Can someone please explain Damage Reduction

[LeorictheDark]

Can someone please explain Damage Reduction

I've been playing D2 since it came out. I put it down a year or so ago and have recently picked it up again. What does "damage reduced by x" mean?? How does it compare to "damage reduced by x%"??

Thx.

 

[teksyn]

I've been playing D2 since it came out. I put it down a year or so ago and have recently picked it up again. What does "damage reduced by x" mean?? How does it compare to "damage reduced by x%"??

Thx.

It's kind of a no-brainer really.

If your item says, "Damage reduced by 5"
Then if an enemy hits you for 10 damage, you will only take 5.
IIRC - this is physical damage, there is another that says, "Magical Damage reduced.."

If your item says "Damage reduced by 5%"
If an enemy hits you for 100 damage, you will only take 5% of that, or 95 damage.

I'm pretty sure that's all there is to it, so if I am wrong, im sure someone will correct me on it.

 

[Orphan]

If your item says "Damage reduced by 5%"
If an enemy hits you for 100 damage, you will only take 5% of that, or 95 damage.

You mean "If an enemy hits you for 100 damage, you will take 5% less damage, or 95 damage.". It just sounded a little confusing, thats all

Just a couple of things to add.

Damaged Reduced by % is capped at 50% (the most you can have), anything more will be a waste.

Damaged Reduced by a set number is calculated before damage reduced by %. So, if you have one item that gives "Damaged Reduced by 10" and another that gives "Damage Reduced by 15%", the first one is calculated first, then the second.

Magical Damage Reduced includes elemental damage (just thought I would add that in, as the 'magic' property usually indicates blessed hammer/bone spears damage type).


Finally, I remember reading a discussion on the bnet forums about damage reduction, and whats the most someone can reach (I'm talking about items that give a set number of damage reduction, not the %). If I remember, it's was something like 130 physical, and about ~100 magical. This would probably make going through NM a breeze, but I'm not sure about Hell.

 

[LeorictheDark]

Thanks alot! I thought thats how it worked. I don't quite understand why everybody says damage reduction is so cool. I can understand %ages but not single numbers. who cares if you get hit for 300 dmg and have it reduced by 9 or 10?

 

[Orphan]

Thanks alot! I thought thats how it worked. I don't quite understand why everybody says damage reduction is so cool. I can understand %ages but not single numbers. who cares if you get hit for 300 dmg and have it reduced by 9 or 10?

It would depend on the situation. Obviously having only 9 or 10 damage reduction isn't much, but then again, having only 9 or 10% MF isn't much either, or 9 or 10% FHR/IAS/FBR. You would need to plan your build/items around it

If you can get upwards of 80 or so, it could be a pretty big help. Nightmare difficulty would be very simply, and on Hell mode, any creature that hits for 'low' damage, but multiple times (like Fallens, Flayers, those spawn of the styngion dogs in act 4, the maggots/maggots spawn, the wasp creatures, the swarm of insects, etc) could have their damage reduced considerably.

Ultimately, I guess it comes down to obscure builds, I guess. Sort of like a fireball paladin