Question about damage Dex vs. (Str + Attack power)

[Murugan]

Based on parses from the Moogle fight.

A comparison of Whiskerwall, Pukna, Pukni, and Woolywart. It appears based on our initial limited testing of 3 of our linkshell's archers that Attack Power has a significantly higher impact on damage when the mob in question itself has a high defense.

Archer 1:
Dexterity 287
Piety 233
Strength 215
Attack Power 531
Crit Attack Power: 34

Archer 2:
Dexterity: 315
Piety: 267
Strength 220
Attack Power: 502
Crit Attack Power: 0

Archer 3:
Dexterity: 316
Piety: 242
Attack Power: 502
Crit attack Power 36

Average of 3 parses (may do more testing now that we have the fight on farm status, however we are not guinea pigs our gear will probably have changed by the time I test again):




Now based on this it appears that Archer 2 comes out ahead. Supporting the hypothesis that DEX/PIE > ATK for endgame archers. Note the inconsistencies however, Archer 1 retains comparable damage and has top damage in certain areas. What's more interesting is that Archer 3 also shows very good damage in many areas, despite having a lower overall damage (and lower stats for the most part, other than the crit attack which could explain it).

Still overall looking at this, and as I'm sure many of you have done looking at full encounter parses (not filtered by individual moogle) I'd guess that an archer's priorities should be DEX>PIE>ATK in that order. Though given the wide damage ranges, it is hard to say for certain.

Now let's look at Whiskerwall on the same 3 fights:



The results here are far more clear, with Archer 1 seemingly having a significant advantage in many areas due to his higher attack value. Again the damage range plays havoc on consistency.

Now as I said these tests are extremely limited, and while I'm thinking right now that endgame Archers should focus on ATK>DEX>PIE (which really boils down to choosing Heaven's Fist on your gloves) I wouldn't recommend you go out and spend millions you can't afford just yet.

What I will say is this though, testing on normal mobs has extremely limited usefulness if it is true that Mob Defense and Player Attack are checked against each other, We have also tested and there does appear to be a damage cap in place (using lower level arrows and increasing stats).

[Kiara]

Hi Murugan,

Thanks for posting some data on the subject.

What was Archer 3's STR? (it's missing from your stat list above)

(And if STR raises Attack Power, which you think might be useful, have you tried switching in more STR to test?) Thanks.

[Murugan]

Archer 3 I believe had 226 STR, however I'm not 100% on that #.

As for Strength being useful, well it doesn't raise attack on the character sheet so it is hard to say what the formula is for STR>Attack Power.

It is probably worth testing especially since all the tests I have seen promoting DEX/PIE were either done on regular mobs (which as I have said I believe to be pointless) or if done on the Moogle/Ifrit fight were wracked with inconsistencies which could as easily be explained by the wide damage window (something my limited test tries to address even without statistical analysis by at least openly showing a variety of data, and people can look at that and clearly see how that data can skew the results), however right now I believe Heaven's Fist materia to be the meld of choice on hands.

As far as gear goes, hands seem to be the battleground. Materia melding on Hands is where people differ most, and where the most significant changes to attributes affecting damage can be made by their choice.

[Kiara]

Archer 3 I believe had 226 STR, however I'm not 100% on that #.

As for Strength being useful, well it doesn't raise attack on the character sheet so it is hard to say what the formula is for STR>Attack Power.

It is probably worth testing especially since all the tests I have seen promoting DEX/PIE were either done on regular mobs (which as I have said I believe to be pointless) or if done on the Moogle/Ifrit fight were wracked with inconsistencies which could as easily be explained by the wide damage window (something my limited test tries to address even without statistical analysis by at least openly showing a variety of data, and people can look at that and clearly see how that data can skew the results), however right now I believe Heaven's Fist materia to be the meld of choice on hands.

As far as gear goes, hands seem to be the battleground. Materia melding on Hands is where people differ most, and where the most significant changes to attributes affecting damage can be made by their choice.

Hi Murugan,

Great thoughts.

And as you say, it's unfortunate that the Character Sheet doesn't change to reflect when you increase STR for Attack Power.

I would be curious as you say (and as Zdenka mentions) if someone does a pure STR / Attack Power test (as the only change) vs. DEX vs. PIE to see the value of STR.