How does Mana Steal work?

Udyret answered perfectly.
Take into account that your damage is "rolled" between 2-11 and then the physical damage reduction of a monster is substracted.
For example, a "

Wraith" has 50% physical damage reduction on normal and 100% on hell.
So you could "leech" mana between 1-and 6 mana on normal and nothing at all on hell, because he is physically immune!

Sabcoll wrote: 4 years ago

So you could "leech" mana between 1-and 6 mana on normal and nothing at all on hell, because he is physically immune!

Just to continue to add to the information in this thread. This can be countered by lowering or breaking the immunity for the monster, for undeads and specifically for those pesky Wraiths, this can be done with the

Sanctuary Aura that completely bypasses undeads resistances. Using a Lawbringer on an Act V mercenary will do the trick for example.

Ha, nice addition @Tavron.
It's all those little details i love about D2.

To give the general recommendation, for casters/chars who do not rely on the physical component of their damage it is recommended to stick with "Mana after each kill".
This is often overseen especially by Javas or Icemaidens, who deal little physical but a lot of elemental damage.
Even though the

Pierce of their

Arrows/spears might contribute, MaeK is the better way to go.

Sabcoll wrote: 4 years ago

Ha, nice addition @Tavron.
It's all those little details i love about D2.

To give the general recommendation, for casters/chars who do not rely on the physical component of their damage it is recommended to stick with "Mana after each kill".
This is often overseen especially by Javas or Icemaidens, who deal little physical but a lot of elemental damage.
Even though the

Pierce of their

Arrows/spears might contribute, MaeK is the better way to go.

this. and herd those monsters into one big pack so you can murder them mana efficiently.