The Dagger FAQ v4.0 (effective DPS versus melee/bow weapons)

[shaktiboi]

if im a A/W wielding a sword. Will i net more DPS dmg than an assassin using dagger or warrior as primary using sword?

like 16 rank in critical strike and 12 rank in swordmanship. Will that beat regular assassin with 16 rank in critial strike, and 12 rank in dagger mastery?

With 16 ranks in CS and 12 ranks in your weapon, you have a 32% crit chance (16 + 16). Table 1 of this FAQ shows the numbers for a 36% crit chance with 12 weapon mastery, and Table 2 of this FAQ shows the numbers for a 29% crit chance with 12 weapon mastery. Your answer will fall somewhere in between those two tables, so it's easy to guess. You will net more *auto-attack* DPS from the sword. Of course, then you need to factor in all your specials and decide for yourself whether you can sustain more additional DPS from dagger combos or from sword combos. IMO, there certain dagger spike chains that, coupled with Assassin's Promise, can yield far more DPS over the course of a fight than anything a sword weilder can put out over the same span of time.

[Thao]

This is really interesting, but too bad Assassin's usually don't stay in melee range for too long to really show a big difference in effectiveness because they always are spikers and if they were pressure, they'd probably get spiked down quickly.

Apparently, Critical Eye got a buff, is there a new table with new Critical Eye anywhere?

[Selket Shadowdancer]

[b] NOTE: Due to a poorly-written description for the Critical Strike dual-attack skill, some players will argue that you do not get the energy bonus for using this skill. They are wrong. You get two guaranteed critical hits, and each critical will yield the energy bonus. So you can get up to +8 energy per use of this dual-attack skill.

You can get a total of +16 energy from using Critical Strike (3x2) with Critical Eye (1x2) active and weapon switching to zealous daggers (1x2) with critical strikes attribute at the breakpoint of 13 (3x2). 3+3+1+1x2=16.

Paired with Moebius Strike you have some seriously sick energy managment.

[NeferJackal]

How much of an increase does an IAS like Critical Agility grant an Assassin in energy management? What does the effective energy gain become then?

If going by the standard stats of 14 Daggers, 13 Critical and using Critical Eye.

And when adding a Zealous mod?