Quote (SCXiao @ 13 Sep 2011 18:03)

Important note: See this chart for weapon ratios before buying gear.

Weapon ratio means how much % str/dex you should have to make the most damage.
For example: axe users should have equal str and dex, sword users 75% str and 25% dex.

Quote (PowerTripped @ 23 Jul 2014 13:13)

You always put into the higher % stat because it gives the most return for the point invested.  There is no diminishing return and adding stats is one way to continue increasing an items dage even past it's ee cap.

With staves 25/75 you only get the % credit for what's statted meaning of those 40 strength points on the monk only 25% of those go toward increasing damage so 10 points you're actually getting credit for.  At the same time if the monk had 40 dex then you'd get 75% or 30 dex points crediting toward the damage.  Since its not diminishing its best to always put into the higher % of the two.

With axes being 50/50 you can get by starting whatever way you want.  But there is a small difference in damage going pure dex.  Without getting more wordy it's just a slight leftover of how dex used to work.