The Drunken Friar

I was farming scrolls the other day and noticed that the damage add seems to have a huge variance associated with the amount of damage added.

Basically I swung at the mob unstyled and hit it 48 times. I averaged 46.9 damage per swing with range of 39-54.

Anyway the damage add hit 48 times as well (no missing ticks) and averaged 20.5 damage per hit with a range of 16-26.

I used a 3.5 spd weapon but because of my 196 quickness, I had an effective speed of 2.54. With the top damage add (7.5 dps) that comes out to 19.05 dps (damage added). No problem here, 19.05 is close enough to 20.5.

What I am wondering is why this variance exists. Sometimes I the damage add would hit for and additional 16 damage (an effective damage add of 6.3) whereas sometimes it would hit for 26 (an effective damage add of 10.23)

It is odd because the variance isn't associated with my variance in base damage. Sometimes I would hit for 54 damage, then the damage add would only add 16; then the very next swing I would hit for 39 while the damage add hits for 26.

Lastly, after 48 swings everything seems to check out so i'm not saying there is a problem, just curious as to why this variance exists.

I wonder about that too. Must have something to do with your damage variance aswell, maybe it's percentual?

Oh and I still wonder why the DPS chant keeps missing pulses once in a while, or am I just managing to hit at the millisecond the chant refreshes itself ? :< (new pulse)

Here's what i know, not sure if this can help as i got a little lost in your topic (morning and still no coffee)

If i remember it right, the damage add bonuses cannot go higher than an un-styled hit (was a nerf to damage add a long time ago, before that, there wasn't a cap. LV 50 theurgists used to buff newbies and they could solo orange easily. It was like this, the newbie hit for 5 damage and the damage add would hit for 30+ more damage).

As an example; you hit for 50 damage, the damage add would never got higher than 50, your next swing, you hit for 30 damage, the damage add will hit for 30.

All damage adds have variance, they even out over time to provide the proper effect, but in a short period of time you might see much less than you'd expect or a lot more than you'd expect. It's just one of those things

I see.

Well, variance is weak.

Theurg Damage Add is dependant on Earth Spec afaik higher Earth spec less variance.

Playing side by side with an armsman a few months ago (he had same 2-hand and slash spec as I did) We compared damage on unstyled swings and noticed that the damage add brought me up to his base damage on unstyled swings, (IE : I did 150+30 da, where his base damage was 180) On styled swings, the damage add appeared to be affected by the growth rates of the styles, and the armsman pulled far ahead in terms of damage. This is as it should be, but a thought lingered that perhaps the damage add was intended to bring us up to the same damage level as a non-styling armsman. This was one of the original chants in the game as many of you can remember, long before we gained endurance chant. There was also a time where I felt that the damage add increased parry rate for two handed paladins by a small amount, just as the armor factor chant increases block rates. And we've all noticed that the heal chant has a built in taunt effect with it. It may be worth asking and/or testing to see if the chants we have do additional effects beyond the delves, and if the impact of twisting our chants is nullifying these 'extra' effects.

Just a thought