Defense question for a blaster

[Dissention]

Is there much of a performance difference between 36% def and 40% def?

Even a link to a discussion would be helpful!

[Call Me Awesome]

5 hours ago, Dissention said:

Is there much of a performance difference between 36% def and 40% def?

Even a link to a discussion would be helpful!

Well, yes as your defense gets closer to the soft cap each % is worth more than the last.  It's the difference between getting hit 14% of the time and 10% of the time, so it's there but it may not matter that much.

 

Personally I'd likely stick to 36% and eat a small purple if things get tight and think about other parts of the build at that point.  Depending on your build you may get more use out of other bonuses.

[plainguy]

Link in my signature 

[Nemu]

The closer to 45% the better, for non-incarnate content.

 

However not every build needs to be at 45% or a little over depending on the mitigation tools that they have available. If you can only squeeze out 42 or 43% that's OK.

[Krazie Ivan]

i agree with the other guys, in-that every step closer to softcap is noticeable.

i'd add that it's esp important on a Blaster or other low-HP char, because while good Res & Regen are absolutely helpful, Def is the strongest factor to durability. high HP itself is mitigation, but one you won't have avail, & that directly effects how well Res & Regen will work for you. the fewer mitigation choices i have with a char, the more likely i am to sacrifice other things in my build to compensate & stay alive ...can't DPS or add to your team while dead.

[Doomguide2005]

And this doesn't include discussion on the value of defense over the softcap for handling defense debuffs something the vast majority of sets (and all blaster sets) have no resistance against as far as I know.  Once cascade failure takes hold you're in real trouble.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Doomguide2005

[Shred Monkey]

Yes.   ...and maybe no... with math:

 

If the incoming damage is hitting you for 100 hp per second with 36% defense.  The change to 40% defense will now be 71.42 hp per second.  Or a perceived improvement of 30% less incoming damage.   Going to 45% (soft cap) will get you to 35.7 hp per second of incoming damage or a 65% perceived improvement over the current defense level.

 

When does this not matter?   When I'm leveling up, I usually do planned builds at level 22, and 32.  Usually around level 32 I'm in that 30-35% defense range, and it's plenty good enough for that level.  I'll have to use inspirations sometimes, but for running regular missions it's fine.  If I'm not dying there's no reason to sacrifice for more defense.

 

However, at level 50, I personally always push for 45% defense.   Looking at my above numbers, the perceived difference between 40 and 45 is 50% less incoming damage.    That last 5% cuts the incoming damage in half.  

 

 

[Frostweaver]

one thing to also remember is that other sources of mitigation also have a profound effect on incoming damage when you are close to your cap.

frinstance my water/ice blaster has around 45% s/l/f/c/e/d defense, meaning only 20% of 1000 hp damage gets through. that's 200 hp. (outside of another big boost from incarnates to defense which I use to cancel out the buffs of +4 and incarnate enemies, to a total of 61% defense)
In addition, I have around 30% s/l (and almost 50% cold, 30% fire, and 28% e/d) resist, which chops that down to 140.
I also have -14% damage from enemies inside the radius of frigid protection (Yes, I know that can be affected heavily by debuff protection) dropping that down to 120 damage, plus another -20% speed reduction dropping that total to (without debuff protection) to about 100 points. So even with caps, I am taking about 10% of all incoming damage (without debuff protection),,,, add that to the defenses of things flopping on my ice patch instead of attacking, Plus a huge chunk of absorption that goes off every 6 seconds . on average, a full spawn of +4 enemies will be well within my absorption hitpoints per second whether they are in melee radius or shooting from outside.

All these little bonuses add together with that defense bonus to make something that, while not as tough as your average scrapper (because of low hitpoints) in melee, while slightly less tough against their much lower damage ranged attacks, is still capable of walking through about any farm as fast as a brute farmer, with only a little higher risk.(I convert to both reds and oranges instead of just reds).

This...stress test in farms gives you a very very good idea of how you will perform in high end content, and I have staggered people with the way I can wade through even the toughest praetorian, Dark astoria, and incarnate content with nary a scratch, laying waste the whole time.

Defense is IMPORTANT... and the more damage protection you gain from your secondary, the more important it becomes.

After all, who else but a blaster is going to make those brutes feel appropriately humble?

Edited April 19, 2020 by Frostweaver
fixing my math

[Banana Man]

If the question is whether or not you should slot more, it depends on how you're going to play and what you're gaining by not getting to 45%. 45% isn't that hard to get, so it's likely that you should try for it unless you're gaining some kind of really high damage bonus, or optimal proc slotting.

 

Also, you can still have 45% defense without slotting for it if you use things like purples, or the super cheap and effective kinetic damper (I think that's what it's called) temp from the p2w, or the p2w amps.