Just put the values in an excel sheet (Area Damage vs Sentry Damage) with following assumptions:
45% Cluster Arrow dmg (Helmet, Boots, Quiver)
15% Sentry Damage (Torso)
20% from Steady Aim
50% Area Damage (Paragon)
No matter with how many targets and how many sentries placed I calculated it, I came to those results:
- 20% additional Area damage are always somewhere between 1 and 2% damage increase (except on 1 target ofc)
- 15% additional Sentry Damage are always somewhere between 3.8 and 4% damage increase
This means: Sentry Damage is always preferable over Area Damage
Edit:
Formula used:
Total Damage = (1+Sentries)*(1+Cluster%+dibs%)*(Targets+(0,2*Area%*(Targets-1)))+Sentries*(1+Cluster%+Sentry%+dibs%)*Targets
45% Cluster Arrow dmg (Helmet, Boots, Quiver)
15% Sentry Damage (Torso)
20% from Steady Aim
50% Area Damage (Paragon)
No matter with how many targets and how many sentries placed I calculated it, I came to those results:
- 20% additional Area damage are always somewhere between 1 and 2% damage increase (except on 1 target ofc)
- 15% additional Sentry Damage are always somewhere between 3.8 and 4% damage increase
This means: Sentry Damage is always preferable over Area Damage
Edit:
Formula used:
Total Damage = (1+Sentries)*(1+Cluster%+dibs%)*(Targets+(0,2*Area%*(Targets-1)))+Sentries*(1+Cluster%+Sentry%+dibs%)*Targets