Scaling Resist Damage; how does it actually work?

[Scarlet Shocker]

Building a blaster and slotting Hover and this one always puzzles me. What does it actually do, what are its mechanics, is it worth it? So many questions... I leave it to you knowledge based genii to inform me

[BassAckwards]

It grants you a small bonus to Resistance (All Dam) based on your current HP stat. You get 0% boost at full health to as much as +10% at very low health.

 

IMO it could be hit or miss on a blaster, I think it works better on builds with more hp that can withstand some hits at lower HP. Where as on a Blaster if you are already down to 20% health, one good hit is going to take you out regardless of that extra +10% resistance possibly.

 

This is just my opinion, but others may have examples for why its a good use case for you.

 

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=boosts.crafted_reactive_defenses_f.crafted_reactive_defenses_f

Edited Friday at 09:47 AM by BassAckwards

[Ukase]

The question is it worth it depends on a number of things. 

As for how it works, our lovely players have chosen to tell us here, on the HC Wiki.

 

If you're on a phone or can't be bothered, the formula is Resistance % = (-0.1 x Health %) + 12.9

 

Essentially, the lower your health% is, the more resistance you'll have. 

Back to is it worth it. Opinions will very because many of us simply HAVE to use the full set. It's the only way our brains can function. Certainly some minor completion mental disorder. Other folks think of it like they thought of the MOG moments back on retail. If you're doing that badly you need to use MOG, then MOG is probably not going to save you. 

Myself, I try to use the full set for the recharge value. Sure, I can get the 7.5% from the lotg with one slot. And if I'm really desperate, I can use red fortune in the other 5 for 12.5% instead of the paltry 8.75% Reactive Defenses offers. But the set has other set bonuses that I like, so I tend to use the full set. Some characters don't use it at all. 

Hypothetically, if I only have room for one defensive IO slot, the first one that goes in is usually the lotg 7.5. After that is the Shield Wall 5%, followed by the kismet 6% ToHit. The reactive defenses, for me, is never used by itself, unless I just need 3% to reach the hard cap on resists. My tanks might use it, but that's about it. While it is true the marginal gains can add up, aside from specific characters like my badger who is often forced into challenging content for a badge, it's just not that important to eke out every possible point of resistance. I'd rather have defense. 

If you're on a blaster, I think it's probably a waste unless you just really like the other bonuses in the set.

[Hedgefund]

I just want to emphasize that it's 3%, not 0, at full health.  

 

Here I am standing around Atlas on a 50 (so definitely at full health) with 3% from Reactive:

 

 

To the "is it worth it?" question, among the mitigation uniques (2 for 3% def, 1 for 5% res) this ranks at the bottom of that list and I do have some characters that don't use it but that's on the rare side.  I wish I had an easy way to query my builds but I'm going to guess I use it about 80% of the time.  Certainly closer to 100% for melee types.

Edited Friday at 10:38 AM by Hedgefund

[BassAckwards]

6 minutes ago, Hedgefund said:

I just want to emphasize that it's 3%, not 0, at full health.  

 

Here I am standing around Atlas on a 50 (so definitely at full health) with 3% from Reactive:

 

Interesting, not bad for 1 slot then. 

[Hedgefund]

8 minutes ago, BassAckwards said:

Interesting, not bad for 1 slot then. 

The wording is weird, deceptively so, for this piece.  Looking at it now it says 

 

"This bonus starts off at +0% at full health and slowly increases to around 10% at very low health". 

 

What's not mentioned is the flat 3%.  What they should be conveying is 3% + scaling bonus resists.

[KaizenSoze]

20 minutes ago, Hedgefund said:

The wording is weird, deceptively so, for this piece.  Looking at it now it says 

 

"This bonus starts off at +0% at full health and slowly increases to around 10% at very low health". 

 

What's not mentioned is the flat 3%.  What they should be conveying is 3% + scaling bonus resists.

Yep, it's very nice combined with that Shield Wall piece. 8% resists to everything for the cost of two slots.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Shield_Wall:_Teleportation_Protection,_%2BRes(All)

[tidge]

The singleton piece is a no-brainer on most characters (but especially high-HP buckets like Tankers and Brutes).

 

For Tankers specifically, the %Scaling Resistance piece, plus the Tanker ATO %+Resistance... along with a healthy amount of Regeneration (e.g. 2xNumina) and some %+Healing is enough reason for me to not bother with the Fighting pool, unless somehow Weave is crucial to the build (or I just want more melee attacks). I probably have a Tanker or two that use the Fighting pool's Tough and Weave as IO mules, but more static (full Health) S/L resistance (from Tough) is mostly just a number for me, and a lost opportunity to take two other powers.

 

I do make an effort to 6-slot the entire set, often the set is the only reason I take Maneuvers on so many characters.

[Ukase]

2 hours ago, Hedgefund said:

I just want to emphasize that it's 3%, not 0, at full health.  

You're absolutely correct, and I can only blame my inadequate answer on insufficient caffeine at the early hour. Well done!

[BassAckwards]

22 minutes ago, Ukase said:

You're absolutely correct, and I can only blame my inadequate answer on insufficient caffeine at the early hour. Well done!

 

It has me on a mad quest to figure out what power I can justify removing a slot from to add this on my Rad Tank. I probably don't need it after SMotT, but 3% is hard to turn down.

 

SOLUTION: I had Weave slotted with LotG 7.5 Rech, LotG Def, and Shield Wall +Res. I swapped out LotG Def with Reactive Defenses, and it only cost me 1.2% defense.

Edited Friday at 01:05 PM by BassAckwards

[Maelwys]

3 hours ago, Hedgefund said:

What's not mentioned is the flat 3%.  What they should be conveying is 3% + scaling bonus resists.

Yeah; it's effectively "3-13% resistance to all; depending on your current health" - blame the usual inaccurate short description gremlins.

That up-to-10% additional resistance seems to work off a flat sliding scale, so at 50% HP you should be getting 8% total resistance from it.
It also works off the same HP percentage variable as Super Reflex's sliding resists; so +MaxHP buffs from accolades/set bonuses/etc shouldn't negatively impact anything.
https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=set_bonus.set_bonus.reactive_defenses&at=tanker
 

[Snarky]

5 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Building a blaster and slotting Hover and this one always puzzles me. What does it actually do, what are its mechanics, is it worth it? So many questions... I leave it to you knowledge based genii to inform me

It scales Damage Resistance.  

[Scarlet Shocker]

8 hours ago, Snarky said:

It scales Damage Resistance.  

 

See, this is why everyone loves @Snarky 

 

This is supra-genius. This blows President Musk into the weeds with its erudite, concise, explanatory comment. I red this response and I feel dumb for simply having asked the question.

 

I am not worthy.

 

Thanks you, worshipful Snarkster! 

[Scarlet Shocker]

12 hours ago, KaizenSoze said:

Yep, it's very nice combined with that Shield Wall piece. 8% resists to everything for the cost of two slots.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Shield_Wall:_Teleportation_Protection,_%2BRes(All)

 

Serious question: Can those pieces be slotted in different powers or should they be combined in the same one? I think they should work wherever placed but... sometimes vagaries in the game, combined with my own incomplete understanding, confuse me

 

 

On a wider note, and I thank you for all your great commentary, I have further questions. It seems this is beneficial primarily to high HP toons that are able to soak damage. Tanks, Brutes, SoA, etc. Blasters, Trollers, otehr squishies, not so much. Is that a fair assessment? If that is a correct extrapolation, what would work better for said squishies?

[Snarky]

19 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

See, this is why everyone loves @Snarky 

 

This is supra-genius. This blows President Musk into the weeds with its erudite, concise, explanatory comment. I red this response and I feel dumb for simply having asked the question.

 

I am not worthy.

 

Thanks you, worshipful Snarkster! 

[Latex]

18 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Building a blaster and slotting Hover and this one always puzzles me. What does it actually do, what are its mechanics, is it worth it? So many questions... I leave it to you knowledge based genii to inform me

It's definitely worth, I slot it on all my chars

[tidge]

13 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

Serious question: Can those pieces be slotted in different powers or should they be combined in the same one? I think they should work wherever placed but... sometimes vagaries in the game, combined with my own incomplete understanding, confuse me

 

 

On a wider note, and I thank you for all your great commentary, I have further questions. It seems this is beneficial primarily to high HP toons that are able to soak damage. Tanks, Brutes, SoA, etc. Blasters, Trollers, otehr squishies, not so much. Is that a fair assessment? If that is a correct extrapolation, what would work better for said squishies?

 

The "global" pieces can go into any power... if I am not getting a set bonus from Shield Wall, Reactive Defenses, or Unbreakable Guard, or whatever... I tend to slot them in late-pick powers.

 

Some pieces need to be in an active/available power, like Power Transfer %Heal (IIRC) or Kismet +ToHit.

 

Scaling Damage Resistance isn't bad for any AT, but high HP characters can (generally) be taking damage and still not worry about taking damage. Lower Health characters might get a few more seconds to make a run from danger.

 

Generally: Defenses are best, since it means the character isn't getting hit at all. After Defense, I'd probably rank Absorb as the next-best thing to have, no matter the AT.

 

Resistances are trickier to characterize... their importance depends both on content being faced and what (if any) other defenses/resistances are available for the AT in question. The game used to be somewhat "simpler" in how damage typing worked against defenses, as well as how certain (high-level) enemy types used to only do certain types of damage. Personally I'm not a fan of all-out pursuit of hitting/exceeding resistance caps, because even though it is mathematically true that (for example, a Tanker) going from 85% resistance to 90% resistance is "taking one-third less damage!" if that character has enough regeneration, healing, etc. it could end up making very little difference in play.

 

[Snarky]

On 4/11/2025 at 2:22 AM, Scarlet Shocker said:

Building a blaster and slotting Hover and this one always puzzles me. What does it actually do, what are its mechanics, is it worth it? So many questions... I leave it to you knowledge based genii to inform me

Okay. Getting real here.  🥸.  But seriously, on a Blaster this is probably NOT worth the slot.  Even on a defense armor melee it is a questionable choice.  DEFINITELY get the global + defense piece(s). But resistance building on a Blaster is straying far from the “win the fight by killing fast” and venturing into investment in “survive long enough to wear them down”.  My two cents.  I do have an Elec Elec Blaster built with extremely high ranged defense, good all around defense, and resistance (and some pool resist powers🤪).  But it is just a joke build.  My Fire Fire Fire Blaster is so much more effective and just built for DPS.  Of course it has a great rez 😎

[Scarlet Shocker]

I'm strongly getting the sense - both through reading responses here and also through play - that this is a Proc that isn't worth much for squishies. I could even say that it scales. The more HP you have, the better it suits you. If you're the proverbial "glass cannon" (sounds like a camera with an expensive lens) then your HP is gone before it can effectively kick in.

 

I would suggest it also works best on Res based ATs. I think both Invincible Woman (Elec/Kin Tank)  and Scarlet Shocker's best iteration (All Elec Sent) benefit from it greatly but I think my experience with electric blasters (close on 19 years) tells me that she'll be toast before it can be effective.

 

I suspect it would be useful for Barbizilla - my Regen Brute - but that's yet to be tested though she has a much higher res than def.

 

Appreciate everyone's input here. Many thanks team!

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I'm strongly getting the sense - both through reading responses here and also through play - that this is a Proc that isn't worth much for squishies. I could even say that it scales. The more HP you have, the better it suits you. If you're the proverbial "glass cannon" (sounds like a camera with an expensive lens) then your HP is gone before it can effectively kick in.

 

I would suggest it also works best on Res based ATs. I think both Invincible Woman (Elec/Kin Tank)  and Scarlet Shocker's best iteration (All Elec Sent) benefit from it greatly but I think my experience with electric blasters (close on 19 years) tells me that she'll be toast before it can be effective.

 

I suspect it would be useful for Barbizilla - my Regen Brute - but that's yet to be tested though she has a much higher res than def.

 

Appreciate everyone's input here. Many thanks team!

here is the "joke build" i mentioned.  but i built it very seriously to address my perception of Sentinel's drawbacks.  it is an Elec Blaster, that does more damage than a Sentinel (not nearly as much as my other Blasters, especially Fire) but is extremely survivable.  due to built in defenses and get out of jail free powers.  it does in fact use Scaling Damage Resistance...

 

 

Blaster - Electrical Blast - Temporal Manipulation tank 4.0.mxd

[Latex]

5 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I'm strongly getting the sense - both through reading responses here and also through play - that this is a Proc that isn't worth much for squishies. I could even say that it scales. The more HP you have, the better it suits you. If you're the proverbial "glass cannon" (sounds like a camera with an expensive lens) then your HP is gone before it can effectively kick in.

 

I would suggest it also works best on Res based ATs. I think both Invincible Woman (Elec/Kin Tank)  and Scarlet Shocker's best iteration (All Elec Sent) benefit from it greatly but I think my experience with electric blasters (close on 19 years) tells me that she'll be toast before it can be effective.

 

I suspect it would be useful for Barbizilla - my Regen Brute - but that's yet to be tested though she has a much higher res than def.

 

Appreciate everyone's input here. Many thanks team!

My Blaster has it, she has as much def as a standard Super Reflexes Scrapper and focused on S/L RES (Sonic/Martial), S/L is generally going to be what you take hits from when your DEF layer is ripped apart so much -DEF Debuffs are S/L. She isn't a hover blaster either and I prioritize using melee over Sonic. +15% RES to all damage when low HP (Gladiator +5% is essential too imo) stacked ontop of whatever RES you already have for a mere 2 slots is insane value, even for all out squishy builds.
 

Edited 18 hours ago by Latex