Torchlight 2 - How powerful is a weapon, exactly?

Question

There seem to be too many competing statistics for me to measure how strong a weapon is in this game.

First there's the weapon's claimed DPS in the inventory screen. For the shotgonne I'm looking at right now, this is 128.

Then there's the DPS on the arcane statistics screen. That's 173 for this weapon.

Then there's the weapon range on the character screen. That's 196-287 physical and 29-29 magical.

Trying to compare this weapon to two pistols is a nightmare. Ignoring the splash damage effect, which of these numbers is a truest representation of the strength of a weapon? I'm assuming one of the DPSes since they take into account weapon speed. Is the arcane statistics screen different because it takes into account buffs?

It's really confusing and making it hard to weigh up weapons accurately.

Answer 1

The DPS in arcane statistics is the most accurate estimate, because it takes into account your stats, buffs and skills, and that's what's used for skill damage.

But if you're playing on a higher difficulty and/or with enough players, don't ignore the individual hit and elemental damage, either, since enemies there tend to have enough armour to negate weaker hits. Sometimes, a lower DPS weapon with stronger individual hits is more effective than a higher-DPS one.

Answer 2

1. The DPS number on the weapon tool tip reflects the weapon's attack speed.

2. The DPS number on the Arcane Statistics screen reflects other bonuses like your stats. It can be considered "true DPS".