Stickfinger

A lot of people I've talked to seem to suggest that at the mid-high levels (after Bandits have maxed SB and Mastery, but before 3rd job) Bandits out damage Warriors. This has never sat that well with me, since the whole concept of a Warrior is a hard-heavy hitter, whereas a Bandit to me seems like he/she would be a fast, agile hitter. Basically I imagined Bandits would be faster from Haste and the speed of their weapons, but Warriors would make up for this lack of speed by hitting harder, and taking less damage.

Well I decided to crunch the numbers and see what we get. I decided to take a look at a 2H sword Fighter vs a Bandit, all using the appropriate level gear and weapons, standard builds, and comparing theoretical damage minimums and maximums at various levels.

For the sake of argument, lets start with lvl 40 (even though the Bandit won't have SB maxed yet).

Level 40 Bandit:
Weapon: Fan or Gephart, WA = 50
Dex: 80
Luk: 132
Attack Skill: DoubleStab (2 * 130%)

Level 40 Fighter:
Weapon: Zard, WA = 60
Dex: 70
Str: 142
Attack Skill: Power Strike (260%)

Minimum damage for the Bandit:
= (LUK * 0.9 * 3.6 * Skill Mastery + STR + DEX) / 100 * Weapon Attack
= (132 * 0.9 * 3.6 * 0.6 + 4 + 80) / 100 * 50
= 170

Max damage for Bandit:
= [(LUK * 3.6 + STR + DEX) / 100]* Weapon Attack
= [(132 * 3.6 + 4 + 80) / 100] * 50
= 280

Avg damage for Bandit:
= (170 + 280) / 2
= 225

Avg damage with skill (DStab) for Bandit:
= (1.3 * 225) + (1.3 * 225)
= 293 + 293
= 586

Now for the Fighter:

Minimum damage for the Fighter:
= (STR * 0.9 * 4.6 * Skill Mastery + DEX) / 100 * Weapon Attack
= (142 * 0.9 * 4.6 * 0.6 + 70) / 100 * 60
= 254

Max damage for Fighter:
= [(STR * 4.6 + DEX) / 100] * Weapon Attack
= [(142 * 4.6 + 70) / 100] * 60
= 434

Avg damage for Fighter:
= (254 + 434) / 2
= 344

Avg damage with skill (PStrike) for Fighter:
= 2.6 * 344
= 894

Result at lvl 40:
Bandit Avg Damage: 586
Fighter Avg Damage: 894

As we would expect, the Fighter greatly out damages the Bandit at lvl 40. Lets take a look at lvl 50 now, should get more interesting...

Level 50 Bandit:
Weapon: Shinkita, WA = 62
Dex: 90
Luk: 172
Attack Skill: Savage Blow (6 * 80%)

Level 50 Fighter:
Weapon: Lion's Fang, WA = 70
Dex: 80
Str: 182
Attack Skill: Power Strike (260%) + Final Attack (60% chance of +250%)

Minimum damage for the Bandit:
= (LUK * 0.9 * 3.6 * Skill Mastery + STR + DEX) / 100 * Weapon Attack
= (172 * 0.9 * 3.6 * 0.6 + 4 + 90) / 100 * 62
= 266

Max damage for Bandit:
= [(LUK * 3.6 + STR + DEX) / 100]* Weapon Attack
= [(172 * 3.6 + 4 + 90) / 100] * 62
= 442

Avg damage for Bandit:
= (266 + 442) / 2
= 354

Avg damage with skill (SBlow) for Bandit:
= 6 * (0.8 * 354)
= 6 * (283)
= 1698

Now for the Fighter:

Minimum damage for the Fighter:
= (STR * 0.9 * 4.6 * Skill Mastery + DEX) / 100 * Weapon Attack
= (182 * 0.9 * 4.6 * 0.6 + 80) / 100 * 70
= 372

Max damage for Fighter:
= [(STR * 4.6 + DEX) / 100] * Weapon Attack
= [(182 * 4.6 + 80) / 100] * 70
= 642

Avg damage for Fighter:
= (372 + 642) / 2
= 507

Avg damage with skills (PStrike and 60% chance of Final Attack) for Fighter:
= (2.6 * 507) + (0.6 * (2.5 * 507))
= (1318) + (761)
= 2079

Result at lvl 50:
Bandit Avg Damage: 1698
Fighter Avg Damage: 2079

As you can see, the Bandit has caught up and is not far behind the Fighter. He is not quite up to the Fighters level, but you also have to consider that the Bandit will have an enemies Weapon Defence removed from his damage 6 times, whereas a Fighter will only have it removed twice. The Bandits damage will be more stable however.

Lets take this up a notch and have a look at lvl 60:

Level 60 Bandit:
Weapon: Deadly Fin, WA = 72
Dex: 100
Luk: 212
Attack Skill: Savage Blow (6 * 80%)

Level 60 Fighter:
Weapon: Sparta, WA = 80
Dex: 80
Str: 232
Attack Skill: Power Strike (260%) + Final Attack (60% chance of +250%) + Fury (giving +10 Weapon Attack).

Minimum damage for the Bandit:
= (LUK * 0.9 * 3.6 * Skill Mastery + STR + DEX) / 100 * Weapon Attack
= (212 * 0.9 * 3.6 * 0.6 + 4 + 100) / 100 * 72
= 273

Max damage for Bandit:
= [(LUK * 3.6 + STR + DEX) / 100]* Weapon Attack
= [(212 * 3.6 + 4 + 100) / 100] * 72
= 624

Avg damage for Bandit:
= (273 + 642) / 2
= 458

Avg damage with skill (SBlow) for Bandit:
= 6 * (0.8 * 458)
= 6 * (366)
= 2196

Now for the Fighter:

Minimum damage for the Fighter:
= (STR * 0.9 * 4.6 * Skill Mastery + DEX) / 100 * Weapon Attack
= 232 * 0.9 * 4.6 * 0.6 + 80) / 100 * (80 + 10)
= 591

Max damage for Fighter:
= [(STR * 4.6 + DEX) / 100] * Weapon Attack
= [(232 * 4.6 + 80) / 100] * (80 + 10)
= 1032

Avg damage for Fighter:
= (591 + 1032) / 2
= 812

Avg damage with skills (PStrike and 60% chance of Final Attack) for Fighter:
= (2.6 * 812) + (0.6 * (2.5 * 812))
= (2111) + (1218)
= 3329

Result at lvl 60:
Bandit Avg Damage: 2196
Fighter Avg Damage: 3329

Interesting... As we go up to level 60 we see that the Bandit falls behind in terms of avergae damage quite severely.

Conclusions:

Well its easy to see why people make assumptions that Bandits end up out damaging Fighters at the mid-high levels. Once a Bandit gets Savage Blow, his damage output suddenly skyrockets, and whereas he was being out damaged by Fighters a few levels before, a Bandit now finds he is getting close to the damage Fighters at his level are doing. It is easy to assume that this "fast increase" of damage output will continue, and in fact if it DID continue then I'm sure Bandits would far out damage Fighters by the time they got to lvl 60. However therein lies the problem... While Fighters continue getting more skills which are designed to increase their damage output (Final Attack and Fury), after Savage Blow, Bandits no longer have any skills to get which can increase their raw/average damage! Yes they have support skills (Haste being the best one), which I admit are good, however they are SUPPORT skills... They do not actually increase a Bandits damage, and hence after maxing Mastery and Savage Blow, the only way for a Bandit to keep increasing their damage is by increasing their Weapon Attack and Luk. At the same time a Fighter is likewise increasing his Weapon Attack and Strength, but the skills he is getting are not support skills, rather they directly increase his damage. This is why a Bandit cannot outdamage a Fighter of the same level during the 2nd job.

3rd job might be another story altogether however... icon_wink.gif

Thanks for reading this damage analysis... Hope you found it interesting, I certainly enjoyed making it. If you can find any errors in my calculations, please let me know!

__________________

ratergamer

hey sticksy! you might wanna first say in huge letters (i know you labeled it Zadams warrior guide) but still notify it was zadams IN HUGE HUGE HUGE letter