Tanking PVE question

DUTCH_REAPER · July 5

I wanted to see how low I could get my cost to block, so I made the Bracing glyph (reduce cost of block by 125). I then stuck that bad boy onto an infused jewelry legendary item and it now says reduce the cost of block by 325. Sweet right? Except when I slot the ring I only get 125 reduction. Is this intended? Thank you.

N00BxV1 · July 8

Yeah I'm seeing something similar. But I'm not sure how the math works.

My Amulet is CP160 Gold Infused with Bracing Enchantment. The tool-tip on it says "Reduce the cost of Block by 324", but when I equip/un-equip then my total Block Cost only changes by 158.

I also tested putting a Bracing Enchantment on a non-Infused CP160 Gold Amulet. The tool-tip on it says "Reduce the cost of Block by 203", but when I equip/un-equip then my total Block Cost only changes by 99.

So the math is giving less than half of what is stated on the tool-tips...

[Edit]

More info (just me thinking out loud):

- Dark Elf, Dragonknight.
- CP160 Gold Armor/Weapons/Shield/Jewelry/Enchants (5H, 1M, 1L).
- Fitness (CP) - Tireless Guardian: Reduces the cost of Block by 40 Stamina.
- One Hand and Shield - Fortress: Reduces the cost of Blocking by 36%.
- Light Armor - Penalties: Increase the cost of Block by 3% (1 piece equipped).
- Medium Armor - Bonuses: Reduce the cost of Block by 3% (1 piece equipped).
- Armor/Shield - 6x Sturdy: Reduces the cost of Block by 4% each (24% total).
- Amulet - Infused w/ Bracing Enchantment: Reduce the cost of Block by 324.

I searched online and everyone says the base Block Cost at level 50 is 2160, but they still reference the Shadow Ward CP which no longer exists, and they do not reference the armor bonuses/penalties. So it seems that most of the info is outdated...

Formula: (Base Cost) (- CP) (- Enchant) (- Fortress) (- Sturdy) (- Medium Armor Bonus) (+ Light Armor Penalty).
(I do not know if this is correct)

If I load a blank build on my character (no cp, skills, passives, gear, etc.) then my Block Cost is 1750 (Base Cost). And with the setup above, my Block Cost is 674.

n = 1750 -- Base Cost
n = n - 40 -- Tireless Guardian
n = n - 324 -- Enchantments Sum
n = n - (n * 0.36) -- Fortress %
n = n - (n * 0.24) -- Sturdy %
n = n - (n * 0.03) -- Medium Bonus %
n = n + (n * 0.03) -- Light Penalty %
Block Cost = n -- 673.54366464. Rounded up = 674.

I also tested this with 8x Sturdy (4% x 8 = 32%) and 3x Infused Bracing Enchantment (324 x 3 = 972). And with this setup my Block Cost is now 321.

n = 1750 -- Base Cost
n = n - 40 -- Tireless Guardian
n = n - 972 -- Enchantments Sum
n = n - (n * 0.36) -- Fortress %
n = n - (n * 0.32) -- Sturdy %
n = n - (n * 0.03) -- Medium Bonus %
n = n + (n * 0.03) -- Light Penalty %
Block Cost = n -- 320.88854016. Rounded up = 321.

So it seems like this formula is pretty close, but I'm still unsure if it's correct (it does seem to work though). And of course adding more sources of Block Cost Reduction would have to be included in the formula.

DUTCH_REAPER · July 9

Dang man. That’s great work there.
ZOS give us our block cost reduction lol. 😝

N00BxV1 · July 9

DUTCH_REAPER wrote: »

Dang man. That’s great work there.
ZOS give us our block cost reduction lol. 😝

Yeah I was trying to figure it out for myself too... I started with using a calculator but ended up writing an addon so that I could check this stuff in game. Let the computers do all the hard work.

Basically (what it appears to be doing), get the base Block Cost, then add/subtract each source with a flat value, then add/subtract each source with a percentage-based value. And that will give the actual Block Cost.

That's why when we change something (like a piece of jewelry) the Block Cost does not change by that same amount that is shown on the tool-tip. Maff

Personofsecrets · July 22

@paulsimonps may have resources on this topic. I'm not sure if they still play, but you could review their old posts.

The bottom line is diminished returns.

paulsimonps · July 22

Yea, as was said. Flat values goes first and then you get the % based stuff that has diminishing returns. So if you look at your block cost in the tooltip, and you have a % based cost reduction at some point in there, which is super common. Then adding a flat value reduction like the glyphs will not diminish it by the value listed on the glyph.

This happens with a lot of other types of formulas too btw, not just block cost. This helps prevent 100% reductions in most cases. Of course we have seen instances of ZOS forgetting this at times, like 100% block mitigation that had to be removed, good thing it was spotted on PTS, though it did happen more than once.