How is DPS actually calculated?

Average hit is the midpoint of the minimum and maximum hit. That is multiplied by hit chance and any percentage damage modifier, then divided by the weapon's attack interval in seconds. The result is the long-run average damage you deal each second.

Why use average hit instead of max hit?

In-game damage rolls roughly uniformly between a floor and your ability's max hit, so over many hits the expected damage converges on the midpoint. Using max hit alone overstates real damage by nearly a factor of two for abilities that roll from a low floor.

What attack interval should I enter?

Use the weapon's tick-based speed converted to seconds. RuneScape 3 ticks are 0.6 seconds each, so a fast weapon at 4 ticks is 2.4 seconds and an average weapon at 6 ticks is 3.6 seconds per auto-attack cycle.

Does hit chance matter much?

Yes. DPS scales linearly with hit chance, so raising accuracy from 70 to 90 percent is a flat 28 percent damage increase. Against high-defence targets, accuracy gear can outperform pure damage gear.

How do percentage modifiers stack?

This tool treats your entered modifier as a single combined multiplier applied to average damage. If you have several additive boosts, sum their percentages first; if they multiply, multiply the factors and convert back to a single percentage before entering it.

RuneScape 3 DPS Calculator

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DPS is the single most useful number for comparing RuneScape 3 builds and gear, because it folds your hit size, accuracy, and weapon speed into one figure you can rank. This calculator uses the standard expected-value formula rather than quoting max hit, so the number reflects real sustained damage.

How it works

Average damage per second is the expected damage of one hit divided by how long that hit takes:

avgHit = (minHit + maxHit) / 2
dps    = avgHit × hitChance × (1 + modifier%) / attackInterval

Hit chance and the damage modifier scale the average hit, and dividing by the attack interval in seconds converts per-hit damage into per-second damage. Every term is linear, so doubling accuracy, average hit, or attack speed each doubles DPS independently.

Example and tips

An ability that hits between 200 and 600 averages 400 per hit. At 85 percent hit chance, a 10 percent damage aura, and a 2.4 second weapon interval, DPS is 400 × 0.85 × 1.10 / 2.4, about 156 per second. Convert weapon speeds from ticks to seconds first (one tick is 0.6 seconds) and remember that against tanky bosses, accuracy upgrades often beat raw damage because hit chance multiplies everything.