Talk:Magic (upgrade path)/@comment-141.46.242.120-20170325015423

I have just done some number crunching to figure out if there is any circumstance in which a Magic+10 weapon would be preferable to Enchanted+5. The short answer: Mostly no.

I used the Parameter Bonus page and the specific scaling values from this page for reference. I assumed stats at soft caps (That is 40 for a 85% rating for STR and DEX, and 50 INT for 80% rating).

The calculations followed the following form (example used here is the Magic+10 Falchion):

155 + (155x0,85x0,4) + (155x0,85x0,28) + 167 + (167x0,8x0,85)

That is Physical Base Damage + (Phys base x Strength rating x STR scaling value)  + (Phys base x Dex rating x Dex scaling value) + Magic Base Damage + (Magic base x Int rating x Int scaling value)

Results for a bunch of popular weapons are as follows:

Magic +10 vs. Enchanted +5

Longsword: 465,552 vs. 474,112

Bastard Sword: 610,136 vs. 621,764

Claymore: 600,384 vs. 607,616

Zweihänder: 725,19 vs. 726,1715

Falchion: 477,72 vs. 481,71

Balder Side Sword: 462,96 vs. 466,968

Estoc: 424,954 vs. 425,884

Rapier: 413,0035 vs. 413,864

Ricard's Rapier: 396,282 vs. 397,3495

Winged Spear: 481,933 vs. 483,366

Reinforced Club: 518,539 vs. 515,6

Large Club: 707,505 vs. 711,168

Great Club: 756,26 vs. 757,197

Battle Axe: 532,4385 vs. 535,449

Demon's Greataxe: 724,203 vs. 732,732

Halberd: 613,2255 vs. 619,6735

Lucerne: 613,2255 vs. 619,6735

Uchigatana: 497,303 vs. 500,6125

Iaito: 487,9875 vs. 485,485 Iaito at 20 DEX: 467,94 vs. 471,976

Bolded are the only two examples where a Magic+10 weapon had a higher total attack rating than an Enchanted+5, although in many cases they were quite close... given the 40 STR/40DEX/50 INT assumptions. Also note these are total attack rating which have no ingame use and are merely for statistical comparison. I suspect the Enchanted weapons - which have a less even spread of damage, with more weight on the magic side - would deal more damage due to how split damage is handled (except for a few foes that are highly resistant to magic damage, such as crystal golems).

If you plan on getting the Magic Weapon achievement but don't want to "waste" a Blue Slab (the worst slab to try and farm in my opinion) on a weapon you won't use, you might want to consider a Zweihänder (which should be transcribed as Zweihaender in the game but nevermind). You are likely going to 2hand it anyway, and will hit the soft cap on Strength at 27 that way. The impact of Dexterity on scaling is negligible on the Magic/Enchanted Zweihänder (scaling values of 0,08/0,06, respectively).