H2H merit questionFollow

Just had a quick question regarding H2H merits. I seem to recall it posted at one point something about damage tiers when it comes to the amount of merits you put into H2H. It was something like 3 merits equals another tier, then another tier at 8 merits. Trying to adjust my weapon merits some, was considering adding some to H2H, but wanted to check on this first.

Thanx in advance.

h2h skill gives base damage with

h2h skill * .11 + 3.

so, 276 (capped skill before merits) gives

276*.11 + 3 = 33.36 (rounds down to 33)

at 3 merits, it's 282*.11 + 3 = 34.02, the first time it goes up.

at 8 merits, it's 292*.11 + 3 = 35.12, the last time it goes up.

the cutoff points are 282 and 291. so, if you get a faith torque, you'd get your first base damage up just from the torque, and your second (and last) one at the 5th merit.

base damage would go up again at 300 skill, which is why monks sometimes complain that we don't get any of those random little + skill items like headsman's ring (since we end up at 299 skill with capped merits + torque).

That's exactly the info I was talking about. Thanx guys! :D

nope, only h2h. that's why our weapon says +DMG on it.

physical damage is calculated by

base damage * pDIF

pDIF is what ATT does (it's a comparison b/w your ATT and mob DEF). base damage is determined by your weapon damage + fSTR (a comparison of your STR to mob DEF that's a bit simpler than pDIF).

so for all but h2h, base damage is the number on your weapon + fSTR (fSTR usually varies between 0-10~ depending on what you're fighting). but h2h damage is your h2h skill * .11 + 3, + whatever the +DMG on your weapon is.

so for DRK, you may be using a scythe with say d93 on it. that adds together with your fSTR, and your base damage is around 100, which gets multiplied by pDIF to determine your damage (pDIF is usually somewhere between 1 and 2; a crit adds 1 to it and raises its cap). a MNK w/ h2h merits using destroyers will have d35 from his h2h skill, plus 18 from destroyers getting her to 53 weapon damage, and around 60 base damage once you add fSTR.

this whole setup is why MNK was traditionally the heaviest DD; if you add both MNK's swings together, it's like swinging a d120 weapon with significantly lower delay than a scythe. it's also why faith baghnakhs are so good; you have lower +DMG on the weapon, but most of your base damage comes from h2h skill anyway. in our pre-hasso heyday, there simply wasn't the potential for a ridill WAR or any 2hander save probably amano SAM to keep up with a 25% haste monk. however, once hasso was implemented, the increasing returns of haste meant that 2handers can always get 10% more haste than a MNK (provided they have the gear), which means that once haste gets up over 50%~/60%~, 1handers will be left in the dust.

of course, it's always been the case that player aggressiveness and gear are heavy factors, and further than every DD when played to its potential is/was a strong contributor to any party, so these potential comparisons were never that important.