-% defense question

[LordOfDesttructtion]

Hi guys I just need something cleared up. I just socketed my Death Cleaver with an "eth" rune and it seems to help a lot. People are telling me though that the -% defense mod doesn't work in pvp. Has anyone tested this thouroughly and is it true?

Thanks for any answers.

[Dennis_KoreanGuy]

Suffers 1/2 penalty in PvP.

[RTB]

It's false, but it halved against anything but normal monsters.

[Aeonios]

Does it work like conviction's -% def though?

[RTB]

No, it doesn't. -% defense from items reduces the total defense, while skill-based -% defense (from Conviction, IIRC CoS is an exception) reduces other skill-based +% defense (Iron Skin, Shout, Holy Shield, etc).

[Aeonios]

I'm fairly sure conviction etc lowers it only from their base def without actually directly affecting it, so that the solid amount of def that holy shield/iron skin/shout/cold armors add is not changed. That means if they have 5k base def and 40k total, you could only lower them to 35k def with convict. Inner sight, however, lowers their base def by the amount listed, which DOES carry over to +%def skills, making it far more effective. I don't know where eth runes fit in there. If they're like the former, they'd suck. If they're more like the latter, then they could be worthwhile.

[WhiteAlien]

I don't know where eth runes fit in there. If they're like the former, they'd suck. If they're more like the latter, then they could be worthwhile.

Good question. I hope Orphan know's the answer. By my mind eth runes mod applies to the end defense, boosted from skills etc., not to the base defense as this mod comes from weapon and its not a curse.

[RTB]

total defense = (Base defense + (-def from Inner Sight)) * (1 + (+% enhanced defense)/100 + (-% defense from skills)/100) * (1 + (-% defense from items/runes)/100)

Skills with -% defense:
Conviction
Battle Cry
Cloak of Shadows
Defense Curse (Baal and Succubi)