About those ethereal armors..

[Lensor]

I have seen that most people like their mercs' ethereal armors to have 900+ defence, but what is the absolute max?

Lets say a 15% sup sacred armor spawns ethereal.
It would then have a whopping (601)*1,15*1,50 = 1036 base defence. To put Stone in that.... :jig:

Is this possible or am I missing something?
And how much str would a Merc have to equip it? Base sacred has 232 req, but that goes down a bit when it is ethereal, right?

This is of course all in theory, It is not like I would find one of these anytime soon... :D

[RTB]

An eth 15% Sup Stone Sacred Armor has 3288 - 3649 defense. Str requirement drops to 222.

[helvete]

Lets say a 15% sup sacred armor spawns ethereal.
It would then have a whopping (601)*1,15*1,50 = 1036 base defence.
The base defense is still 901, the %defense from superior is just added together with the runeword bonus. I'm not checking defenses for stone, because I'm guessing RTB used 901 base in his calculations.

[Tarantella]

After nearly 30 months of playing D2 I finally have one 15% ED ,15% extra durability ethereal breastplate sitting on a mule.

Goodness knows how low the odds are for getting a 15% ED superior ethereal sacred armour are.

[HCTwinJava]

I had several mules on HCL wearing bp with 100+ defense - I didn't throw them away just to make the lvl 1 barbs look cool. it's not hard to find if you actually play your low-lvl chars through the game, one quest after the other.

[Ax2Grind]

An eth 15% Sup Stone Sacred Armor has 3288 - 3649 defense. Str requirement drops to 222.

Fortitude has an effectually higher defense, given the Chilling Armor hitpower. I remember having a Best Defense chart somewhere...

2854.725 – ethereal superior sacred armor Fortitude (before Chilling Armor activation)
3245.4 – ethereal rare sacred armor with PULs
3651.075 + 300 – ethereal superior sacred armor Stone

Still not sure how/where the rounding occurs, but these are all RLvl66. Assuming CA gives ~800Def bonus when applied to overall defense then it would be the best armor available. It's ethereal, though, so only a helm and dexterity would be able to get it boosted for a merc. I don't think an Iron Wolf can wear sacred armor even at RStr222, so his shield wouldn't make a difference. I'm thinking only a Barbarian barring a 30Str/2oS circlet or something for Rogue/Desert Warrior, but then a Defiance Warrior would be insane in this.

[RTB]

It depends on how much skill enhanced defense you have whether Stone or Fortitude is better in terms of defense. Slvl 15 Chilling Armor gives a +115% defense bonus, which is 3280.95 with the eth armor alone. In terms of mods however, Fortitude wins IMO.

15% sup eth Fortitude Sacred Armor has 2853 defense btw.

[Lensor]

The base defense is still 901, the %defense from superior is just added together with the runeword bonus. I'm not checking defenses for stone, because I'm guessing RTB used 901 base in his calculations.

Aha, I see where I thought wrong, the ed is ofc added, not multiplied... so the absolute maximum on a base armor (before socketing it) would then be

15% sup eth sacred armor (sup armor has base max + 1, right?):
601*1,65= 991 (rounded down, which i guess it is)

Hence I suppose it is not possible to get 1000+ on a socketable armor.
Still impressive though :D

[Zavior]

15% sup eth sacred armor (sup armor has base max + 1, right?):

Correct. 10chars

[helvete]

Hence I suppose it is not possible to get 1000+ on a socketable armor.
Still impressive though :D
Oh, but it is... Just not 901+ base defense. a 15% superior sacred would still have 1000+ defense, the problem occures if the rune word has %ed, and then the %ed will be added, not multiplied as you very correctly put it.
15% sup eth sacred armor (sup armor has base max + 1, right?):
601*1,65= 991 (rounded down, which i guess it is) Incorrect. The eth bonus applies to base defense. Base defense is a random value. However, when %enhanced defense spawns (when item drops) on an armor, base defense is set to max+1. Thus, ethereal superior (%ed) is (1.5*(max+1) rounded down)*(1+%defense bonus). So your equation should be: (601*1,50= 901 (rounded down))*1,15 which is 1036 (rounding down from 1036,15). The point being, BASE defense is 901 max (sup eth sacred armour), but it is possible to find armor with 1036 defense (in case of future runewords which add a set amount of defense (+def) instead of %enhanced defense.

[Lensor]

So your equation should be: (601*1,50= 901 (rounded down))*1,15 which is 1036 (rounding down from 1036,15). The point being, BASE defense is 901 max (sup eth sacred armour), but it is possible to find armor with 1036 defense

So I had it right at the start then :p

[helvete]

So I had it right at the start then :p
In a way... superior (%ed) armors have a lower base defense than their displayed defense when found, because of the percentage.

[Pherdnut]

I got a question on this issue. Is that 15% superior multiplicative like ethereal's 50% bonus? In that case is a 15% superior with a minimal Def roll typically better than a normal one with a maximum def roll?

[helvete]

I got a question on this issue. Is that 15% superior multiplicative like ethereal's 50% bonus? In that case is a 15% superior with a minimal Def roll typically better than a normal one with a maximum def roll?
That's the reason every armor with %ed is max base + 1. So that the sup ones always are better. However, only the etherealness modifies base armor, but in the case of armors with %ed the etherealness would modify maxbase+1

So in the case of a sacred armor...
A perfect non sup one is 600 def.
A sup one is (1.05 to 1.15)*(600+1)
A sup eth one would be (1.05 to 1.15)*(600+1)*(1.5)

That's one way of saying it, another would be that ethereal is "added last" and gives any case 50% more defense. However, there would maybe be room for errors, since roundings occur.

[Ax2Grind]

It depends on how much skill enhanced defense you have whether Stone or Fortitude is better in terms of defense. Slvl 15 Chilling Armor gives a +115% defense bonus, which is 3280.95 with the eth armor alone. In terms of mods however, Fortitude wins IMO.

15% sup eth Fortitude Sacred Armor has 2853 defense btw.

Apparantly rounding occurs at every stage, and I was listing the pure equation. At least now I can alter the chart if/when I decide to finish it.

[antihelei]

I have an eth Sacred Armor Fortitude, but my defiance merc cant put it on yet because his strength isn't high enough. I need to level him 3 more levels to 86 so he can wear it with a perf amy andarials viasage. its 2661 defence (the sacred wasn't superior :(), but that is still pretty darn good :)

[HCTwinJava]

I have an eth Sacred Armor Fortitude, but my defiance merc cant put it on yet because his strength isn't high enough. I need to level him 3 more levels to 86 so he can wear it with a perf amy andarials viasage. its 2661 defence (the sacred wasn't superior :(), but that is still pretty darn good :)

If Fortitude is made on body armor, do you get +200% defense and +300%ed bonuses?

Btw, do you still remember what's the base defense of your sacred? I have 1 with 775 (just a bit better than a non-eth one), and a lvl 80ish defiance merc using Andy helm wth +28 str. I'm going to waste a UM and make a Stone for him. But if Fortitude is better, then later I'll try to make 1 for him too. Thx.

[antihelei]

If Fortitude is made on body armor, do you get +200% defense and +300%ed bonuses?

Btw, do you still remember what's the base defense of your sacred? I have 1 with 775 (just a bit better than a non-eth one), and a lvl 80ish defiance merc using Andy helm wth +28 str. I'm going to waste a UM and make a Stone for him. But if Fortitude is better, then later I'll try to make 1 for him too. Thx.


The base was 882, and fortitude is way better. The %300 damage works and it procs a higher level cold armor that adds ~100% defense. I use a +27 andys with a perf amythest in it and level 86.