How important does damage reduction by x mean?

[papyrus]

How important does damage reduction by x mean?

Is it worth to wear the armor/weapon with DR by x (no percentage) attribute from cheap rune words? It seems that the number is too small to give a real advantage in hell mode.

Anyway, can someone enlighten me with how this DR is calculated? is it per frame or as a total.

 

[Fluffballer]

It's not as insignificant as it seems. Most monsters don't hit that hard; it's just you get hit a lot. I believe the average damage is 70 if I remember right. Now look at the affordable Gladiator's bane which reduces damage by 15-20. That's like having 20 or 30% damage reduction.

Edit: I believe magic damage is reduced by frame, which really adds up. I'm not sure about this though.

 

[Taft12]

I recall reading a post from someone who had gotten near perfect Gladiator's Bane and Gerke's Sanctuary and his char was barely getting scratched by hell monsters. It's a very underrated mod if you have it in high numbers - there's also an amulet suffix that lets you have up to 25 damage reduced.

 

[Pherdnut]

It reduces damage per frame so is extremely potent vs. attacks that do damage over time like firewall and the fire left over by meteor. Against instantaneous attacks it's all but worthless. Just multiply times 25 to get an idea of how much damage is being reduced per second. Not sure if it works on poison or not. It probably does but most people don't wear enough of it to counter deadlier poison attacks and resists are an easier way to counter it.

I've also read that it can be very nice in conjunction with Energy Shield.

 

[letosan]

anyone who has ever played DnD understands the value (or trouble) even a small amout of DR gives you. 5/+1 in DnD meant you ignored the first five points of physical damage by a weapon with less than a +1 enchant on it. You think 5 is not that big of a number, but thats just the tip of the iceberg.

As they have said, it adds up pretty quick, because it works in conjunction with a lot of factors. Figure in your block, your resists (for elemental damages) you regen, you leech, and all that. Then, even small numbers start to have a large effect on whats left over. Yeah, seeing the nice 30% DR is fun, but you can get that other stuff a lot cheaper lol.

I remember a friend of mine was playing a character that got turned into a weretiger. He had damage reduction of 20/+3, in other words someone had to do more than 20 points of damage to him in a single hit to hurt him. That takes a lot of doing hehe.

 

[DjSlayer]

Do correct me on this one, but I belive that there is no cap on it either.

- D.J.

 

[Pherdnut]

Well, yeah, but there aren't many attacks in D&D that do points in the thousands. I imagine you could get a hundred points of damage ignored if you really focused on that mod at the expense of other gear but 100ish out of attacks doing 1-2000 instantaneously isn't very exciting if you have to wear all that at the expense of other useful types of gear.

Just read on Arreat Summit (which is known for its errors so caveat emptor) that magic damage refers to the sorc elements and pure magic damage like bone spells and blessed hammer, which would explain why I've never heard of such items having an effect on poison damage if it's correct.

Edits:

Sorry, was thinking magic not physical. The physical damage reducers can be VERY potent since there is no cap and most monsters don't do much more than an average of 100 points of damage unless they've been enhanced by an aura.

And no, no cap AFAIK. For physical damage reduced by %, there is a cap at 50%. With a high % cap and enough "physical damage reduction by" mods you should be pretty darn near invulnerable vs. normal physical attacks. Not sure if special attacks like charges bypass these mods or not though.

Here's a bunch of items from the tankazon resource for physical and magic reduction items. Doesn't cover all the 1.10 runewords and later though.

Damage Reduced By [ top ]

Iron Pelt Trellised Armor 15-20
The Gladiator's Bane Wire Fleece 15-20
Gerke's Sanctuary Pavise 11-16
Arkaine's Valor Balrog Skin 10-15
Steel Carapace Shadow Plate 9-14
Nature's Peace Ring (Ladder Only) 7-11
Sol Rune (in helm/armour) 7
Sol Rune (in shield) 7
Lore Helm 7
Radiance Helm 7
Sigon's Complete Steel (Complete) 7
Duskdeep Full Helm 7
Astreon's Iron Ward Caduceus 4-7
Rockfleece Field Plate 5
Spire of Lazarus Gnarled Staff 5
Angelic Mantle Ring Mail 3
Arcanna's Flesh Light Plate 3
Bladebuckle Plated Belt 3
Steelclash Kite Shield 3
The Patriarch Great Sword 3
Cathan's Seal Ring 2
Hsarus' Iron Fist Buckler 2
Isenhart's Horns Full Helm 2
Milabrega's Robe Ancient Armor 2
Tancred's Weird Amulet 2
Nightsmoke Belt 2
The Centurion Hard Leather Armor 2
Goblin Toe Light Plated Boots 1

Magic Damage Reduced By [ top ]

The Gladiator's Bane Wire Fleece 15-20
Gerke's Sanctuary Pavise 14-18
Iron Pelt Trellised Armor 10-16
Natalya's Odium (2 items) 15
Tal Rasha's Guardianship Lacquered Plate 15
Razorswitch Jo Staff 15
Dwarf Star Ring 12-15
Spellsteel Bearded Axe 12-15
String of Ears Demonhide Sash 10-15
Vampire Gaze Grim Helm 10-15
Magewrath Rune Bow 9-13
Skin of the Vipermagi Serpentskin Armor 9-13
Moonfall Jagged Star 9-12
Ginther's Rift Dimensional Blade 7-12
M'avina's Embrace Kraken Shell 5-12
The Spirit Shroud Ghost Armor 7-11
Hwanin's Splendor Grand Crown 10
Immortal King (Complete) 10
Crescent Moon Amulet 10
Skullder's Ire Russet Armor 10
Que-Hegan's Wisdom Mage Plate 6-10
Alma Negra Sacred Rondache 5-9
Ondal's Wisdom Elder Staff 5-8
Mal Rune (in helm/armour) 7
Mal Rune (in shield) 7
Memory Staff 7
Sanctuary Any Shield 7
Bverrit Keep Tower Shield 5
White Wand 4
Radiance Helm 3
Stealth Armor 3
Cathan's Traps (Complete) 3
Natalya's Totem Grim Helm 3
Greyform Quilted Armor 3
Nagelring Ring 3
The Patriarch Great Sword 3
Black Club/Hammer/Mace 2
Berserker's Hauberk Splint Mail 2
Isenhart's Case Breast Plate 2
Howltusk Great Helm 2
Stoutnail Spiked Club 2
The Ward Gothic Shield 2
Tancred's Weird Amulet 1
Goblin Toe Light Plated Boots 1
Iceblink Splint Mail 1
Rusthandle Grand Scepter 1
Stormguild Large Shield 1

 

[Merick1]

Hell baal does like 210 max melee damage. Regular monsters don't do much more than 100 ever.
Getting 50 damage reduction isn't too hard.

And people made fun of my assassin for using a glad bane.

 

[Pherdnut]

Bodom Saint made a cool build that utilizes Glad's Bane and Energy Shield to make an almost invincible sorc with overlapping holy element damage aura RWs for the offensive component.