Quickie tech question on Whirlwind

[Crystalion]

Whirlwind slvl 1: -50% damage ... +8%/slvl

What I want to know, from code-reading or solid testing (not hearsay or LCS™) is whether, in Tommi's terms, this is a "Total Damage" "percentage bonus" (like str/dex/might etc.) or a "Final Damage" "multiplier" (like multishot/strafe/blade fury penalties).

If no one knows for certain, I'll get around to testing it (I failed to find definitive comment on Tommi's page or searching back on LL).

...
misc. stray thoughts:

btw, I know the defense calculation on Berserk at one time was screwy... does the code force Defense to 0 under the Berserk curse now, or is is still calculated, and thus subject to being affected by calculation order (e.g. does the answer always turn up 0 or does CoS or Ribcracker or ? have a chance at affecting the total?). My problem is that I want a guaranteed corpse maker (Berserk) but I don't want to use dispersing crowd control (because I'd like to use runeword Black or something for CE)... so far I'm assuming defense and blocking are no-go so I'll have to rely on taunt and stunning.

I also remember seeing bone walls/prisons cursed (ampDam, -100% physical resist) so it occurs to me to wonder if an Assassin DragonTaling them to explode fire on the trapped monsters would work well. (This is like using a Decoy to TigerStrike charge up on before DragonFlighting into DC or other nasty boss). (For a brief while on ladder 1 my ranged enchantress wore marrowwalks and imprisoned her fire explosion victims... I decided it wasn't necessary often enough to make a habit of it and it took too much str boost anyway).

I saw a nm boss cow ignore my clvl 62 sorc and beeline for the level 29 rogue I'd hired (he was fire and cold immune, so I needed a finisher for static field) before she even tagged him (did this test twice). I'm really wondering if the game looks at the damge of normal attack in making its "threat" AI targetting decisions... has anyone done "scientific" testing or code reading on this subject (I've read a lot of anecdotal speculation). (btw, this was classic, and I ended up buying throwing daggers and wearing wormskull for 80 poison over 8 secs and cleg gloves for slow/knockback, to do the finishing job myself... and odd bit of equipage for a sorc, but killing him was a matter of honor ;) )