Quote:
Originally Posted by infoscott
If used with Mark of Pain, the splinter barrage will do far more damage to a ball than a 100b warrior. One volley from the splinter barrage (or volley skill) will trigger MoP 4 times, while 100b will only trigger it once on the called target. That makes a huge difference when you're trying to spike a ball quickly, especially in areas like DoA. If two or more copies of splinter are on your team, good chance you will clear the ball in 2 - 3 volleys.
This is not at all true. The reason the 100b build works is because the 100b+WW combo which will make you trigger MoP (and/or any other proc based hexes) 1+n times where n is the amount of enemies in the area of effect of WW due to the fact that 100b procs on each individual enemy hit by WW.
Quote:
In terms of spike damage a dervish is a far better spike than any other class. The reason I mention them was because you asked about 100b on a warrior, which isn't as good. Having said that. Both will deal more than enough to kill 100,000 baddies in a single spike providing they are all tightly balled by a tank.
Highlighted part is the key. The whole crux of the balling playstyle is actually getting the enemies that tightly packed, which can kind of be achieved playing only with heroes as well if you are good at pulling and know how to bodyblock at corners etc. Even if you "only" manage to ball a group of 6-8~ or so mobs they'll instantly explode when you unleash your combo, no matter if you are playing Warrior or Dervish. Simply put, once they are balled you've already won.
Quote:
In terms of ranger vs warrior, I don't know which does more damage. Perhaps Marty can come in here, cus he's the man for stuff like that.
Warrior does more damage, assuming the correct conditions. Rangers (and other ranged characters) generally work better in a vacuum then melee characters but melees scale much much better if given the proper conditions.
Quote:
My point is that a 100b needs a tight ball and MoP for a spike in order to deal huge damage. If the baddies aren't balled then the 100b or VoS aren't so good, and the ranger might be better....
This isn't quite true though. Melee characters are, as a rule of thumb, the kings when it comes to pure DPS assuming you've taken the precautions needed to make them work. Hexes, blinds etc can really screw melee characters up but the same way negative status effects can hinder them there are positive ones that can boost them. Strength of Honor is the strongest example of this. +25 unmitigated damage on each hit is absolutely huge and will make a world of difference.
Also, 100b isn't as bad as you make it out during "normal" conditions. Every autohit during 100b will cause 25~ aoe damage, every S&M strike will cause 70~ single target and 50~ aoe damage, even a WW with only three targets in proximity will cause 125~ aoe damage. And with Frenzy or Flail you'll keep pumping out attacks like there is no tomorrow. Add in Barbs, MoP etc and your damage will go through the roof. 100b's damage in a vacuum isn't that impressive during non-balling conditions but it scales insanely well with buffs and debuffs, which will mitigate the reduced effectiveness versus smaller groups of mobs if you design your party around it.
In fact 100b was probably my favourite all-around build when I worked on GWAMM on my Warrior, and I tried them all.
WE Dagger had excellent single-target damage but subpar at AoE (+no shield).
WE Axe is decent at AoE and decent at single-target but not amazing at either.
WE Scythe is pretty much WE Axe + some minor utility and some more AoE damage versus smaller packs but - AoE damage verus big packs and no shield. Fun to try but not as effective as some other builds in my opinion.
DS+SY is defensive overkill in my opinion and you sacrificed a ton of AoE for it, not to mention an unfortunately timed block/blind etc will RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO you over, and your single target damage is pretty weak.
ES's repeated knockdown is good but it only really works when mobs are grouped and as mentioned once they are grouped you've already won. The damage isn't great and you'll have no shield.
DBS (Dwarven Battle Stance) is ES light, but with more DPS and some extra durability. Still not as much damage as WE Dagger or 100b though.
I left out some odder builds out but that is most of the popular ones. All this is just my opinion though, obviously.
In response to OP: I'd suggest try some R/A Dagger variant with a party with some hex/condition removal and SoH if you are looking for max damage on your Ranger. If you are looking at the class with the most damage I'd say it is one of Dervish, Warrior or Assassin depending on circumstances/build etc. However there are still ranged builds that will do very good damage and the upside with those are that a) they don't require as much focus and work to make function well as melees and b) they usually bring either innate strong AoE or utility. Keep in mind though that a lot of what people say when they compare classes, me included, is somewhat in a vacuum and you can find amazing party builds for pretty much every class/decent build out there. It is just that some are more effective or easier to work with then others.
