Hitting for really low damage - what can I do?

[Loren]

I'm pretty sure the Attack cap (2.0 ratio with enemy's DEF) does not depend on 1-hand or 2-hand or base DMG.

Unfortunately, there's not much you could have done in that type of overhunting situation.
DRK Lv52
Dire Bat (Lv62-64)
Cutlass Scorpion (Lv63-65)

You lose 5% of your Attack for each level the mob has over you, so you're at -50-65% at this camp. You can either eat meat and whiff, eat sushi and hit for crap, or move to a more realistic camp.

[Resin]

...We were fighting *deep* IT, it was impossible for me to hit 'Low Evasion' even with full +22 Accuracy and Sushi, so I didn't expect much. I was also the lowest party member (52 in a 52-54 party) so I expected lower hit rates as a result. The lack of damage was surprising though...

I'm suprised no one else has picked up on this point.

If you're fighting mobs so much higher in level that, with +22 Accuracy AND sushi you can't get them to con low evasion, then you're over hunting. When I leveled SAM, I pretty much used meat throughout with a healthy amount of accuracy gear, but I never went for the IT+++ mobs.

Adjusting what you fight and swapping in a few pieces of +Attack gear will be key in upping your damage without spending a ton of gil. When exping at those levels, in my opinion, it's all about attack, attack, attack, so long as you can hit the mob--especially with a relatively high base damage weapon.

(Oh, and don't listen to the people who cite your race's inherent lack of STR as the reason for the low damage. As people have stated earlier in this thread, STR does very little for your melee swings.)

Good luck! :D


*Edit: Shit, Aurik and Sidanoir said it better than I did.

[Sidanoir]

People did pick up on his overhunting in several responses

[solsovly]

@Solsovly

It's a player choice on hunting IT in Signet zones vs VT on Sanction zones. Did you have a Bard? How were you comparing agains the other melees?

We were hunting IT in a signet zone, and there was no other melee, only a PLD and a RNG. The Ranger was a Rank 10 Taru with 2 Archer Knife's +1 and other stuff ... the damage he was doing was nothing short of remarkable. 900 Sidewinders and Slug Shots and a consistent 148 damage per ranged attack.

There was no Bard, only Rdm, Whm, Blm as support.

If the ranger was firing off Sidewinders, he is level 55. You are 52. That's a very large level gap in terms of xping. Your gear isn't really great, but its certainly not horrible. As many others suggested, if you can try to pump more attack, usually through eating meat, but you will have to compensate with more acc gear.

edit: or the ranger had merits, either way he is more suited towards this camp then you were at 52.

[Eddie]

If you're accuracy is fine, look into replacing some parts of your Accuracy and/or STR pieces with Attack. It's hard to tell a difference while TPing in STR or Accuracy as far as how much DMG you do....at least to me anyway.

Don't use Kaftan, Courage, and Traveler's Mantle while TP building.

No offense but don't listen to this. If you're going to tp in str gear, you may aswell tp in vit gear, as you'll hardly notice a difference. Attack gear though yes, try stockpile on it

lol! that's what I was saying!

[Loren]

Ranged attacks have a smaller level penalty (-2.5% per level I think), plus a piercing bonus on bats.

[Lordwafik]

If you're accuracy is fine, look into replacing some parts of your Accuracy and/or STR pieces with Attack. It's hard to tell a difference while TPing in STR or Accuracy as far as how much DMG you do....at least to me anyway.

Don't use Kaftan, Courage, and Traveler's Mantle while TP building.

No offense but don't listen to this. If you're going to tp in str gear, you may aswell tp in vit gear, as you'll hardly notice a difference. Attack gear though yes, try stockpile on it

lol! that's what I was saying!

Oops I read it wrong, I thought you were saying replace peices of acc with STR.

[isladar]

The topic and OP reminds me of Lordwafik's thread about Rykoshet on the spam forum concerning

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ngslash5rm.gif

Stop it, stop it! I can't look away!

[SassiAsura]

At Level 52? Use Gaxe if its already decent leveled or close to cap. You get better WS than GSD/SCY have at that level and the DPS on most Gaxe at that level are much better than the SCY/GSD available.

Boy I hated Sturmwind by L59... seemed like the other two handers had better WS by then. Swordbelt+1 for sure!

[Ryko]

The topic and OP reminds me of Lordwafik's thread about Rykoshet on the spam forum concerning

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ngslash5rm.gif

Stop it, stop it! I can't look away!

Though in that case it wasn't an attack vs def issue it was a pure DMG rating thing.

[Thevaultdweller]

Sub WAR. Unless the tank is a retard, you shouldn't pull hate that often. Have berserk up as often as it can be up. Empress Pin is pretty wasted on DRK--get a Valkyrie's or Walkure mask instead. Wear Sniper's Rings, with courage on weaponskills. Use meat instead of sushi--you don't need it at that level with enough ACC on. If you can't use a great axe, use a Barbarian's Scythe--with all the ACC in your build (PCC + Sniper's) you ought to be able to suffer the -5 ACC in favor of the 25 ATK. The Traveler's Mantle is unnecessary--you don't need AGI nor evasion as a DRK, so pick up a Jaguar Mantle instead. If possible, get the Luisant Feet, and possibly the body--these two can be expensive, however, so don't worry about it too much if you can't.

[Eddie]

If you're accuracy is fine, look into replacing some parts of your Accuracy and/or STR pieces with Attack. It's hard to tell a difference while TPing in STR or Accuracy as far as how much DMG you do....at least to me anyway.

Don't use Kaftan, Courage, and Traveler's Mantle while TP building.

No offense but don't listen to this. If you're going to tp in str gear, you may aswell tp in vit gear, as you'll hardly notice a difference. Attack gear though yes, try stockpile on it

lol! that's what I was saying!

Oops I read it wrong, I thought you were saying replace peices of acc with STR.

lol it's cool. But OP, if you do replace STR instead of Acc, make sure you put in a fair share of CHR.

[mikazuki]

Still a mystery to me why they act that way.

At least, when I try to imagine it just using the formula, both weapon shouldn't behave that way.
I know attack favor the weapon that has high base damage, while low damage weapon users may rely on base damage addition (STR/WS mod)to enhance their damage better

low DMG weapon means fSTR can make up a greater proportion of base damage - this is significant at low lv or with very low damage dagger (mercurial kris for example). that means you can get more from increasing fSTR in those cases than you would normally, but it's still defficient compared to increasing pDIF - by wearing acc equip and eating meat.
some people when lvling don't realise their 1h weapon damage is sucking because of low pDIF because they expect it to be low.


52 is too low for KRT, with the best gear and 2xbrd you'd just be wasting all the awesome exp you could get in a correct for lv camp. race isn't significant as a factor, it might make 3-4dmg per swing difference out of the 150~ a drk would hit for on T-VT.