What are max block% and max dodge%? How is B% and D% calculated?der

[machinus]

There seems to be a hard cap for dodge, maybe around 50%? Also how do you get high blocking%? The shields have very low +% chance to block modifiers. Is there a blocking speed/fhr like in d2? How is blocking speed calculated?

[Jedouard]

There seems to be a hard cap for dodge, maybe around 50%? Also how do you get high blocking%? The shields have very low +% chance to block modifiers. Is there a blocking speed/fhr like in d2? How is blocking speed calculated?

Some of these questions can't be answered yet just because we don't know. I wasn't aware of a max dodge. (Maybe I was, since there I recall items on the DiabloNut planner that increased the cap of something, but I am not sure what the cap was on.) If this is the case, it kind of stinks because there is no max physical or magical resists. That said, resistance curves quickly become unattainable, so I guess it is the same thing.

I didn't notice a block speed when playing the beta. Sometimes I would get two blocks what appeared to be simultaneously. This sort of makes sense since there is no longer a block recovery period. (The devs apparently felt that being block locked was not a fun mechanic.)

However, blocking is not like it used to be. You might know this already, so sorry for blathering, but your shield has an armor amount, a block chance and a block amount. If I am not mistaken - and I might be - when you are hit with physical damage, your chance to block is rolled, if you block, then you reduce the damage by your block amount, then your physical resistance (armor) lowers the remaining damage. It's a shame resistance doesn't come first.

As for how you increase blocking chance, no one knows yet. It will likely just be item modifiers, and you can be sure there will be better modifiers out there on set, legendary and rare shields. Rubies socketed in the helm used to increase block chance, but that seems to no longer be the case. That would be a pretty stupid affix for a helm, especially when there are only four gem types and so many other off-hand item types.

[Superstate]

Block is rolled after all damage has been diminished.

[machinus]

Block is rolled after all damage has been diminished.

Can you elaborate on this? What's the point of "block" if it's after armor? What do you mean by diminished?

[zakaluka]

It's more beneficial for block to apply after armor dimishes the damage you took, don't worry.

Suppose you have 30% physical resist from armor and 10% from primary stat. You take a 1000 health hit, and your block negates 100 damage.

If block applies first, 900 damage gets through the block and resists apply. At 40% physi resist you take 540 damage.
If block applies last, resists apply to 1000 damage, leaving 600 damage over. After the block negates its 100 damage, you take 500.

What it means is that block gets more valuable as a stat once your mitigation gets really high. I'm willing to bet shields can provide a HUGE boost to EH if superstate is right.

[jokewood]

Block is rolled after all damage has been diminished.

Wow. That certainly makes block more appealing.

[machinus]

It's more beneficial for block to apply after armor dimishes the damage you took, don't worry.

Suppose you have 30% physical resist from armor and 10% from primary stat. You take a 1000 health hit, and your block negates 100 damage.

If block applies first, 900 damage gets through the block and resists apply. At 40% physi resist you take 540 damage.
If block applies last, resists apply to 1000 damage, leaving 600 damage over. After the block negates its 100 damage, you take 500.

What it means is that block gets more valuable as a stat once your mitigation gets really high. I'm willing to bet shields can provide a HUGE boost to EH if superstate is right.

Holy crap...no wonder they are semi-nerfing 1H weapons. Shields are going to be strong if they allow for high FHR breakpoints. Are there such things as frame breakpoints in D3? Is it tied to FPS? Is there such thing as FHR?

[phor]

You take a 1000 health hit, and your block negates 100 damage.

Are you sure block amount is a static amount and not a percentage?
That's how it used to work with Paladin in WoW and they ended up having to change that whole mechanic because it caused HUGE scaling issues.

If you blocked anywhere close to enough damage to be effective against the hardest mobs in the game then you were literally invincible against anything you barely out-leveled. The class was either horribly overpowered against 95% of the game's enemies or it was severely under-powered against endgame content depending on how they tried to tweak the scaling.

They finally gave up and scrapped the whole block amount mechanic in favor of a block percentage that no longer scaled with gear.

[machinus]

Are you sure block amount is a static amount and not a percentage?
That's how it used to work with Paladin in WoW and they ended up having to change that whole mechanic because it caused HUGE scaling issues.

If you blocked anywhere close to enough damage to be effective against the hardest mobs in the game then you were literally invincible against anything you barely out-leveled. The class was either horribly overpowered against 95% of the game's enemies or it was severely under-powered against endgame content depending on how they tried to tweak the scaling.

They finally gave up and scrapped the whole block amount mechanic in favor of a block percentage that no longer scaled with gear.

Yes, block is a flat damage amount (a range actually) but it comes with a % chance to block that depends on variables we are not sure of yet. Diablo's combat system is very different from world of warcraft so I wouldn't worry about any class becoming invincible against monsters. Not until we discover Enigma Hammerdins

[HardRock]

Holy crap...no wonder they are semi-nerfing 1H weapons. Shields are going to be strong if they allow for high FHR breakpoints. Are there such things as frame breakpoints in D3? Is it tied to FPS? Is there such thing as FHR?

There are hit recovery animations in D3, but there's no FHR stat on items. Additionally monsters often have short knockback attacks. This means that damage mitigation will be really important, because there will be times when monsters will stunlock you for a few seconds if you're not careful. This could happen even in the beta if you met with a Nightmarish Elite Unburied and you screwed up the timing of your Frost Nova for example.

Yes, block is a flat damage amount (a range actually)

Just to be clear, on a given item the block amount is fixed, not a range. The range that you can see in the database only defines what amount of block can spawn on a given item.

And yes, block is amazing. Just look at this bad boy: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/sacred-shield

The potential to block 4706 damage on top of the good amount of Armor they provide will make shields really useful for survival. I bet that even with the recently unveiled monster damage values from Inferno we'll be able to completely block the damage of certain weaker enemies.