An in depth analysis of Faith of Ice Grand Matron Bow

[Vorpvp]

After extensive testing via gear/damage formula, I have concluded that on a gmb I is 100% pointless.

How diablo 2 calculates damage with weapon based skill:

(((Normal damage x 1.5 [ETH ONLY! Otherwise x 1]) x ( 1 + On weapon ED/100) + Min/Max Damage) x ( 1 + Str or Dex/100 + Off Weapon ED/100 + Skill Damage Bonus/100) + Elemental Damage) x (1 - Skill Damage penalty/100) x 2 [If crit]

Normal damage is the damage of a white item.

Honestly the formula isn't too complex. But let me break down 2 key points.

1: Max damage is added AFTER on weapon ED, not to the normal damage of the weapon making Off Wep ED exponentially stronger.

2: Damage Jewels are bugged. I.e. a 40% ed/15 max will only apply the ED to your MINIMUM DAMAGE. Vice versa with a 40% ED/10 min. A rare jewel with 10-18 damage and 30% ED (3 mods) will not apply ED whatsoever.

Now, let's give a very simple example before heading into my Zons damage with Faith vs FoI so you understand the formula.

The following example shows how to calculate the weapon damage of a rare ethereal great pilum with 32 % enhanced damage and +17 to maximum damage. Great pilum has Normal Damage of 11-26 in melee. Minimum and maximum weapon damages are calculated separately as follows:

Minimum Damage
Base Damage = [11*1.5] = 16

1.5 is the ethereal modifier.

Weapon Damage = 16 + [16*0.32] = 21

0.32 is the percentage bonus from Enhanced Damage.

Maximum damage
Base Damage = [26*1.5] = 39

1.5 is the ethereal modifier.

Weapon Damage = 39 + [39*0.32] + 17 = 68

0.32 is the percentage bonus from Enhanced Damage, and +17 is the direct bonus to maximum damage.

Displayed damage
Thus, the weapon displays the damage of 21-68

The LCS is not so much a liar as people believe. It does lie, a lot. But in the case of my criticism, it is not false whatsoever.

So, let's calculate minimum and then our maximum. With Faith of Ice then with Faith.

(((14) x (3.95) + 34) x ( 1 + 1.52 + 4.2 + 4.28) + 165) [Ignoring 451 poison sc]

(((14) x 3.95) + 34) x (11) + 165)

((55.3) + 34) x 11 + 165

89.3 x 11 + 165

982.3 + 165

1147.3 Minimum Damage. (Correct me if I am wrong, please)

(((72 x 3.95) + 158) x 11 + 165) [Plugged in the same numbers as before and all of my 3 max scs as opposed to without]

(284.4 + 158) x 11 +165

442.4 x 11 + 165

4866.4 + 165

5031.4 Maximum Damage.

1147.3 - 5031.4 Damage with Faith of Ice. As I am extremely lazy, I'm just going to plug in the damage from a regular faith, (+50% on wep ED)

1224.3 - 5427.4 Damage with Faith.

Now, the damage difference is not REALLY that much, but let's go further into the rabbit hole, shall we?

Amulet choices: Well, as a zon you don't have the most options in the amulets department. Main choices being, Cat's Eye, Highlord's, 08 Highlord's. Well, I personally use Cat's Eye. Why? It enables the ias/frw and 25 flat dex (meaning I can have a little bit more than 2k life, enough to take one big hit) Highlords/08 both offer Deadly Strike, as does Faith of Ice.

How Crit + Deadly Strike work:

Chance% = %CS + (1-%CS/100 x %DS)

So with my 71% crit and highlord+FoI 57% Deadly Strike~

71 + (1-71/100 x 57)
71 + (.29 x 57)
71 + (16.53)
87.53% Chance to crit.

Sadly, I don't find this much of a "consolation" prize for using Faith of Ice. Average damage speaking, you still do + or - 100-200 dmg from Faith.


So why use Faith of Ice? In PvP I can't think of a single reason. PvE potentially Ice/Fire arrow builds. I don't know much about them so I cannot comment but as a Physical Damage Bowa, Faith of Ice is NOT worth it. (Especially since 20% ias being removed from any slot does NOT actually have any benefits from what I can find out, Blood Belt isn't really worth)

Side Note: Adding a 10 min/15 max jewel is still lower than using Faith (you lose 40% Off weapon ED and it's actually worse than using a 40/15ias jewel thereby wasting the 20% ias bonus from Faith of Ice.


In conclusion, I feel that Faith of Ice GMB (I assume the same for Mat bow, too lazy to deal with the math right now, I want to actually play the game) should be removed from the FG vendor.

Thanks for reading this long wall of boring text. I hope you now know more about how Diablo 2 works and can make better pvp characters.


ALMOST FORGOT OH GOD EDIT: By the way, the LCS shows 5170 dmg, yet math wise it's really about 250 damage higher (max damage of course)

EDIT 2: I should probably provide a link to the formula + Damage calculator
Formula: http://bfed2.diablomods.ru/site/inde...page=gm_damage
Calculator: http://www.d2region.com/images/guide...mage_calc.html