Damage Reduction

Damage Reduction is an affix that lowers the amount of damage you take from incoming hits. It applies only when the specific condition on the affix is met (for example: from Close Enemies, while Fortified, while Healthy, vs Elites, etc.).

Damage Reduction is a powerful defensive stat because it multiplies with all other mitigation layers, including Armor, Resistances, Barrier, Fortify, and Block—giving it strong scaling even at modest values.

What Damage Reduction Does

When the condition is met, this affix reduces incoming damage by the listed percentage. For example:

• 10% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies
• 8% Damage Reduction while Healthy
• 12% Damage Reduction vs Elites

Each of these applies only when its condition is true.

If multiple DR sources are active simultaneously, they apply one after another (multiplicatively), not as a single combined value.

How Damage Reduction Works

Multiplicative Stacking

Each separate source of DR multiplies the remaining damage—this prevents 100% immunity and makes mixed DR sources stronger than stacking only one type.

Conditional Application

Most Damage Reduction affixes apply only when the game detects their trigger:

• Close / Distant Enemies
• Healthy / Injured
• While Fortified
• While a Barrier is active
• Against Elites
• Against Damage-Over-Time

If the condition drops, the DR drops with it.

Works With All Other Mitigation Layers

Damage Reduction is only one part of your defenses. Every hit goes through several layers of mitigation, and Damage Reduction always works on whatever damage is left after the earlier layers have done their job. It does not replace Armor or Resistances it multiplies with them.

The main layers Damage Reduction interacts with are:

• Armor: Reduces all incoming damage, not just Physical. Very strong, always on.
• Resistances: Reduce elemental damage (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, Shadow, Physical) and their Damage over Time versions.
• Barrier: A temporary shield that gets hit first. Damage Reduction applies to the damage being dealt to the Barrier.
• Fortify: An extra Life pool that soaks damage for you. Damage Reduction reduces how quickly that Fortified Life is lost.
• Block Damage Reduction: Only applies when you successfully Block a hit. Damage Reduction then works on the remaining damage after the block.
• Dodge / Immune: Dodge can make an attack miss entirely, and Immune ignores all damage for a short time. When a hit does get through, your Damage Reduction still helps soften it.

In practice, good survivability comes from combining several layers: solid Armor and Resistances for baseline protection, plus well-chosen Damage Reduction affixes that stay active during the situations where you actually die (Close enemies, Elites, while Fortified, etc).

Examples of Damage Reduction Setups

Damage Reduction from Close Enemies

A Close enemy hits you for 1,000 damage. You have 12% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies.

: 1,000 × (1 − 0.12) = 880 damage taken

Step-by-step

1. Start with the incoming damage: 1,000.
2. The affix gives 12% less damage taken.
3. That means you still take 88% of the hit (100% − 12% = 88%).
4. 88% of 1,000 is 880.

Final damage taken: 880.

Two Damage Reduction Sources Together

You have:

• 12% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies
• 20% Damage Reduction while Fortified

: 1,000 × 0.88 × 0.80 = 704 damage taken

Step-by-step

1. Start with 1,000 damage.
2. First layer: 12% less damage from Close Enemies.
3. You take 88% of 1,000 → 880.
4. Second layer: 20% less damage while Fortified.
5. You take 80% of 880 → 704.

Final damage taken: 704.