Pierce Armor

Zama666 · October 2023

This should be pretty simple...

Pierced Armor:

Thrust your weapon with disciplined precision at an enemy, dealing 1199 Physical Damage and taunting them to attack you for 15 seconds. Also inflicts Minor Breach and Major Breach on the enemy, reducing their Physical Resistance and Spell Resistance by 2974 and 5948 for 15 seconds.
New effect
Also inflicts Minor Breach, further reducing the enemy's Resistances.

So I am getting 2974+5948=8922 Pen, right?

And Pen reduced Resistances? Right?

The more I reduce resistance, the more damage/healing I do?

So if I do pierce armor and then follow up with power of the light, over all, I should be doing more damage than without pierce armor? Right?

The answer screams like a screaming yes.

But if I swap bars, do I still get this benefit?

Tankz,

Z

ElderSmitter · October 2023

In the Settings unless it is standard it has been so long for me you can turn on a function where you see the debuff and buffs you have going at the top of your screen on PC. When you have Major and Minor Breach going for instance you will see their symbols appear and a countdown clock begins on them. You can switch bars as many times as you want until it runs out Yes. You can also keep applying them to refresh them. You are also correct those amounts reduce the Armor on the enemy making you hit harder. That is why for a Tank Pierce Armor is used so often. Both De Buffs on 1 Ability. Also, Overland Enemies have lower Armor than Dungeon, Trial and Arena enemies. You can look up the caps on them. Best of Luck!

Here is an ESO Link to all the Buff and De buff Symbols https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Buffs

paulsimonps · October 2023

Zama666 wrote: »

This should be pretty simple...

Pierced Armor:

Thrust your weapon with disciplined precision at an enemy, dealing 1199 Physical Damage and taunting them to attack you for 15 seconds. Also inflicts Minor Breach and Major Breach on the enemy, reducing their Physical Resistance and Spell Resistance by 2974 and 5948 for 15 seconds.
New effect
Also inflicts Minor Breach, further reducing the enemy's Resistances.

So I am getting 2974+5948=8922 Pen, right?

And Pen reduced Resistances? Right?

The more I reduce resistance, the more damage/healing I do?

So if I do pierce armor and then follow up with power of the light, over all, I should be doing more damage than without pierce armor? Right?

The answer screams like a screaming yes.

But if I swap bars, do I still get this benefit?

Tankz,

Z

Easiest way to explain is this. An effect that is applied to the enemy is considered a Debuff, Debuff stays on the target and you swapping bars does nothing to the effect applied to them, much like how if you have a Damage over Time ability applied to you, it will not be removed by swapping bars.

phaneub17_ESO · October 2023

Zama666 wrote: »

The more I reduce resistance, the more damage/healing I do?

So if I do pierce armor and then follow up with power of the light, over all, I should be doing more damage than without pierce armor? Right?
Z

Damage yes, Healing no.

Power of the Light is another source of Minor Breach, same effects don't stack.

El_Borracho · October 2023

I do not know if reducing resistances by 8,922 is a symmetrical gain in penetration by 8,922.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

El_Borracho wrote: »

I do not know if reducing resistances by 8,922 is a symmetrical gain in penetration by 8,922.

it is, but only against the target afflicted with the debuffs

in PVE, npcs have a max of 18200 armor, as long as you reach this value between combined penetration + -armor debuffs then you are ignoring the targets armor

if you have 9100 pen and the target has 9100 reduced armor from debuffs, you have an effective 18200 penetration, ignoring 100% of the targets armor

Zama666 · October 2023

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

El_Borracho wrote: »

I do not know if reducing resistances by 8,922 is a symmetrical gain in penetration by 8,922.

it is, but only against the target afflicted with the debuffs

in PVE, npcs have a max of 18200 armor, as long as you reach this value between combined penetration + -armor debuffs then you are ignoring the targets armor

if you have 9100 pen and the target has 9100 reduced armor from debuffs, you have an effective 18200 penetration, ignoring 100% of the targets armor

Whaaaaat?????
if they don't have the debuff?
So if they have 18200 Armor, no other defense, and I do a 8922 pierce, they have an effect 9278 resist.
How much damage do they really take if my weapon does 100 dmg?

I thought with hybridization....armor and spell resist were the same..

Why is this game so difficult....9 years later after joining?

phaneub17_ESO · October 2023

It's not that complicated.

Every 500 Armor = 1% reduced damage.

Overland, Delve, and Public Dungeon mobs have up to 9100 Armor which reduces damage taken by 18.2%.

Group Dungeon, Trial, and Arena mobs have up to 18,200 Armor which reduces damage taken by 36.4%.

This is also a reason why Magicka builds do better as 7 Light Armor gives 6574 Penetration, Destruction Staff abilities adds another 2974, that's 9548 Penetration in total without applying debuffs. Pierce Armor is generally a tank's ability to taunt mobs, that alone is enough for Magicka builds to reach the cap without having to sacrifice stats. Unless you're playing solo, I wouldn't advise using Pierce Armor as it annoys your party and the tank. Of course if you are solo or playing the tank, then it doesn't matter, Pierce Armor away.

Stamina builds need a bit more oomph to reach these caps.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

there are also a lot of other ways to source armor debuffs if you are running solo

elemental susceptibility or caltrops do major breach

minor breach is a little harder to source, the most common source is probably the sundered status effect from dealing physical dmg

stamina builds can source penetration from mace weapons, a 2h mace is 3300 pen and 2 1-handed maces gives about the same

also if your in a group as a tank, you can provide additional un-named armor debuffs with gear sets (crimson oath and tremorscale combined is like an additional -5000ish armor in unique debuffs that stacks with major/minor breach)

L33T_BEANS · October 2023

>> So I am getting 2974+5948=8922 Pen, right?

Well you're getting that amount plus whatever unique penetration sources you have or the enemy has applied to it.

>> And Pen reduced Resistances? Right?

Yes, but anything over 18.2k is mostly useless unless fighting players, at which point it is 33k, but if they have 42k armor then they'll still be at the resistance cap of 33k (50% mitigation) even if you apply 9k of pen to them.

>> The more I reduce resistance, the more damage/healing I do?

Damage: yes if not at 18.2k pen already, healing: no unless that healing heals based on how hard your damage hits.

>> So if I do pierce armor and then follow up with power of the light, over all, I should be doing more damage than without pierce armor? Right?

No, because power of the light applies the 'minor breach' debuff which pierce armor also applies. You could extend the duration of 'minor breach' with power of the light, but you could also do that with pierce armor. The effects are named (again they're named minor breach in this case), and do not stack. Generally, you cannot stack named effects, only refresh/extend them.