LMB and RMB binds. even that isn't amazing, it does factor in DoTs iirc but not procs from gear/devotions, and i'm fairly sure it doesn't factor in WPS. it's not suitable for endgame optimization, but while leveling it's an acceptable way to tell if the epic you just picked up is worth equipping.

[kekkuli]

Depends on the skill you are using. If your skill does no % weapon damage then base damage doesn't matter at all. You are looking for so called stat sticks in that case, with certain %damage and possibly other bonuses that benefit you.