Damage reduction, worth it?

[Gregorovich]

The question is how much DR should you have to ensure, that most of the damage you receive is reduced?

 

Let's say, I have a Battle Mage wearing Guardian's Plate, which gives you 13 DR if Legendary, plus 5 from Llengrath's Safeguard, 18 totally, is it worth someting?

[Flucas]

Depends if you actually need it, do you solo?

[Waski]

Are You talking about armor rating? 18 AR is nothing to be shy about but for ar stacking palladin is the way to go.

[Gregorovich]

That's more a question of theory, just interesting to know, i f somebody uses Armor Rating.

I don't solo, just want to know how high it should be

[Waski]

How high for who? Tank? Could be better but should be OK. Anybody else it's more than enough I think.

[MaxQuest]

Being able to reduce incoming damage by up to x4, is definitely strong.

 

But yeah, the question is how much AR do you need...

Spells generally have 7-9 penetration + 0.25 penetration per PL.

 

Weapons have 6-10 base penetration plus 1/2/3/4/5 for being fine/exceptional/superb/legendary/mythic.

On top of that, some martial abilities (like Penetrating Strike) have an innate weapon penetration. Usually the bonus ranges from +2 to +4 PEN. +100 PEN from monk's Empowered Strikes, being an extreme case.

 

And on top of that, enemies get +2 PEN bonus on PotD.

 

I can't check atm ingame. But can theorycraft^^, which might not be exact, but at least something. So:

- against lvl 8 rogue you need {6-10} + 2 (exceptional) + 2 (ability pen bonus) + 3 (underpen) => 13-17 AR

- against lvl 8 phys damager (without PEN bonuses): {6-10} + 2 (exceptional) + 3 (underpen) => 11-15 AR

- against lvl 8 spell-caster: {7..9} + 1 (from PL) + 4 (underpen) => 12..14 AR

 

And if you are yourself lvl 8, in exceptional plate that's 9 AR + 2.

Not enough.

In such a situation you want to:

- squish at least 3 more AR (4 vs estoc enemies) or daze all enemy damage dealers.

- terrify, frighten or somehow disable enemies with abilities that have bonus penetration (first of all rogues)

- not being crit.

 

So to answer your question:

- if you are in heavy armor enchanted with best quality and have +4AR on top of that - you are in a good spot.

- but keep in mind that plate has 9AR (5AR vs crush/shock) and brigandine has 9AR (5AR vs pierce/corrode).

 

 

Edit: there is also the following line in v1.1 patch notes:

> Armor and Penetration now scale up on PotD.

 

 

According to this post it is: +1 AR / 3 levels and +1 PEN / 2 levels (upward only).

And these values can be found in global.gamedatabundle:

- "LevelScalingArmorLevelIncrement": 3,

- "LevelScalingArmorModifier": 1,

- "LevelScalingPenetrationLevelIncrement": 2,

But if these are applied in addition to the above, it is too much. Anyone know if these apply to all enemy attacks, or only those done with fists/claws?

Edited December 24, 2018 by MaxQuest

[Kaylon]

It is enough against most enemies, but not against all of them. Also you have to check the AR for each damage type because enemies dealing crush/shock damage will have no problems to penetrate your plate. For example Dorudugan in potd has 18 penetration (I think) and deals pierce/crush.

[Gregorovich]

Thank you! Most info I needed

 

There is also a good synergy between a Pale Elf and the Guardian's Plate.

The GP has lower AR against fire and crush armor, the Pale one has fire armor bonus, so only crush damage AR is lower

[MaxQuest]

For example Dorudugan in potd has 18 penetration (I think) and deals pierce/crush.

Pierce/crush, ehh. It's uncomfortable to defend against such. Both plate and brignandine fall short. And breastplate is more effective, but still...

 

On the other hand pierce/crush is a great combination for the player himself.

It looked to me that enemies with [highPierce AND highCrush] ARs are less numerous than enemies with [highPierce AND highSlash] or [highSlash and highCrush].

Edited December 24, 2018 by MaxQuest

[Flucas]

Yes people use it. For tank its great, paladin has the highest ar passive and goldpact has highest active. Wiz has second highest active, but last much longer.

 

Ar is just one of so many ways to survive though, there's plenty of alternatives that dont increase recovery.