October 23, 2012

Survival Stats in T4: Hp, Defence, Elemental Defence


INTRODUCTION

A commmon question asked in the forum and ingame is "Do you think i should boost my elemental defence, defence or HP?"

Interestingly, there is indeed a definite answer to this question which i have briefly talked about in the past. I am just putting down here, in more details for future reference.

This article aims to address this question and other questions related to Hp, defence and elemental defence.

First, i will briefly layout the exact mechanics of these stats, and eventually lead to the definition of Equivalent HP.

DEFENCE

Defence mechanics has been briefly discussed in the Critical mechanics guide in the past.

The value of phy/mag defence you see in the stats window get converted to a certain amount of damage reduction and reduces the phy/mag damage you received.

However, the damage reduction % the defender gain from defence stats is not fixed, but depends on the level of the ATTACKER

Example: FOR PVE
For a Lv41 Attacker: every 3000 def = 33.33% damage reduction
For a Lv45 Attacker: every 3000 def = 26% damage reduction. 
For a Lv50 Attacker: every 3000 def = 20% damage reduction.
For a Lv60 Attacker: every 3000 def = 10% damage reduction.

Despite the rumours that the mechanics has been changed, it is actually the same in T4 (verified)

The % damage reduction is capped at 85%.

Take note that the % dmg reduction is different in PVP and will not be covered in this guide.

The implication of this level-dependent effect of defence:

When you have 12750 def going into level 50 nest, you feel that you are safe and fine since you have 85% dmg reduction.

However, when try lvl60 nest while still having the same defence, you will feel that the damage you received is much higher.

The reason is simply because the attacker (boss and mobs) level is higher now, and your defence is less efficient (42.5%) against high level attacker.

ELEMENTAL DEFENCE

As all DN players already know, there are 4 type of elemental attacks: Fire, Ice, Dark, Light.

Each elemental defence reduces the damage received from the attack of corresponding element.

There are 2 major differences between elemental defence and phy/mag defence:

1) Elemental defence has a cap at 100% while defence dmg reduction is capped at 85%

At 100% elemental resist, you will not receive any damage from the attacks of the corresponding elements.


Take note that this was not possible before T4 because elemental defence was capped at 75% previously.

2) Elemental defence can go below zero and turn into a negative number, while defence cannot.

This is also quite well-known , especially in T3 GDN era when intel suffix is stackable and abused.

Negative elemental defence means that you will receive additional damage instead of damage reduction from the attack of that element.


The damage calculation formula with respect to damage reduction from defence and elemental defence has the same form:

Damage received = Original Damage * ( 1 - % dmg reduction from def ) * ( 1 - % elemental def) 
HP

Everybody knows, HP is the red bar in your stats window.

It is the total amount of damage you received before you are dead.

In this article, i would like to introduce another variable which is an absolute measure of survibility.


Equivalent HP

I purposely point out the obvious definition of HP above to show the difference between Equivalent HP and HP.

Equivalent HP is defined as the total amout of original damage targetted at you before you are dead.

You can easily rearrange the damage formula above, and come up with the equation for Equivalent HP


Higher Equivalent HP means you can tank more damage before you die.

It is an absolute measure of survibility which encompasses HP, defence and elemental defence.

This equation can be used to answer the question posted in the introduction section.

I will illustrate this with an example:

I am faced with a choice of using either of these necklaces:

Option 1: Lv60 Health Necklace: VIT+663, INT+177
Option 2: Lv60 Iron Wall Necklace: VIT+207, HP+6293, MP+5874, Phy Def+1125

Say, my current stats are: 150000 HP,  4000 phy def, 8000 mag def, level 60, 0% elemental def.

For simplicity, i neglect all % stats increase from potential and crest (you can easily include them when you are doing it for your own gear)

1 vit = 30 HP
1 vit = 0.5 phy def
1 int = 0.8 mag def

Option 1:
HP = 150000 + 663 * 30 = 169890
Phy Def = 4000+ 663 * 0.5 = 4331 (14.4% dmg reduction)
Mag Def = 8000 + 177 * 0.8 = 8141 (27.1% dmg reduction)

Equiv HP from phy att = 169890 / ( 1- 0.144) =198470
Equiv HP from mag att = 169890 / ( 1- 0.271) = 233045

Option 2:
HP = 150000 + 207 * 30 +6293 = 162503
Phy Def = 4000+ 207 * 0.5 +1125 = 5228 ( 17.4% dmg reduction)
Mag Def = 8000 (26.6% dmg reduction)

Equiv HP from phy att = 162503 / ( 1- 0.174) =196735
Equiv HP from mag att = 162503 / ( 1- 0.266) = 221393

Despite the higher phy def provided by the iron wall necklace, the overall Equivalent HP is still lower than Vitality Necklace.

This doesn't means that defence is less important than HP. In fact, defence and elemental defence are extremely important as shown in the next section.

IMPORTANCE OF DEFENSE & ELEMENTAL DEFENSE

There are 2 reasons why defence is important.

1) The more defence you stack, the more efficient dmg reduction from defence is.

The graph below illustrate this point clearly.

Assume you have 100k HP and 0 elemental def,

Initially, the Equivalent HP gained from stacking defence is quite low (gentle curve).

However, as you stack more defence, the Equivalent HP grow exponentially (very steep curve).

Example, i have 100k HP initially and I wear a new lv60 gear which increase my defence by 3000 (10% dmg reduction).

If my initial defence is 6000 (20%), I gain 17,857 of Equivalent HP only.

If my initial defence is 25000 (60%), I gain 83,333 of Equivalent HP with the SAME amount of def increase.

This partially explain why cleric can tank so much more damage than sorceress and archer.

2) The more defence you stack, the more efficient HP is. 

The graph below shows that Equivalent HP at different HP for different defence value (assume 0% elemental def).

The HP growth (gradient of the curve) is extremely high if you have very high damage reduction from defence.

Example, i have an initial HP of 150k to start with and i wear a new piece of lvl60 gear which increase my HP by 10k.

If my defence is 20%, i gain 12,500 of Equivalent HP.

If my defence is 80%, i gain 62,500 of Equivalent HP with the SAME amount of HP boost.

Similar argument applies to elemental defence as well.

Take note that your Equivalent HP is INFINITY when your elemental defence goes to 100% ( yea, it means you are immortal :D )

From there sprout an interesting idea (which i have not tried out in T4):

Let say you are wearing 4 x intel suffix armor set which give 80% elemental resist when triggered, and you stack/obtain another 20% more elemental def somewhere else (accessories, title, buff), you will actually be immune to elemental dmg for 3 sec when your suffix effect trigger.

CONCLUSION

In a way, stacking defence and elemental defence is quite similar to stacking final damage:

Your return will be small if you don't stack high enough , but if you manage to stack high enough, the return will be extremely handsome.

Stacking HP on the other hand, has a linear return, all the way.

Therefore, it is always important to check the Equivalent HP to optimize your gear selection to increase overall survibility in tough nest to come.
Credits: chaose5 from MMOsite.forum

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