Help with dmg and magic dmg reduction

Help with dmg and magic dmg reduction

Hi, can someone please explain (or show me an article) how dmg reduction and magic dmg reduction work?
Thanks.

 

Straight Magic Damage reduction (ie, not %, which are instead what you'll know as resistances) will reduce the damage of magical (bone spears, etc), lightning, fire and cold damage by the listed amount. This damage reduction is applied before resistances, so any elemental damage done to the character will first be reduced by straight damage reduction, and then resistances.

Straight physical damage reduction works the same way, except for physical damage. Damage Reduced by % is effectively physical resistance. It works in the same fashion as lightning/fire/cold/poison resistance, except is only used for physical damage. Damage Reduced by % is capped at a max of 50%, though you can stack it similiar to other resistances, for scenarios whereby your physical resistance is reduced, such as through the amplify damage curse (-100% physical resistance) or Decrepify (-50% physical resistance).

So the general rule is that straight damage reduction is calculated first, and then resistances. Straight damage reduction is best used for attacks that deal small amounts of damage, but over a long period of time (which includes the Tomb Vipers cloud attack in Nith's temple), while percentile reduction is better used for attacks that deal large amounts of damage in a single attack.

With that said, I seem to remember some bug with overflow reduction. Something related to it was apparently fixed in patch 1.10, but I don't think it was (or that it was completely). By overflow reduction, I'm referring to a certain damage type's reduction reducing the damage of the other damage type, in the event that it completely reduces it's own

 

Before resistances you say? Does that mean I can ignore my resistances if I can reduce enough damage?

 

I wouldn't recommend it. You can't really get that high a number for straight damage or magical damage reduction (I think the highest is probably around 160 or something) so it's still better to use resistances. It's generally easier to get resists than straight damage reduction anyway.

 

BTW, it's the other way around for absorption. Resists come first, then % absorb, then straight absorb.

Straight PDR is very useful for Nihlathak runs. About 30-40 should absorb all of the physical part of the damage while moving in the invisible poison cloud of the tomb vipers. Magical amulets can have up to 25 straight PDR, for example (rares only up to 4). My lightning/FO sorc is the proud owner of a +3 lightning/21 PDR one :grin:

 

Wait, what if I can somehow get Energy shield up to massive levels so it can absorb 95% of all damage? Even with a modest 40 damage/magic damage reduction (easily doable with Gerkes, Gladiator's bane/Iron Pelt, magic ammy or appropriate Circlet) then an attack would have to do more than 800 damage in one hit in order to deal any damage to me at all! I can then pretty much ignore everything but poison resists. I can walk around in Hell with base vitality and not care

With all the Lightning Skill Charms I'd need to boost ES anyways, I can probably crank out decent lightning damage, but then I'd need some sort of runeword to get me a conviction aura so I can kill Lightning immune monstes. hmm...

 

Level 40 Energy shield would cause your mana to absorb 95%, for the record.

Still, it's not going to quite work as you expect. The straight damage reduction is only going to help as long as you have enough mana to absorb the damage, and because the damage that is taken from mana is calculted before any resistances, damage reduction or absorb calculations, your mana's going to drop pretty quick. Damage taken goes to mana isn't going to help at all in this scenario.

So the question I put forward to you now is: What happens after your base vit, level 40 energy shield sorc takes a few hits? :wink3:

 

Well, base vitality, enough strength wear items, and then then everything in energy. With a Frosbturns, maybe a soj and then a rare ring with +mana, FCR, and good poison resist, and some charms with +mana (hopefully the lightning charms will have +mana as well), I'm guessing I can have well over 1000 mana. Max out telekinesis, and I have a fuel-efficient ES. Just need to add a few points to warmth and I can probably regen mana faster than I use it.

It's all about having a big enough mana bulb to shrug off everything except mana burn My current sorc has just over 700 mana currently, and she regens her mana so quickly she rarely has to quaff a mana pot in a meph run. With enough mana equipment and items, I'll never run out. And don't forget, I can still chug mana pots in an emergency.

 

It's plausible, yes, as long as you can keep your mana from depleting to a point where the energy shield dies, because then you're toast.

The other thing you might want to consider an insight runeword, for it's meditation aura.

Also, I'd watch out for blood mana.

 

On myself or on my merc? I'd still want that conviction runeword to break LI...

 

Ideally on your merc. As far as lightning immunes go, the infinity runeword would be able to break any with a lightning resistance of 116% or less. Although there's only a couple above this, there's quite alot that are 115% and 110% lightning resist. In those scenarios, you'd be attacking a creature who's new lightning resist was 98% and 93% respectively, which is still pretty much negating your lightning damage anyway, unless you get some other source of -lightning resistance, such as facets or griffons.

Most lightning immunes have 100% lightning resistance though, so those will be taken down to 83% lightning resist with the infinity runeword.

The main reason I mentioned the insight runeword is because the thing you'll want to watch out for would be your mana. I've played a ES sorc a few times, and there will be points in the game where you'll really notice the damage you take draining your mana pretty bad, even if you do have 1000+ mana.

The damage your mana will be taking is the same damage that a 0 all resist char would be taking, and not many people would travel hell with 0 all resists, even if they had 1500 life. This is why it's important to offset this by making sure your mana (or "life") is not as vulnerable.

That said, these are just recommendations, and the choice is yours in the end. Infinity would improve your killing speed, which would subsequently improve your chances of surviving (because a monster can't kill you if it's already dead).