[Jinxxer]

Okay, first off I want to say hello to everyone since I just registerred lastnight. I love Vanguard, and I love my DRK but I've noticed that it seems to me that our Wrack (I) ability is doing too little damage, and the Malice line (I and II so far) might be doing too much??? I don't know, so I figured I would put this on here for all to see. Bear with me, there will be a lot of numbers in here and prolly will be a long post because of it. Anyways, here goes!

My Dread Knight Stats at time of testing:
Race: Vulmane
Level: 12

STR: 68
CON: 71
DEX: 65
VIT: 50
INT: 28
WIS: 34

ATK: 65-75
Weapon Damage: 23-32

Abilites Tested:
Malice II - 150% Weapon Damage + 32-38 dmg
Wrack I - 400% Weapon Damage + 44-50 dmg

Now it seems to me that even though the abilities say they use the "Weapon Damage," I am making the assumption that they are actually going by the ATK (melee) damage, otherwise the abilities are doing WAY more damage than they should. The reason this is even an issue is because our Vexing Strike ability says it uses our "melee damage" plus the additional damage that it adds. Subtracting the additional damage that my Vex Strike II does roughly equals my ATK damage number. Therefore "melee damage" = ATK rating damage. Why Malice and Wrack say "weapon damage" is beyond me.

After doing the math, theoretically the afore mentioned abilites should do roughly this amount of damage:

Malice II: 130 - 151
Wrack I : 304 - 350

***NOTE***: These calculations are the absolute lowest hit and the absolute highest hit you could receive. Obviously the numbers will be different in-game due to damage mitigation, critical hits, etc. Keep in mind as well, these numbers are based off of my character and my equipment.

ON TO THE NUMBERS!!!

These numbers were taken while fighting Summit Jumpers, Forlorn Cave Bears, Agressive Cave Bears, and Basilisks. All of these mobs were either level 9 or 10, with the majority being level 10.

Malice II Damage:

91 || 182 || 185 || 189 || 428* || 180 || 175
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183 || 193 || 297 || 291 || 192 || 188 || 289
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296 || 303 || 187 || 177 || 176 || 175 || 284*
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444* || 184 || 193 || 291 || 290 || 290 || 299
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184 || 187 || 193 || 176 || 189 || 182 || 182
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191 || 188 || 183 || 183 || 184 || 185 || 177
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300 || 188 || 169 || 178 || 175 || 195 || 276*
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287 || 176 || 178 || 177 || 190 || 184 || 190
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305 || 291 || 296 || 184 || 182 || 181 || 189

* triggered Wrack I chain

Number of hits = 63
Total Damage = 13,727
Average Damage = 218

As you can see, compared to the 130 - 151 damage scale that Malice II should be doing, it is significantly higher. Something to note though is that there are a lot of high damage numbers that seem 'out of place.' So if I only take the numbers ranging from 100-200 damage and assume anything over 200 is a critical hit, we get the following:

Number of hits = 44
Total Damage = 8078
Average Damage = 184

This is much closer to what it should be. Now keep in mind that these mobs were 2-3 levels lower than me, as well as mitigation and/or weaknesses are not factored in here.

Another thing to point out is that 19 hits were taken out of the 100-200 range, 18 of those hits were for 276 or more damage. Out of those 18 hits, only 4 of them triggered the Wrack I chain. I also counted on 6 different occasions where I heard the sound effect from when you get a critical hit, and it not triggering the Wrack chain. If I am not mistaken, Wrack I is triggered upon a critical hit when using Malice, Vexing Strike, or Harrow. At least that's what I've seen so far. Now I don't know if your INT and/or WIS comes into play to detect the opportunity or "weakness." If it does, that would explain the low trigger rate. On the other hand, Wrack almost always triggers with a critical when using Vexing Strike. Perhaps it's because those two are 'purely' linked to each other and it has a lower chance to trigger with other abilities. *shrug* Just a thought....

Wrack I Damage

282
185 (+370 epic hit) = 555
322
318
316
301 (+150 crit) = 451
289
201 (+101 crit) = 302
313
174

Number of hits = 10
Total Damage = 3322
Average Damage = 332

Now if we subtract the critical and epic hit damage modifiers we get:

Number of hits = 10
Total Damage = 2701
Average Damage = 270

Now referencing the 304-350 damage that Wrack I should be doing, we are anywhere from 34 - 84 damage short. With the crits factored in, it's right on target. Now keep in mind, Wrack doesn't trigger incredibly often and right now I only have 10 hits recorded on here. As far as statistics go, the bigger the sample, the better. Unfortunately I don't have the time to blow trying to get a larger sample for Wrack. Irregardless, 50% of the hits were below the low-end of the target damage scale. Once again, damage mitigation and the likes are not figured into this.

CONCLUSION:

From my perspective, I believe that there are some discrepancies in the damage that Malice II and Wrack I (if not the entire line) should be doing. The whole reason I even decided to test this was because I felt that my Wrack I chain should be doing significantly more damage than my Malice line of abilities. This was not the case. Upon further analysis, the damage difference between the two is only 86* points of damage. Ultimately Wrack should be doing at least 174 more points of damage than Malice. Keep in mind that Malice IS doing more damage than the figures show it should be doing. Malice is also pretty much a guaruntee that it can and will be used in a fight, so some of the damage lost in Wrack is gained through the extra damage that Malice has. My only remaining concern is how the chain trigger for Wrack really works. Is it linked to one main ability with a lesser chance to trigger with other abilities, or is it supposed to trigger on a critical strike with multiple abilities no matter what; does WIS and INT come into play for when a chain can be triggered? I would assume so, but alas, I do not know. I just find it disheartening that Wrack only triggered 22% of the time upon a critical strike when using Malice II.**

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* Figure taken from the Malice II 100-200 damage range average and the Wrack w/o crit modifier average.

**This is assuming that the 18 hits of 276+ were critical strikes.

~ALL FIGURES DO NOT FACTOR IN ANY DAMAGE MITIGATION, RESISTANCES, AND/OR WEAKNESSES THE MOBS MAY HAVE HAD UPON THE TIME OF TESTING~