User:Ekko/Vampiric Weapons

Something that's always irked me is how vampiric weapons are commonly thought to be superior to other weapons, like sundering. I never thought +5 damage was worth so much, and I went out to prove it. What you are about to hear might shock you: Sundering weapons are better than Vampiric ones.

Given

 * A max sundering weapon (20/20) and a max vampiric weapon (5/-1). The particular weapon doesn't matter.
 * Against 60 armor, 20% armor penetration amounts to a damage multiplier of ~ 1.2311444 (I used the exact number for the math I'm going to do.
 * Against higher armors, sundering would be even more powerful, as the amount of armor ignored is higher, so the damage multiplier increases more.

The Math

 * For vampiric to beat a sundering this equation must be true: 5.231144x ≤ 5x+5, where x represents the damage the weapon does (and that counts bonus damage, too).
 * Simplified to: .231144x ≤ 5.
 * Further simplified to: x ≤ 21.6315.

So, a vampiric weapon is superior to a sundering weapon when the damage the weapon inflicts is less than or equal to ~21.5.

Average Weapon Damage

 * Sword: 18.5 (Needs at least a +4 damage bonus for sundering to beat a vampiric)
 * Axe: 17 (Needs at least a +5 damage bonus for sundering to beat a vampiric)
 * Hammer: 27 (Sundering always beats a vampiric)
 * Bow: 21.5 (Needs at least a +1 damage bonus for sundering to beat a vampiric)
 * Daggers: 12 (Needs at least a +10 damage bonus for sundering to beat a vampiric)
 * Spear: 20.5 (Needs at least a +2 damage bonus for sundering to beat a vampiric)
 * Scythe: 25 (Sundering always beats a vampiric)

(Wands and Staves are excluded as they have neither Vampiric nor Sundering weapon mods avalaible)

The Verdict
Sundering weapons are superior to vampiric weapons. You don't use a vampiric weapon when you're just attacking normally, you use it to tack on extra damage to a spike, and sundering is better than vampiric for that.