9

I've seen a few people(WW Barbarians) with Echoing Fury as their offhand weapon, even though their main hand had less damage than Echoing Fury.

And as I know(correct me if I'm wrong please), tornado from Sprint uses damage of your main hand weapon.

So, why do people use Echoing Fury as their offhand weapon when it has more damage than their main hand weapon

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
9

For barbarians, its not about the DPS value that matters, but the average damage of the weapon. Their primary source of damage is from tornados, which does damage as a % of the listed weapon damage. Even though most echoing furies have really high DPS, their average damage is actually quite low due to the fact that they have such high attack speed.

Example:

1 handed mace 1.2APS 800-1000 damage = 900 average damage, but only 1080 DPS
1 handed echoing fury 1.45APS 700-900 damage = 800 average damage but 1160 DPS

The smart barb will use the mace in the MH because, like you said, that's the hand that determines the weapon damage for tornadoes.

As for why echoing fury is so popular, the hard .21-.25+attack speed is also added to the weapon in the other hand, which can drastically boost the damage of a slower weapon, such as a mace. This makes EFs the ideal offhand for a barbarian (they're also super popular for monks). Attack speed is also quite useful to hit barbarian tornado breakpoints, but that's another topic.

Improve this answer
5
  • having said all that, if the EF in the offhand actually has higher average damage than the weapon in the main hand of a barb, then its just a dumb barb :P
    – l I
    Commented May 30, 2013 at 22:39
  • 1
    Another reason for it to be in the offhand is so that the fear doesn't happen as often (since tornadoes ignore the offhand weapon).
    – Adeese
    Commented May 30, 2013 at 22:40
  • @adeese good point, I never considered that, but then I don't mind the fear since it lets me kite the monster in a circle as they try to run from me.
    – l I
    Commented May 30, 2013 at 22:41
  • @spartacus, doesn't attack speed of the main weapon affect the tornadoes?
    – Novarg
    Commented May 31, 2013 at 9:55
  • @Novarg actually both hands affect the tornados since it alternates strikes during whirlwind. The damage is only on the MH but the # of ticks based on attack speed depends on the weapon that was last used for a hit. In the end it doesn't matter as the echoing fury bonus is added to the main hand anyway so the mace in my example would end up with the same attack speed as the EF (unless your EF has an additional %IAS mod)
    – l I
    Commented May 31, 2013 at 10:10
0

I use it as off-hand so that monsters scatter arround less often due to fear its hard to keep WotB with fury while chasing single strays instead of focusing on groups

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.