What is Magic Damage?

What is Magic Damage?

Yes, I know, it's another n00b question from me...

I tried checking the "Search" function, but it did not give back anything, not even a reply that says "no matches found". Is it down or something?

Anyway, according to Arreat Summit:

So what does the "Adds 50-120 Magic Damage" modifier of Ginther's Rift actually do? Does it work like Spectral Hit? Spectral Hit, as far as I know, is a random damage of either Fire, Cold, Lightning, or Poison. But in this case, poison damage is not included since it is not considered as "Magic Damage". Is that right?

How about the "Magic Damage Reduced By 7-12" modifier of the same sword? Does it work on all and every elemental damage that hits you?

Thanks for any clarification. And please feel free to bash me after directing me to a thread that previously discussed this topic.

--maxgerin

 

Magic-type damage is the damage dealt by Bone Spirit, Bone Spear, Holy Bolt, Blessed Hammer, (half of) Psychic Hammer, Sanctuary Aura, (part of) Magic Arrow and Berserk. (as well as many D1 spells)

You cannot get %Magic Resistance from most (if any items). Only a few monsters are resistant to it, and very very few are immune. In addition, the paladin MD skills ignore the resistances of undead which makes only the Act III Wailing beast, Yeti monsters immune.

If an item reduces Magic damage that means it reduces SPELL damage. However, if an item adds magic damage it adds Magic-type damage.

Edit: yeah, I forgot Teeth. Damn.

 

It is non-elemental magical damage, the same type of damage from the Barbarian's Beserk or the Necromancer's Bone Spear, Bone Spirit and Teeth among others. Like other magical damage, you can't leech from it, and it doesn't contribute to ED on the weapon or from skills. As far as I know, players cannot resist it in any way.

 

I've also been wondering about a few things regarding reduced damage modifiers but haven't gotten around to posting or searching the forums so I think this would be as good as a time as any.

I was wondering how significant a modifier of damage reduced by 10 really is? I mean it certainly couldn't mean that the enemies do 10 points less damage to you does it? Because then I think that would seem like a pretty worthless mod.

 

Wrong. Ever been dueling barbarian who stacked magic reduce with bone nec? He wasn' even hurt

Mal runes provide 7 magic damage reduce.(Which arent uncommon in bnet)

 

That is with the pvp penalty right? I am not much of a dueler but I would think there would be some kind of magic penalty too.

 

Yes, penalty counts.

 

The term “Magic Damage†is a bit confusing in Diablo II. It refers to different things in the game.
First of all, there are six types of different damages in the game:
* Fire;
* Cold;
* Lightning;
* Poison;
* Physical;
* Magic.
There are six types of resistances, in spite that the game shows you only four resistances. Both players and monsters have magic resistance. For example Ghost in Hell has 50% magic resistance. Players may get magic resistance from Safety Crafted Shield (up to 10%).

When the game says “Adds x-y Magic Damageâ€, it means actual “Magic†damage.

When the game says “Magic Damage reduced by xâ€, it means “Magic†damage, but this property also reduces fire, cold and lightning elemental damage. This property is very useful against numerous weak attacks like Gloams lightning.

 

Thanks for all your very informative answers! :thumbsup:

Some follow up questions:
1.) What type/s of monster/s do actually deal "Magic" damage?
I know that there are those who are immune to it since it is written below their name/monster type, but as for those who uses it, I don't have a clue.

2.) Is the "Magic Damage Reduced by 15" (yes, it is variable) of Dwarf Star significant?
Zavior said that it is, but say you are using just that specific ring for magic damage reduction, would it actually be a big deal... to clarify, is it actually as valuable or close as, say, Lightning Absorb?

EDIT: maybe I shouldn't be comparing it to Absorb since that gives you some life back... here goes... is that Magic Damage reduction similar to regular resists?

Thanks for any info!

--maxgerin

 

I wouldn't call gloam lightning "weak". It is one of the most deadly attack in game.

 

Many monsters in the game deal magic damage, most common are spell casters like Oblivion Knights (Bone Spirit) and Claw Vipers (Bone Spear). They may be quite deadly for careless players, because no one usually uses magic resistance.

15 MDR in Dwarf Star could be quite handy. For example Burning Dead Archers in Act5 Hell are very dangerous, but they only deal around 30-40 physical damage and 40-70 fire damage with each arrow. If you collect total 40 PDR (physical damage reduction) and 70 MDR (magic damage reduction) you’ll be immune to them.

You may compare absorb with damage reduction, however absorb usually more helpful and rarer. Absorb works almost like double MDR (because of life, that you get back). But it isn’t correct comparing, there is a lot other differences between them.

DeathMaster, you DO know, that after 75% lightning resistance Hell Gloams reduce your life only by 70-80 points with each attack (without any MDR). Is it too much? The damage from CE and FE explosions is much bigger.
OK, they are not “weakâ€, but they illustrate usefulness of MDR perfectly.

 

Magic reduced by X is kind of hard to find on useful items, so its hard to stack. the only character i found it useful on is my ES sorc, which you stask PDR and MDR as a priorty, only +lightning skills should be more important. In PvP, you'd need a lot of MDR to make it worth it, and then you'd be missing out on many other things.

 

Yes, but as F_B said, you hardly stack any MDR. and remember, gloams can shoot you from two screen away, they shoot fast and noramlly in great number. It is easy to get "one hit killed" by gloams pack, unless you stack up lit resist up to 85 and up, and wear certain gears (eg T-god). Let's not forget our Conviction gloam friend.

 

I had a stone skin LE conviction gloam last week with my singer, who only deals physical damage, and because he has lots of small attacks would set off thousands of charged bolts, with conviction on me. I couldnt even pick off the minions because they were so close together and i was losing half my life with every attempt to kill them. In the end i left him stunned and ran away.

 

Many people tend to forget about crafted safety shields and the %Magic resistance fixed mod...

 

Thanks again for all those explanations!

Tell me about it!!! Those Gloams are total freaks!
I was leveling my lvl 89 MeteObr Sorc (starting to love her, but still have to finish my goal...) through WSK/Baal runs and I gave up because of those nasty gloams. I just went to Pindle... not too high xp, but minimal risk of dying and losing more xp... and the good drops! :thumbsup:


The main reason I'm asking about this Magic Damage Reduction is I'm deciding whether to use a BKWB or a Dwarf Star for my Griswold Avenger (part of my class-specific set goal). I like the Fire Absorb, MDR and +life of DS... the only real advantage of BKWB is the +skills and the added leech. But I think +skills is not really that important for an Avenger... am I right? :scratch:

Set-up I'm thinking:
Entire Griswold's Set
Gloves: Soul Drainer
Belt: T-gods Vigor
Boots: Gore Rider
Amulet: Cresent Moon (yes, I know, didn't mind then that this ammy has practical use outside of the grail until I saw Cyrus' Avenger guide in SC)
Ring: Raven Frost
Ring: BKWB or Dwarf Star (which is better given this set-up?)

Anything wrong with the set-up?
I can change everything except for the complete set.

BTW, he's now lvl 55 and still in NM mid Act 2. Still a bit before he can wear everything.

Thanks for any suggestions! :thumbsup:

--maxgerin

 

Well +skills is always useful, and life leech on a melee character is also very important, so i'd go BKWB.

 

I don't craft shields. I don't use shields a lot of the time (2h Barbs, Staff Sorcs, Bow Amazons, etc.) , and when I do it's almost always the tired 'Rhyme' or 4D shields (for the classes that there's no reason to 2h (Paladins, Necromancers) I use their class specifics often) (I actually did have a 4PRuby shield once, hella useful in a couple fights, since for some reason I just wasn't getting ANY Fire Resist). I knew there had to be something like that that I was forgetting. However, the number of monsters that USE magic damage is very low, and taking even 10% damage off of a bonemancer in PvP is not going to be enormous.

 

could someone please confirm that "magic damage reduced by x" on an item actually reduces magic-type damage. I was under the impression it just reduced fire/lightning/cold damage

 

I think it does both, I know for sure that a skin of the vipermagi allows me to survive standing on Dark Lord Firewalls for some time compared to without. To test this with magic damage, go to Act 2 and let a greater mummy chuck magic bolts at you...