yes that's a very nice cleaver.
In my experience all hit spell really does, in a PvM environment, is reduce damage.
For as long as I can remember, most (if not all) hit spells cause the part of one's DI from chivalry spell or special move sources to not apply.
For example, my old hit lightning broadsword would lose 20-30 points of its damage if the lightning went off. Not all that important if the target has low energy resist, but a dealbreaker if I only get 10-15 points of lightning exchanged for 2-3 times as much "normal" damage lost.