How do "Lash" enchantments interact with DR? Stupidly or sensibly?

[Matt516]

So a "lash" enchantment adds +25% of X damage type to your attacks. Cool. But from what I've seen, it doesn't look like it interacts with DR in the correct way. I'm wondering if I'm just misunderstanding the way it works, or if it really is implemented as nonsensically as it appears to be from watching the combat log.

 

There are 3 main ways (as I see it) that lash damage could be implemented:

 

A) Lash adds 25% of your base damage roll as a separate instance of damage of X type that is then separately resisted by DR of the appropriate type. This is stupid because it makes lash attacks almost worthless as they have to resist a huge amount of DR relative to the damage they do.

 

B) Lash adds 25% of your damage after DR as an instance of damage of X type that is then not resisted by DR (added directly to the final damage, in other words). I'm pretty sure this is how it actually works from watching the combat log, but I could be wrong. This is also stupid because it means that the damage type of the lash makes literally ZERO difference due to the damage not being resisted by DR. What's the point of fire lash vs frost lash if it's just 25% of the base damage after DR that gets tacked on at the end? None, I tells ya. None at all.

 

C) Lash adds 25% of your base damage roll as a separate instance of damage of X type. The base weapon damage is then resisted by 4/5 of the enemy's DR of the appropriate type for the base attack, and the lash damage is then resisted by 1/5 of the enemy's DR of the appropriate type for the lash. This means that lash has basically added 25% extra damage to your attack, and the enemy doesn't get any more or less DR than normal - the DR is just partitioned according to what percentage of the incoming damage is of each damage type. This is the only way that I can think of that keeps lash from being useless (as in A) and still lets the damage type of lash actually mean something (as opposed to B). Or to put it another way - this © is the only sensible and fair way I can think of for lash to work. Unfortunately... I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. At least, the combat log doesn't make it look that way.

 

Am I correct about lash working as described in B? Is there another "fair" and "sensible" way of implementing it other than what I described in C? Am I an idiot?

 

Thanks.

 

PS: My testing was done primarily with Justice. If you know what that weapon is or don't mind looking it up, cool. If you don't and don't want spoilers, don't. Just providing that info in case it makes a difference for some reason.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Matt516

[dirigible]

I believe I read somewhere that Lash is always calculated vs 1/4th of the enemy's normal DR.

 

So for instance, lets say you deal 13 piercing damage + 3 fire damage (25% lash, rounded down)

The enemy has 10 piercing DR and 8 fire DR.

 

You would deal 3 piercing damage + 1 fire damage.

[anameforobsidian]

I also haven't noticed lash making a huge difference, but then again, there's few wide disparities in DR.

[sparklecat]

I believe I read somewhere that Lash is always calculated vs 1/4th of the enemy's normal DR.

 

So for instance, lets say you deal 13 piercing damage + 3 fire damage (25% lash, rounded down)

The enemy has 10 piercing DR and 8 fire DR.

 

You would deal 3 piercing damage + 1 fire damage.

This fits with my recollection as well - it's against 25% of the DR of the appropriate type.

Edited April 6, 2015 by sparklecat

[mazeltov]

What's the point of fire lash vs frost lash if it's just 25% of the base damage after DR that gets tacked on at the end? None, I tells ya. None at all.

 

The difference is relevant if the lasher has damage multipliers affecting the lash portion, e.g. Scion of Flame.

[Katarack21]

It's also another thing that you can manipulate with enemy weaknessess. I use he various lashes in a mixture on my guys weapons, to make sure that no matter what is going on everybody should be able to deal at least *some* damage to just about everybody.

[b0rsuk]

 

What's the point of fire lash vs frost lash if it's just 25% of the base damage after DR that gets tacked on at the end? None, I tells ya. None at all.

 

The difference is relevant if the lasher has damage multipliers affecting the lash portion, e.g. Scion of Flame.

 

 

 

So if lash gives +25% damage, and a scion talent boosts that by 20%... Would that be 0.25 * 1.2 = 30% damage bonus instead of 25% bonus ? Is that noticable ?

[Matt516]

I've also seen it posted that the lash goes up against 1/4 of the DR - I haven't seen any evidence of this in game, however. It always looks like it's being applied as per B - the normal weapon damage is reduced by DR, then has 25% of the result added.

 

Will test with a bit more conscientiousness tonight by beating the crap out of Eder for a while, then post the combat logs.

[Matt516]

Tested it - looks like that's how it works for sure. Regular attack goes up against full DR of the appropriate type, and the lash goes up against 1/4 of the DR of the appropriate type. The lash damage pre-DR isn't shown, however - just the post-DR lash damage.