Editing Myths and Misinformation (section)

==Elemental Sharding for Magic Weapons==
:'''"''elemental damage is added just to melee attacks.. wow.. >>''" - Paramedic (of Dreamweaver)'''

Some people believe that using elemental attack shards on their magic weapons will give them bonuses on their magic attacks that use that element.  This is false.  Using elemental shards on magic weapons is pointless, because they only affect your ''melee'' attacks, not your ''magical'' attacks.  (And I'm including bow weapon attacks here as "melee" attacks, since it's a lot of typing to say "melee and ranged weapon non-skill attacks" every time.)

The elemental shards are the Alabaster, Aquamarine, Amethyst, Ruby, and Topaz shards, which add metal, wood, water, fire, and earth ''melee'' damage, respectively, to weapons, or resistance to those elements on any other gear.  A Shabby Alabaster Shard provides +6 Metal Attack, for example, while a Shabby Sapphire Shard only provides +3 Magic Attack, so some assume that "+6 is better than +3."  However, since that bonus only affects ''melee'' attacks, you are actually doing ''less'' damage with the Alabaster Shards, since you probably aren't doing melee attacks with a magic weapon.

This also goes for the [[wizard]] buff Frostblade, which adds water damage to only your ''melee'' attacks.  (Yeah, it's kind of a silly buff for a wizard, since they can't really take advantage of it themselves.)

It is similarly pointless to add Amber shards to magic weapons, since they add accuracy, and magic attacks already have perfect accuracy.  Built-in accuracy bonuses on magic weapons are also pointless.  (Unless you need to take out Elemental Immune creatures and have no other physical damage attacks than using melee, but that is very rarely the case.)

The only exception to this are characters that actually ''do'' use magic weapons for melee attack, such as some venomancers in fox form.  However, you would have to be doing more melee attacks than magic attacks for it to be worth elemental sharding a weapon, even in this case.

'''In short:''' When sharding a magic weapon, only use sapphires (or the other rarer gems for channeling bonuses and the like) if you want to increase its magic attack damage.  Elemental shards on weapons only affect the damage of melee and ranged weapon attacks, not magic attacks.

For more information see:<br>
[http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=7124212#post7124212 Which is Preferred and why?] (testing no shards vs. elemental shards vs. magic shards)
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