Monk Epic vs AC vs SoS
 

Alright! So I'm trying to figure out what the best combinations are to use at 55+

I'm using the max hit formula and then dividing it by the delay to find their objective damage difference. I am assuming an even distribution of damage from max to 0. I have heard that on high AC mobs, your bonus damage does a greater portion of damage. I'm mostly looking at solo/duo and exp group situations.

((Weapon Skill + Strength - 75)/100 * Weapon Damage + Bonus damage)/ Weapon Delay.

At 55 I'm using a skill of 250 for 1hb and 240 for h2h.

I've compared strengths of 150 and 200. I didn't go over 200 strength since I am under the impression that there is a softcap of 200 on strength. I am assuming a damage bonus of 10.

55 with 150STR 55 with 200STR
Epic 2.396875 2.678125
Adamantite Club 2.35 2.65
Stave of Shielding 2.330357143 2.633928571


At 55, I'm looking at a 2% dps increase with the epic with 150 strength and 1% dps increase with 200 strength.

IF these calculations are correct, then you give up a marginal damage increase for more/bigger riposites and the loss of what is an amazing proc on the Adamantite Club with a significant amount of damage mitigation and non-trivial damage.

Also, I have calculated that you're going to get about an 11% damage increase with a 50 point strength buff while using the AC at this level.


At 60 with an 11 point damage bonus and using a value of 211 for strength (assuming a max strength softcap reduction of 55/5), I'm seeing an almost 4% increase in DPS with of the epic vs AC.

Side note, I'm seeing a 1% damage increase with the SoS vs AC in the offhand.





One final question, the monk epic adds +40 ATK when clicked. What is your average increase in DPS if you have a shaman/enchanter in your group making the haste component useless?

Please let me know if I have messed up these calculations at all. Thank you!

i wonder if there is a reason so many monks use epic main + SoS... probably not.

I’ll make it easy for you:

Epic + SoS > AC + SoS

It’s that simple. AC isn’t far behind, mind you, but it is behind. If you needed/wanted the proc you can use it situationally and keep it in your bag. I sold mine after I got epic. I wasn’t going to use it often if at all and applied the funds elsewhere.

Is it though? My calculations are showing that at 55, this isn't necessarily true. Now my calculations could be off, but with the skill difference, the epic is practically equal to the AC at that level. It definitely pulls ahead towards 60 but you're looking at just over 2% of a DPS increase with using the epic as your primary over the AC before calculating stun damage and losing out on those sweet sweet stuns which are awesome for any group/solo/duo.

why does it look much better?

Sorry, much better when soloing/duoing due to damage mitigation. At 55, the white dps is almost equal.

If you’re soloing and care about balancing white dmg output and riposte damage intake you’re better off with IFS (or TStaff if you can afforded it). These 2handers are quite competitive with any of the 1hander weapons discussed so far in this thread and the benefit of taking well under 50% the riposte damage.

AC is a good weapon. Almost every monk will bag or sell it when they get their epic.

Even ignoring the superior riposte numbers, at level 60, if you're averaging 50 total dps against a particular mob, the approximately 2% increase you see with the epic vs AC will net you 1 damage per second more on average.

If you're getting a modest 1.5 procs per minute with the AC, you'll be averaging 1.5 damage per second more.

In this situation, the AC will do marginally more DPS.

With 1.5 procs per minute, you mitigate almost 15% damage from a mob. That is a pretty huge number.

I can however see the epic pulling significantly out over the AC when doing harder content with higher mob armor.

Just because everyone is doing something doesn't make it the superior choice. I'm fully willing to embrace the idea that the epic really is the superior choice in most situations but we should have some sort of evidence for this beyond "most monks do it".

Do what ya want buddy

you could.. you know.. provide some parses supporting your arguments instead of just coming in here, asking for opinions, and then saying everyone is wrong because they disagree with you.

the reason most monks use epic + SoS over AC + SoS is that epic+sos parses higher and provides more consistent dmg output mostly due to the lower delay on epic fist. you may get some outlier parses with AC where you get max rolls on all of your MH hits, but over time epic + SoS is certainly going to win out.

after you get epic, literally the only reason to be using AC in MH is for the stun proc.