Augments: Main Stat v. Power

[murshawursha]

I've seen this argued back and forth in a number of places, so I figured I'd just post the math here for everybody to see in hopes of semi-settling the debate. All of my numbers are assuming a full set of purple rarity 22 augments, which grant +18 of your chosen stat each, for a total of 252 across a set of 14.

 

Now, as far as raw damage goes, assuming class buffs are not factored in:

Main Stat provides .20 points of damage per point of main stat. Power provides .23 damage per point of power.

On a purple 22 augment, you'll get 3.6 points of damage using main stat and 4.14 points of damage using power.

Over a full set of gear's worth of augments, main stat will get you 50.4 damage, while power adds 57.96 damage.

 

Crit wise, it's ~1.25% across a full set of mainstat augments without factoring in class buffs (I should note this increase is going from ~1800 to ~2000 Main Stat. Exact amount will vary slightly, though not a whole lot). So it's essentially a choice between 1.25% crit and ~7 damage. Now, that 7 extra damage is about a 13% gain.

 

If you DO factor in class buffs:

Main stat: 252 +5% from SI buff = 265. 265*.20= 53 points of damage. Factoring in the 5% damage bonus from the SW buff, that comes out to 55.65 bonus damage. Crit increase also goes up from 1.25% to ~1.29%.

Power: 252*.23= 57.96 points of damage. Factoring in the 5% bonus from the SW buff, it comes out to 60.86, which is an even narrower advantage, 5 damage or around 9%.

 

Also keep in mind that if your chosen advanced class has a talent that adds a certain percentage of main stat, that will narrow the gap even further, since it would further increase the yield of the main stat augments without affecting the boost from power. One of my agent friends with the Imperial Education talent came out with only 2 less healing total from main stat compared to crit. At that point, main stat is definitely better.

 

If you're one of those people that likes to balance crit and power, then main stat augments are probably better, hands down. If you're one of those people who couldn't care less about crit and just wants all the power they can possibly stack, then the 7 damage is probably marginally better. But the difference is so tiny that it's pretty much a wash.

 

Now, me for example: My goal is to keep my buffed crit rate at ~40%, and then stack power beyond that. In my case, the main stat augment is most definitely a better idea. Why? because that 1.25% of crit that is (mostly) immune to diminishing returns is equivalent to ~40 crit rating (eyeballing on this one), and my crit rating at this point is already well into diminishing returns. So swapping that 40 points of crit rating somewhere else on my gear for 40 points of power is going to net me a gain of 9.2 points of damage, which is ever so slightly better.

 

Now, for you healers out there.

Bonus healing across a full set of augments:

Main Stat = 35.28 bonus healing unbuffed, 38.90 buffed

Power = 42.84 bonus healing unbuffed, 44.98 buffed

18% difference unbuffed, 14% difference buffed

Crit change should be about the same.

 

TL;DR: As far as DPS is concerned, the distinction, for the most part, is so miniscule as to not even really be

worth debating. In my opinion, for people who only care about raw damage at the complete expense of crit chance, power is barely better. For people who care about balancing their crit along with their power, main stat is probably better. Further, if you make use of +X% main stat talents, you will unquestionably get more from main stat augments.

 

I'm not a healer, so I don't particularly have an opinion on those. I'd be inclined to come to the same conclusion as I did for DPS if pressed.

Edited June 25, 2012 by murshawursha

[Iwipe]

One thing you might have ignored is that the damage increase from power/main stat does not translate exactly to identical damage increase on your abilities. So you would need to calculate the exact damage increase on each ability via the two options to see which one is better.

 

The min/max values are your abiliites are determined by the following two formulas, damagebonus (what you gained from power/main stat) is only a component of it.

 

Ability Damage Min = ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * MainHandMin + ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * OffHandMin * 0.3 + Coefficient * DamageBonus + StandardHealthPercentMin * StandardHealth

 

Ability Damage Max = ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * MainHandMax + ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * OffHandMax * 0.3 + Coefficient * DamageBonus + StandardHealthPercentMax * StandardHealth

Edited June 25, 2012 by Iwipe

[Blondesolid]

I feel if your class has a +main stat % in your talent trees, and you spec into it, you should certainly go with +main stat augs for the bigger boost

[Sith_Cho]

I feel if your class has a +main stat % in your talent trees, and you spec into it, you should certainly go with +main stat augs for the bigger boost

 

This.

If not, then go straight power once you hit all the caps.

(For DPS)

[MaverickXIV]

One thing you might have ignored is that the damage increase from power/main stat does not translate exactly to identical damage increase on your abilities. So you would need to calculate the exact damage increase on each ability via the two options to see which one is better.

 

The min/max values are your abiliites are determined by the following two formulas, damagebonus (what you gained from power/main stat) is only a component of it.

 

Ability Damage Min = ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * MainHandMin + ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * OffHandMin * 0.3 + Coefficient * DamageBonus + StandardHealthPercentMin * StandardHealth

 

Ability Damage Max = ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * MainHandMax + ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * OffHandMax * 0.3 + Coefficient * DamageBonus + StandardHealthPercentMax * StandardHealth

I'm not seeing where power or main stat would be in any way different here? They both add to "DamageBonus," no?

[murshawursha]

This.

If not, then go straight power once you hit all the caps.

(For DPS)

 

That's the thing though, main stat doesn't really have a cap. It does have diminishing returns, but to a very, very small degree. Like I said in the OP, ~1.25% crit vs. 7 damage. it's really pretty insubstantial either way.

 

Personally, taking the main stat lets me budget less crit rating (which does have substantial diminishing returns) in favor of power on the rest of my gear. Essentially, 40 power and 40 main stat is better than 40 crit rating and 40 power - the former is an equivalent crit chance and a slight damage gain over the latter.

 

One thing you might have ignored is that the damage increase from power/main stat does not translate exactly to identical damage increase on your abilities. So you would need to calculate the exact damage increase on each ability via the two options to see which one is better.

 

The min/max values are your abiliites are determined by the following two formulas, damagebonus (what you gained from power/main stat) is only a component of it.

 

Ability Damage Min = ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * MainHandMin + ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * OffHandMin * 0.3 + Coefficient * DamageBonus + StandardHealthPercentMin * StandardHealth

 

Ability Damage Max = ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * MainHandMax + ( AmountModifierPercent + 1 ) * OffHandMax * 0.3 + Coefficient * DamageBonus + StandardHealthPercentMax * StandardHealth

 

What Maverik said. All I see in there is Damage Bonus, but nothing about that equation seems to discriminate based on whether the source of Damage Bonus is power or main stat. Or is the implication simply that the gap will end up being larger than 7 once the whole equation is sorted (admittedly I'm on vacation right now and too lazy to check the math myself)

 

((Also, why move this to crew skills? I get that augments are crafted, but I'd think the implications would be more useful to raiders than crafters...))

Edited June 25, 2012 by murshawursha

[Spoletta]

The damage added is coefficient*damage bonus, so for example on a scoundrel 1 damage bonus increases the damage by 2.48 for shoot first and 2.04 for backblast.

 

You can find the coefficients on Torhead.

 

Also the math behind the secondary stat system and the main stat is far more complex than people think and the rule of thumb "Hit the soft caps then all power" is an approximation that does not take into account your spec, your rotation, your coefficients or non linear interactions between secondary stats.

[XDOUBLEX]

I switched all my willpower augs over to power augs and there is a huge difference. My crit suffered a bit but my overall damage has gone way up and I don't play warzones any differently than before (I have a valor 84 sorc and a 74 healing op btw).

 

Maras and juggs that are speced into the insta crit were the ones who first turned me on to it. After getting hit for just under 7k with my 1323 expertise against one in particular I we were talking about it and since I make both, I decided to give it a try.

 

I am up to 550 power on my sorc and there aren't but a few that can outdamage me in any voidstar game where its just raw damage on doors for the most part. I really don't put a lot of stock in the final dps numbers in warzones because thats not what the games are about but I won't be switching back to gimp myself anytime soon.

 

Try it, you will like it.