Velious 2H patch - does it make a big difference starting at 51?
 

I’m using Reaver on a toon and the inconsistency of my damage is kind of frustrating. Hitting for 180, then getting a 19 damage hit right after is obnoxious to say the least and it’s tempting me to just roll with a cookie cutter DW setup. Does the Velious 2H buff change this in any significant way, or does it merely add a little extra damage bonus at the top end of my attacks?

People always focus on the negative side of any balanced equation.

2H is simply better. It would take some godly ToV 1 handers to do better than a Reaver.

Just keep using it. The lows feel bad but remember there are just as many highs.

I understand that damage over time will average out and that 2H can be very solid when you aren’t getting a string of lows, but my question is whether the post-50 Velious 2H buff changes anything (I.e. makes it less likely to land those annoying lows) aside from applying a bit of extra bonus damage beyond what you get from 1H.

no idea my smooth brain only says "big numbers and less mob riposted moar guder"

2h is better less tanking something hard or high ac raid boss.

What DW weapons are you comparing the Reaver too?

A 2h will have a tendency to hit lows and highs but in general you will put out more damage over time. Your ripostes will be larger. This just gets more obvious at 60 especially with triple attack on a warrior or monk.

Here is the chart we are using on blue:

https://lucy.allakhazam.com/dmgbonus.html

For what it's worth I havent seen a warrior with a DW dps setup outperforming a 2h setup of similar quality. You could download gameparse and check fight by fight and see how your own setup is going. It's not just for forum bragging...having this data to reflect on is really handy.

This toon is level 49, there are significantly more lows than highs. Probably 3 - 4 sub-60 hits for every 150+ hit. I've got 223 strength with a self-buff, so that shouldn't be the issue.

My only guess at this point is that warriors get a new, better damage table starting at 50 or 51. I was hanging around with a higher level warrior who was muuuch more consistently getting high hits, even though he had less strength than me.

I’d parse it. I still think at 52 the ToD to Reaver (or Herbalist Spade) will be your best bet for most situations but maybe Bloodpoints will parse like 20% less but keep you alive. Evasive is amazing for those close fights holding out longer for a proc.

2h always feels weaker than it is (look at almost every monk DW’ing silly tunnel weapons over the 800p Peacebringer in their bag). But in general feelings can be deceptive over knowing average dps with a parser.

Yes, as from the damage bonus table someone posted:

Herbalist Spade (43 delay) - Level 51 gets +18 dmg bonus per swing.

1hander - level 51 gets +8 dmg bonus per swing.


Spade - Level 55 gets +26 dmg bonus per swing.

1 hander - level 55 gets +10 dmg bonus per swing.


2h is the way to go for monks / warriors. I've seen warriors with Shovel of the Harvest top DPS chart because Shovel gets +43 dmg bonus per swing at 60.

Compared to a 1 hander which gets +11 dmg bonus per swing at 60

pretty much all melee, cek 2h on my ranger out parses kriezen flame, shovel on my pally does way more then vyemm 1h.