Physical Damage vs GOLD

[joe05]

Guys - I have your basic dilemma .. do I go high PHy Damage(93-315; prevent monster heal) at very slow speed or use a GOLD weapon that is 43-150 with -60% target defense / slows monster 25%; very fast speed = has other modifiers I can't remember ... this is for my Might Merc used with my Necromancer ... Pike(Blue) vs Trident(Gold) ... I've had this dilemma before = the Gold weapons do much lower damage, but have a long list of modifiers == how do you decide ... I found other weapons that I couldn't use, but I will have to decide when I proceed to other characters; phy damage vs Gold ...did Barbarian; on Necromancer now ... this guy finds more Yellow and Gold stuff :-) ... have my magic finding at +98% .. wish I'd known this when I equipped my Barbarian, I'd have added magic finding(... will do when I try Nightmare) :-( ... I saved the Trident in case I should go that route ... I heard both ways: use high damage and use Yellow/Gold ... on the equipment, it seems obvious(Yellow/Gold), but on the weapons, I can't tell which is better ... both seems to do the trick when I make a run-through etc ... just started Act 5

[Lonelypilgrim]

Now that is one confusing text!Pardon...
Go for the low damage and high attack speed one.In nightmare difficulty it is better to hit a lot because you will start to miss often there.

[joe05]

LonleyPilgrim - sorry about that :-) ... I'm confused, so I guess I didn't explain my dilemma clearly ... I knew something had to "be up", as Gold euipment is the toughest to acquire ... damn, I hope I didn't throw away other good stuff before or when I played the Barbarian ... if you or anyone needs me to clarify, don't hesitate to ask ... I really appreciate all the help this forum provides = saves much angst and aggravation ... it was a "long night" of game playing + I'm physically disabled, so the pain was mounting(... pill time was 1am and I was still going at 3am = call me nuts or obsessed)) ... I will keep a lookout for GOLD weapons throughout Act 5

[Noober]

I can't remember the exact breakpoints, but I'm pretty sure that the rare will do more damage.

[Lonelypilgrim]

aah..now i get it.
But now i agree that rares will do considerabely more damage later,so save as many of that as you can!The dark yellow(unique)weapons are pretty good aswell.Especially if they look different.

[Deadalready]

You can upgrade Unique items to do more damage, look it up on the Blizzard site for the Horadric Cube formula.