Diablo® III

So I just got the game finally(As I'm sure you can see) after holding out for awhile, longtime D2 player. Anyways the wizard is my first character and I'm just wondering if the actual damage of my weapon (wand, dagger, staff) has an effect on my magic's damage (Arcane orb, blizz, hydra, etc), or is it just intelligence that effects that? It just never tells you how much damage your magic is doing so I really am not sure if it's better to have a lot of intel. on my weapon or having a higher damage weapon helps.

All you need to do is to turn on display damage and you will find the answer.

Short answer: yes.

Most abilities are based on your sheet dps (the number in your inventory "details" box) which in turn is based on a combination of your weapon damage (and all added damage from jewelry and OH items), attack speed, crit chance, crit damage multiplier, intelligence, and any special bonuses like +elemental% damage. Moreover, these factors all amplify each other, so that once you stack enough of each, a relatively small boost to any one can cause a much larger boost to dps that you would expect. For example, just 1 more point to min and max damage on my weapon or source would increase my total dps by over 130 points.

Your weapon's damage (as well as other damage from source, accessories, etc) plays a large part on the DPS computation. The actual formula is quite complicated (especially if you factor in elemental bonuses, attack speed, and crit chance / crit damage) which might be too much for someone who's just starting out. But to keep it simple and give you an idea of how important base damage is, think of it this way:

1 dmg = +1 dmg
1 int = +1% dmg

So let's say you have 100 dmg & 1,000 int, you'll have 1,100 dps
If you increase your int by 100, you'll have 1,200 dps
If you increase your dmg by 100 instead, you'll have 2,200 dps

In the example above, a few additional dmg gives a large dps boost because the base dmg is low while int is high. If their values were reversed (high dmg low int), additional int would give a bigger boost. That's the basic idea anyway

Things might be a bit too much to absorb too quickly, but just play the game and you'll get better understanding of the mechanics eventually. Your character sheet will show you your current DPS (based on your dmg, int, speed, crit, etc). Putting sheet multipliers aside, that should serve as a pretty good guide on how much damage your spells can dish out.

Have fun playing!

Thanks you two. :) It was a little hard to wrap my head around that the physical dmg of my weapon affects the dmg and dps of my magic. But I understand it now, thanks to your explanations, and basically doubled by dps with that knowledge. thanks. :)