Swords DPS?

[Bull Buchanan]

Level 9 ~35 hours or so in.

It seems to me like the item balance is a bit out of whack, or the full impact of various weapons/armor isn't explained.

Since about level 4 I've been running around with clubs and axes as they've each had boosts like +44 bludgeoning/slashing that increase the DPS over the best steel sword ive been able to find/craft by over 33%.

Am I missing something here or is base damage a relatively useless number to rank gear by?

Update:

Early swords in my playthrough were all way outclassed by maces/axes. Serpentine in general is rubbish,a s is the first set of witcher gear. Griffin gear was better armor than I had by a couple points, but the swords are still trash. However, I've been rocking nice swords since level 9.

[AzureTheGamerKobold]

Crafted gear... thats all i am going to say crafted gear...

Are special witcher items you can find through out the world
Serpentine Steel Sword/Silver Sword are the first two, and are FAR better then anything you will find dropped off enemies. Explore, find diagrams, farm up materials, build weapons. I now have a full set of griffen gear and i'm starting to find enhanced and superior versions.

[Bull Buchanan]

Originally posted by LordLokai:

Crafted gear... thats all i am going to say crafted gear...

Are special witcher items you can find through out the world
Serpentine Steel Sword/Silver Sword are the first two, and are FAR better then anything you will find dropped off enemies. Explore, find diagrams, farm up materials, build weapons. I now have a full set of griffen gear and i'm starting to find enhanced and superior versions.

I've got those, and their DPS was about half of a basic Heavy Mace + 44 bludgeon for Steel and I replaced Serpentine Silver with Disglair 4 levels ago.

Every Heavy Mace/Hatchet that drops from bandits i've found is better than every sword I've seen so far.

[Accused]

Go to an armorer or blacksmith and ask if he can craft something.

Even if you don't have all the components, check the armor or damage rating and you'll see what you've been missing.

[Dave1029]

Find the Griffin set. At level 14, upgrade to the Feline set.

[ZX119A]

If your axes are better than your swords, you're not exploring enough.

[Bull Buchanan]

Originally posted by Accused:

Go to an armorer or blacksmith and ask if he can craft something.

Even if you don't have all the components, check the armor or damage rating and you'll see what you've been missing.

I think you're missing what I'm saying. The damage rating seems like it isn't an accurate depiction of weapon power. Each mace adds +x (30-40) bludgeoning so a sword with say 49-61 (Viper Steel) gets destroyed by a 30-41 heavy mace with +34 bludgeoning.

[WyattEarp]

Originally posted by Bull Buchanan:

Originally posted by Accused:

Go to an armorer or blacksmith and ask if he can craft something.

Even if you don't have all the components, check the armor or damage rating and you'll see what you've been missing.

I think you're missing what I'm saying. The damage rating seems like it isn't an accurate depiction of weapon power. Each mace adds +x (30-40) bludgeoning so a sword with say 49-61 (Viper Steel) gets destroyed by a 30-41 heavy mace with +34 bludgeoning.

i dont think it works like that

[The Giving One]

Have you seen this yet ? Thought it could be helpful....

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36k7mm/can_someone_explain_how_weapons_special_damage/

"I was able to find an axe that does exactly 23 more damage than a mace which just so happened to have +23 bludgeoning damage. I tested both weapons out on several bandits and found that the mace, which has a listed damage of 23 less than the axe, actually dealt more damage, upward of 13 more, in fact. Given this, I believe the +X damage modifier is not listed in the damage of the weapon and is, in fact, additive. I assume the damage being dealt was more simply because it's bludgeoning, not slashing.

This test obviously is not exhaustive, but I think it serves well to show us what that particular modifier does."

[Bull Buchanan]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Have you seen this yet ? Thought it could be helpful....

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36k7mm/can_someone_explain_how_weapons_special_damage/

"I was able to find an axe that does exactly 23 more damage than a mace which just so happened to have +23 bludgeoning damage. I tested both weapons out on several bandits and found that the mace, which has a listed damage of 23 less than the axe, actually dealt more damage, upward of 13 more, in fact. Given this, I believe the +X damage modifier is not listed in the damage of the weapon and is, in fact, additive. I assume the damage being dealt was more simply because it's bludgeoning, not slashing.

This test obviously is not exhaustive, but I think it serves well to show us what that particular modifier does."

Yes! That's exactly what I tested and found the same thing in my limited trials. Hence the question to the group. I admit, I probably articulated myself poorly.

That said, I've been having trouble finding witcher gear in my range, I have the serpentine set and the Mastercrafted Ursine set, but that's another 21 levels off.

[Dave1029]

Originally posted by Bull Buchanan:

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Have you seen this yet ? Thought it could be helpful....

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36k7mm/can_someone_explain_how_weapons_special_damage/

"I was able to find an axe that does exactly 23 more damage than a mace which just so happened to have +23 bludgeoning damage. I tested both weapons out on several bandits and found that the mace, which has a listed damage of 23 less than the axe, actually dealt more damage, upward of 13 more, in fact. Given this, I believe the +X damage modifier is not listed in the damage of the weapon and is, in fact, additive. I assume the damage being dealt was more simply because it's bludgeoning, not slashing.

This test obviously is not exhaustive, but I think it serves well to show us what that particular modifier does."

Yes! That's exactly what I tested and found the same thing in my limited trials. Hence the question to the group. I admit, I probably articulated myself poorly.

That said, I've been having trouble finding witcher gear in my range, I have the serpentine set and the Mastercrafted Ursine set, but that's another 21 levels off.

Griffin set is level 8. Feline is level 14. Buy the maps in Blackbough and Midcopse.

[Bull Buchanan]

Originally posted by Dave1029:

Originally posted by Bull Buchanan:

Yes! That's exactly what I tested and found the same thing in my limited trials. Hence the question to the group. I admit, I probably articulated myself poorly.

That said, I've been having trouble finding witcher gear in my range, I have the serpentine set and the Mastercrafted Ursine set, but that's another 21 levels off.

Griffin set is level 8. Feline is level 14. Buy the maps in Blackbough and Midcopse.

Thanks, I've actually already purchased them but didn't get around to fetching them yet.

I think it would be a nice addition if CDPR were to change the damage ratings on the items to reflect flat bonus damage so that a true dps comparison could be made when comparing gear, The same goes for armor with flat additions.

This combined with a general lack of information around how damage types, swing speeds are configured makes the whole thing unnecessarily cryptic. I think the bestiary at least should include preferred damage types if it matters at all.

[Yutani]

Originally posted by WyattEarp:

Originally posted by Bull Buchanan:

I think you're missing what I'm saying. The damage rating seems like it isn't an accurate depiction of weapon power. Each mace adds +x (30-40) bludgeoning so a sword with say 49-61 (Viper Steel) gets destroyed by a 30-41 heavy mace with +34 bludgeoning.

i dont think it works like that

It works exactly like that. I just tested it myself, counting around 25 swings with each weapon against wolves.
Velen Sword (common) 26-32, no stats on it, swings 35 36 38 39 38 37 37 40 36 36 40 35 40 ...
Small Blackjack (common) 26-32, +22 bludgeoning damage, swings 69 68 67 71 64 68 64 70 68 65 66 66 66 ...
(This was on the second highest difficulty setting, in case damage is different between those.)

[Pakana]

Are there axes that can use runestones?

[ChloeLovesDemons]

Originally posted by Bull Buchanan:

Am I missing something here or is base damage a relatively useless number to rank gear by?

Once you start using swords with high-teen levels and above their dps outclasses blunt weapons for the rest of the game, as far as I can tell. Through the combination of better base stats, better additive damage and your skill point investment, swords will start to do impressive things eventually.

[Vellari]

I never use axes/clubs myself. Can't use oils, no chance to dismember and are single target only (a sword swing can hit many if swing at a mob).