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Madmoon

11-19-2008, 09:50 PM

With STR line now being available, I was trying to clear up how each element of combat works. I will explain what I know, and then post my questions. Feel free to correct what I know =)I have two elements of defense - mitigation and avoidance. I know the former is what percent of damage I absorb and the latter is what chance I have to avoid a blow outright. Mitigation is pretty straight forward: if I have 35% mitigation, that means a when 100 points of damage actually land, I will only lose 65 hit points, not 100. I know that it also involves the type of attack, so your mitigation for crushing could be 35% while piercing is 40%, but fortunately, I am an even 35% across the board.Avoidance is trickier. My avoidance reads 50%, implying that when an opponent swings at me, only half the blows will land and then be handled by mitigation. But when you look at what comprises that 50% I read:Base: 26Block: 0Parry: 10Deflect: 25Now, how that all adds to 50%, I don't know, but maybe someone here does. And what that actually means? For example, a pirate is about to hit me with his sword... how do those numbers come into play? Once the blow lands, if it is for 100 points, I know I'll only take 65, but what about before, during the avoidance phase? What if my parry were 25 and my deflection were 10?Now, in regard to our AAs - boosting Parry would make the "parry" component of avoidance go up; but what about Deflection? How does deflection enter the mix? Isn't that just against ranged attacks?And what about Defense boosts? If I add 2 to Defense, what does that modify?Finally, I have read that I should choose a weapon based on delay... why? And does it suit a certain AA build over another, for example, use long delay weapons for a WIS build while short delay are better for INT?Thanks, my wiser brethren, for any guidance you can provide.RedmouserBruiser, AB

Mogzilla

11-20-2008, 12:19 PM

When a mob attacks you various checks are made.Parry first (which can become a riposte)then deflectthen a dodgeRaising your skill in parry increases your chance to parry, deflection deflect and defense dodge.

Madmoon

11-20-2008, 09:05 PM

Is dodge yet another part of Avoidance? But then it is not documented. Base, block, parry, deflect... how does dodge fit in?Reading what you say, another way of understanding Avoidance is that each skill gets checked in sequence. So, my pirate swinging at me... first he checks my parry (I have only a 10% chance to parry, so he beats that handily;) then he has to beat my deflection (by the way, is that checked against a melee attack? Sounds like a ranged check?) While my delflection is a robust 25%, the pirate beats that, too. I cannot block, so that's right out, or anyway, he beats that... but then you say dodge, but make no mention of base? How does that work? And if +defense increases dodge, where does that come in?<cite>Mogzilla wrote:</cite><blockquote>When a mob attacks you various checks are made.Parry first (which can become a riposte)then deflectthen a dodgeRaising your skill in parry increases your chance to parry, deflection deflect and defense dodge.</blockquote>

Madmoon

11-25-2008, 03:32 PM

Nothing? No one else? Is defense dodge; is dodge base?Not even a whipser about under which circumstances I should choose a weapon based on delay? C'mon, don't make me Dev Fist ya!

Greavous

11-26-2008, 08:49 PM

It seems there is a soft cap for all avoidance that gives diminishing returns after its reached .I believe that they are Parry 10% Deflection 35% Defense 40% Parry is king because it’s the first check against a hit and 25% of all parrys become ripostes. So if your fighting an even con mob and your at your soft cap 90% of all hits will bypass parry. You then have a 90% chance to check against deflection giving you a 58.5% bypass of deflection. Then you have the defense check and 35.1% will make it through that hit. (this doesn’t take into consideration the stance you are in) So with the above information, Deflection is going to give you the biggest % in real terms. However you also need to take into consideration any riposte% items you may have because they produce a parry first and that’s where the numbers start to get fuzy. I suppose what I’m saying is, try and get as close to the soft caps in each area for the max return. You will get a better return boosting your deflection from 30% - 35% than getting your parry from 10% to 15% The weapon delay conversation is a very tricky one and is probably why you haven’t got much response. The simple version is Long delay, bigger hit so any haste will have a big impact on output as will crits. Short delay will produce more procs from extra proc damage on weapons. The long answer is you add double attack into the equation, Combat art damage and more self haste items and the lines get blurred considerably. Crit is king for solo and most groups. In raid if you can get near the haste cap then DA will produce a bigger return.

Madmoon

11-26-2008, 09:16 PM

Thanks, Brannigan! Great stuff.So, I use Fetish's UI, and it shows Base, Block (shield, I'd guess, ) Parry and Deflect. I had zero in Block. Seems base = defense, then?You're right on weapon delay. Good as an explanation as that is, it's pretty confusing. I will carry some low delay fist weapons, then, unless I get in a Haste group, in which case I'll whip out a good two-hander and see if it matters.Thanks. I feel smarter. Not that that's necessarily a good feeling for a bruiser.RedmouserBruiser, AB

Greavous

11-26-2008, 09:22 PM

Hehe dude I had to go have a lay down after posting all that. Thats my brain usage quota gone for the month.