Andor's Trail

The dagger and one-handed sword proficiency skills both "increase the block chance by 30% of the item's base block chance". Some weapons have a negative block chance though, so how does it work then? For example, a Quickstrike dagger has a BC of -20%. So does that stay at -20%, or does it go to -26%, or to -14%? Based on the description I would assume the latter, but is that how it actually works?

Equipping 2 QSDs will result in having your BC lowered by 40% (2 x 20%)

The proficiency skills do not effect negative numbers.

Thanks for your replies. All is clear.

That's not what I would expect though. I would expect proficiency in a weapon skill to not only increase the positive aspects of the weapon, but also to decrease the negative aspects. A dagger may be a poor blocking weapon, but I would expect proficiency in the weapon to make it less poor. Just my opinion though

rijackson741 wrote:A dagger may be a poor blocking weapon, but I would expect proficiency in the weapon to make it less poor. Just my opinion though

+1 Agreed

fiernaq wrote:

rijackson741 wrote:A dagger may be a poor blocking weapon, but I would expect proficiency in the weapon to make it less poor. Just my opinion though

+1 Agreed

i disagree, all of the weapons are not intended for parrying, etc..

Blackwater Dagger: 40% AC, 5% BC
DotSP: 20% AC, 20 Crit
QSD: 20% AC, -20% BC

Dagger Proficiency: For each skill level, increases attack chance when using daggers and shortswords by 30% of the item's base attack chance, increases block chance by 30% of the item's base block chance, and increases critical skill by 10% of the item's base critical skill.

Wielding one of the above daggers at a time and gaining 1 point in Dagger Proficiency does the following to your stats:

BWD: 52% AC, 6% BC (gain of 12% AC and 1% BC for 13 total additional stats)
DotSP: 26% AC, 22 Crit (gain of 6% AC and 2 Crit for 8 total additional stats)
QSD: 26% AC, -20% BC (gain of 6% AC for 6 total additional stats)

Wielding one of the above daggers at a time and gaining 3 points in Dagger Proficiency does the following to your stats:

BWD: 76% AC, 9% BC (gain of 36% AC and 4% BC for 40 total additional stats)
DotSP: 38% AC, 26 Crit (gain of 18% AC and 6 Crit for 24 total additional stats)
QSD: 38% AC, -20% BC (gain of 18% AC for 18 total additional stats)

Conclusion: Dagger Proficiency helps some weapons more than it helps others.

fiernaq wrote:Blackwater Dagger: 40% AC, 5% BC
DotSP: 20% AC, 20 Crit
QSD: 20% AC, -20% BC

Dagger Proficiency: For each skill level, increases attack chance when using daggers and shortswords by 30% of the item's base attack chance, increases block chance by 30% of the item's base block chance, and increases critical skill by 10% of the item's base critical skill.

Wielding one of the above daggers at a time and gaining 1 point in Dagger Proficiency does the following to your stats:

BWD: 52% AC, 6% BC (gain of 12% AC and 1% BC for 13 total additional stats)
DotSP: 26% AC, 22 Crit (gain of 6% AC and 2 Crit for 8 total additional stats)
QSD: 26% AC, -20% BC (gain of 6% AC for 6 total additional stats)

Wielding one of the above daggers at a time and gaining 3 points in Dagger Proficiency does the following to your stats:

BWD: 76% AC, 9% BC (gain of 36% AC and 4% BC for 40 total additional stats)
DotSP: 38% AC, 26 Crit (gain of 18% AC and 6 Crit for 24 total additional stats)
QSD: 38% AC, -20% BC (gain of 18% AC for 18 total additional stats)

Conclusion: Dagger Proficiency helps some weapons more than it helps others.

+1 great post and examples!

The Blackwater Daggers are my favorite weapon to duel wield!!!

Sure, but 1% AC is not worth 1% BC which is not worth 1 Crit.
I liked the old idea of comparing them by level up value (5 AC == 3 BC), but it doesn't quite work for crits...
I guess it really depends on the builds.

I'm dual wielding DotSP (respawn bug, I took advantage, and I am not ashamed), and reaaaally crit-oriented (see my stats), but so far, the dagger prof was not as interesting as the "more crit" skill.
Now that I have 50% ECC, i moved to better crits. Once I'll have 4 points in better crits, I might move to dagger prof.

The numbers are just a demonstration. I agree, the values aren't 1:1 in every case but I think the point still remains which is that with items having static values and skills having percentage multipliers you wind up with a case of skills helping items with the most stats the most. QSD is a good example of a weapon that I would consider to be at least on par with the Blackwater Dagger if not better but throw a skill such as Dagger Proficiency at it and you'll see the item with more stats pulling an easy victory even if the weapon itself isn't all that much better.