Weapon Normalization

[Concillian]

So I have so far not read much in the way of theorycraft at all... weapon damage counts on spells? Is there a nice summary about how damage is calculated?

It says in the spells how much % of weapon damage is done with each cast. Well at least on the web calculator it does.

If you are a wizard with 1H + source, the source damage gets multiplied just like base weapon damage.

That is how it works "in theory." Whether it actually works that way is something I'm not going to have time to test, but it's supposed to work that way.

It appears to work like this:

1 - primary stat = +1% damage
Primary stat is STR for melee, DEX for DH, and INT for casters


So base_damage * (100 + primary_stat) / 100 = weapon_damage

Most classes have a decent amount of their primary stat just from leveling, but you can also get it on gear. Due to that, raw +weapon damage modifiers are generally very beneficial

+ weapon damage modifiers can be found from:
red gems socketed in weapons
rings
amlulets
special class items (caster off-hands, barb belts, etc...)

The result is that a balance of weapon damage and +primary stat items will offer the best damage. A simple magic ring with just a small amount of +damage on it can give a pretty substantial damage boost since it adds to the base damage. Also, while leveling, a simple "at level" socketed weapon of any kind can be pretty useful if you have a decent red gem to go along with it.


Also....
Keeping in line with the "balance" of fast vs slow, a fast weapon will see more benefit from +weapon damage items than a slow item. If a wizard has +4 damage from a red gem, and +10 across rings and a source, then the difference between a 20 damage weapon at 1.5 attacks per second and a 30 damage item at 1.0 attacks per second is tempered. it becomes 30 vs. 40 damage (25% difference) instead of 20 vs. 30 (50% difference).

Since animations also appear to be faster with faster weapons, there's the additional benefit for ranged that faster weapons improve mobility. This has always been a huge deal in the Diablo series, and I highly doubt too many ranged are going to favor slow weapons just from the better ability to "run and gun" with fast weapons.