Guild Wars 2

To me it seems that Sigil of Force (5% more dmg) would always be better than Sigil of Battle (3 stacks of might = 105 power).

Has anyone done the calculations or testing for this?

Not necessarily. As a grenadier I benefit more from 3 stacks of might vs 5% damage. Don’t forget Might also affects Condition Damage. I’m not too acquainted with the Warrior, but builds utilizing Berserker’s Might might also benefit from 3 might over 5% damage, pending on how easily they reach the 5 stacks of Might with their build.

Calculations though, no.

Well it really depends. On my eng, I would like to have 3 stacks of might more because it also increases my condi dmg of my grenades and pistol. :p

105 power means 105/916 = 11% damage increase at the lowest possible Power amount. As you stack up power the increase is only additive, but Sigil of Force’s benefit is multiplicative. Also take into account that some traits grant extra benefits from boons.

Ah okay, so pending type of dmg and traits it could vary. I’m asking for my warrior who does mostly direct dmg with GS and Axe. It seemed like the 5% dmg bonus would always be greater, and the fact that it’s constant and can’t be stripped were two perks. Plus I swap faster than the internal cool down of Battle.

If you’re doing some really high output, lets say 2000 dmg, that 5% will add 100 dmg. But you’d have to weigh in how much the +105 Power. Also true, if you aren’t swapping weapons often enough to keep that Might up often, you might benefit more from 5%. The other things is Might will stick around regardless of which weapon you are using, the 5% won’t.

If you swap weapons fast enough you can keep 6 stacks of might after a bit.

hharry.1967:

If you swap weapons fast enough you can keep 6 stacks of might after a bit.

Also true, there’s a 9-10ish second CD on it, but I believe Engineers/Elementalists will be the only ones to truly benefit from that because you have to swap to the weapon and that means you’d have to switch away from the weapon, then back to it, within a 10 second window. I can do that as an Engineer so with my runeset, I will maintain 9 stacks of Might during combat. But a warrior won’t benefit from this easily, if at all.

At 2000 power, 3 stacks of might is basically the same as 5% direct damage, but with the added benefit of also increasing condition damage. The higher your power goes, the better 5% damage becomes, but if you swap often enough to keep 6 might up from sigil of battle, you’re coming out ahead.

Zenith.6403:

105 power means 105/916 = 11% damage increase at the lowest possible Power amount. As you stack up power the increase is only additive, but Sigil of Force’s benefit is multiplicative. Also take into account that some traits grant extra benefits from boons.

Isn’t 916 the amount if you don’t have any weapon equipped? That doesn’t seem like a practical comparison.

CHOAM.7852:

Isn’t 916 the amount if you don’t have any weapon equipped? That doesn’t seem like a practical comparison.

- Weapon doesn’t necessarily give any Power. 916 is the amount every character has at level 80 from level ups, when there is no +Power from any equipment, traits, slot skills or boons.

Zenith.6403:

CHOAM.7852:

Isn’t 916 the amount if you don’t have any weapon equipped? That doesn’t seem like a practical comparison.

- Weapon doesn’t necessarily give any Power. 916 is the amount every character has at level 80 from level ups, when there is no +Power from any equipment, traits, slot skills or boons.

Weapon doesn’t give power, but it does give “damage”, which is what the sigil describes. So a weaponless character, while serving as an objective baseline, seems impractical.

Alkron.1345:

hharry.1967:

If you swap weapons fast enough you can keep 6 stacks of might after a bit.

Also true, there’s a 9-10ish second CD on it, but I believe Engineers/Elementalists will be the only ones to truly benefit from that because you have to swap to the weapon and that means you’d have to switch away from the weapon, then back to it, within a 10 second window. I can do that as an Engineer so with my runeset, I will maintain 9 stacks of Might during combat. But a warrior won’t benefit from this easily, if at all.

Warriors have a minor trait which grants might on weapon swap.

Warriors also have a trait which reduces weapon swap cooldown by 4-5 seconds.

Sigil of battle has a 9 second cooldown.

No brainer whether a warrior benefits from it.

You can have a character.
Level 80.
Wielding weapon.
That doesn’t give any power.

What is so difficult to understand?

Caffynated.5713:

At 2000 power, 3 stacks of might is basically the same as 5% direct damage,

You fight with bare hands? Reasonable Attack for anyone interested in these sigils would be around 3000 and at that level the +100 power is more like 3%

Zenith.6403:

You can have a character.
Level 80.
Wielding weapon.
That doesn’t give any power.

What is so difficult to understand?

I can ask you the same thing. Your Attack as shown in the Hero menu (not in terms of actual damage when hitting an enemy) would still be above 916 even if your power is 916.

Unless your weapon has a damage rating of 0-0. Even a white level 80 1-handed weapon would have a rating of around 500.

Because power boost Attack at a 1:1 ratio, the terms are often used interchangeably, and what really matters after all is your Attack power.

105 pow 105 condition is > 5% damage for most characters. Not to mention you can easily get 6 or even 9 stacks of might off sig of battle.

frans.8092:

You fight with bare hands? Reasonable Attack for anyone interested in these sigils would be around 3000 and at that level the +100 power is more like 3%

Damage formula:

Damage done = (weapon damage) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient) / (target’s Armor)