MELEE WEAPON ANALYSIS

"Nothing is immune to cold hard steel!”

Melee combat is a very important part in the game Diablo, as such, with many people enquiring about which weapons to choose, I have decided to come up with an analysis of some of the best weapons for each class at higher levels. Opinions will certainly vary, because the personal „taste“ of each player plays of course a crucial role.

WEAPON AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Note:

For this guide, I assume the following:

All characters have maxed stats,

All weapons are perfect / perfect in terms of price-limit availability (i.e. perfect stats, best base item),

Damage is vs demons unless otherwise stated.

The calculation of ac and to-hit is rather important:
Chance of you Hitting Enemy = 50 + Dex/2 + clvl - enemy ac

In addition, warriors have a hidden +20% to-hit with melee weapons.

The highest ac for enemies are 85 (in normal), 135 (in nitemare) and 165 (in hell).

To calculate the optimum to-hit in each difficulty, add 95 to the highest ac (you will automiss 5% of the time anyway). Thus, you should have a to-hit of 180% (norm), 230% (nm) and 260% (hell) for optimum hit rate.  On screen, you should strive for a to-hit value of (optimum to-hit - clvl)% (except for warriors who need 20 less).

The to-hit listed above refer to the value shown on your character screen.

ROGUE

Typically, a rogue has high dex, meaning that to-hit will hardly be a problem. Consider a lvl 35 rogue with +30 dex, giving her a total of 280 dexterity. Her listed to-hit would be 190%, which is only 5% off the optimum for nm and 35% from hell optimum, so to-hit is not a high priority. Rogues with higher levels and better equipment will not need any to-hit modifiers at all.

Although having lower damage than most of the other classes, the rogue can still be a good melee fighter. High to-hit is one thing but the high dex also means that the rogue can have 100% blocking easily. With a fast block shield, a rogue can block almost any attacks that breaks through the ac. Thus, an incentive for rogues to go sword/shield.

My assumptions: (for empty-handed rogues)

° A rogue at level 35 will generally have at least +25 str and +25 dex.

° A rogue at level 40 will generally have at least +40 str and +40 dex.

° A rogue at level 35 will generally have at least +50 str and +50 dex.

° Rogues use Stormshield with one-handers (for simplicity) (bonus is included in calculations)

For more (or less) strength/dexterity, refer to table for addition (or subtraction) of damage.

With any of the King's Swords, the rogue will have a 95% (max) chance of hitting the enemy. For level 40+ rogues, the to-hit modifier is not even necessary, so merciless swords of the above would function equally well.

° King's Sword of haste/speed has great damage potential, enables stunlocking of more monsters (stunning is no problem) and the ability to launch a fightback when stunlocked by enemies (get in a few strikes in between enemy hits).

° King's Sword of vampires has lower damage but offers mana stealing, meaning greater efficiency and useful to mana shield rogues as well. When faced with mixed levels, spells can take care of the ranged critters while KSOV takes out the fighters (and replenishes the mana you used as well).

° King's Sword of slaughter has good damage per blow, enabling stunning for lower level rogues but offers little more. At high levels, this sword loses flat to the KSOH.

° Civerb's Cudgel is a fantastic club for hell but less useless outside. Rogue is the class which can use the CC most easily as they need little to-hit modifiers. Even for a level 35 mentioned at the top of the rogue section, her 190% to-hit (187% with CC) on screen is enough for optimised hitting in nightmare/hell. Even without gold jewels, she can easily go hell/hell.

Notable absentees from the list is the King's Sword of Heavens, one which I felt was unnecessary in this case, as +dex is a waste. +str would add little more damage while the +22 life/mana is not that significant.

My Pick:  Civerb's Cudgel is the most efficient weapon but takes a better set of equipment to use effectively. King's Sword of haste/speed will serve just as fine and deals rather decent damage as well.

Many good bows are left out as this is basically still a melee guide but the two bows shown above deals more damage per unit time than for the melee weapons. It just goes to show that a rogue's strength lies more in her archery. If you want to use a two-handed weapon, my suggestion is forget about melee, go for bows. There are generally three types of excellent bows: those doing massive damage (i.e. savage / heavens), those that aid resistance (i.e. emerald/ heavens) and fast bows (i.e. massive/ swiftness or jade/ swiftness).

SORCERER

Sorcerors are weak melee fighters, usually depending on spells to see them through. To-hit for them is not that high generally as they have a max dex of 85, giving them at least 93 (50 + 85/2) + clvl % to-hit. With some dex adders and a melee weapon with high to-hit (i.e. King's), the sorceror can reach the optimum to-hit values as well.

One plus point for a melee sorceror is that he can stone curse the enemies, so that their effective ac is ZERO! This means that sorcerers do not really need the to-hit. However, using such tactics is highly mana-intensive.

Basically, there are three types of mages (strength-wise):

Muscle Mage with VERY much strength.

Tank/Battle Mage with around 90 strength.

Artillery Mage with little or no strength bonus.

My assmuptions: (for empty-handed mages)

°Level 35 MM's have +40 strength, while Arty's have +20 strength,

°Level 40 MM's have +55 strength, while Arty's have +10 strength,

°Level 50 MM's have +65 strength, while Arty's have +0 strength,

°MM's use Stormshield (or just simply +10 to their strength anyway)

°Tanks have +45 strength all the way... for the full plates and use godly shields.

Yes, I know the estimations are not that accurate. Arty's have lower and lower strength as they move towards the dream setup while Tanks don't need any strength more than 90.

Muscle Mages

Muscle Mages believe in killing monsters primarily not with spells but with melee attacks. With any of the weapons above, to-hit should be high enough. For a lvl 35 MM, to-hit will be about 200% with just basic stats and the weapon. Throw in some gold jewelry or dex adders and he will be set for nm/hell or even hell/hell.

Damage-wise, the highly-strengthened MM could stun most hell critters with any of the weapons above. However, as perfect specimens are hard to come by, a safer bet would be a King's Sword of slaughter/heavens/titans.

° King's Sword of haste/speed is good but with lower damage per blow, you may not be able to stun monsters like bloodknights and soulburners. But for other critters, the KSOH can stunLOCK better due to its higher speed.

° King's Sword of vampires is useful, but like the KSOH, may not deal enough to stun. Also, the low damage potential of the mage means that the stealing would not be as efficient.

° King's Sword of the heavens/titans both offers sufficient damage to stun. Titans provides damage per unit time comparable to Haste. Heavens has lower damage but adds to-hit and better blocking, thus freeing some jewel slots.

° King's Sword of slaughter has the highest damage per blow and damage per unit time. Excellent for stunning but the slower speed means that some monsters will get away.

° Two-handed weapons are simply not advisable for PVM purposes.

My Pick: King's Sword of the heavens/slaughter. Stoned critters just don't run from you, so stunlocking can be irrelevant. In case you refrain from using stone curse extensively the King’s Sword of haste/speed should be your primary choice.

Tank Mage

Most common weapon for a Tank is a Dreamflange as their main attack is still spells. Going for the optimum ac, a Tank will boost strength up to 90 for full plates and use some high ac shields (such as godly shields). With such setups, the Tank can hardly be touched by melee and have the power of lvl 16 spells. Vs triple immunes though, a melee weapon will be chosen.

To-hit will be around 175% with a King's Sword and basic stats (for lvl 35). Some dex adders and gold jewelry will complete the setup. However, CC can be more troublesome. Though its damage is far greater vs demons, it has a low to-hit, with a naked mage hitting for just around 125%. Lots of equipment would be needed to get it to satisfactory levels. Fortunately, stone curse works wonderfully, making to-hit rather redundant.

Damage-wise, inability to deal damage high enough to stun is a problem. Other than King's Sword of slaughter and CC, other weapons just can't do enough damage.

° Dreamflange, the standard weapon as it gives a bonus of 1 spell level and 110 mana.

° Civerb's Cudgel is a useful weapon, as its low to-hit effects can be negated by the mana-intensive stone-cursing method

° King's Sword of Slaughter, the best damage sword for a mage... no need to say more.

° King's Sword of haste/vampires are both good weapons but deal not enough damage to stun until high levels. You also can't deal high enough damage for mana steal to be significant.

° King's Sword of the heavens adds to-hit and blocking, as well as magical abilities but lacks the damage potential of Slaughter.

My Pick: King's Sword of slaughter/vampires and the Civerb's Cudgel for pure melee levels. Dreamflange still first choice otherwise.

Artillery Mage

*Mages are considered to have changed jewels in preparation for battle and have +40 strength throughout.

Normal weapon for Artillery Mages are the dreamflange or the AA Staff, which gives +2 spell levels for a grand total of 20 spell levels, making their spells extremely powerful.

Generally, artillery mages are weak in battle and rarely engage in combat. They leave the fighting to golems. However, they can change to some zods and pick up a melee weapon and fight. To-hit values will be quite decent if King's Swords are used and redundent if CC is used (statues = 0 ac).

Once again,very low damage is the major problem for artillery mage in melee combat.

For Dreamflange and Civerb's Cudgel, refer to Tank mages just above.

King's Sword of haste/speed in the hands of Arty's usually don't deal enough damage to stun.

King's Sword of slaughter is still the best damage weapon (other than CC).

Mindcry for its guardian charges and +1 spell level.

Rod of Onan has golem charges which can be quite useful.

My Pick: King's Sword of slaughter and Civerb's Cudgel, with Dreamflange or Arch Angel's staff of wizzardry/spell as the standard weapon.

WARRIOR

The warrior class is the strongest melee fighter in Diablo, with the largest damage potential. However, low dex means a lower to-hit and weaker blocking. However, when using a shield, they have natural fast block. With some dex adders, gold jewels and a king's weapon, the warrior can get easily to the optimum to-hit as well.

My assmuptions: (for an empty-handed warrior)

° Level 35 warriors have +30 strength,

° Level 40 warriors have +35 strength,

° Level 50 warriors have +40 strength.

Some high ac shield is used. The addition to strength is low as I considered some perfection jewels for warriors for higher to-hit purposes. As the warrior rises in level, less to-hit is needed, so some jewels can revert to zods/heavens.

With King's weapons, a warrior has not much problems to hit and stun critters. Some dex adders and gold jewels will bring his to-hit to optimum values.

° King's Sword of haste/speed does less damage per blow than most other swords listed but has faster swing. Thus, it ended up with the highest damage per unit time (among the King's Swords) and has the capability to stunlock advocates and mages. Haste also enables warriors to get in some hits when caught in stun lock.

° King's Sword of vampires has the lowest damage among the listed weapons but provides mana stealing, an effective bonus which enables the warrior to heal himself and recover the mana used quickly.

° King's Sword of the heavens give added to-hit, life, mana, ac and lots of good stuff.

° The best weapon in hell is no doubt the Civerb's Cudgel, but is EXTREMELY troublesome to use. With CC, a warrior's to hits with no added stats is only around 125% compared to the optimum of around 250%. Lots of gold, precision stuff will have to be added before the CC becomes a viable option. However, once done, the CC is unmatched in terms of power.

° A sword that is not in the list is the King's Sword of precision (same damages as KSOV) which adds some further to-hit and blocking bonuses.

° Two-handed weapons are not viable as they do only little more damage and removes the blocking capacity of shields, which is clearly an unremunerative sacrifice.

My Pick: King's Sword of haste/speed any day, though the King's Sword of vampires is the most time-efficient and Civerb's Cudgel the most powerful in hell levels.

Source:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041112190406/underworld.fortunecity.com/olympic/293/main.htm