Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

[Aelemar]

Recently, I acquired a Foolkiller Great Axe. I have been using a Berserker's Axe for the longest time. However, I was growing tired of it, and decided to make a huge investment on a Foolkiller. Chances are yes, I probably overpaid quite a bit for it, but, truth be told, I was dying for an upgrade. Before I continue, here are the stats:

Berserker's Axe:
DMG: 95
Delay 504

Foolkiller:
DMG: 90
Delay: 489
Attack +7 Accuracy +7
Latent Effect: Strength +8

Seeing foolkiller's stats, I considered it a worthy upgrade. I have been using Berserker's for like 2 years, and Perdu would be at least 2-3 months away, so I decided to buy Foolkiller from someone. Now, here is my problem.

With Berserker's, I would hit on IT/VT (both Mamools, birds, etc) for up to 290 dmg very consistently. Dmg on birds with one mithkabob and one minuet would be around 240-290. Criticals for around 340-360.
With foolkiller, with Cor AND Brd, and Berserk and Mithkabob, Dmg is around 200-240? WIth the rare 250-260.

My question is simple. How in hell can I do such lower damage with an axe that's barely 5 Dmg under Berserker's Cap?

Another question: How much difference does Dmg 95 make in comparison to Dmg 90? Honestly, I want to use Foolkiller, it was expensive as hell, but... I really can't understand what the hell is going on.

Yes, I am quite frustrated/angry XD

Last question: Anyone knows how to activate the latent? Supposedly the one about the title for killing Gurfurlur has been deemed false. There was another rumor about it being active during Berserk, which is false.

The last "rumor" was, that it was active during Weapon Skill. I asked a couple of players, and they said that yes, they noticed increased damage on Steel Cyclone. However, I used macros /wait 3 then /ws, opened equipment menu, and I never got to see 8 STR added to my stats during WS.

Would it be possible for it to not show since the time that a WS lasts is too short?

Lastly... Did I make a good investment? :\ The axe stat-wise is better than berserker's, and I might be imagining things too... I just don't know what to think.

Thanks so much for your answers guys...

[DakAttack]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

From what I understand, DMG is basically a hard cap. You can't go past it.

[Feba]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

Foolkiller

Go ooooooooooooon.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

Are you eyeballing those numbers, or have you actually been parsing?

[Lmnop]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

You're eyeballing. Stop it. Unfortunately, your human brain cannot take into account all the small variances in damage dealt and accuracy boosted. Start parsing if you want to see results.

For Theory: If you look at just the DPS of the axes: 11.31 on Berserker's vs 11.04 on Foolkiller (though it'll usually be 3% higher than that just due to acc difference. That puts the DPS at 11.37).

Your foolkiller was more of a sidegrade than an upgrade. Never ever ever listen to anyone who says "WSs seemed higher". +8 STR would probably be around +12 damage during Steel Cyclone. And that doesn't say much when you're looking at a WS with some 200 damage of variation.

DMG isn't a cap, but it does serve a function of capping how much damage you can add from STR.

Also, there's one more problem with Foolkiller. It takes Store TP +7 and /sam to bring a normal 504 delay GA up to a 6-hit build. This is easy. It's Brutal, Rajas, and either Chiv chain or Ecphoria. It takes (I think) 2 more store TP to get a Foolkiller to the same 6-hit setup. If you're /anything but SAM, Rajas Ring will suffice to take a 504 GA from 8-hit to 7-hit. I'm unsure what it'd take for Foolkiller. This means despite its slightly lower delay, it'll actually take close to 8 seconds longer to get to 100% tp than it would with Berserker's.

Basically, Foolkiller isn't going to do you well unless you happen to enjoy TPing in Aurum or Askar bodies.

[Callisto]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

It'd take +29 sTP in order to 6-hit a 489 delay weapon, meaning +14 from gear. So you'd have to pretty much fulltime Aurum body/Rajas Ring/Brutal(not completely out of the question, worth it if it makes the difference between a 7 and a 6) and either a Chiv Chain/Ecphoria Ring.

The short story: Get a Perdu Voulge.

[Lmnop]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

Technically, 25 Store TP would do the trick (so 10 from gear). It's not entirely safe, but this would put you at 99 TP after 6 hits but assuming you use Raging Rush or King's Justice, you'll usually end up with 100 tp. So the battle flow would look like:

1st battle, takes 7 hits to get 100. WS.
>WS leaves you with normal tp +1 or 2 depending on how many extra hits succeeded (so 16.5 if only your big hit connects, 17.7 if one extra hit lands, or 18.9 with all 3 connecting).
>5 normal hits later, you have 100 tp assuming you were lucky enough to land the main hit + at least one extra on WS.

...If that's worth considering at all.

The short story: Get a Perdu Voulge.

Too true. Wish I had an Assault rank higher than Slug, myself. >_>

[Callisto]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

Yeah, I never try to bank on anything else than a 'true' 6-hit though, since it forces you into sticking to multi-hits and hoping that you don't whiff swings on them.

In practical use however, even without it you're likely to take damage 1-2 times and the extra TP from that could even make up the damage itself, but you never know when you may actually get shocked and have an outstanding tank.

[Lmnop]

Re: Foolkiller VS Berserker's Axe: I'm I imagining things?

The other 6-hit issue I have is that Meditate really screws with it. It doesn't help that I'm big on partial Meds. Which is to say: if I have 70some TP and Meditate's up, I don't hesitate to pop Meditate, start mashing my WS macro once my TP hits the 90s, and get the last half of med post-WS. I always end up with crazy-random TP values.

But focusing on the /nin 7-hit set up is also a viable point. Even in this day and age, we don't get to /sam as much as we'd like. /nin doesn't offer med to screw with the numbers further and shadows typically save you from gaining small amounts of TP from hate/AoE. This is all to say: /sam gets you a 6-hit but you'll find there are a lot of variables to screw with your precise math. /Nin is basically a controlled science experiment everywhere you go. Attaining enough sTP to knock off even a single swing will pretty much always leave you satisfied.

...not that a 6-hit build with March, Fighter's Roll, Haste, and Hasso is in any way unsatisfying.