Damage vs Critical

[Merlin the Tuna]

Lets compare a longsword to a battle axe again, this time with improved critical. Lets assume that all threats are confirmed...

This is nice and simple math, but it overlooks one key aspect; wasted damage.

If an enemy has 20 HP and you deal 481 damage to him... you really only did 20 HP worth of damage. Well, fine, 30. These numbers are arbitrarily extreme, but the point needs to be made; high-multiplier weapons are far more likely to deal more damage than necessary, which essentially negates their advantage. Alternatively, while a 19-20/x2 weapon won't be as likely to trivialize the actual amount of damage dealt, and its wider crit range is always helpful.

Basically, a wide threat range optimizes your average case scenario, whereas a high multiplier optimizes your best-case scenario.

Oh, and if you want to have insane crits, Master Thrower + Throw Anything + a whole bunch of Heavy Picks will do you wonders.