Looking for in-depth info on block

[Intolerance]

I'm trying to complete Inferno on my hardcore Barb. I'm in A3 (haven't even tried Q1) and can, for the most part, farm A2 with ease. I understand that successful HC barbs stack block via >20% Sacreds, Justice Lantern, and possibly HoC. I'm sitting on 19% block without JL and HoC and I'm hesitant to spend an insane amount of gold on either of the two, most likely because I'm having a hard time accepting how effective stacked block really is. Does it help at all against affixes like arcane/desecrator/plagued/molten/fire chains? How does that 3706-4706 block amount actually work when factoring in armor/resists?

D2 block was so easy. With D3 block, my mind is completely blown.

Thanks for any insight.

[HardRock]

Block in D3 works against everything. Really, melee or ranged attacks, DoTs, AoEs, ground based AoE DoTs, everything. The Block amount comes into play after every other damage reduction stat or skill as far as I know, so it's a really powerful defensive stat. Blocking doesn't interrupt your character in D3, so it has no drawbacks like it had in D2.

Personally, I would try to buy cheap Legendaries with extra block before 1.0.4 goes live. The prices of these items may skyrocket after that, due to the new Legendary bonuses. I think 30-35% block is a good amount to aim for, but your mileage may vary of course, depending on your gear. The maximum amount of block that a shield may have is 29% (20% base + 9% bonus).

[Karth]

Personally, I would try to buy cheap Legendaries with extra block before 1.0.4 goes live. The prices of these items may skyrocket after that, due to the new Legendary bonuses. I think 30-35% block is a good amount to aim for, but your mileage may vary of course, depending on your gear. The maximum amount of block that a shield may have is 29% (20% base + 9% bonus).

Blizzard said they weren't changing the Helm of Command because it is already quite useful. The Justice Lantern also doesn't seem to be changing in the datamined info, so that might be a bad idea. Stormshield and other shields are actually improving.

[HardRock]

Thanks for the info, I haven't looked at the datamined stuff.

[magicrectangle]

The higher block chance, the better. Unlike dodge, block chance adds in a linear fashion, making each additional 1% block you can even more effective than the last. It is possible to get 51% block in patch 1.03, and it makes an incredible difference. Almost all attacks can be full-blocked if you have decent armor and resists, which means 51% block chance translates to essentially 51% damage reduction. It is just incredible.

[Karth]

1.04 looks like it will offer even higher block chances (and higher block amounts with the best block chance shield - Stormshield). With a 25% base blocking SS, 9% ctb from SS's affix, 7% from a Doombringer sword, 8% from a Helm of Command, and 11% from a Justice lantern... that's an insane reduction of incoming damage.

[Dethklok]

The higher block chance, the better. Unlike dodge, block chance adds in a linear fashion, making each additional 1% block you can even more effective than the last. It is possible to get 51% block in patch 1.03, and it makes an incredible difference. Almost all attacks can be full-blocked if you have decent armor and resists, which means 51% block chance translates to essentially 51% damage reduction. It is just incredible.

"Decent" armor and resists? If it was "amazing" I'd agree... the strongest hits are for about 110k before mitigation is applied, so you'd need more than 80% damage mitigation in both armor AND resistances in order to achieve the level you're talking about against ALL attacks. Keep in mind that OP is going from Act 3 Inferno to Act 4, and he's playing hardcore.

That said, you'd only need 70/70 mitigation (far more doable) to have blocking negate the more normal-sized hits, and that can mean a lot of damage prevention. So increased block rate is awesome.

[VHD]

Check these explanations of damage reduction (including blocking):

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...ory-simplified

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...cs-explanation

[aaronbrooks]

Block does not mitigate ground effects. If you are blocking damage, the screen will show "block!" If you stand in a puddle of ooze it doesn't matter if you have a 10% block shield or a 32% block shield. It also does not block arcane sentries, so I don't know where the idea that block mitigates all damage sources comes from. Go ahead and swap your 10% shield for a 32% stormshield and tell me how much thats helping you versus Ghom's poison clouds, ticks from arcane sentries, or standing in Desecrate puddles.

The obsession with block started with Old Inferno, back when everything did an insane amount of damage. The idea was since the majority of damage taken in the game was physical, the best way to blow through Inferno is to stack up on block/melee damage reduction, and then skip packs that do elemental damage.

Now that physical damage has been nerfed significantly, and people are no longer skipping packs to clear Inferno, but to FARM by fighting all elite packs, all resist is a more efficient stat to shore up on as it will reduce damage from all incoming sources and let you take on a wider range of elites.

[HardRock]

Block does not mitigate ground effects.

You're right. I just tested this against a Plagued Elite pack. Neither block nor dodge helps against (at least some of) these effects. My mistake.

skip packs that do elemental damage.

Block does protect against elemental damage.