I've seen a lot of threads on here talking about merc specs and damage, so I decided to do some testing on live (where I can afford things, and have toons to test). There's a lot of anecdotal information, but I haven't seen much with hard numbers. This test is as close as I could easily get to finding out how much of a difference you would get from pure str to str/dex on a highlander.

Tester is Jennesica, level 49 RR2L8 highlander merc (my CV merc). All RAs were spent in Charge, no added str or dex ras. I respecced her 39 thrust, 39 crush 50 DW. I used 99 quality weapons, 3.4 delay hammers and 3.3 delay stilletos. I tried to match exactly, but that was not possible. Toon was completely naked other than the weapons, and weapons were not SCd, so no stats or toa bonuses impact the test. Testing was done with Inflame style from the dual wield line, which still contains it's original growth rate, same as Uthgard.

Target was Jaziza, RR11L4 sorceress with no RAs spent in PD. I had caster AF buffs up, and yellow con buffs from the merchant, which have no additional modifiers added to them (much as Uthgard would have on cleric yellows). I chose the clothie because cloth is neutral to all damage types, and I didn't want to impact the test with different resists/vulnerabilities. Slash should be comparable to crush as it is pure str as well.

The crush average damage per hit was 85.13. Thrust was 70.56 average damage per hit. So, if you assume you are hitting vulnerable armor with thrust, to gain 10% damage, damage only increases to ~77.61 damage. The sample size is pretty low, but I think this illustrates the lack of value going thrust for vulnerabilities with a high strength race such as highlander or Half-ogre.

Of course, take this information for what you paid for it, and use or discard at your discretion. As much as I'd like to go thrust on my Highlander merc, it seems I'm better served with crush/slash.

I assumed u hit unstyled. Sure the 10% here dosnt make thrust worth it but when u start to hit styled the damage go up and it will be worth it. Assume u hit for 165 Styled with slash and 150 with thrust (same variance) u are even.

This test shows nothing if not used in a real context with normal weapons, fully caped templates etc. Sure harder to test but u get real test data.

Both specs has advantages and disadvantages thats why i prefer double specs. U can gain 20% damage there going from a resistant to a vulnerable damage type. So long WS is buged here and u can do with low main wepaon spec, double spec is the way to go.

Nope, I used inflame, as I mentioned because it has a growth rate. A fully templated character would exhibit linear growth, because your dex and your str would both raise by 75. Also, as I said, I used a target that was neutral to all damages, so it's easy to compare the differences. If the pure str value ran into resists, the damage averages to 76.61 which is only a point better than hitting vulnerability with thrust.

That's the gain. As you scale the str and dex up, the damages will both scale up, and thus the averages should remain the same. I'm glad you're happy with your split spec; it looks to be a waste of my time. Once again, if you don't believe my testing has value, please keep doing what you're doing if it makes you happy. I'm just going to disagree with you.

Aerewyn wrote:highlander merc
+
no added str or dex ras.
+
completely naked

It means (i assume that u put 10 in str and dex) :
stat for crush damage : 124
stat for thrust damage : 103
With this low numbers, the 21 points missing have a huge effect. Stat "bonus" for crush is (114/93) -> about 20%.
This bonus is shown in your damage result : 85.13/70.56 -> about 20%
So you're right, when naked, the 10% bonus of piercing is less than the 20% given by stat.

If you spellcraft this guy and buff it with common buff (yellow) :
stat for crush damage : 124 + 75 + 1.25*(50+57) = 332
stat for thrust damage : 103 + 75 + 1.25*(48+63+50+57)/2 = 314
The stat bonus is now reduced to (332/314) -> about 5.7%
So you're wrong, in real RvR, the 10% bonus of piercing is better than the 5% given by stat.

HulkGris wrote: So you're wrong, in real RvR, the 10% bonus of piercing is better than the 5% given by stat.

Is the 10% bonus to all targets or just thrust vulnerable?

Sifi wrote:

HulkGris wrote: So you're wrong, in real RvR, the 10% bonus of piercing is better than the 5% given by stat.

Is the 10% bonus to all targets or just thrust vulnerable?

Only vulnerable of course. But since it inclues druid, healer and shaman, it's very often.

HulkGris wrote:stat for crush damage : 124 + 75 + 1.25*(50+57) = 332
stat for thrust damage : 103 + 75 + 1.25*(48+63+50+57)/2 = 314
The stat bonus is now reduced to (332/314) -> about 5.7%
So you're wrong, in real RvR, the 10% bonus of piercing is better than the 5% given by stat.

Half Ogre should edge out enough damage stat though.

150 @50 (with 15 to str) + 75 SpllCrft + 62 base str + 71 str/con = 358

145str @50 (with 10 to str) + 73dex (with 10 to dex) + 150 SpllCrft + 60 base dex + 79 D/Q + 62 base str + 71 str/con = 640/2= 320


38 more damage stat is 12.1% more than 320. If you take 10 realm skill points into dmg stats its 380 versus 332, which is 48 more dmg stat. 48 more dmg stat is 14.4% more than 332.

Although I am not sure that 10% more damage stat = 10% less resists on a target. IMO, the best overall damage would be split spec slash/crush half ogre. Especially if you look at damage versus berserker, bm, bard, druid, casters, etc. But to maintain 50 composite weapon and 42 shield for slam, this requires RR11.

HulkGris wrote:

Sifi wrote:

HulkGris wrote: So you're wrong, in real RvR, the 10% bonus of piercing is better than the 5% given by stat.

Is the 10% bonus to all targets or just thrust vulnerable?

Only vulnerable of course. But since it inclues druid, healer and shaman, it's very often.

scale aint thrust vulnerable ^^

Nef Melody wrote:scale aint thrust vulnerable ^^

lol true
vulnerable to slash !

One of the small benefits to thrust over purely strength styles is that it is affected less by debuffs, its kinda hard to be hit by a red str/con and red dex/qui.

Also shears

go splitspec