Alright, I’ll try to do some simple math here, using data from my own character.
I switched out 10 AGI for 10 INT, and the difference came out to 26 Magic Power for 0.92% crit. This is consistent with the Wizard FAQ’s calculation of 0.916% crit for 10 AGI. Therefore, our assumptions are:
- 10 AGI = 0.916% Crit
- 10 INT = 26 Magic Power (After Fire Emblem and Dragonology buff; may vary for other characters, but this is what I got from my own)
In order to make this more universal for all players, let’s use single slot costumes (back, head, mid, lower, body) in our calculations. Therefore, we have 12 runes that can be either used for AGI or INT. And since we’re talking more for end-game, let’s use +10 runes (just for theory; not even I can afford them).
- 12x +10 AGI runes = 120 AGI = 10.992% Crit
- 12x +10 INT runes = 120 INT = 312 Magic Power
We’ll also assume 100% hit rate on a level 50 mob.
Let’s use 10 casts of Firebolt as our test range, which we’ll assume as 20 seconds in order to accomdate some instant cast Fireballs and a single Fire Flower cast. I’m going to leave out Fire Explosion, Blast Arms, and Pyromaniac haste simply because it’s more work that I don’t want to do.
Fire Flower (5/5): 15% of Magic Power every 2 seconds for 30 seconds. In our test, it will tick 10 times.
Firebolt (5/5): 49% of Magic Power
Fireball (3/3): 56% of Magic Power plus 30% of that damage over 5 seconds.
Fire Bolt Mastery (3/3): 20% chance on Firebolt cast to proc an instant cast Fireball.
Fire Arms (5/5): 30% chance for Firebolt to have a DoT which does 40% of initial damage.
Next, let’s take our example wizard, which is pretty decently geared. With full AGI runes, let’s assume:
4000 Magic Power/50% Crit
Fire Flower: 600 damage x 10 ticks = 6000 damage
Firebolt (non-crit): 1960 damage x 5 casts = 9800 damage
Firebolt DoT (non-crit): 784 damage x 2 procs (assuming RNG is not on our side) = 1568 damage (over 10 seconds)
Firebolt (crit): 3920 damage x 5 casts = 19600 damage
Firebolt DoT (crit): 1568 damage x 1 proc = 1568 damage
Fireball Instacast (non-crit): 2240 damage x 1 cast = 2240 damage
Fireball DoT (non-crit): 672 damage x 1 Fireball = 672 damage
Fireball Instacast (crit): 4480 damage x 1 cast = 4480 damage
Fireball DoT (crit): 1344 damage x 1 Fireball = 1344 damage
This brings us to our total damage of: 47272 damage
Now, let’s try it with our wizard who has changed all 12 runes to +10 INT.
4312 Magic Power/39.008% Crit
Fire Flower: 647 damage x 10 ticks = 6470 damage
Firebolt (non-crit): 2113 damage x 6 casts = 12678 damage
Firebolt DoT (non-crit): 845 damage x 2 procs (assuming RNG is not on our side) = 1690 damage (over 10 seconds)
Firebolt (crit): 4226 damage x 4 casts = 16904 damage
Firebolt DoT (crit): 1690 damage x 1 proc = 1690 damage
Fireball Instacast (non-crit): 2415 damage x 1 cast = 2415 damage
Fireball DoT (non-crit): 725 damage x 1 Fireball = 725 damage
Fireball Instacast (crit): 4830 damage x 1 cast = 4830 damage
Fireball DoT (crit): 1449 damage x 1 Fireball = 1449 damage
This brings our INT build to a total damage of: 48851 damage
Therefore, according to these calculations and character stats, INT runes should theoretically come out on top of AGI by 1579 damage, which is a 3.34% increase. However, due to potential flaws in my theory and assumptions, the RNG nature of crit, hit rate percentages on raid bosses, player movement in encounters, and introduction of other skills, results may vary greatly.
Therefore, take these calculations with a grain of salt. Test out both for yourselves if you can. And use whichever you feel works best for you. And if you do have any comments, corrections, observations, videos, etc., please share it with the rest of us!