10 random questions (mostly about reducing resistances)

[slam]

1. Does the bug still exist where you will desync if your FCR is between certain numbers? 105% and 115% I think?

2. What can a monsters resistances be reduced to? Is there a cap? I heard -95% and -100%. Which is right?

3. Conviction cannot lower a monsters resistances by more than 150% at skill level 25 if I recall correctly. For monsters that cannot have their immunity broken by Conviction, will Lower Resist work in conjunction with it to break any immunity in the game?

4. Does Conviction and items that lower a monsters resistance stack? For instance, with Level 25 conviction (-150%) and Crescent Moon (-35%), am I lowering a monsters lightning resistance by 185%? Throw in Griffin’s Eye (-20%) and 8 x -5% Lightning Facets (-40%), and I’d be lowering their lightning resistance by 245%, right? If that still isn’t enough to break an immunity, Lower Resist would surely do it right? Yes, I know when a monster has an immunity > 100%, that lower resistance skills/items only work at 1/5th effectiveness. I guess what I’m asking (assuming this works), is what is the highest % resistance a monster has? In planning this build, I don’t want to have more lower resistance gear than is necessary.

5. Does lower resist work with magic damage like bone spirit? I think it used to, but not sure if it does anymore….. or was it vice versa….

6. If a merc uses Infinity with level 12 conviction, can he get it boosted to 16 from +2 skills each from helm and armor, or is it fixed at 12? If I recall correctly, characters using CtA have battle orders boosted by +skills, right? … so I assume this is true for mercs as well.

7. Does the lower lightning resistance on infinity benefit me, as a lightning sorc, if my merc is using it? My thinking is that it probably just lowers the lightning resistance of the one monster my merc is attacking (which doesn’t actually do anything if the merc doesn’t do lightning damage). But is it only when he strikes the monster (in which case I guess it wouldn’t benefit me), or is it just applied to the monster for a duration (in which case it would)?

8. Berserk is magic damage, but it is boosted by Might, Concentration, Fanaticism, Heart of Wolverine etc. If it’s magic damage, why? If the answer to question 5 is yes, or if it used to be yes, why isn’t/wasn’t berserk boosted by lower resist?

9. How do you guys feel about pride on a might merc? Pride doesn’t have any enhanced damage, so is the damage boost from concentration (and might), enough for the merc to do decent damage? How about if I use beast, so he has fanaticism too? In that scenario, I was thinking of making it in an ethereal great poleaxe, and giving him treachery as well.

10. Elemental resistances of ubers is 95%. With level 12 conviction from infinity, that drops their resistances to 0%. Doesn’t that make sorcs more viable in uber Tristram?

[stephan]

2. -100% is the minimum resist.

3. Yes.

4. Yes, but not for breaking a resistance. Only Conviction and Lower Resist can break elemental resistances (while doing that they work at 1/5 of their effectiveness). Other sources of -res only kick in if the resistance is broken (at full effectiveness).

5. No.

6. The item gives a level 12 conviction, not +12 to conviction. So, no.

7. No, it doesn't benefit you.

8. Berserk converts your Physical damage to Magic.

10. The two main problems in uber trist are countering their regen and staying alive. A caster type sorc would be lousy at both.

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

1. I don't think Desynch works like that.
2. -100%
3. Yes they work in conjuction, but once again, if the resistance is higher than Conviction + Lower Resist's reducing ability, the immunity will remain. As to whether such monsters exist, I am unsure.
4. Yes, they stack... but note that the -%Res from sources other than Conviction and Lower Resist do not take effect until the immunity has been broken. Stuff from Griffon's, etc. is unable to break immunity. Once again, I do not know the max reisistance on any monster.
5. Nope.
6. The skills on CtA are OSkills. They can be buffed by futher +Skills. The Conviction Aura that is granted says "Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped", not "+12 To Conviction Aura". Short answer: it's static, and +Skills won't have any effect.
7. The -%L.Res on Infinity will only apply to your mercenary, and is only inputted into his damage calculations.
8. Berserk converts PHYSICAL damage into MAGIC. The physical damage gets boosted by those auras, which then get converted into magic.
9. No mercenary can hold Beast. Weapon %ED and off-weapon %ED are very different things, so don't expect your mercenary to do outstanding damage without on-weapon %ED.
10. Have you ever tried? :o

[edit] I hate you stephan.

[sirpoopsalot]

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=658719

<--- guide to understanding broken immunities & lowered resistances

[slam]

thanks guys. wish I'd seen that guide first. some follow ups.

1. i don't know if desync is the right word, but there was definitely a FCR range that sorcs wanted to avoid cause it would do something bad (to their teleporting I think)

3. & 4. ok, from reading the guide, it sounds like level 12 will be able to break the majority of lightning immunes in the game with the exception of "boss" monsters. i'll let my merc handle those. it also sounds like i will have a higher chance of breaking a lightning immunity, than cold or fire, so I guess I picked the right element!

6. yep, i'm an idiot. i knew that. i think you answered it for me not too long ago! doh!

9. when i said "if i use beast", i really meant me, not my merc. so i would have beast, and my merc would have concentration from pride and would have his own might aura. 3 seperate off weapon ED sources and a fast attack speed? Still not enough in conjunction with treachery and gaze? i think i just want him to stay alive more than anything so that i am receiving his concentration and might auras.

10. not yet, but i plan to. if the sorc has a couple of tanks (berserker and fury druid), she shouldn't be in the thick of things, and if she's doing 100% or more of her elemental damage, that's gotta help....

[lumpor]

A merc Wielding pride will never do good damage. Period.

Pride has NO WEAPON ED WHATSOEVER. Concentration only gives off-weapon ed. They way to calculate a physical attack (a bit simplified) is like this:

Base weapon damage: The item that the base item has. A berzerker axe has an average damage of 47,5 for example. If the item is etheral, this number is multiplied by 1,5

x: +xx damage or +xx-xx damage. Basically, non-percentual damage increase like the one on war travellers or grief.

On-weapon ed: Basically, percentual ed (damage enhanced by xx%) that's on the weapon

Off-weapon ed: Basically, percentual ed (damage enhanced by xx%) that's not on the weapon (this uncludes skill ed, stat ed, aura ed and ed from non-weapon items. these are all lumped together into one number)

((Base weapon damage + x) * on-weapon ed%) * off-weapon ed * (1- enemy physical resistance)

The physical damage listed on your weapon will be this number:

((Base weapon damage + x) * on-weapon ed%)

As you maybe can see, with no weapon-ed, the weapon damage will be very low. Even with the off-weapon ed from concentration, you're basically multiplying very low damage with your off-weapon ed. Despite the high off-weapon ed, your damage will be nothing if you don't have high weapon damage to take advantage of it

Of course, if you have high weapon damage, you will need alot of off-weapon ed to be able to take advantage of it too.

Basically, the best way to get high damage is not high weapon damage and low off weapon ed, or low weapon damage and high off-weapon ed, but medium weapon damage and medium off-weapon ed. Or if you can, having both high is even better.

Anyway, pride has no on-weapon ed, and won't do any damage in hell. The firewalls will do more damage, lol

[Raistlin_Majere]

1. Desynch is something else, but yes - there once was a bug with certain fcr ranges. This has been fixed now.

9. As lumpor said your merc will not do much damage with Pride so he wont leech much. For a light sorc an infinity wielding merc is a lot better. And there are (much) better options than a beast for a sorc.

10. It might work (a berserker wont last long as a tank though as they cant leech). A lot simpler with physhical chars though (smiters, fury, conc barbs, kickers etc.)

[slam]

beast questions were related to my berserker, not my sorc. thanks though guys.

glad to hear i don't have to worry about the fcr bug

also, i almost put my berserker versus ubers disclaimer in, as it seems i need to every time i mention him. he works. against ubers he works. i did it last season without any problems. he has howl to take care of all the minions, he has max block and max damage reduction. all he used was a stormlash, and he had no problems against ubers. believe it :)

[slam]

A couple of questions on damage calculations....

I can have both the ethereal and superior mod, right?

Ethereal is 1.5 x the base damage, right?

Superior Is 15% enhanced damage, right?

How is superior factored in? Is that calculated before or after the ethereal mod to affect the base damage, or is it calculated in like off weapon enhanced damage?

[Raistlin_Majere]

A couple of questions on damage calculations....

I can have both the ethereal and superior mod, right?
Correct

Ethereal is 1.5 x the base damage, right?
Correct

Superior Is 15% enhanced damage, right?
Correct - perfect Superior mod ed is 15% (it can be lower too).

How is superior factored in? Is that calculated before or after the ethereal mod to affect the base damage, or is it calculated in like off weapon enhanced damage?
The superior is added directly to the on-weapon ed.

PS: Sorry about the berserker - it just didn't seem likely to work at first glance :scratchchin:

[slam]

The superior is added directly to the on-weapon ed.

before the ethereal calculation, or after?

EDIT: never mind, it doesn't matter what you do first, does it?

[lionheartthebrave]

http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551#Ethereal%20Weapon%20Damage

The strategy compendium has the answer (as usual)

[slam]

yeah, i'm working from there trying to put it in a spreadsheet.... ugh

[slam]

does the % damage to demons on Sazabi's Cobalt Redeemer work as on weapon enhanced damage?

[stephan]

No. Damage to undead/demons always counts as off-weapon/skill damage.

[slam]

that's a shame.... sazabi's could have been quite a boss killer....

[krischan]

1. When making a series of teleportation with the mouse button pressed continuously, and your second teleport is performed before your computer receives the server's notification about the position update from the first one, the new target position is based on your obsolete position, so you will teleport back and forth and it will be something like two steps forward, one step backwards. That happens if you have a slow internet connection or when the server is a bit laggy. At least that's the theory I have from my own observations.

9. Pride isn't a good choice when the merc has to deal much damage, for the mentioned reasons, but if his main job is providing auras and he's not in great danger because others do the fighting (e.g. summons from a necro), it makes sense. Apart from the damage, fanaticism will speed up your merc significantly, but it won't add much speed to skeletons, golems and other summons. AFAIK they have a timeout between their attacks which is not affected by the speed bonus from that aura.

[lumpor]

Skeletons are affected by the ias from fana

Without fana they attack at 18 frames, and with fana from beast they attack at 14 frames, and with faith they attack at 13 frames

Pride isn't even recommended on a summoner since the merc is the strongest minion to help you get the first kill so you can start the CE chain

[krischan]

Skeletons are affected by the ias from fana

Without fana they attack at 18 frames, and with fana from beast they attack at 14 frames, and with faith they attack at 13 frames

I admit that I provided second hand information :whistling:

[stephan]

I admit that I provided second hand information :whistling:
You are correct though, all pets wait 15 frames between attacks. The real attack speeds are 33, 29 and 28.