Test your knowlegde

[VeryAngryFelid]

FoFi, Fighting 25, PDA, Armour 27, Axes 23.6, +2 battleaxe of flaming, Str 34, Dex 24.
What is better and by how much: a +3 ring of slaying or a ring with Str+10, Dex-4 vs Ice Fiend.
Guess the answer.

[duvessa]

You didn't include all the relevant information, so it's hard to make an informed guess...

[VeryAngryFelid]

Correct answer is under spoiler.

Spoiler: show

+3 slaying deals 10% less damage than Str+10, Dex-4

31.2 vs 34.6.
I was really surprised, I didn't expect Str being that important when it is already very high (Str 34 vs Str 44). I will definitely put more points into Str in games where my goal is 15 runes since a couple of EV points is less important than ability to kill those fiends etc. faster

[byrel]

To put it another way, if you put all nine of your level-up points into str you'd get about 3 slaying at the end of the game. OTOH:

  Code:

Race: Fo str: 35 dex: 24 ER: 11 dodging:20 armour: 27 :: EV: 31
Race: Fo str: 44 dex: 15 ER: 11 dodging:20 armour: 27 :: EV: 23

You'd be giving up 8 EV. I'd take the 8 EV over 3 slaying.

(Assuming you put all points into dex in the example and had 20 dodging, which sounds about right for 27 armour)

[Siegurt]

To look at it from a purely damage perspective:

Strength is +1/39 base damage on average per point, so 10 strength is just over 1/4 of a battle axe's 15, or almost 4 (3.85), which is already more than 3 slaying. Additionally, the strength damage is further multiplied by fighting and weapon skill bonuses.
As was pointed out though damage vs. Ev is a bit more subjective and situational.

[tasonir]

I'm not sure there's any way to prove this, but I voted for the correct answer and as of right now was the only one to do so I didn't do exact calculations but just ballparked it, so there's probably a fair bit of luck involved as well.

[prozacelf]

To look at it from a purely damage perspective:

Strength is +1/39 base damage on average per point, so 10 strength is just over 1/4 of a battle axe's 15, or almost 4 (3.85), which is already more than 3 slaying. Additionally, the strength damage is further multiplied by fighting and weapon skill bonuses.
As was pointed out though damage vs. Ev is a bit more subjective and situational.

Huh. I didn't know it took the base damage of the weapon into account. I'd always used a rough calculation of 3 str = 1 slay when judging whether or not I wanted to use a str+ item for slaying purposes. Then again, considering that I'm almost always either wearing str+ gear to wear armor, I'm also using a weapon that is doing battleaxe damage or better, so using the wrong rough guide hasn't really hurt anything.