Question about Weapon Damage

I have noticed that a lot of the skills from the physical damage dealing classes say that they deal things like "100% weapon damage". When talking about weapon damage and using a two hander vs. two one handers, is the weapon damage that the skill uses based off the weapon in the main hand (WoW) or both weapons together? It would seem to me that a two hander would hit more slowly but for a higher amount of damage. Does anyone that has had time with the game know this or have any idea at all?|||The exact mechanics are unknown, but Blizzard essentially stated that the choice between Dual Wield and Two Hander is "designed to be aesthetic."

In short, the two weapon damage will add up in a manner that makes them "equivalent" to the damage of an equal level two hander item.|||I read that quote but the manner in which he said that they would be equal was this:

"There's obviously a difference in the way they play, yeah. Two-handers are bigger, slower, but feel more powerful. And dual-wield is much faster and bashier. What I meant was from a damage perspective they should be balanced so that no matter what you use, two hander or dual wield, you're going through enemies at the same pace. One slow two-handed swing would equal a few bashes from dual wielding."- Bashiok

From what Bash said it sounds like he means basic attacks, but with skills you are talking weapon damage. This is where my question comes in. When you are dual wielding are both weapons taken into account or just the main hand like wow's system. If that is the case, wouldn't a 2 hander be more beneficial to a class that isn't going to be using their basic attacks such as the monk?|||Isn't the damage based on the weapon that is actually swinging ? Swing 1 with weapon 1 with skill that deals 150% damage = 150% of weapon 1 damage ? Then Swing 2 with weapon 2 with skill that deals 150% damage = 150% of weapon 2 damage ? Then weapon 1 again, etc... With dual wield weapons, the attack would be about 1/2 slower, but the base damage for these weapons would be about double ? That is just a wild guess, I should check the wiki. Give me a few minutes....

Edit : Hum... that is a good question, but I think for "simple skills" what I have described would work, as you would do a bit more damage with two handed weapons while using those skills, but the attack speed of the dual wield would kind of compensate. For the more impressive skills, I guess they would somehow combine both weapon damages and apply the skill modifier on that (and possibly add some extra magic calculations if necessary to balance things out).|||Quote:




From what Bash said it sounds like he means basic attacks, but with skills you are talking weapon damage.




Considering that 99% of the damage you will be doing will come from skills, I am fairly certain he meant overall balance.|||How would that work out konfeta seeing as the monk in the videos ISN'T move any slower when using a staff than he does when dual wielding. Its cause the speed of his skill is the same I assume.



Someone responded on the official forums with : "Specific Spell weapons damage based will be, in most of the case, similar to concetration,beserk,etc from D2.

After that, you can think what you can ^^"

Translation anyone?|||I could see situations where two-handers could be better. If a monk's Seven Sided Strike does let's say, 7 attacks at 50% weapon damage, you would think the pure damage of a staff would be better, and I don't think staves slow the skill down.|||Many games are normalizing weapon damage.. so in Diablo it could work in pretty much same way...

Normal attacks and attacks which depend on attack speed will use real damage values..while instant attacks will use DPS .. so 150% weapon damage means 150% of DPS..so fast weapons wont deal less damage just because these are faster.|||Quote:




Someone responded on the official forums with : "Specific Spell weapons damage based will be, in most of the case, similar to concetration,beserk,etc from D2.




Basically that's an overly fancy way of saying that that there will be skills that use are based off weapon damage.




Quote:




Normal attacks and attacks which depend on attack speed will use real damage values..while instant attacks will use DPS .. so 150% weapon damage means 150% of DPS..so fast weapons wont deal less damage just because these are faster.




Something like that would make sense, actually. Basing skill damage off the "Damage per second" value will likely eliminate any basic imbalance between Attack Speed vs. Damage considerations.

A skill like "Cleave," which is effectively a regular attack would behave as normal from Attack Speed and Damage. A skill like Shockwave, on the other hand, would have to be based off DPS.|||Using dps is certainly a feasible option; of course it would have to be based off of the total dps of main and off-hand damage in order for dual weild to be equitable to two-handed damage. Perhaps there is an "overall character weapon dps total" that can be used as the skill base.