ashton007 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:26 pmIt’s the way people treat/word it like it’s str/bs/int, it’s better than the main stats in itself. It cannot be de-buffed and it comes after toughness in the actual formula. While you’re right about the math there.
But for the purposes of calculating damage, the 3 power stats are identical to strength, ballistic skill and intelligence. Those 3 power stats only exist to let you keep increasing your damage without also increasing your parry/dodge/disrput strike-through which the 3 primary stats also do as well as increasing your damage. Stacking the power stat is strictly worse than stacking the primary stat unless you are soft-capped. If soft-capped then to max out damage you should start stacking power, however it is also a legitimate choice to overstack the primary stat (especially if its strength which has a load of debuffs) to counter debuffs, although this does result in a tiny bit of a dps loss.
In terms of the formula, power is not after toughness either. On your character sheet for the types of attack - melee, ranged and magic - there is an entry named "Damage Bonus", which shows a "DPS" bonus. That "DPS" bonus is made up of a "DPS" bonus from the primary stat (Stat / 5) added to a "DPS" bonus from the power stat (Stat / 5). On the main stat window if you mouse-over the Toughness there is a similar "DPS Reduction" which is Toughness / 5 (I don't think the secondary stat of Fortude - basically Toughness Power - is in the game yet?).
In the combat formula, it these total "DPS" and total "Reduction to DPS" values which are used.
Base Ability Damage + ((DPS Bonus - Reduction to DPS) * Ability Multiplier)
Where the ability multiplier is typically the maximum value out of the GCD and the cast time, but it is often tweaked to be a lower value for AOE and for DoTs, with AoE DoTs being the most hit.
The primary stat, the power stat and toughness are all factored into the damage formula in the same step.