It is great in C grade but once you get to about level 48 or so the it starts giving marginally less and less effect. You're better off using M.Atk setup like Demon Set. In B Grade it's about the difference between Zubei Robe set (10% M.Atk) and Avadon - that's only about 75 dmg per mob, IF even that...
They should change it so that it added 10% to the M.Atk rating on the weapon - so a +10 Homu with 152 M.Atk would get be 168 M.Atk with Empower SA (just example don't think Homu can have that SA, and decimals round up in L2 :) ). That would be very nice :)
You're better off going with Acumen weapon and gettign Empower 1 from a Shillien Oracle IMO. Just hang around Dion.
How does it work? Is it like the acumen SA - only making your magic attacks stronger? or is it like the BtB SA giving the buff randomly?
Empower SA adds a set amount of Matk to your total. The SoWD w/EmpowerSA was something like 24 or 26 matk.
This Matk is added after everything else is calculated, thus unlike matk from the Empower Buff or matk from the weapon itself, the 26 matk will never be more than what is stated. (+26 Matk on a weapon is MUCH more than +26 to your final Matk, since weapon matk is used in a formula to calculate total matk and not just tacked on at the end.)
This extra matk is 'passive'. Thus as long as you have the weapon equipped you get the extra matk. No need to cast/buff or trigger anything.
Is it worth it? Depends on your class. For straight nukers it's of minor difference. (I'd say ~10 dam per point of matk roughly.) So if you just need just a bit more damage (with no MP cost!) and you aren't relying on the acumen SA to boost your cast speed, the extra matk is a fair choice.
For 'hybrid' or buffer classes where you can't 'tat up' or don't want to use the +matk robe sets then this SA is a bit more useful. (Shillien Knight, Summoner, Elder, Warcryer, etc.)
I tried this with my OL (SoWD) in C grade and I found it quite useful. The extra damage/land rate wasn't huge, but it was quite noticable. I ended up exchanging that weapon for a MatU w/Mana up and the extra MP wasn't nearly as useful as the extra matk was from empower. (Granted my dwarves use that weapon now that my OL has moved up...and for them the extra MP IS worthwhile vs the lower patk.)
NOTE: The 'Magic Power' SA works much like the Empower SA does...with two changes.
1)The Matk added at the end is higher. (~115 Matk iirc)
2)All MP costs are +15%
This means that as you level the cost to get the extra matk rises as your 'spells' level...but the extra matk doesn't! (Thus Magic Power becomes progressively worse for true nukers as they level...)
On the other hand for 'part-time' casters Magic Power can add a much more notable amount of land rate/damage than the Empower SA can alone. As long as their spells don't rise significantly in power with level. (Thus a tank would get the most out of the Magic Power SA while healer/buffers would want to avoid it as the extra MP cost isn't worth while since it is added to ALL spells...not just the ones that do damage.)
Empower SA adds a set amount of Matk to your total. The SoWD w/EmpowerSA was something like 24 or 26 matk.
This Matk is added after everything else is calculated, thus unlike matk from the Empower Buff or matk from the weapon itself, the 26 matk will never be more than what is stated. (+26 Matk on a weapon is MUCH more than +26 to your final Matk, since weapon matk is used in a formula to calculate total matk and not just tacked on at the end.)
This extra matk is 'passive'. Thus as long as you have the weapon equipped you get the extra matk. No need to cast/buff or trigger anything.
Is it worth it? Depends on your class. For straight nukers it's of minor difference. (I'd say ~10 dam per point of matk roughly.) So if you just need just a bit more damage (with no MP cost!) and you aren't relying on the acumen SA to boost your cast speed, the extra matk is a fair choice.
It is not even that much, since the formula for magic damage uses the square root of matk/mdef.
For example, let's say your nuker has 1000 matk and nukes a mob with 500 mdef using a nuke with power 85 (about a lvl 60 nuke):
damage = sqrt (1000/500)*9.1*85 = 1094 damage
Now let's give this nuker the same weapon, just with the empower SA (26 matk or whatever it is):
damage = sqrt (1026/500)*9.1*85 = 1108 damage
So the extra 26 matk give 14 damage in total in this example - absolutely useless, since the chances are VERY low that the 14 extra damage per nuke make any difference (in the number of nukes necessary to kill the mob).
As varaya has done the math, I can skip that part.
Matk is a massively weak stat
Cast speed is a massively powerful stat.
The SA Empower would be immensely better off as a 50% good magic buff SA, and Magic Power needs to be changed to be a straight +X% damage (after all modifiers) for +X% mana. Much like Haste, Magic Power should have varying numbers for 1 and 2-handed weapons.
It is not even that much, since the formula for magic damage uses the square root of matk/mdef.
Ack, I need to stop posting when I'm tired. Well that and It's been a long time since I did the Matk tests and I didn't write down who did and got what.
To clarify, now that I'm awake and can think back more clearly...I got the 10 dam per pt from the *weapon matk* difference on a SH. (Sorry had that confused with my OL...there is a point where playing so many chars can get confusing, especially when you are testing various things on each one.)
As for the extra damage from the Emp-SA, I couldn't find the exact screen I was using to check the damage both pre/post SA so I can't give the exact numbers. Although my matk at those levels when I did the test was ~357. Which is way lower than what a 'nuker' would have. And as such +26 final matk is a far greater % on a 'melee' setup char. (SK/OL)
Doing some 'quicky' math on the mob HP and comparing it to what I remember from then. (11+ levels ago!) I think the total dam was ~30-40 with that weapon/SA. Like I said, low but noticable...mob HP was 2K and I was just using Steal.Essense w/o shots to open before melee beating the mobs. (Doing 1/4 dam to hp, 2k/4 = 500dam 530-540 damage is noticable when you have to melee the mobs to death afterwards...)
Well, your MAtk is low, and it is a melee setup mob.
But on a nuker, at level ~60, when you are buffed to about 1.5k M.Atk; you are looking at a very unnoticeable difference. Better off putting Acumen on a Weapon and using an M.Atk robe set (Like Knowledge/Zubei/Demon/Nightmare/etc.) as you will get more damage out of those sets, and gain more M.Atk.
Zubei Robe Set gives me ~65 M.Atk at level 57, and the 10% scales up with your M.Atk as you level up (as do other percent based set bonuses), this stat gives you a set amount, and is borderline useless. You get [almost] twice the bonus from using a M.Atk robe set [which is very cheap] but lose 0 [no/none] cast speed...
Melee characters are a different deal, but stay away form this on a nuker.
Also, Percent-based set bonuses scale up with your toon's M.Atk as you level up (they don't "stagnate", even though the stat itself becomes less and less important, but that isn't the point :P), but numerical bonuses like Empower SA will. By the time you are 7x, Empower/Magic Power SA will be worse than any mage M.Atk robe set bonuses available for you to wear. These SAs are only useful to low C Grade nukers who cannot afford a Demon Robe Set (and a Homu/Acumen + Demon will give you more M.Atk than a Karmian Set with Empower/Magic Power weapon without losing cast speed, anyways - not to mention same/higher M.Atk base on the weapon - and have fun trying to sell it at same/higher price you brought it quickly, unlike a Homu).
Empower SA is almost useless. Magic power SA has very little impact on mage classes, since they have inherently high INT modifier (if empower buff is present, it is almost negligible). Maybe when someones want to CDL and wants to maximize damage (still debatable). On the other hand, it can be very useful on classes that have low INT modifier (thus low Matk) and use magical attacks (orc mages, some tank classes as pain said). I still use such an SA on my WC (note: I hardly PvP). It always helped me land sleep on mobs much higher than my level.