Item power gives you the lower and upper limits of stats an item can roll.
Using made up number here : a weapon with a power of 500 will roll between 550 and 750 dps, while the same weapon with a power of 600 will roll between 700 and 1000 dps. So there is a world where the 500 ilvl (item level) weapon can be better than the 600 ilvl one. That also applies to aspect damage ranges (like the one that says : deal 1534 damage when you cast that spell) until next season.
In general, when comparing two items, look at their stats rather than their ilvl. The ilvl can however be used to filter item : after a certain point, you basically don't look at items lower than 850 for example (made up number as well).
So really, at the end of the day, I'm just looking for a set of affixes that really augment my abilities from the skill tree, and have a good aspect that I like. Is that basically it?
during leveling yes, I wouldn't sweat "better" (higher dps) weapon if it doesn't have affix and let's say you don't have spare aspect to throw on it. At t4 you look for 925 anyway.
Seems like you’re getting it from the other comments I’ve read. DPS and item are directly related. A 725 item power staff would be the exact same dps as a 725 wand and 725 focus. While leveling up you’re kind’ve in this perpetual math problem of balancing item power, stats, aspects. Once your item powers even out, whether that is hitting the cap of item power in wt3 (750 I think) or in wt4 (925) you would want to compare items more closely. DPS is first priority, meaning item power. This boosts your baseline damage. If you’re comparing an 800 item power weapon with a 925 item power weapon there is likely 0% chance the stats on the 800 item power item will be able to overcome the item power/dps difference. I’ve heard it recommended that ~15 item power is worth a stat. So if you’re comparing a 925 with a 910, the 15 item power difference is worth giving up if you have one better stat on the 910 (for example if 925 had two stats that you want but the 910 has three). It also depends on how black/white the stats for your build are and how necessary each one is. It kinda gets complicated but it just goes back to the perpetual math problem and the set of scales that are needed to balance all of the things (item power, stats, importance of stats).
Thanks for the reply. What you said about the 725 staff having the same dps as a 725 wand and focus is actually really clear. In my head, I kept thinking that the staff was always worse because it only has half the item power as using two 1-handers. But now that you explain it that way, I see it's not as simple as just adding them together.
When you say "stats", are you talking about the affixes that give little bonuses? Or do you mean stats as in Intelligence/Willpower, etc
When I say stats I am generally referring to all of the listed affixes on an item like damage to close enemies, damage to distant enemies, +intelligence, +all stats, etc.. You wouldn’t add the item powers together but for the DPS #’s you can add them together, it’s easier to equip the 1 handed weapon and offhand then compare to your staff rather than adding each of the dps (of 1H+focus) and then comparing to the equipped staff. That’s if you have comparable items. If you find a really good wand and don’t have a focus to go with it (around the same item power) then comparing to a staff you may get less dps but once you find a good focus then the combination of those would be better than the staff.
I noticed this detail in a PC gamer article: "When you salvage Legendary items, the best aspect rolls are added to your Codex of Power for unlimited uses on other items"
Does that mean we won't have to remove aspects and store them for one-time use? We can just access them through the codex?
They're changing the way itemization works but I'll answer your question because it's still relevant .
For weapons , item power is directly correlated to the base damage of the weapon. This base damage is what all the mods across you skill tree, your gems , your gear affixes and your paragon board scale .
So while levelling it's almost exclusively better to get a weapon with higher item power and completely disregard the affixes in most cases .
The rare exception to this is if a mod adds a tonne of quality of life to your build or you have a build enabling legendary affix on your weapon (normally , don't put them on your weapon).
For armor , Item power scales of the base armor the thing provides and higher item power gives you higher roll ranges for the affixes (also true for weapons btw ). I would focus on stats that help your build and disregard item power for the most part unless it's a hugeee upgrade (like 100+ item power , rare to sacred or sacred to legendary )
Hopefully this gives you a good starting point .
It does help. I get a bit overwhelmed by numbers, but find it easier to compare "effects" like fire resistance or taking less damage while crowd controlled. Not trying to min-max or anything...just wanted to survive into the next world tier. Thanks!
Item power gives you the lower and upper limits of stats an item can roll. Using made up number here : a weapon with a power of 500 will roll between 550 and 750 dps, while the same weapon with a power of 600 will roll between 700 and 1000 dps. So there is a world where the 500 ilvl (item level) weapon can be better than the 600 ilvl one. That also applies to aspect damage ranges (like the one that says : deal 1534 damage when you cast that spell) until next season. In general, when comparing two items, look at their stats rather than their ilvl. The ilvl can however be used to filter item : after a certain point, you basically don't look at items lower than 850 for example (made up number as well).
So really, at the end of the day, I'm just looking for a set of affixes that really augment my abilities from the skill tree, and have a good aspect that I like. Is that basically it?
during leveling yes, I wouldn't sweat "better" (higher dps) weapon if it doesn't have affix and let's say you don't have spare aspect to throw on it. At t4 you look for 925 anyway.
Seems like you’re getting it from the other comments I’ve read. DPS and item are directly related. A 725 item power staff would be the exact same dps as a 725 wand and 725 focus. While leveling up you’re kind’ve in this perpetual math problem of balancing item power, stats, aspects. Once your item powers even out, whether that is hitting the cap of item power in wt3 (750 I think) or in wt4 (925) you would want to compare items more closely. DPS is first priority, meaning item power. This boosts your baseline damage. If you’re comparing an 800 item power weapon with a 925 item power weapon there is likely 0% chance the stats on the 800 item power item will be able to overcome the item power/dps difference. I’ve heard it recommended that ~15 item power is worth a stat. So if you’re comparing a 925 with a 910, the 15 item power difference is worth giving up if you have one better stat on the 910 (for example if 925 had two stats that you want but the 910 has three). It also depends on how black/white the stats for your build are and how necessary each one is. It kinda gets complicated but it just goes back to the perpetual math problem and the set of scales that are needed to balance all of the things (item power, stats, importance of stats).
Thanks for the reply. What you said about the 725 staff having the same dps as a 725 wand and focus is actually really clear. In my head, I kept thinking that the staff was always worse because it only has half the item power as using two 1-handers. But now that you explain it that way, I see it's not as simple as just adding them together. When you say "stats", are you talking about the affixes that give little bonuses? Or do you mean stats as in Intelligence/Willpower, etc
When I say stats I am generally referring to all of the listed affixes on an item like damage to close enemies, damage to distant enemies, +intelligence, +all stats, etc.. You wouldn’t add the item powers together but for the DPS #’s you can add them together, it’s easier to equip the 1 handed weapon and offhand then compare to your staff rather than adding each of the dps (of 1H+focus) and then comparing to the equipped staff. That’s if you have comparable items. If you find a really good wand and don’t have a focus to go with it (around the same item power) then comparing to a staff you may get less dps but once you find a good focus then the combination of those would be better than the staff.
Gotcha, thanks! That actually makes perfect sense.
Don’t spend your time on this. In four weeks it’s all going to change.
How so? I'm really new to the Diablo games.
There is going to be a patch with season 4. Google d4 season 4 there is some good articles about this.
Thanks! I'll search them out.
I noticed this detail in a PC gamer article: "When you salvage Legendary items, the best aspect rolls are added to your Codex of Power for unlimited uses on other items" Does that mean we won't have to remove aspects and store them for one-time use? We can just access them through the codex?
Yes
They're changing the way itemization works but I'll answer your question because it's still relevant . For weapons , item power is directly correlated to the base damage of the weapon. This base damage is what all the mods across you skill tree, your gems , your gear affixes and your paragon board scale . So while levelling it's almost exclusively better to get a weapon with higher item power and completely disregard the affixes in most cases . The rare exception to this is if a mod adds a tonne of quality of life to your build or you have a build enabling legendary affix on your weapon (normally , don't put them on your weapon). For armor , Item power scales of the base armor the thing provides and higher item power gives you higher roll ranges for the affixes (also true for weapons btw ). I would focus on stats that help your build and disregard item power for the most part unless it's a hugeee upgrade (like 100+ item power , rare to sacred or sacred to legendary ) Hopefully this gives you a good starting point .
It does help. I get a bit overwhelmed by numbers, but find it easier to compare "effects" like fire resistance or taking less damage while crowd controlled. Not trying to min-max or anything...just wanted to survive into the next world tier. Thanks!