Armor and armor reduction vs type of damage (how to interpret numbers)?

[fced]

Hello,
May someone help me to interpret and understand how armor + damage reduction work ?
i take for example, Hauani the mega boss (but it is the same with our armors) we see the armor =x + burn/corrode/pierce/slash... x 
I took Hauani O Whe because i had very hard time when i faced her :
Her armor stats are :  Armor 14 / Crush 14 Pierce 14 Slash 14 / Burn 8 / Corrode 14 / Freeze 8 / Shock 8.
https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Hauani_O_Whe

I understand it would be better to attack her with elemental damage (except corrode), but should we add up base Armor 14 + burn 8 = 24 to have the fire damage reduction total or is it only 8 armor against fire ?

Thanks

[fced]

also how to interpret those numbers (on top of enemy head, not the deflection) i see : 6 "unknown icon" ( 130% Shock) does this mean the magranite champion armor is completely bypassed by the weapon ( he have armor 9 + 5 shock + 5 crush)
What does the color on top of enemy head mean (i have see Red, Green, Brown)
i was sure if Green my attack will do damage, and if red it will not, but apparently i was wrong. May someone help us to understand once and for all please ?

Here Serafen attack with Lord Darryn Voulge (Exceptional -> 11 Penetration - 20-33 Slash/shock - 87 accuracy) against Magranit champion (Steel preacher team)


Here he attack Steel preacher and his attack haven't done a lot of damages... i suppose because of the fantastic damage reduction (16 slash/9 elec) i imagine the numbers mean like if he attacked with 2 penetration, i probably should have launched cipher : Driving Echoes ...

Edited March 23, 2020 by fced

[omgFIREBALLS]

The ooze has 8 burn armor. When you see it in game, it will probably say it has 14 armor. This is because 14 armor answers MOST questions about what its armor is. Then it also lists the exceptions, in this case being that it has 8 armor against burn/corrode/shock. Edit: So to be super clear, 8 burn armor, not 22.

130% means the damage type your attack will use is so strong against the enemy that it will overpenetrate and do 30% bonus damage. This happens when you have twice the penetration of your target's armor.

I... don't remember what the colors mean.

Edited March 23, 2020 by omgFIREBALLS

[Boeroer]

Underpenetration (-25/50/75% dmg) is a severe damage malus. If you also can't reliably hit but only graze (-50% dmg) then you will be having a really hard time.

Also because those numbers turn out to be much more severe because there is some special doulbe-inversion-shenanigans going on under the hood when your dmg is calculated (check out the combat log to see how devastating underpenetration and grazing is for your dmg output).

So avoid it at all cost. As soon as your PEN equals enemies AR you're good. Overpenetration is nothing you shoul strife for. It's only 30% additive dmg and most of times nothing worth investing into. Just make sure you have lots of ACC and PEN to overcome defenses and AR.

In case of Huani: here you could use a one-handed club (targets deflection) to lower Will, then use Misma (targets Will) to lower Will further (with club and Miasma it should be quite low now) and then use Shining Beacon with Ring of Focused Flame (targets Will with +10 ACC and is doing good enough penetrating burn damage) -  just an example. Look at the Megabosses like they were puzzles how to crack them open. Brute force (I don't mean the Barbarian ability ) will not be very successful...

Edited March 23, 2020 by Boeroer

[fced]

Thank you very much for your answers it is clear,

About the colors , i will speculate but we can imagine it depend the damage reduction :

Green = Pen greatly > to enemy armor
Brown = penetration a bit > or = to the enemy armor
Red = as you said (25/50/75%) Pen greatly < to enemy armor...

Finally after this i wonder if i should have put the point i spend in my Cipher (watcher) : Driving Echoes elsewhere

Edited March 23, 2020 by fced

[thelee]

6 hours ago, fced said:

About the colors , i will speculate but we can imagine it depend the damage reduction :

Green = Pen greatly > to enemy armor
Brown = penetration a bit > or = to the enemy armor
Red = as you said (25/50/75%) Pen greatly < to enemy armor...

both accuracy (chance to graze/hit) and damage reduction get colored separately.

yellow = penetration, or i believe 50-74% chance to graze/hit.

green/blue (colorblind mode) = overpenetration or 75%+ chance to graze/hit

red = everything else

[Wormerine]

Little damage is most likely a result from rolling a graze, which can severely reduce the damage. If you mouse over (plus shift I think? For details. It’s been a while) the roll you are interested in (bottom right text box) you will get a detailed breakdown of what contributed to final number. As Boeroer mention, number calculations aren’t straightforward, and maluses are more severe then they might seem. 

but on to the point I wanted to make. Due to people finding misses frustrating in turn-based combat the threshold for graze has been lowered significantly (Graze has been extended from 50-25 to 50-01). That means, that unless enemy deflection is significantly higher then your accuracy you are guaranteed or very likely to at least to grace him, even if you have about 50% chance to hit. (And them you for that matter)

The chance to hit tooltip (percentage number above enemy heads, above penetration tooltip) uses “graze” as it reference, which became quite unhelpful in the turn-based system.

For example in your first example you have only slightly more accuracy then the enemy, but the chance-to-hit shows 100%, while you have 56% chance to actually properly hit him and do full damage. Most damage you do to him will be severely reduced, meaning a buff/debuff is encouraged.