About Weapon Traits

joseayalac

For PVP, I run DW frontbar and 2H backbar. My backbar is pure utility, buffs and survivability. This question regards the backbar weapon.

1) Which trait would increase healing tooltips more between Nirnhoned and Powered?

2) How much damage % does Defending (2752 Resistances) mitigate?

I run a 1H/5M/1L Stam DK setup if that matters.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

1. Powered.
2. 2752/660= 4.1%

WrathOfInnos

Calculating the % damage from defending depends on your current resistances.

If you have no armor, then defending takes you from 0 (0%) to 2752 (4.1%).

If you have 30k resistances already, then defending takes you from 45.5% mitigation to 49.6%. In other words you’ll be taking 50.4% of incoming damage instead of 54.5%. I would call this a 7.5% decrease in damage taken, nearly as much as minor protection (.504/.545=0.925).

joseayalac

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

1. Powered.
2. 2752/660= 4.1%

Thanks for the straight-forward reply!

The most obvious answer is Powered because the traits must be somewhat balanced and rendering Powered useless wouldn't make for good balance. But considering that you have Major and Minor Brutality and Berserker glyph (without Infused). By how much would Nirnhoned be trailing behind Powered on the healing department?

Does Powered affect Green Dragon Blood? Because Nirnhoned does not, as far as I know.

joseayalac

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Calculating the % damage from defending depends on your current resistances.

If you have no armor, then defending takes you from 0 (0%) to 2752 (4.1%).

If you have 30k resistances already, then defending takes you from 45.5% mitigation to 49.6%. In other words you’ll be taking 50.4% of incoming damage instead of 54.5%. I would call this a 7.5% decrease in damage taken, nearly as much as minor protection (.504/.545=0.925).

Woow that 7.5% decrease in damage taken seems like a lot! I'm certainly considering using Defending then.

Considering that my back bar is mainly buffs and utility and I don't really have any tooltips besides Rally and Green Dragon Blood, combining Defending with Minor Protection (Psijic Ult) seems like the best idea for my back bar. This would make for a very tanky backbar.

All my damage is in my frontbar anyway, which sits at the 5300 WD department.

MaleAmazon

Woow that 7.5% decrease in damage taken seems like a lot! I'm certainly considering using Defending then.

Well, don´t get misled here though. Basically, think like this:

You always negate the same absolute number of damage from adding resistance (not counting going over the cap of course). It´s just that if you already negate a lot of damage, the percentage will seem greater. Some people have described this as 'diminishing returns' for added sources of mitigation, which is IMO a bit misleading.

The question you should ask is not just numbers though, but what are you after?

I mean when I play a medium armor PvP character (I have a thing for medium armor), you might say that since I don´t reduce damage as much as heavy armor, I benefit more from % reductions like the prepatch Nord racial passive (if I take 2x as much damage then theoretically a % reduction to that would be "twice as effective").

But is that how it works in practice? For me, I´ve found that doubling down and being even more of a glass cannon can sometimes be beneficial, since I might rely on a very short burst and then the important part is my escape plan. Added damage reduction doesn´t keep me alive. It just helps me, as someone put it, 'die somewhat slower'. So instead I try to add to my opening attack and burst on my backbar.

Same thing with added resistance: if you play a tank you can have capped resistance (33k-ish) without traits. The added % number might look impressive, but it is still the same absolute number of negated damage. And maybe what you die to is lack of stamina for blocking, or a one-shot mechanic you miss. Then an infused weapon with absorb stamina would be better.

If you use your backbar weapon for starting a fight, I might consider putting an infused added weapon damage glyph on it. If you never attack with it, even decisive might be useful to gain ulti.

This thread is very useful, if complicated:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/279426/damage-mitigation-explanation-updated-for-murkmire/p1

WrathOfInnos

joseayalac wrote: »

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Calculating the % damage from defending depends on your current resistances.

If you have no armor, then defending takes you from 0 (0%) to 2752 (4.1%).

If you have 30k resistances already, then defending takes you from 45.5% mitigation to 49.6%. In other words you’ll be taking 50.4% of incoming damage instead of 54.5%. I would call this a 7.5% decrease in damage taken, nearly as much as minor protection (.504/.545=0.925).

Woow that 7.5% decrease in damage taken seems like a lot! I'm certainly considering using Defending then.

Considering that my back bar is mainly buffs and utility and I don't really have any tooltips besides Rally and Green Dragon Blood, combining Defending with Minor Protection (Psijic Ult) seems like the best idea for my back bar. This would make for a very tanky backbar.

All my damage is in my frontbar anyway, which sits at the 5300 WD department.

Yes defending can be very good. However if might be difficult to get enough resistance to make it worthwhile on a 5-Medium build. Maybe with something like Fortified Brass and/or Protective jewelry. Otherwise you’d probably be looking at more like 5% reduced damage.

To answer your other question, Powered does affect Green Dragon Blood even though Nirnhoned does not.

joseayalac

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Yes defending can be very good. However if might be difficult to get enough resistance to make it worthwhile on a 5-Medium build. Maybe with something like Fortified Brass and/or Protective jewelry. Otherwise you’d probably be looking at more like 5% reduced damage.

In medium armor without Defending I'm at 27k Resist (40% Mitigation) and with Defending I'm at 29.7k Resist (45% Mitigation). So I take 60% and 55% of the damage respectively. So 0.55/0.60 = 0.9167.

I'm taking 8.33% less damage with Defending, even better than Minor Protection.

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

If you have 30k resistances already, then defending takes you from 45.5% mitigation to 49.6%. In other words you’ll be taking 50.4% of incoming damage instead of 54.5%. I would call this a 7.5% decrease in damage taken, nearly as much as minor protection (.504/.545=0.925).

So it seems like the higher your resistances already are, the less effect Minor Protection will have on your total damage taken. So I conclude that medium armor builds mitigate more damage with Minor Protection than heavy armor builds.

MashmalloMan

joseayalac wrote: »

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

Yes defending can be very good. However if might be difficult to get enough resistance to make it worthwhile on a 5-Medium build. Maybe with something like Fortified Brass and/or Protective jewelry. Otherwise you’d probably be looking at more like 5% reduced damage.

In medium armor without Defending I'm at 27k Resist (40% Mitigation) and with Defending I'm at 29.7k Resist (45% Mitigation). So I take 60% and 55% of the damage respectively. So 0.55/0.60 = 0.9167.

I'm taking 8.33% less damage with Defending, even better than Minor Protection.

WrathOfInnos wrote: »

If you have 30k resistances already, then defending takes you from 45.5% mitigation to 49.6%. In other words you’ll be taking 50.4% of incoming damage instead of 54.5%. I would call this a 7.5% decrease in damage taken, nearly as much as minor protection (.504/.545=0.925).

So it seems like the higher your resistances already are, the less effect Minor Protection will have on your total damage taken. So I conclude that medium armor builds mitigate more damage with Minor Protection than heavy armor builds.

Minor protection can't be negated either. All you need is someone with high penetration, bleeds, or 2h ulti and all that resist means nothing.

joseayalac

MaleAmazon wrote: »

But is that how it works in practice? For me, I´ve found that doubling down and being even more of a glass cannon can sometimes be beneficial, since I might rely on a very short burst and then the important part is my escape plan. Added damage reduction doesn´t keep me alive. It just helps me, as someone put it, 'die somewhat slower'. So instead I try to add to my opening attack and burst on my backbar.

That's why I go with a frontbar where I do a lot of damage, most of the time being offensive is the best defense for my playstyle.

But when I find myself on the backbar it is tipically when prebuffing or when I have to rebuff midfight or have to fall back a little or escape (when I have to play more defensively).

So I'm thinking that defending may be the best trait for this purpose.