How should one weigh Critical Hit Damage when selecting equipment?

Question

What this question basically comes down to is how should I weigh importance of critical hit damage over other types of damage? For instance I found a new ring which gives my wizard more intelligence and thus the item display says roughly +1000 damage, however this ring does not have a bonus to critical hit damage, which my current ring (which I am considering replacing) does have.

If I want more damage what should I go with? Is the damage difference calculation portrayed accurate (i.e. does it factor in critical hit change and critical hit damage)?

Here's a screen shot of the two rings side-by-side.

Answer 1

After seeing the 2 rings I would go for the Int one. 24% CHD is great but you cant get it on an other piece of equipement (e.g. the Amulet where you can easily get 80/90%+)

If your are playing casually and do not aim for perfect build, I advice you always go for the items that increase your DPS on your Character's sheet. If not it depends on several factors (for the Critical Hit Damage stat) :

• A good endgame gear brings at least +50% to crit chance (CC) and at least +350% Crit Hit Damage (CHD). When you reach those stats you have to add more intelligence for it to be more and more effective. The more int > the more damage and so the more your crit will hurt
• Obviously the CHD stat is the most beneficial when you have high chance of criting. If you have less than 35% CC I would recommand against using the CHD one and put the int one. On the contrary if you have High crit chance you might want to use it.
• Remember that to have more DPS you have to gear up with high CHD and high CC but also a good Attack Speed. If you don't attack fast enought, dure you'll get some crit but not enought to justify your High CHD and high CC. So for a good lategame gear you have to balance between AS, CHD and CC

To finish and complete my last point, in general CHD stat is really important in Diablo 3. It's part of the 4 factors that brings dps (CHD, CC, AS and +Damage). However gears that bring at least 3 of those stats + int/strength/dext/vit cost an arm and a leg. Hopefully with the next patch you'll be able to find those more easily.

Answer 2

First of all, the damage calculations shown are pretty much spot on, and incrementally choosing better items is going to make you tend towards an optimal item build because of that.

Generally, to get the best bang for your buck with Critical Hit Damage, you're going to want to weigh it against Critical Hit Chance. Pretty much every item you use will have your main stat, plus one of these two (or both if you're lucky), so this is the most important comparison to do.

Each 1% worth of Critical Hit Chance is worth about 10% Critical Hit Damage. If you're comparing two items, one with 3% chance to crit and the other with 30% increased critical hit damage, they're about equivalent. However, they are not both necessarily going to increase your damage by the same amount, because each item doesn't exist in a vacuum. You also have to consider what other items you're wearing.

When choosing between adding more crit chance or crit damage, pick the one you have less of (after dividing crit damage by 10). For example, if you have a total of 45% crit chance and 400% crit damage, then adding 50% crit damage is going to add more total DPS than adding 5% crit chance.