Flintlocks of Brutality (Lv26) - in depth look

[JaytB]

Introduction


Some people, including myself, have been wondering about what's so special about those flintlocks of Brutality.


In order to find out, I bought myself a pair of those hot looking -pun intended- blades.


I tested them out and like to share the results here. That way, you can make an informed decision on whether or not they would be worth it for you or not.


Looks and stats

The orange smoke in the picture below is the 10seconds weapon proc being active (discussed later in this topic)





Let's take a look at the stats and compare them with the current fairly popular Depraved Blades of Potency (DBP)





As you can see in the picture above, the flintlocks have a lot less dps as compared the the DBP and you'll also sacrifice some int. On the other hand, the flintlocks add some Dmg and survivability (HP).


At first sight, it seems that the little increase in Dmg isn't worth the huge sacrifice in DPS.



Let's look into a little more detail...


1. Weapon attacks


Unlike the DBP, the flintlocks are actually Area of Effect (AOE) blades, meaning you'll Dmg multiple target with each tap of the attack button.


I think you can see it by looking at the weapon symbol. For mages for example, when a staff shows a whirlwind around it, it means it's an AOE staff. I only tested a few weapons, so I can't be 100% sure yet, but so far it seems as follows...


This symbol indicates an AOE weapon.


This would indicate a single target weapon.


As said, I'm not 100% sure, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.


Whatever the case may be, the flintlocks did AOE Dmg on normal weapon attacks, so basically they could possibly outperform the DBP in large mobs in therms of pure weapon Dmg.




2. Dual Procs


The flintlocks actually have 2 weapon procs that activate simultaneous, as can be read in the description below...





* The first one, the barrel explosion, basically procs an AOE explosion, damaging enemies that are in fairly close proximity.


Here's a short video to show the proc (sorry for the crappy quality). Watch for the very brief explosion of orange circles, that's the proc going off. You can see them in the very beginning of the video and around the 8 seconds mark again. Ow, and please don't say my skill build sucks, I was just trying out an alternative build... Again


http://youtu.be/Ph6ZrifqRUI




* The second proc is 15dex increase and lasts for 10 seconds.


The cool thing about it is that it procs even when there isn't an enemy around. In practice this means that it can be kept active, to get that nice amount of dex increase before attacking the next bunch of mobs.


Below I pasted a link to a video showing off the proc. As soon as the orange smoke appears, you'll know the proc is active. At the start of the video I'm showing my inspect page to show you the stats before the proc, while at the end I did the same but while the proc was active. You can see the 15dex added and the Dmg increase it brings with it.


http://youtu.be/uMizessCNZ4


The stats before the proc...



And after...



What's worthy of notice, because we're looking at a Dmg focussed build, is the increase in Dmg from 221.7 to 228.4 or another +6.7Dmg.


In the next topic about skill Dmg, it will make more sense what this means exactly.




3. Skill Dmg


I've made a topic in the sorcerers section a while back. It compared DPS vs Dmg. As with sorcerers (and probably warriors), rogues' skill Dmg is also linked with their Dmg stat in their stats screen. So basically, the higher your Dmg stat, the higher your skill Dmg. Or in other words, the more Dmg all of your skills do.


Let's compare skill Dmg of Aimed shot for DBP vs Flintlocks with and without the 15dex proc of flintlocks.


DBP



Skill dmg: 370-463


Flintlocks without weapon proc



Skill dmg: 385-482 (or +15min, +19max Dmg vs DBP)


Flintlocks with weapon proc (+15dex)



Skill dmg: 397-496 (or +27min, +33max Dmg compared to DBP)




Conclusion


Because of it's AOE weapon attack, AOE Dmg (barrel) proc and 15dex increase proc, the flintlocks seems, on 'paper' at least, to (more than?) make up for their lack of single target DPS as compared to DBP.


In therms of skill Dmg, especially when keeping that 15dex proc charged, it should provide a noticeable Dmg increase as all Dmg skills (including all of your DOT's -Damage over Time-) will deal more pain to your opponents.


Personally, I think the weapon is best suited for fast elite mob killing. The AOE/skill Dmg increase should make killing mobs quicker. I haven't tested it a lot yet, I simply wanted to share the details about this weapon here.




As always, your constructive feedback is appreciated

[Jellowpy]

Does having those symbols tried and tested?

How about with Hooks? It has the first symbol(AoE symbol) on character page( left side) but have. The second symbol (single target symbol) if viewed in Inventory page (Right Side)..

[JaytB]

As said in the post, I'm not 100% sure about those symbols.

[Zuzeq]

I appreciate the research, thank you. If I farm em, i'll try them out. I try not to use diggers on elite dives(unless there is no tank and i have to get dirty..lol.), but wouldn't mind having em for normal maps. Seriously go work!..

[JaytB]

I appreciate the research, thank you. If I farm em, i'll try them out. I try not to use diggers on elite dives(unless there is no tank and i have to get dirty..lol.), but wouldn't mind having em for normal maps. Seriously go work!..

I almost always use daggers during elits runs. Guess it's just personal preference.

But yeah, sometimes random games can suck when there's a bad/no tank in the group.

[Zuzeq]

Yeah, I like to keep my distance in elite unless im popping smoke or laying traps. When I go bow in elite I don't die hardy at all.

[gundamsone]

Not too sure about the symbols as I still seem to run solo Hatunlet runs faster when using DBP over my ALP
but since this weapon actually procs now it seems to make up for it's high value
do you also know how often it procs at?

[JaytB]

do you also know how often it procs at?

It's hard to say how often it procs exactly, but my guess is that it procs about once every 10'ish hits or so? It seems, but that can be subjective, it procs more when fighting mobs as compared to just swinging it in thin air.

All in all proc rate seems fairly high.

[wvhills]

i want some!

[FluffNStuff]

I assume you have a Shipmaster's Bow ( or enough change behind your couch cushions to buy one since they are like 200g now) so would you be able to post the Stat's and Aimed Shot with that equipped. I am curious to see it. Good job by the way.

[gundamsone]

It's hard to say how often it procs exactly, but my guess is that it procs about once every 10'ish hits or so? It seems, but that can be subjective, it procs more when fighting mobs as compared to just swinging it in thin air.

All in all proc rate seems fairly high.

That's a very decent rate then b/c before the buff I had a pair (bought for 100k) and couldn't proc at all.

I'm so accustomed to using a bow now for pvp but I will give these a shot since they seem to give max skill dmg now (next to hooks)

[MakadeMakva]

Very interesting and informative post. Thank you!
I like your attacking build: SP, AS, NB, SSS. Could you please tell me in details how you spent your skill points?
How easy is it to solo farm on elite maps without Shadow Vail and Razor Shield?

[wvhills]

I assume you have a Shipmaster's Bow ( or enough change behind your couch cushions to buy one since they are like 200g now) so would you be able to post the Stat's and Aimed Shot with that equipped. I am curious to see it. Good job by the way.

Fluff, if I remember right flintlocks of brutality add 0.3 damage over shipmaster's bow of tactics (I saw some in auction). So skill wise they should be about the same. Big advantage of flintlocks is the aoe and the procs. Is it a 2.7 million gold piece advantage? Heck yes! If I had the gold I'd def be using them!

[gundamsone]

Fluff, if I remember right flintlocks of brutality add 0.3 damage over shipmaster's bow of tactics (I saw some in auction). So skill wise they should be about the same. Big advantage of flintlocks is the aoe and the procs. Is it a 2.7 million gold piece advantage? Heck yes! If I had the gold I'd def be using them!

In some situations the bow will be better...perhaps lets say a beefy warrior is chasing you down in PVP
I would love if STS starts giving us some elite bows or maybe even of arcane/mythic rarirty

[FluffNStuff]

In some situations the bow will be better...perhaps lets say a beefy warrior is chasing you down in PVP
I would love if STS starts giving us some elite bows or maybe even of arcane/mythic rarirty

Fluff, if I remember right flintlocks of brutality add 0.3 damage over shipmaster's bow of tactics (I saw some in auction). So skill wise they should be about the same. Big advantage of flintlocks is the aoe and the procs. Is it a 2.7 million gold piece advantage? Heck yes! If I had the gold I'd def be using them!

I just want to see a 1 to 1 comparison of the Aim Shot Skill Damage.

[JaytB]

I just want to see a 1 to 1 comparison of the Aim Shot Skill Damage.

Here's a screenshot with exactly the same equips, except using a Shipmaster's bow of tactics...



As WvHills said, it's fairly similar. A bit less without the 15dex proc, a bit more with it.

[Pandamoni]

Thanks Jay! You explained it in a way that was very well laid out and easy to understand.

[FluffNStuff]

Here's a screenshot with exactly the same equips, except using a Shipmaster's bow of tactics...


As WvHills said, it's fairly similar. A bit less without the 15dex proc, a bit more with it.

Thanks! Just what I was looking for.

[JaytB]

Very interesting and informative post. Thank you!
I like your attacking build: SP, AS, NB, SSS. Could you please tell me in details how you spent your skill points?
How easy is it to solo farm on elite maps without Shadow Vail and Razor Shield?

I only had that build very briefly so can't remember the exact points I put where. I basically upgraded everything that added dmg.

Thanks Jay! You explained it in a way that was very well laid out and easy to understand.

Lol, thx

Thanks! Just what I was looking for.

You're welcome

[Noobiam]

nice. thanks for this. question: which would you prefer DBP or flintlocks?