Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

[droid]

Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

Anyone have any experience with Abbott builds?

Here's the build I'm currently going for with my Abbott Avenger:

max prayer/1 pt Cleansing
max Vengeance
10 pts in Resist Cold/Light/Fire (for +5 max resist)
few other 1 pt wonders
spare pts in Salvation

prayer merc with Insight, Vgaze, Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel, SS, 2-Sol CoA, and lots of +skills and Physical Damage Reduced by X gear

The goal is to get 95% resist all, 50% damage reduced, and lots of PDR-X. Mostly for general-purpose running bosses, keys, and/or ubers, since my Chain-Orb sorc is kinda squishy. I'd run with Cleansing usually, so with my Merc's Prayer+Insight I'd have triple regen running, and then switch to Salvation against heavily elemental enemies like Gloams or vs Conviction-enchanted enemeis.

Here's my questions: Is Damage Reduced by % essentially the same as "resist physical"? It caps at 50%, right? Does it apply to purely magic damage, too? Also, I've noticed that the guy who invented the Abbott build went for pure PDR-X, and no DRb%...is there a reason PDR-X is more effective than DRb%? How effective is a 95% resist, 50% damage reduced, high-PDR build in endgame Hell?

 

[sequoia]

Re: Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

I believe PDR-X is more effective PvM because monsters don't really deal high amounts of damage. DR% for PvP, and integer DR for PvM. I think it's calculated first before DR % too, so stacking both actually isn't very effective at all.

 

[lumpor]

Re: Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

You haven't seen the point of the abbot. For an abbot damage reduced by % is sh*t.

Wield an insight (this will give you more healing that if it's on the merc), have cleansing active, then devote the rest of your gear ONLY to resists, non-percentual damage reduction and +skills to defensive auras. Also, resist auras are a better synergy than salvation, and salvation doesn't increase max resist either. The abbot guide is on another site, so i don't think people here will recognize it so mch. I'm not allowed to tell you the name of the other site, but I think you know what it is if you know what an abbot is. Ask there instead.

SSoG is not just "the guy". He's the best guide maker on the net.

Percentual damage reduction is the same as physical resistance yes. It caps at 50%. It doesn't apply to pure magic damage, and for attacks that deal physical and magic damage it only applies to the physical part.

Pdr-x is more effective because it doesn't ave a cap (biggest reason), is easier to obtain and every point helps more against attacks that do less than 100 damage

% reduction comes AFTER pdr-X. If you have 50 pdr-x and 50% reduction and take 60 damage, the pdr-50 will apply first, so 10 damage is left. Then the 50% comes in and takes away 5 damage. If you have pdr-60 and no drb%, the whole attack is negated. therefore pdr-x is better for an abbot. Also, forget ubers. This build won't do sh*t. If you're geared like a normal uber paly, you might make it, but then it's not an abbot anymore is it?

 

[droid]

Re: Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

I think thats what I'm confused about....even in Hell, monsters dont do more than 100ish damage per hit? It just seems that even in NM, my health bar drops by chunks of several hundred at a time. I'm only about 45 or so on my build right now, I'm not doing the usual baal-rush-to-80 thing, I'm grinding it out myself mostly.

 

[Master Zap]

Re: Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

I did one of these last season and had a blast with it here on hc. He was never a terribly quick killing character, but he could tank like nobodies business. One could go afk in the center of a pack of cows and comeback and be just fine, it was nuts

The general rule of thumb Ive found is one needs about 30-60-100 ish integer

hard pdr to virtually negate physical damage. In norm/nm and hell respectively.

I ran for skills
20 prayer (double bonus from using insight)
20 charge (with insight staff, charge is nice because it doesn't need ias)
20 vigor
10 vengence, about 10 in conviction
rest in might or blessed aim if you need the 200% passive ar boost.

Salvation (one pointer) was the aura I had active in hell which covered my resists nicely (because with the pdr gear I sure wasn't getting any there)

wep Insight Elder staff , Godly Ar, solid damage, free med with prayer syngery
Hat , life of everlasting pdr (I think mine was 36 pdr)
Armor , @ 85 use gbane, Iron pelt until then, or shop a Jewelers of Amicea or of the whale.
Belt , tried and true tgods. gogo sorb!
rings , 1 dwarfstar , 1 natures peace (pdr and mdr, life+ sorb. YUM!)
boots, pretty much an open spot. I'd use goblin toes of Hotspurs for the res.
gloves- Loh are hard to beat
Ammy= Pdr ammy 25 pdr
switch , 40+ res pally shield (or gris shield) with 4 sol's. Switch wep black flail. (smited for the bosses)

Merc , Blessed Aim merc with reapers toll (more damage for you and effectively doubles your pdr. , the merc will kill faster then you)

charms will be a combo of fhr (to hit 48%) and res (to cover what you may be lacking after salvation. Life on this build will be high since you need almost no str for all the gear and wont need block either. However if you build correctly, life wont matter, because except for some rare boss mods and large games you shouldn't be taking damage outside poison.


Get around 100 pdr and your styling. One doesn't need 95 res from Ga plate because if you use hotspurs and tgods, the 2 common elements are going to be maxed beyond 75res anyhow. Ga doesn't offer dr and the block is irrelevant. between the natural high res, and the sorb and the Mdr you shouldn't take elemental damages either in pvm.

Another great way to build this around the Gris set, which is a little better offensively, but not quite as good defensively (less overall pdr) (and doesnt look as cool using the staff)


I think I ended up with around 5k-6k min-max charge damage off insight which was acceptable damage. Decrep helped this quite a bit. Vengeance was around the same, or a little less.

If I rebuilt, I'd have gone pure charge or pure vengeance. Charge seemed slightly better in play then vengeance, but it wasn't much of a difference.

If you don't have a reapers toll, then give your merc obedience or infinity (nice for your 95% chance to hit) the , and use lawbringer on your swap instead of black. This way you can break the pi's and double your pdr.

 

[lumpor]

Re: Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

Was really salvation better than cleansing?

 

[Master Zap]

Re: Help on Supertank Abbott Avenger build...

Was really salvation better than cleansing?

in hell it was yeah, without running salvation your res are trashed (unless you fill your inventory with res charms). Use salvation and you "wont" take elemental damage , vs running cleanse, taking damage then healing it back.

keep in mind that running insight as your wep, the med is always going so your getting the healing benefit with salvation on.

your methods may vary, but I found this to be the best way to get enough hard pdr to negate the physical side and also address the elemental damage side of things.