Resistances , how do they really work ?

[Robsoie]

Hello,

Currently running a Dwarf Bulwark that is now in the Sanctum, have closed the 4 portals and even killed one of the 2 bad guys, i'm now facing some very odd thing.

The remaining bad guy has some silly 72% resist all (+ some other high resistance) , has obviously more than 10000 health (so basically horrible combo high health + resistance to everything making it overpowered )
And regenerate very regularly.

That is all in itself making for a ridiculous battle in which all i can deal is low damage, then run away to avoid dying, and once i get back in battle, the guy is near full health again.

But at least that ridiculously overpowered guy, i understand why it happens, the numbers makes it clear and it's obvious it's stopping nearly all my multi-elemental and physical damage.

But what i don't understand is the following : the guy hit -very- hard each turns.

Nearly each turns i get near between 200 and 250 lighting damage, and between 250 and 300 cold damage according to what i see when i press H ingame.
So even my Bulwark and his very high health (more than 1300) can't fight for long without escaping.

So i gave a look at my character resistances, that are all high considering i have found some exceptional bunch of items since the Orcs Pride.


It would be arcane damage i could understand as i don't have been lucky enough to find worthy piece of items with arcane resistances

But in the present situation how it is possible that he deals -that- much lighting and cold damage to my character near to each turns ?
If i trust those numbers my character should be basically immune to both those types of damage ?

edit : by luck i still had a longsword with crippling effect on hit, despite it had less damage, the crippling effect helped to keep the incoming damage lower, allowing me to be able to regen and heal before dropping too low in health.
Thanks to this sword i finally beat him and won the game.

But still i don't understand how the resistance works

[SageAcrin]

The short answer: That final boss is equipped with the Awakened Staff of Absorption, which has Resistance Penetration on it.

The way Resistance Penetration works is, it drops your resistance by the percent listed, for purposes of that person hitting you with spells. In Elandar's case, Elandar has 30% resistance penetration on four elements, which means that your resistances are reduced by 30% of their original values. In the case of Cold and Lightning, from 70%, to 49%(70% of 70%, the remainder after the 30% resistance penetration).

This, of course, means that you were effectively taking a lot more damage than you otherwise would have. You can notice a similar effect with enemies that have Wildfire or Uttercold on them, or other similar skills.

The high resistance to all is a result of randomized equipment-the baseline is 40% all resistance, but said boss has a lot of equipment on other slots and can get some large spikes in resists as such. I think that's why, anyways.

[ohioastro]

I think that the final battle really needs to be looked at. It has always been tough, but now it is just enormously more difficult than the things before it. I think that you may have tagged a reason. Out of curiosity, how is it tested right now?

[tiger_eye]

As a bulwark, I would recommend trying to Stun Elandar or some other detrimental effect. Once you land a lucky Stun, the rest should be gravy.

Also of note: Elandar's Freeze was lowered in v1. Aeryn also became more resilient. So, things shouldn't be quite as difficult as they were in the RCs.

[Robsoie]

Only, i had no problem with defeating Aeryn, it was a long fight due to the huge health those uniques have, but i didn't need to retreat anywhere.

I guess i was very lucky to not fight both at the same time, it is simply impossible to survive fighting them in a 2 vs 1 condition (and that paladin is such a push over she dies in only a few turns).

But as i mentionned in the edit, the only way i could win was thanks to switching to a longsword with the cripple effect, added to stun it allowed me to actually recieve a bit less damage, so i could stay longer in battle without retreating through walls.

It's a battle in which the dwarf power to move through wall was unavaluable to get some breath and heal.

Still, i'm puzzled in how he was able to deal me that much damage in element i had more than 110% total resistance.

[tiger_eye]

Still, i'm puzzled in how he was able to deal me that much damage in element i had more than 110% total resistance.

You didn't have that much resistance. It looks like you had 70% Cold resistance (this value includes resist all).

Just wondering, were you playing v1 or an RC?

[Robsoie]

It's version 1.0

I had no idea the resist all was integrated in the value displayed as it's listed as a separate resistance.

Hmm, it explains why i was taking that much damage then, if the 40% resist all wasn't adding to the 70% cold resistance i had (hidden under the 70% cap i had 84% of cold from the equipment i had), no surprise

Though i really wonder how characters with much less health than a Bulwark can survive this kind of damage despite being at max resistance, the only 2 other times i won in past beta it was with high healthed characters already (bulwark and berserker).

[HousePet]

While on the topic, does resistance penetration reduce resist all?

[lukep]

While on the topic, does resistance penetration reduce resist all?

yes.

[blacksmithy]

Having recently finished the final bosses as a zerker (no portals closed, woo!), I can vouch for stuns being super-effective on both dudes, especially when coupled with global speed buffs to let you smack them around more between healing yourself.
Also, to back up your resistances, try getting a crazy healing mod and some kick-butt regen infusions. Flat damage reduction, like a torque of some kind, might also help. Or a biznasty shield rune or two.
But mostly massive stuns. All the stuns.

[Omega Blue]

So, how do resistances work anyway?

Say you have 10% resist all and 50% lightning, and got hit by a 100 point lightning. Would:

1) The 10% resist all goes first, taking 10 points off the lightning, then the 50% lightning resistance kicks in, making the effective damage 45 points, or

2) both add together for a 60% off?

[lukep]

It's one then the other, but keep in mind that your character sheet/tooltip has this calculation done already, so it shows up as 55% resist lightning in that case.

[supermini]

The value you see is the one you get as lukep said. The calculation is:

Resistance = 1 - ((1 - resist all) * (1 - base resistance))

So, if you have 5 levels of thick skin (15% resist all) and 20% fire resistance on gear, you would have

1 - ((1 - 0.15) * (1 - 0.2)) = 1 - (0.85 * 0.8 ) = 1 - 0.68 = 32% total fire resistance. This is the value the char sheet would show.

[greycat]

I've added that, and more, to http://te4.org/wiki/character-sheet

[Palparepa]

One thing that's missing, and I have no idea how it works, is "Damage affinity". I've only seen it in the Umbraphage artifact, as "Damage affinity(heal): +20% darkness"