Path of Exile (PoE) DPS Calculator

An advanced tool to calculate your skill’s real Damage Per Second.

Average DPS (including crits)

2,079

Average Hit (Non-Crit)
937.5

Non-Crit DPS
1,406

Average Crit Hit
1,875

What is a Path of Exile DPS Calculator?

A path of exile dps calculator is a tool designed to estimate the damage output of a character’s skill over one second. In a complex game like Path of Exile, simply looking at a weapon’s base damage is not enough. To get an accurate picture, you must account for numerous variables including attack speed, critical strike chance, critical strike multiplier, and various damage modifiers categorized as ‘Increased’ and ‘More’. This calculator helps players theorycraft builds, compare gear upgrades, and understand the real-world impact of different support gems and passive skill tree choices without having to rely solely on in-game tooltips, which can sometimes be misleading.

Path of Exile DPS Formula and Explanation

Calculating your true DPS involves a multi-step formula that layers different types of multipliers. The order of operations is critical. Generally, all ‘Increased’ sources are added together, while all ‘More’ sources are multiplied with each other. This is why ‘More’ multipliers are so powerful.

The basic formula for average damage per hit, including critical strikes, is:

Avg Hit = (Base Dmg * (1 + Sum of Increased Dmg %)) * (More Multi 1) * (More Multi 2) * ...

Final DPS = (Avg Hit * ((1 - Crit Chance) + (Crit Chance * Crit Multiplier))) * Attacks per Second

This path of exile dps calculator simplifies the process by breaking it down into these core components.

DPS Calculation Variables

Variable	Meaning	Unit	Typical Range
Base Damage	The raw, unmodified damage of your skill or weapon.	Points	10 – 2000+
Attacks per Second	How many times you use the skill per second.	Number (e.g., 1.5)	0.8 – 15.0+
Increased Damage	Additive damage bonus from passive tree and gear.	Percentage (%)	50% – 1000%+
More Damage	Multiplicative damage bonus, usually from support gems.	Percentage (%)	20% – 60% per source
Critical Strike Chance	The probability of a hit being a critical strike.	Percentage (%)	5% – 100%
Critical Strike Multiplier	The damage multiplier applied on a critical strike.	Percentage (%)	150% – 1000%+

For more advanced theorycrafting, consider using a PoE build planner to import your character for precise calculations.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Early-Game Two-Handed Slayer

An early-game character using a two-handed axe with the Sunder skill.

• Inputs:
  • Base Damage: 80-120
  • Attacks per Second: 1.2
  • Crit Chance: 10%
  • Crit Multiplier: 180%
  • Increased Damage: 150%
  • ‘More’ Multiplier (Melee Phys Dmg Support): 45%
• Results: This setup yields an average DPS of approximately 557. The calculator shows how much the single support gem contributes to the overall damage.

Example 2: End-Game Critical-Based Spellcaster

An end-game character built around critical strikes with a spell like Freezing Pulse.

• Inputs:
  • Base Damage: 350-550
  • Casts per Second: 5.5
  • Crit Chance: 85%
  • Crit Multiplier: 550%
  • Increased Damage: 400%
  • ‘More’ Multiplier 1 (Spell Echo): 55%
  • ‘More’ Multiplier 2 (Controlled Destruction): 35%
• Results: This high-investment setup results in an average DPS of over 1.5 Million. This example highlights the exponential power of stacking cast speed, crit chance, and multiple ‘more’ multipliers. Understanding your PoE defensive layers is crucial when building such a glass cannon.

How to Use This path of exile dps calculator

1. Enter Base Damage: Find the base physical or elemental damage of your skill gem. Add any ‘adds # to # damage’ from your gear to this.
2. Input Attack/Cast Speed: Use the value from your character sheet for the selected skill.
3. Add Critical Strike Stats: Input your critical strike chance and multiplier, also from the character sheet.
4. Sum Increased Damage: Add up all sources of ‘increased damage’ from your passive tree, jewels, and gear that apply to the skill.
5. List ‘More’ Multipliers: Enter your most significant ‘more’ multipliers from support gems into separate fields. These are multiplicative, so they have a huge impact.
6. Review Results: The calculator instantly provides your Average DPS, Non-Crit DPS, and Average Hit, allowing you to see the impact of your critical strikes.

Key Factors That Affect Path of Exile DPS

• Base Damage: The foundation of your damage. Higher-level gems and better weapons provide a stronger base to multiply.
• Attack/Cast Speed: A direct multiplier to your DPS. Hitting faster means dealing damage more often.
• ‘Increased’ vs ‘More’ Damage: ‘More’ multipliers are far more impactful than ‘Increased’ damage because they multiply with all other modifiers. Stacking ‘Increased’ damage has diminishing returns.
• Critical Strike Investment: Investing in both Critical Strike Chance and Multiplier leads to exponential damage growth. One without the other is inefficient.
• Enemy Resistances: This calculator doesn’t account for enemy resistances or armour. Use skills like curses or exposure to lower enemy resistances and amplify your effective DPS.
• Accuracy: For attack-based builds, your chance to hit (Accuracy) is crucial. If your hit chance is 90%, you are effectively losing 10% of your DPS. This calculator assumes a 100% hit chance. A PoE crafting simulator can help you create gear with the necessary accuracy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why is my in-game tooltip DPS different from this path of exile dps calculator?

The in-game tooltip may not correctly factor in all conditional buffs, enemy debuffs, or certain complex mechanics. This calculator provides a more controlled environment to test specific stats but may not include things like temporary buffs from flasks or conditional power charges.

What is the difference between Physical DPS and Elemental DPS?

Physical DPS (pDPS) is derived only from physical damage, while Elemental DPS (eDPS) comes from fire, cold, and lightning damage. They are calculated separately and are affected by different enemy defenses (Armour vs. Resistances).

How important are ‘More’ multipliers?

Extremely important. Because they are multiplicative, adding a new 40% ‘more’ multiplier is a true 1.4x damage increase, whereas adding 40% ‘increased’ damage to an existing 400% is only a small relative gain.

Does this calculator work for Damage over Time (DoT) skills?

No. DoT builds, like those using Ignite, Poison, or skills like Righteous Fire, have a completely different calculation method based on the base damage per second, DoT multipliers, and duration. This tool is for hit-based builds only.

Should I always aim for 100% crit chance?

Not necessarily. The investment required to go from 90% to 100% crit chance might be better spent on more critical strike multiplier or attack speed. Finding the right balance is key for many best PoE league starters.

How do I calculate the DPS of a weapon itself?

To find a weapon’s local DPS, you add its minimum and maximum damage, divide by two, and then multiply by its attack speed. This calculator expands on that by including global modifiers from your whole build.

Where do I find my total ‘Increased Damage’?

This is the hardest part. You must manually add it up from your passive skill tree, gear, and jewels. Third-party tools like Path of Building are often used for this level of detail.

Why does the calculator have two ‘More’ damage fields?

To illustrate how multiple ‘more’ multipliers from different support gems stack. For a 6-link skill, you could have 4-5 ‘more’ multipliers, each multiplying your damage.