Damage reduction viability

I now play exclusively hardcore and my biggest concern is amplifying damage ("cursed"). For example i play kind of hybrid sin, where main dmg is traps, but I also use Venom/

Cobra Strike/

Dragon Flight to move around and recover the mana used on traps. Resistances are never a problem on a sin, and with some elemental absorb the elemental dmg is manageable. But a cursed mob pack is a potential insta kill, if they curse you and land a few hits.

I have been reading a lot about DR and how it functions. A White mob on hell easily does above 100 physical damage, and DR is estimated upfront, i.e. before % reduction, so doesnt sound like much. But DR is also estimated before the curse multiplication. So 50 DR is essentially protection from 100hp damage if you are cursed.

I have been wondering if stacking DR in particular is really my insurance against dying in hell and should i go full on, i.e. safety rings,

Sol runes,etc. Into it.

Note: I know that DR/MDR are viable for immortal sorc build, because they can completely negate the damage to health pool. This is about the other classes

I would imagine it works the best with the immortal sorc build because of the shields. Dont know how this would work on other classes and builds.

NILAHANK.
monster: hell temptress
Damage : around 70-110

I stack 14 and 50% PDR.

Most monster is attack between 70-120
For those physical attack lower than 100, DR is much more strong than melee resistance. Bane armor provide 20 which will be strongest armor, even vs

Shaftstop .

For attack lower than 100, 1 point DR is more than 1% PDR. At 100 monster damage, 1 DR is 1%.

Have you tried to go full DR and getting like 50-60?

ipatrishkov wrote: 7 months ago

Have you tried to go full DR and getting like 50-60?

my char/merc build cant reach that.
50 is equal to 67% physical resistance vs hell mitress without curse, she also cast cursed amp sometimes.
if you only need vs White, it is best attr. however if you meet boss, lets say 600 per cast without amp, it is only 10-20%resistance .

I got kill by nilahank many times, that I realize you can only prevent one way, boss or small things like hell tempress, not in middle.

---
get a sc char and buy cheap things to test it. DR most case is better but deadly hit that makes kill usually from unique-monster.

i will never play hc. there are 2 reasons. first, i am slow casual player and always thinking first on survivability. second, not all depend on your play, you can loose character because of bad connection etc ( i had between 5-10 deaths on sc because of connection in total year of play. 2 in last 2 months for sure).
all i can say about hc is that not many builds have chance to stay very very long in game wihout dying there if we put bad connection aside. and it's not just amplify curse, there are auras and elemental dmg also (especially lightning). so it's not all about ph dmg reduction.

brgljez wrote: 7 months ago

i will never play hc. there are 2 reasons. first, i am slow casual player and always thinking first on survivability. second, not all depend on your play, you can loose character because of bad connection etc ( i had between 5-10 deaths on sc because of connection in total year of play. 2 in last 2 months for sure).
all i can say about hc is that not many builds have chance to stay very very long in game wihout dying there if we put bad connection aside. and it's not just amplify curse, there are auras and elemental dmg also (especially lightning). so it's not all about ph dmg reduction.

D2 and D2r most likely also suffers from massive desyncs even if your connection is fine. Though I have to admit, Ive not had similar desyncs in d2r compared to what d2 original had so I might even look into hardcore at some point for fun, used to play d3 hc only pretty much all the time.
Problem with diablo 2 is that there are

Spear throwers, bow shooters etc. which deal insanely high physical dmg with good penetration (I assume) as they can just one hit K.O your character out of the blue without you having any time to react.
Dolls exploding as they die is one; massive chunk of hp off no matter how tough you are. Enough of them explode near you and youre insta K.O'd without any kind of chance of saving yourself. These kinds of things are the reason why I dislike hardcore. Cant kill a player in any other way than going through all the defensive stats they have? bruh thats lame.

Semirotta wrote: 7 months ago

Problem with diablo 2 is that there are

Spear throwers, bow shooters etc. which deal insanely high physical dmg with good penetration (I assume) as they can just one hit K.O your character out of the blue without you having any time to react.

One problem with ranged monsters besides doing a lot of damage per hit is that most people will be running when encountering them - to close the distance, to run away, or run sideways/zigzag to dodge - and when you run, your defense is 0 (and block chance is cut to 1/3), so nearly all of the javelins/arrows/bolts will hit you. There are safer ways to approch them, and some classes have good crowd control skills that can shut ranged monsters down completely. But they can definitely cause unexpected OHKO (or seemingly one-hit anyway, if you get hit in the face by 10 projectiles at the same with 0 defense due to running ), especially when extra strong, aura enchanted, cursed, or a lovely combination of these.

Oh yeah that too, completely forgot about defense dropping to 0 when running. :'D

Have you tried Cure on merc?
Reduces the curses' duration a lot

The Gladiator's Bane

fredkid wrote: 7 months ago

Have you tried Cure on merc?
Reduces the curses' duration a lot

Ladder only, otherwise would have. My

Fade usually takes care of curse in long run, but if you are going to get killed, it would be in the first 1-2 seconds after getting cursed usually

ipatrishkov wrote: 7 months ago

fredkid wrote: 7 months ago

Have you tried Cure on merc?
Reduces the curses' duration a lot

Ladder only, otherwise would have. My

Fade usually takes care of curse in long run, but if you are going to get killed, it would be in the first 1-2 seconds after getting cursed usually

Make a ladder character and I'll throw you Cure helmet. Once the season ends you have that one too ^^

Thanks man, but i am good. I am planning to join the next ladder though

DR doesn't work IMO.