Delay vs Damage

[Satok]

<DIV>     Lvl 22 Assassin here, I've be usually going the route of finding a weapon with the lowest delay possible.  This has been my primary factor in picking a weapon to use.  But as a result, the damage dealt is low.  Now I have a high damage high delay weapon and am testing with it to see if there is a big difference.  Just wondering if anyone else has done this yet.  Also, does delay really matter?  Doesn't delay just effect regulat melee?  Isn't it regardless if I have a delay 1.2 or delay 12.0, I can still hit with the Shadow Blades, Pierces, Impales just as often?  But if the damage dealt is higher per each of these, isn't that better.  To note, in the group I usually go with, we are not grinders and enjoy the game.  Also, I make sure to always have the best refreshing drinks going to keep my power up.  Rarely, and I mean rarely do I have to revert to just melee in fights.  I do at times when I see the mob is basicly dead and just needs a few more hits.</DIV> <DIV>     The next part of this, during melee, we actually deliver low damage anyways.  Certainly not a staple to depend on.  So would it not be more valuable to get an extra 100 points from that special attack while you have power vice getting more lower hits in case you run out of power?  Just looking for opinions here.</DIV> <DIV>     One note to above, for soloing, I do run out of power alot more often, but I have no problem takeing a break every so often.  As again with the good drink, I go from zero power to a full bar in a minute or less.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Btw I'm testing a My damage of 6-15 delay 1.2 and a My Damage 8-24 Delay 2.0 </DIV>

[UpurBloodst]

<DIV>I would go with lower delay becasue you'll probably proc poison more often.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Regular melee attacks are a very small portion of a correctly played assassin's damage.</DIV>

[Satok]

<DIV>I can see your point about proccing poison, but does not poison also proc off all the special attacks too?  Especially to start a fight, depending on the mob and mob group size, I spam my buttons in certain order.  99% of my fights as I'm performing a special attack, I already have anouther highlighted yellow (que'd) and my mouse cursor over the next attack to que.  Thus I'm realing off attacks as fast as I can.  Especially at the start of a fight.  Thus, lets say after I do my 5-6 opening specials, I see the mob is an easy kill, then I just melee to finish it off and save power.  Also the poison doesn't stack I believe, so if it's proccing from one of the first special attacks, the melee's that follow are pointless, poison wise (at least till the poison wears off)</DIV>

[Mack]

<DIV>Our skills arnt based the dmg of the weapon, its just as a spell and it has its dmg range. If i smash a skill as often as it pops i still do several regular hits between each skill and i got 6quick attacks and 2slower stealth attacks that i regulary use.</DIV> <DIV>What you should do is go to the scout homepage and get the statalyzer, fight some time with high deelay and some with low and keep an eye on your dps in that program and you should se what is best.</DIV>

[Satok]

<DIV>COOL! I was using Statalizer version 1.0 (Pencil and paper).  Like I started, I just switched to a high damage weapon to see if I do see any real difference.  Then I was just asking others what they thought.  But one item of note?  I haven't seen regualr attacks going off in between my specials.  most likely cause I'm looking at which button to smash next or just plain not paying attention.  but I had thought that the melee's were not even going off since I was doing specials all the time.  Adds more to be thought about then and makes the poison proc reply above more practical too.  Thanks.</DIV>

[Jb]

<DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Using any art has a 0.5 second cooldown before you can use another art. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You do keep auto attacking in between arts, but you cannot take a swing during the cast time of an art. So if you use a 2.0 delay weapon and use an art, chances are by the time the weapon is ready to swing again the art is done and you are well into the cast time of the next art. Therefore you do not take another swing untill the cast time of the second art is finished, and then your 2.0 delay starts counting down. You end up auto attacking at about 2.5 delay with that weapon while you spam arts, and only swinging once for every two arts.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You propably want weapon delay around 1.2 to 1.4, so that most the time it is swinging during that 0.5 delay between arts. Not that it makes a huge dps difference for an assassin.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Btw I'm testing a My damage of 6-15 delay 1.2 and a My Damage 8-24 Delay 2.0 "</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>8/2.0 = 4, 24/2 = 12,  4-12 dps</DIV> <DIV>6/1.2 = 5, 15/1.2 = 12.5,  5-12.5dps</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The 1.2 is marginally better dps and you miss out less swings due to the above. Go with the 1.2 delay</DIV>

[UpurBloodst]

<DIV>And as far as poison goes - you're right...I don't think we're entirely sure whether it will proc more with a lower delay weapon, or if poisons stack.  Personally, I do see more procs with a faster weapon.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It's basically just a "what do you have to lose?" situation.  If there's a higher chance that you'll do more poison damage from a lower delay weapon, why not just use it and collect the dividends without knowing how big they are?</DIV>