Rank 1 Weapons:
Magus Staff: 20 damage, 200 mana, 400 life
Magic Sword: 20 damage 15% attack speed
Deadly Axe: 35 damage
It is pretty obvious here that the magus staff is the best early game weapon. The only 1 of the 3 that is BETTER than an orb, for a lot of builds.
Rank 2 Weapons:
Gaia Staff: 70 damage, 500 mana, 600 life, 100% mana regen
Jagged Sword: 70 damage, 30 attack speed, crit 20% for 1.75
Fatal Axe: 135 damage
These 3 items are possibly the best balanced between the 3. a 20% crit for 1.75 is a 15% boost to total damage output. This raises the swords damage to 80, putting you 55 short of the axe. You would need ~350 damage for the damage part of the sword to equal the axe. However, mid game, attack speed is very important. I cannot add it into the equation, but weigh it in as you would like. For an agility hero; the axe is better IMO. The staff is still the best for anyone spell heavy though.
Rank 3 weapons:
Eternal Staff: 200 damage, 1000 HP, 1500 mana, 25% bash for 150
Eternal Sword: 200 damage, 50% faster attack, crit 25% for 1.75
Eternal Axe: 350 Damage
Again, the axe outdamages the sword. The crit adds ~.19% damage, making the sword ~240 damage. 110 short. If you have about 600 other damage, the sword becomes better. Again, this isnt taking 50% attack speed into account; which is a pretty good boost. The staff has a nice bash though; dun' it? It adds almost 40 magic damage per attack. What do we know about magic? Without reduction, it deals full damage! The HP and mana boost is quite nice also. (I really cant add in the DPS from any spell casting staff) The staff is still clearly the best for most INT heavy builds.
Rank 4 Weapons:
Omega Staff: 400 damage, 2000 life, 3000 mana, 25% bash for 150
Omega Sword: 380 damage, 50% attack speed, Crit 25% for 2.5X
Omega Axe: 710 damage
The staff is really only strong for mana shield builds at this point. The other staffs are still usable by a lot of heroes; but dont compare in damage to the sword or axe. the elemental staffs deal ~80 magic damage a hit from bash damage though. 25% 2.5X crit = .375 (lets say .38) extra damage. Making the omega swords damage 525. we'll round down, cuz we just rounded up. 520 say. Putting you only 190 short! If you have 450 damage, other than the sword, you are out damaging the axe! Not hard to do by this point in the game. This doesnt include attack speed, hopefully you are maxed.
Rank 5 weapons:
Staff of Hades: 900 damage, 25% bash for 400, 6000 damage atma beam
Lightsabre: 900 damage, 60% endurance, crit 30% for 2.5X
Doombringer: 1800 damage
The staff will destroy anyone too idiotic to get magic reduction, and will also help a lot with bosses. The bash is 100 magic damage per attack. The sword/axe is what everyone wonders about though. the endurance is really just for move speed; which is fun. crit equals a 45 (rounded down) % damage increase. For idiots out there, pretend it is 50%, add half of 900 to the 900.... (900+450) using simple math again, you can determine that it is 450 )lets say 500, to make up that 5% we rounded up) and at about 1000 damage the sword and axe are even. How many of you have 3000 damage end game though? with 3000 damage, you gain 900 more damage per hit (on average) than someone using an axe.
CONCLUSION:
Staffs start off the best, but scale into the worst; Swords start off the worst, but scale into the best. Axes provide an extremely basic, solid line right through the stages. Never AMAZING, but never bad.... Until late game, compared to swords... Also, keep in mind that I used the regular weapons; not the elemental weapons. Elemental weapons have less damage! Also, the damage difference between axes and swords isn't as large on elemental weapons, AND the crit is better on elemental swords. Dont forget that elemental staffs have spells on them, better bash chances, and various stats. This set of data is giving axes the best possible chance to win. Use your powerful observation skills to assume how small the difference between elemental weapons is.
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**********************CRITS************************
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Yeah pretty much. Unless you go for a light or ice talon. They have a 10% chance to crit for 3X; and a very low chance for high damage is always good to add onto almost any build.
For some really quick, rounded out math; Ultimate sword crits versus axe's....
With ultimate swords, you would lose about 1/6th of your crit damage from the sword. take that ~950 required damage to beat out axes, and add 1/6th of its value to itself. ... 150 give or take.
1100 damage outside of the sword, with crit master, will allow you to outdamage an axe wielder. This is a pretty steep cost, and unless you have done the end game boss-fights, or tomb-whored, this seems like a pretty high number to have to go over. But if you've downed rag, then the sword is always better. (that isnt to say you couldnt wield an atma blade with your 1800 damage axe)****
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*************STAFF DPS*****************
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Late game is what matters, so, lets start with a late game base, as an example.
A late game staff deals about 80 magic damage per attack.
Lock that fact in.
At max attack speed, you are attacking 2 times per second.
Lock that fact in.
Attacking for 80 spell damage, twice a second, equals out to be 160 spell damage per second.
Let us compare this to frost nova.
Frost nova, rank 12, has a 10 second cooldown, and deals about 1600 spell damage.
you could suggest, that with unlimited mana, you are dealing 1600 spell damage every 10 seconds. A smart man could suggest that, on average, that is 160 damage per second.
See what I am doing here? Pretty basic math. Notice anything about the two numbers given? Rank 12 frost nova, dealing about 160 spell damage a second, tier 2 elemental staff, dealing about 160 spell damage per second?
what has to come into play here is the difference in armor versus spell damage reduction.
Lets assume your opponent has 100 armor and 50% spell damage reduction. 100 armor is equal to +300% HP; or, as some might suggest, 75% damage reduction.
Lets say that you have 1000 damage, and an axe. You are dealing 250 damage per hit. Anyone see how that is working there? 1000-75%=250.
Good.
Now, lets say you have 750 damage, and a staff. 750-75%=about 190. you are dealing 60 less damage per hit. BUT WAIT, WHAT IS THIS?! An average of 80 spell damage per attack, on their 50% reduction, gives you an additional 40 damage.
This makes the grand totals:
Axe: 250
Staff: 230
this does not take into account the fact that staffs will shoot fireballs, or burn your mana. this also does not take into account the fact that staffs give you an ass ton of life or mana.
