DPS in Guild Wars (damage per second) - Guild Wars Forums

heroUK · Dec 15, 2005, 02:32 PM // 14:32

Forgive me for using an Everqest term, but its useful & a search comes up with nothing on the GW forums here that i have tried.

In order to evaluate the damage done by a character vs another character e.g. an average warrior vs an average Elementalist, damage per second is a way of expressing it.

DPS is artificial cos it depends what u r doing, ur level, weapons & how your character being played, but what it does do is give a sense of relative damage between characters.

I have a Warrior / Ranger and have asked myself does my character do as much damage with a reasonable 2 handed bow and bow buffs, than with warrior axe mastery & a reasonable axe with axe buffs.

Is the possible reduction in DPS axe down to bow worth it for other trade off? Well u cant tell if u have no idea of the relative DPS.

How do these DPSs compare to an Ele of the same level, with a reasonable wand & wand buffs?

The Devs will have designed the characters to play with certain base DPSs vs utility skills to balance the differences in the characters. I am trying to get an understanding of those relative damage abilities

DeanBB · Dec 15, 2005, 03:28 PM // 15:28

Just play them to figure it out. It doesn't take too long to raise up a character.

I can't see a warrior/ranger being effective with a bow due to the lack of Expertise and thus the high cost of using bow attacks, so would expect that character to be gimped in the damage output category. Switching to a melee weapon would increase your DPS.

Some elementalist (and other) builds can be designed for high DPS but short bursts due to exhaustion, energy or recharge times. Even a warrior builds to a spike, where adrenaline is accumulated and then several attacks are chained for a burst of damage.

Other builds are made for sustained damage but without the "peaks and valleys" due to lack of energy or recharge times. Yet others may be built to survive, like a wa/mo with 1/2 healing skills, a "tank" warrior, an earth elementalist with insane armor - these typically suffer in the damage department.

ChoKILLate[FDG] · Dec 15, 2005, 03:39 PM // 15:39

One thing is that you can also get runes for your warrior attributes like axe, so your attribute points in that will always be higher than in your ranger skills. So naturally your warrior skills will have the upperhand.

DPS also depends on the creatures you are fighting however. In some areas, creatures are more "immune" to certain types of damages like elemental or piercing. Another factor is the types of mobs. If they are all warriors they will gang up on you and then Area of effect skills (AoE) will increase your DPS vs single attack skills. For example cyclone axe will do more DPS than a skill like determined shot.

Dec 15, 2005, 02:32 PM // 14:32	#1
heroUK Pre-Searing Cadet Join Date: Dec 2005 Profession: W/R	DPS in Guild Wars (damage per second) Forgive me for using an Everqest term, but its useful & a search comes up with nothing on the GW forums here that i have tried. In order to evaluate the damage done by a character vs another character e.g. an average warrior vs an average Elementalist, damage per second is a way of expressing it. DPS is artificial cos it depends what u r doing, ur level, weapons & how your character being played, but what it does do is give a sense of relative damage between characters. I have a Warrior / Ranger and have asked myself does my character do as much damage with a reasonable 2 handed bow and bow buffs, than with warrior axe mastery & a reasonable axe with axe buffs. Is the possible reduction in DPS axe down to bow worth it for other trade off? Well u cant tell if u have no idea of the relative DPS. How do these DPSs compare to an Ele of the same level, with a reasonable wand & wand buffs? The Devs will have designed the characters to play with certain base DPSs vs utility skills to balance the differences in the characters. I am trying to get an understanding of those relative damage abilities

Dec 15, 2005, 03:28 PM // 15:28	#2
DeanBB Forge Runner Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Arizona Guild: Wizardry Players Guild, http://4guildwars.7.forumer.com	Just play them to figure it out. It doesn't take too long to raise up a character. I can't see a warrior/ranger being effective with a bow due to the lack of Expertise and thus the high cost of using bow attacks, so would expect that character to be gimped in the damage output category. Switching to a melee weapon would increase your DPS. Some elementalist (and other) builds can be designed for high DPS but short bursts due to exhaustion, energy or recharge times. Even a warrior builds to a spike, where adrenaline is accumulated and then several attacks are chained for a burst of damage. Other builds are made for sustained damage but without the "peaks and valleys" due to lack of energy or recharge times. Yet others may be built to survive, like a wa/mo with 1/2 healing skills, a "tank" warrior, an earth elementalist with insane armor - these typically suffer in the damage department.

Dec 15, 2005, 03:39 PM // 15:39	#3
ChoKILLate[FDG] Krytan Explorer Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: [FDG]-Fudge Profession: Mo/Me	One thing is that you can also get runes for your warrior attributes like axe, so your attribute points in that will always be higher than in your ranger skills. So naturally your warrior skills will have the upperhand. DPS also depends on the creatures you are fighting however. In some areas, creatures are more "immune" to certain types of damages like elemental or piercing. Another factor is the types of mobs. If they are all warriors they will gang up on you and then Area of effect skills (AoE) will increase your DPS vs single attack skills. For example cyclone axe will do more DPS than a skill like determined shot.