Armour appearing to make little difference

SteveyP777

Good afternoon,

I am new to this forum and to ESO so still learning the ropes - appreciate your help and patience in advance!

I am doing some testing with a templar I have just got to level 50. Now that I'm about to embark upon investing CP I wanted to make sure I fully understand how the stats work and at the moment... to be honest... am feeling quite disappointed with what I'm finding (or failing to find, it would seem)...

I like to know that the numbers mean something as I have to admit to being something of a number cruncher. When I see that I have a level 1 crafted homespun sash which adds 181 armour, I want to believe that my level 47 Ebonthread Breeches of Magicka which offer 1011 armour will go much further for me...

But in practice, I found that they add almost nothing...

I went up to an NPC and allowed them to attack me. The damage initially done without ANY armour on whatsoever was 2074. After putting on the sash, which claims to give me 181 armour protection, I saw that the damage done was reduced only by 3, and I was sustaining 2071 damage. When I put on the Breeches and removed the sash (i.e. ONLY wearing the breaches) I found that the damage went down only about 35 - and I was still sustaining 2036 damage.

What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance!

S.

Vevvev

The armor scaling is based on your level. When you're at max level with cp 160 gear every 660 armor is equal to 1% damage mitigation.

The armor cap is 33,000 and is equal to 50% damage reduction.

Edit: I'd also like to add its in these situations where people think things like the stage 3 vampire perk, Undeath, doesn't work. That perk gives you damage reduction up to 30% based on your missing health. This means at 50% health you have 15% damage reduction and that isn't a lot when you think of it. Very useful to have but not immediately noticeable.

Like for instance when I give my Dragonknight Major Resolve my physical resistance sits around 15k. That's only about a 22% damage reduction and without major resolve it is around 9-10k which is about 13%-15% damage reduction.

SteveyP777

Hi Vevvev - thanks for your response.

After having posted I came across the soft cap of 33,000 you mentioned above and it makes sense. What's not clear for a beginner is that what LOOKS like a meaningless number is actually simply the game scaling the figures to your level which is why the actual maths behind it is probably never going to be publicly available because it's so complex.

However, the CP160 scenario you gave above with the 660 armour equalling 1% damage mitigation (re the 50% damage reduction soft-cap) is a great frame of reference.

Have to admit, I don't know anything about the vampire perk or 'undeath' you mentioned above - still very new to the game!

Thanks for your help.

TBois

SteveyP777 wrote: »

Hi Vevvev - thanks for your response.

After having posted I came across the soft cap of 33,000 you mentioned above and it makes sense. What's not clear for a beginner is that what LOOKS like a meaningless number is actually simply the game scaling the figures to your level which is why the actual maths behind it is probably never going to be publicly available because it's so complex.

However, the CP160 scenario you gave above with the 660 armour equalling 1% damage mitigation (re the 50% damage reduction soft-cap) is a great frame of reference.

Have to admit, I don't know anything about the vampire perk or 'undeath' you mentioned above - still very new to the game!

Thanks for your help.

Welcome to ESO, where they don't teach their players how to play their game, and most stats are hidden under obscure values.

With all of their recent standardization you would think they would switch to a more transparent stat system.

Vevvev

TBois wrote: »

Welcome to ESO, where they don't teach their players how to play their game, and most stats are hidden under obscure values.

With all of their recent standardization you would think they would switch to a more transparent stat system.

I know right? At least with critical chance it gives you the % value despite the sets giving you the number, but resistances does not do that at all. Very annoying to have to tab out to my calculator or have to download an add-on to show you the data.

MirandaSharp

SteveyP777 wrote: »

I like to know that the numbers mean something as I have to admit to being something of a number cruncher.

Have a look at this, it explains it all:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/422268/a-comprehensive-guide-on-damage-dealing-in-elder-scrolls-online/p1

SteveyP777

Hi MirandaSharp,

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for - something to get my teeth stuck in to!

I know some players really don't care about the micromanaging of the stats - they're much more 'hands on' and like to just 'test as they go' and 'eye ball' what seems to work and what doesn't.

Personally, it feels like ESO is set up VERY well for that kind of player... but for others, like myself, I actually feel I can't enjoy the game until I actually get visibility of what the numbers mean, the logic behind them and the relationship mechanics behind the various different stats, buffs and builds!

So thanks everyone for your responses that's been really helpful!

SteveyP.

Firstmep

Yes, a lot of mechanics are not explained in the game properly, and you can play thru most of the game without knowing them.
The issue comes when new players want to get into more difficult content but are woefully unprepared due to how little the game teaches them during overland questing.

MudcrabAttack

Here's a mitigation guide

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/279426/damage-mitigation-explanation-updated-15-07-2019/p1