Grampy_Bone
Arcane
All weapons across the same tier have the same underlying damage stat. They adjust it because otherwise you'd have people wondering why a greatsword, the bow, and sword and shield all have the same listed damage number.
All attacks are multiplied by a 'motion value' depending on the move. Faster weapons deal a fraction of their base damage while slower, heavier weapons multiply it. The damage stat reflects this by weighting the number to communicate the weapon's motion value. That's how Charge Blade can deal 10-20 damage a hit in sword mode and 150 damage a hit in axe mode with the same underlying damage stat. Greatswords have (I believe) the highest motion value and therefore the highest listed damage stat. It's a slow weapon but it hits very hard.
Affinity is the chance to deal 25% more or less damage per hit. To calculate the effect of -30% affinity, consider how much damage the weapon will deal across ten hits. Seven of those will deal full damage (100) while three will deal 25% less (75)
So (7x100)+(3x75) = 925/10 = Average damage of 92.5 per hit. You're losing 7.5% damage overall due to affinity. Not the end of the world. Note that negative affinity weapons tend to have higher base damage to make up for this, and you can boost affinity with skills pretty easily.
Elemental damage applies on top of base weapon damage, and isn't affected by affinity unless you have the Critical Element skill. This means elemental weapons are better the faster your attacks; greatswords might be the least suited weapons for elemental damage. Elemental damage is roughly 1/10th the listed number, so 100 fire damage stat means 10 fire damage per hit. This is further reduced by the fire resistance of the monster, which varies by location. A monster might take full fire damage to the head, partial to the wings, and none to the body. Elemental "weakness" never increases damage, it just means the monster has low resistance to that element.
