Weapon damage averages?

[OzarM]

All things being equal, is there any reason I shouldn't count elemental damage bonuses on top of the normal weapon damage range? Yes some enemies have high elemental resistance, but ASIDE from those circumstances?

I find myself doing this all the time and it's frustrating to be unable to quickly compare weapon damage to see which one really has the highest damage, since even a weapon that claims to have less damage via compare might actually be higher once elemental bonuses are taken into account (Unless there's a catch I'm missing.)

I couldn't find one myself, so I take it there's no add-on that does it automatically?

[twas Brillig]

One factor to consider is that flat bonuses aren't counted as "weapon damage" when you use a skill. So if a skill says "deals 300% weapon damage" it only counts the base damage.

[Candesce]

All things being equal, is there any reason I shouldn't count elemental damage bonuses on top of the normal weapon damage range?

All things being equal, you're probably raising the stats that your weapon damage is based on and collecting physical +% damage and penetration.

And none of those effects boost the random elemental damage bonuses you can pick up.

But you can get +element damage in sufficient quantities to still be interesting, especially if you're dual-wielding or using talents that hit a bunch at reduced damage, given that the talent's damage reduction doesn't apply to the elemental bonuses either.

It's a fair bit more complicated than just adding them together.