So be sure to pick the weapons and skills that compliment each other best!Īnother caution - some spells use Weapon DPS to calculate damage. The reason I mention this is because some class skills (I think Outlander skills, mostly) use Weapon Damage as a modified ('50% of Weapon Damage') and some use Weapon DPS ('50% of Weapon DPS'). Weapon Damage is the damage per hit of the weapon, as seen in your character stats screen. Weapon DPS is a simplified display of a weapon's damage output, derived from a formula using Attack Speed, Weapon Damage, and more. (Usually for gear requirements.) I sometimes increase Strength if certain gear requires it and I don't want to wait until a higher level, but almost never otherwise.Īlso, just a caution - Weapon Damage and Weapon DPS are NOT the same. Focus gives you a greater mana pool, allows you to equip higher-level Embermage-specific gear sooner, and ALSO increases your Weapon Damage by the same amount as increasing Strength! Therefore, I recommend increasing Focus as your most important attribute, with Vitality following, then Dex sprinkled in. However, I find that the benefits of increasing Strength are minimal compared to the benefits of increasing Focus. Now, there might be a couple reasons to increase your Strength as an Embermage - it WILL increase your Weapon Damage and Critical Damage, and may be useful to be able to equip certain gear. The reason for this is that Focus increases Magic Damage, and if you look at a staff or a wand, you will notice that they don't do any physical damage - it's all elemental!

If you are using Wands or a Staff, then you gain Weapon Damage from increasing your Focus. However, if you are an Embermage, you are likely using Wands or a Staff. Strength adds to Weapon Damage for EVERY class.

Torchlight 2 mage build