Fast vs Slow math

So occasionally, I read around here that slower weapons are better for melee and faster weapons are better for spells--which seems really weird to me, and nobody ever offers an explanation or any math for that. Anyone mind offering an explanation?

 

It's not that slower weapons are better for melee and faster weapons are better for spells, not at all.

As for melee, both fast melee and heavy melee are very viable playstyles. It really doesn't matter which one you pick, just build it right and it'll work well.

As for spells, your spell damage is calculated from your weapon base DPS. Base DPS means your weapon's melee DPS disregarding all identifications. This means that base DPS can only be affected by using powders. So, a weapon with a low damage per hit but super fast attack speed may be more viable for spell casting than a weapon with high damage but super slow attack speed. It all comes down to the base DPS.

In addition to this, mana/life steal is easier to activate by using slower attack speeds. In a spell build reliant on mana steal, one can simply reduce the weapon's attack speed to super slow using other items, since identifications do not affect base DPS.

 

Spells:
Spells get a multiplier based on their weapon Attack Speed (Note that Attack Speed tiers on gear does not affect this, it uses the weapon base speed):

Numbers (correct me if this information is outdated/wrong)
Super fast: x4.3
Very fast: x3.2
Fast: x2.5
Normal: x2.05
Slow: x1.5
Very slow: x0.83
Super slow: x0.51

Having a slow weapon has it advantages versus enemies with Elemental Defence vs. your elemental damage type, because of how damage is calculated in Wynncraft.

This part may be different now but if I remember it correctly it goes like this:

IIRC, and correct me if I am wrong, Ele Defences are checked before other modifiers apply, making the usually lower damage range of very fast weapons have less advantage, because they get deducted before other modifiers apply. An example of this is using the fast staff Cascade on bosses like Qira with Elemental Defences vs. all elements; you basically deal no damage.

However, enemies weak to a certain element take more damage for the same reason.

Slower weapons also make Powder Specials easier to charge in between spellcasting.

Melee:
For melee, slow weapons tend to be " better" (if you stack Attack Speed), because slower weapons have a high damage range. By stacking Attack Speed on gear you are able to hit more often, while still having that huge base damage.

If you have a weapon with Super Fast as a base that deals 100-120 per hit and a Super Slow weapon with 1000-1100 damage per hit, scaling the Super Slow weapon to have the same attack speed as the Super Fast weapon will have a better DPS outcome. It is more difficult to add raw damage (Neutral Damage as an example) to a Super Fast weapon, as most of the items that give a good amount of Neutral Damage usually also come with negative Attack Speed bonuses.

Heavy melee and " fast" melee almost always use a Super Slow weapon to achieve their DPS.