I've been contemplating whether my current Gesture of Orpheus is sufficient, or if I should switch to my Thunderfury with comparable damage (Around 2.2k dps as well)
Basically, I'm torn between 20% Arcane Damage or TF's proc, which not only is awesome for supplemental damage and the enemy debuff, but also to ensure EE is a bit more consistent.
20% more arcane > TF's proc. The exception would be a really well rolled TF with 2400+ dps compared to a 2200 Orpheus. This has been discussed in another thread.
I tried this the other day. Using arcane torrent atm with full Tal's set. My current Gesture of Orpheus would give me 2% less sheet dps than my TF but 17%( i think) more arcane skill damage. I was surprised by the results though. My numbers might have been higher but things simply died way faster with the TF on T4. I mean noticeably faster. I also have a 2460 dps starfire (my TF isn't very good like 2150) and the starfire gives me 10% more sheet. Again, the TF just makes a huge difference. If my TF was only like 1900 damage I think it would still be better unfortunately. I kinda hate how it renders other weapons useless but I've tried about every weapon and the TF always wins and it doesn't have anything to do with Tal's bonus either.
In my testing TF also beats gesture, think for archon in particular, your increased DPS also scales fine with the proc of TF. But if in doubt a rude template for testing is killing Ghom and taking time.. unfortunately no dummy testing is available, as the whole transparency of best DPS options in the game is really blurred out, beyond beginner level.
I have a 2483 TF and a 2230 Gesture with 20% Arcane, and the TF comes out ahead, even without factoring in the fact that I get cold and lightning damage from my TF to proc EE (the damage is rolled to cold). The short answer is that it depends on the rolls, but a very top-end TF will always beat a Gesture, but if you have a poorly rolled TF the Gesture is most likely going to come out ahead.
I've been contemplating whether my current Gesture of Orpheus is sufficient, or if I should switch to my Thunderfury with comparable damage (Around 2.2k dps as well)
Basically, I'm torn between 20% Arcane Damage or TF's proc, which not only is awesome for supplemental damage and the enemy debuff, but also to ensure EE is a bit more consistent.
Thoughts?
I'm not considering it just for maximum damage purposes, but for overall utility.
In any case, I'll go search for the thread you're talking about. Thanks!
Here's one of the previous discussions:
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/wizard-the-ancient-repositories/86629-gesture-of-orpheus-vs-thunderfury-discussion
No real conclusion in terms of DPS. Overall, I think TF is just better because it adds a bit of survivability, so that might be the tiebreaker.