Introduction
tl/dr - % dmg to demons scales very very well end game and can achieve damages way more than +100 primary stat

This stat can be very tricky and we need to understand the mechanics to conclude:

Is getting +% damage to demons better than simply +100 primary stat?

Let's start off with the item:



To be honest, this ring is hit or miss.

You could find better rings than this of course, but the stats on here are pretty sexy.

Attack speed increase? Good

Life%? Good

Armor? Amazing on rings

Life per second? Mediocre

And 1 magic property. <---- Here is the hit or miss

The stat that is absolutely unique about this ring is... +% Damage to Demons.

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Damage is Important

Well how is damage calculated? Maybe it's better just to go +50 or +70 primary stat instead of +10% damage right?

This is how it works:

Weapon Damage (Let's say 800) x Primary Stat Bonuses (let's say 1000) = overall damage

overall damage (8000) x attacks per second (let's say 1.5) = DPS

Where do you slide in the % damage to demons? You don't slide it after attacks per second.. that would be silly. You don't slide it in with primary stat bonus.. that would be silly too (or else 1% of damage dealt to demon is exactly equal to 1 primary stat).. You slide it in after weapon damage x primary stat bonus.

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Here's the calculation:

Weapon Damage (let's say 800) x Primary Stat Bonuses (let's say 1000) x % Damage to Demons (let's say 10%) = 8800

If you had a Heirophant's Seal with 10% damage to demons, you gave yourself a boost of 800 damage.. which is equivalent to +100 your primary stat bonus

But wait, is 10% Damage to Demons always going to be equivalent of getting +100 primary stat bonus? Of course not. This is where Hierophant's Seal is underrated.

Many of you have close to 2200 primary stat, maybe you're a DH or Wiz who stacks primary stat... Let's see what kind of bonuses you will be getting.

Without Hierophant's Seal - Weapon Damage (let's say 1000) x Primary Stat Bonuses (let's say 2200) = 22,000

With Hierophant's Seal - Weapon Damage (let's say 1000) x Primary Stat bonus (let's say 2200) x (10% damage to demons) = 24200

24200 damage is equivalent to an increase of +220 primary stat. In this example, 10% damage to demons is like +220 primary stat.

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Conclusion:

Hierophant's Seal is a very very good ring if you are considering end game stat bonuses. It can potentially give you +200 primary stat damage bonus (not to mention its other stats).

What you need to consider is that it scales in relation with your primary stat bonuses. If you have 1400 Strength like my barb, you will be getting an equivalent of +140 strength in damage.

If you can find a good rolled HS with crit or resistance, then snipe it off AH immediately. It's a ring that could look like this:

+30 All Resist
+6% Attack Speed Increase
+6% Life
+10% Damage to Demons (or like +200 Primary Stat)
+150 life per second
+200 Armor

Last thing to consider, how many demons are there in the game? Answer - Act 1+2 not very many.. Act 3+4.. pretty much all of them


This post was edited by dajusta on Jul 5 2012 02:12pm

Very nice explanation

Thank you. I'm new to JSP.. They don't have sticky's for this kind of stuff? Not even a sub-forum for guides and explanations?

Just PM JayPee and request a sticky, he'll judge if it worth sticky or not.


On topic, that ring sure is very nice but it depends where you farm as well, act3 is like a heaven for that with act4 (i think it filled with nothing but demons?) where act1 and 2 have humans + undead as well.

Thanks for the comment.. And yes I did address that. Act 3+4 have highest number of demons.

+1. Thanks for this.

Sorry, 95% of all conclusions is just a sum up of what have been pointed out previously ... so I just skipped it

So did someone actually test it over an extended period of time ?

Testing for concrete evidence is very difficult due to the fact that none of the attribute bonuses of Hierophant's Seal shows up in details or character stats. It's all to do with feel when comparing killing demons and non demons. As well as going into act4 and finding all demon types.