In-depth Analysis on Prefix Effect I: Weapon

Introduction

A new prefix system for armors and weapons was introduced since the lvl50 cap opens. This article will present an in-depth analysis on the prefix effect of armor and weapon.

I will only emphasis on the prefixes which are important in PVE.  There are some prefixes which can be very useful in PVP, but I will not touch on them in this article, at least for the time being.

NOTE: Actually to be precise, this new system should be called the “Suffix System” instead of “Prefix System” because the words showing the nature of the weapon is attached at the back of the weapon name. The old system has the properties shown at the front, hence named the “Prefix” of the weapon/armor. The name kinda sticks till now, and “prefix” is still widely used. We will stick to the word “prefix” for now.

What does Prefix offer?
Prefixes not only grant the weapon or armor some additional BASE STATS, but also give them special effect which has a chance to trigger when you are being hit (for armor) or when your NORMAL ATTACK hits a target (for weapon).

Unfortunately, prefix effect on weapon WILL NOT activate when you are using SKILLS to deal damage, except for some skills such as Extension Arrow, Ice Spear and Manticore’s Gravity Ball which are widely considered as a bug.

The ENCHANTMENT BONUS STATS for weapon and armor are NOT related to the type of prefix imbued. For example, a +10 Life weapon give the same enchantment bonus physical attack as a +10 Destructive weapon.

The additional stats for prefixes only come in the form of BASE STATS for the weapon/armor, which will not grow with higher enchantment level.  For example, a Destructive weapon has higher base attack as compared to a Life weapon.

WEAPON PREFIX EFFECT FOR PVE

The popular and useful prefixes in PVE are destructive, magical, intelligence, wind and life prefixes.

To illustrate the effect of those prefixes, I list here, the prefix effect for a lv50A Bead.

Destructive:  During normal attack, there is 18.6% of chance to deal 133.30% additional phy. damage.
Magical: During normal attack, there is 18.6% of chance to deal 133.30% additional mag. damage.
Intelligence: During normal attack, there is 12.4% of chance to deal 159.95% additional mag. damage and -10.70% elemental defence, this effect will last for 3.8sec.
Wind: During normal attack, there is 12.4% of chance to deal 120.00% additional phy. damage and 39.95% additional mag. damage, and  -50.00% crit resist, this effect will last for 3.8sec.
Life: During normal attack, there is 10.0% of chance to recover 2.50% HP.

[ Note that, the above stats will differs depending on weapon type ]

TRIGGER EFFECT

Destructive/Magical

Rarely is there a build/class that relies on normal attack to increase their DPS. Therefore, attempting to normal attack and hoping to trigger the destructive and magical prefix effect might not be the best idea. However, sparingly normal attack and sometimes triggering the additional damage is not that bad. The % of triggering and the amount of damage differs depends on weapon type. I have categorized the main weapon into High (H) Chance, Medium (M) Chance and Low (L) Chance respectively (see the Table I). The % damage amplification also differs (will not list here, check blacksmith for details).

However, most players opt for destructive and magical weapon not because of the trigger effect, but for the base stats that those weapons offers. Details of base stats will be discussed later in the article.

Intelligence/Wind

Intelligence and Wind on the other hand, has similar additional damage triggering effect. However, it also comes with useful debuffs: elemental resist reduction.

For intelligence prefix, once the debuff activates, you will see black-heart surrounding the target. All elemental skills, even those from other party members will hence deal more damage.  If you are carrying not one but two weapons or your team mates are carrying others Intelligence prefix weapon as well, the debuff effects will stack!

For Wind prefix, once the debuff activates, you will see small swords dropping from their body (only for the first second though).

You will notice your critical damage and those from your party members will less likely to be resisted by your target. So far, there is no rigorous test that shows the effect for this debuffs are stackable.  However, I believe the effect can be stacked just like the intelligent prefix (awaiting further proof). Note that wind prefix is only useful forhigh critical char when fighting against high crit resist target.

See this video for an idea on how effective is the Wind prefix on Electric Ogre which is notorious for his high critical resist.

Both debuffs have very short duration (3.8 to 6.3sec), which is the biggest flaw of the prefix. Low chance weapon give longer duration while high chance weapon give shorter duration.

Life

For Life prefix, once the prefix effect triggers, you heal a certain % of your max HP. Simple as that. No additional damage induced.  The amount HP heal differs depending on weapon type too.

Chance of Triggering Weapon Prefix Effect

Table I: Prefix Trigger Effect Chance on Various A-ranked Weapons 

The chance of activation for all the 5 prefix are listed in the table I.  One key flaw of the weapon prefix is the chance of activation is not that high. The best activation chance you could harness from  a pair intel, wind and life weapon is approximately 20% (1 in every 5 hits).  Destructive and magical weapon has higher activation chance of roughly 30% (1 in every 3~4 hits).

BONUS BASE STATS

Besides the triggering effect, base stats that are attached to the prefix are something to be considered when choosing the type of prefix to be imbued to your weapon.  Table II shows the additional bonus base stats that are attached to the 5 prefixes.

Table II: Additional Bonus Base Stats on Various Weapons for Lv50A Weapon

Note: I didn’t fully list the additional stats here. I am listing the stats that is related to the meaning of the prefix. For example, intelligent prefix also give some additional agi, but it’s not listed here, only the additional int is listed.

This table shows a very interesting point:

Magical/Destructive prefix subweapon for all class offers higher bonus mag/phy attack than their corresponding main weapons.

This is a very important thing to realize for those who like to hybrid their weapon prefix.

For example, an archer would like to have the high attack bonus from destructive weapon, and at the same time, want the crit resist debuff from the wind prefix weapon. What combination is better?

Destructive Bow + Wind Quiver? OR Wind Bow + Destructive Quiver?

The answer can be found in the table: Wind Bow + Destructive Quiver is a more efficient pair. Destructive quiver give 65 phy att bonus whereas Destructive Bow 26~32 phy att bonus. Interesingly, Wind Bow also give higher Agi (35) as compared to Wind Quiver (22).

Just for comparison sake, the phy. attack bonus from the 4 possible combinations of destructive/wind long bow and quiver are, 

[ assumption:  perfect opt on all gears: 5.8% phy att on 2 weapon and 2 rings, 4.5% agi on all 11 gears.  Comes with Agi 10% and Destructive 10% A plate.  Given: 1 AGI = 0.5 PHY ATT ]

Destructive Long Bow + Destructive Quiver: 129
Wind Long Bow + Destructive Quiver: 116
Destructive Long Bow + Wind Quiver:  60
Wind Long Bow + Wind Quiver: 47

As you can see here, Wind Bow + Destr Quiver combination only loses 13 Phy. Att as compared to Destr Bow + Destr Quiver. Here, you not only gain the normal triggering damage, but also  the nifty crit resist debuff. However, do note that by using only 1 wind prefix weapon (long bow), the chance for the crit resist debuff to trigger is reduced significantly to 7.4% only ( roughly 1 in 13~14 hits).  If you choose 2 x wind weapon, your attack is cut by 82 (only?), but your chance of inducing the crit resist debuff increases significantly to 16.6% (1 in every 6 hits).

Similar calculation and comparison can be performed for your own class based on the table.  The above consideration put damage output as the main priority.

However, Life prefix weapon offer an interesting option:

Instead of increase your DPS, it heals your HP if the effect triggers.

In my opinion, mages and archer can make use of the HP leeching effect more efficiently than other melee classes, simply because they can move around while using normal attack. Just for your information, the paladin’s holy hammer or kick is not considered as normal attack and hence will not trigger the HP recovery effect.

Is the HP recovery effect worth it?

Let us examine an example,  a mage with a single Life Bead, which recovers 2.5% of HP with 10% chance.  Assuming that the mage is using normal attack at an average rate of 40 hits per minutes (I am taking a very low value because you will need to dodge attack while normal attack), with 10% chance, that mage will only trigger the effect roughly 4 times in a minute. That is equivalent to 4 x 2.5% = 10.0% of HP heal per minute.

As you might notice, it is actually very slow to recover HP in this manner. However, if you normally solo nest, such as farming bishop nest for materials, and time is not an issue for you, 10.0% per minute is actually not bad, since you don’t have much alternative to heal anyway, unlike priest/paladin.  Of course, if you are using 2 x life weapons, you will notice that the efficiency will increase because the chance for healing increases, reaching approximately 16% HP recovery per minute.

Check out this video for an idea of how good/bad of a pair of Life weapon in action in archbishop nest farming.

How much attack do I need to sacrifice for it?

However, in order to gain this Life weapon, you will need to sacrifice some mag attack and forgo the damage oriented prefix trigger effect. Mag Bead + Mag Staff give you additional 99 more base m.att. The value will be bloated to a maximum of 131(only?) if you take into consideration potential opt and crest boost.

The good news is, Life weapon also give you additional base HP. Assuming again perfect HP opt on all 9 accessories and armor parts, with HP A crest, you will gain ~2340 HP by choosing 2 x HP prefix weapon for mages.

CONCLUSION

There is no perfect combination under the new prefix system. It largely depends on what you want for your character and what suits your play style.

If you like maximum raw base attack (only slightly higher though), choose magical or destructive prefix.

If you like to have debuff effect (only very short duration though), choose wind or intelligence prefix. Note that wind will only benefit high crit char while intelligence will only benefit elemental attack.

If you like to play defensive by having higher base HP and have some HP leeching effect (very slow and minimal healing though), choose life prefix.

For a hybrid weapon prefix, you need to consider the activation chance and the base stats carefully by studying Tabel I and II before you choose which prefix to be imbued in which weapon.

- forum.mmosite.com/thread/../Indepth_Analysis_on_Prefix_Effect_I_Weapon-4e33241bdf61bdf13-1.html

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