PvMP Finesse, Ocr-craft Mitigation and Critical Defence

[Gray]

Don't forget guys when talking about audacity, that you gain actually a little more damage reduction than what the audacity tool tip says::

Let's say for example that you're standing at 21,1% audacity, with another piece it brings you to 25,6% iirc. What seems to be a 4,5% damage reduction is in fact: ((100-21,1) - (100-25,6))/(100-21,1) = 5,7% damage reduction, and this number goes up with buffs like tome of defence.. This is rather important when talking about EHP optimization.

[Zonflux]

Don't forget guys when talking about audacity, that you gain actually a little more damage reduction than what the audacity tool tip says::

Let's say for example that you're standing at 21,1% audacity, with another piece it brings you to 25,6% iirc. What seems to be a 4,5% damage reduction is in fact: ((100-21,1) - (100-25,6))/(100-21,1) = 5,7% damage reduction, and this number goes up with buffs like tome of defence.. This is rather important when talking about EHP optimization.

When calculated against total damage reduction the gains are smaller.

0 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.1) = 64.00%
2 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.144) = 65.76%
4 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.211) = 68.44%
5 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.256) = 70.24%
6 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.300) = 72.00%

Unless my formulas are wrong... because if they were additive then I could trait Blue 70% + 30% and I would not no damage (assuming no mitigation debuffs). If they were additive then no-brainer, but as it is I still have mixed feelings about Audacity gear versus Essence gear.

[Gray]

When calculated against total damage reduction the gains are smaller.

0 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.1) = 64.00%
2 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.144) = 65.76%
4 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.211) = 68.44%
5 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.256) = 70.24%
6 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.300) = 72.00%

Unless my formulas are wrong... because if they were additive then I could trait Blue 70% + 30% and I would not no damage (assuming no mitigation debuffs). If they were additive then no-brainer, but as it is I still have mixed feelings about Audacity gear versus Essence gear.

I don't know if they're wrong or right, but one thing is, don't remember to substract your % result to 1 and compare your previous state with the new one. Sorry for that english, let's take an example with your numbers.

First state: 70.24% total reduc -> 29.76 % damage taken
New state: 72% -> 28% damage taken

So you actually take: (29.76 - 28 )/ 29.76 = 5.9% less damage than from your previous state(build).

Its then more or less equivalent to a 5.9% morale upgrade when talking about toughness, but with less CC, more inc. Healing (due to lesser morale pool) and some stats from audacity piece like main state/crit/finesse/etc... knowing that can be usefull when comparing a morale essence piece with an audacity one.

Edit: Corrected some grammar.

[Vulcwen]

When calculated against total damage reduction the gains are smaller.

0 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.1) = 64.00%
2 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.144) = 65.76%
4 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.211) = 68.44%
5 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.256) = 70.24%
6 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.300) = 72.00%

Unless my formulas are wrong... because if they were additive then I could trait Blue 70% + 30% and I would not no damage (assuming no mitigation debuffs). If they were additive then no-brainer, but as it is I still have mixed feelings about Audacity gear versus Essence gear.

Defence is additive, but it's a not the same stat as mitigations.. So it adds with tome of defence and skills that reduce incoming damage (except shield of the dunedain as that just sets it to 75%). If you have full audacity, a captain uses in harms way*, an RK uses sign of winter/bubble on you and you have the tome of defence, you'd get to 100% defence, so you wont take any damage.. you can't reach 100% without audacity.

*EDIT.. Im actually not really sure if in harms way actually gives -50% inc damage or works separately...

[Giliodor]

Aud, ON buff, RK bubble, mini Coda, Tome, Inspire Fellows, relic:
-30%
-10% x4
-4%
-2%

-76% incoming damage that can be kept up most of the time... That's probably for another thread, though ^^

[Lenkamir]

Have I misunderstood?
I thought that audacity damage reduction was applied AFTER mitigations (and other reductions) - so with maxed OC/FW, 21.1% audacity would be applied to the post-mitigation 40% incoming OC/FW damage (unbuffed). If this is true, then doesn't that mean that raising audacity to 25.6% would reduce overall OC/FW damage by less than 4.5%, not more (with same OC/FW mits)? If I have this right, then I'm afraid I don't understand GRay's calculations - why the division (/) in this calculation? If someone could clarify this, I'd be most grateful.
Many thanks!!!
Lenk

[Zonflux]

Have I misunderstood?
I thought that audacity damage reduction was applied AFTER mitigations (and other reductions) - so with maxed OC/FW, 21.1% audacity would be applied to the 40% incoming OC/FW damage (unbuffed). If this is true, then doesn't that mean that raising audacity to 25.6% would mean significantly less than a 4.5% increase in overall OC/FW damage reduction (with same OC/FW mits)? (The sample calculations also supposedly working for acid, fire etc damage). If I have this right, then I'm afraid I don't understand GRay's calculations. Please can someone clarify all this.
Many thanks!!!
Lenk

Gray is wording it very confusingly.

You are correct Lenkamir, as per my own calculations which are also correct.

What Gray is trying to say is that based on the remaining possible damage reduction, but not the total damage reduction, that increasing your audacity one gear piece would offer whatever like a 5% increase, but as I mentioned he is basing that only off of the remaining possible damage reduction. He is wording it very confusing which also makes it very misleading.

Basically, if you go off of total damage reduction then the easiest way to put it is that you gain roughly 1-2% total damage reduction per audacity piece:

When calculated against total damage reduction the gains are smaller.

0 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.1) = 64.00%
2 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.144) = 65.76%
4 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.211) = 68.44%
5 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.256) = 70.24%
6 Audacity Pieces
1 - (1-0.6) * (1-0.300) = 72.00%

Unless my formulas are wrong... because if they were additive then I could trait Blue 70% + 30% and I would not no damage (assuming no mitigation debuffs). If they were additive then no-brainer, but as it is I still have mixed feelings about Audacity gear versus Essence gear.

[Lenkamir]

Ah, good - so it is as I'd read before. Many thanks for clearing that up! I'll be sticking with my 4 audacity (2 fearless, 2 sovereign) and 2 nadhin pieces then

[Gray]

My calculations are there to provide a relative point of view of damage you take and plan to take in a PvP environment.

Lets say, you're playing with a 4/2 (2 full morale essence pieces) and you're wondering if you should switch to, let's say, a 5/1 Build.

Given you're a standard heavy armour class and are capped on mitigs, 60% on both.
Your 4/2 build provide you with a 21.1% incoming damage reduction from audacity. The 5/1 one provides 25.6%

=============

Let's say, you're being bursted by creeps, for a total of 50000 damage pre-mitig.

=============

With a 4/2 Build: You're taking;

50000
* 0.4 (Mitigs)
* 0.789 (Audacity)
= 15780 damage

=============

With a 5/1 Build:

50000
*0.4 (Mitigs)
*0.744 (Audacity)
= 14880

=============

Basic calculations, (14880*100)/15780=94.29%. Your second build survive the same burst with ~5.7% less HPs. The audacity brought by the 5th piece (Adding 4.5% inc damage reduction) is equivalent to a 5.7% morale upgrade + a 6% multiplicative buff to incoming healing (given a 15780 heal will overheal 14880hps by 6%)


Let's say you're a 30khp guard with 30% +incoming healing looking for the last piece of armour, a 5th audacity piece is basically a essence piece with the following bonuses: (I purposely skip all the mit/Inc. Damage buffs/traits you can get as a Guard to keep things simple to represent)
-205 vitality (1025morale)
-52 might (171 might - 119 from a normal essence piece)
-Secondary bonuses (like 614 crit/614 mastery)
-1710 morale (5.7% of your morale)
- +7.8% inc healing (6% of your 130% inc. healing)
- Some CC reductions (i dont remember the %)
(- 1770 Crit. Def if part of a 2-set)


You can then compare easily the different builds you can make and see which one would be the best suited for you (like prefering essence pieces because of the morale% based heals of a guard or because you play with a lot of %morale buffs like captain's one)

[Zonflux]

Let's say, you're being bursted by creeps, for a total of 50000 damage pre-mitig.

=============

With a 4/2 Build: You're taking;

50000
* 0.4 (Mitigs)
* 0.789 (Audacity)
= 15780 damage

=============

With a 5/1 Build:

50000
*0.4 (Mitigs)
*0.744 (Audacity)
= 14880

=============

Basic calculations, (14880*100)/15780=94.29%. Your second build survive the same burst with ~5.7% less HPs. The audacity brought by the 5th piece (Adding 4.5% inc damage reduction) is equivalent to a 5.7% morale upgrade + a 6% multiplicative buff to incoming healing (given a 15780 heal will overheal 14880hps by 6%)

While you are calculating the damage taken correctly...

Your damage reduction formula is;
(14880*100)/15780=94.29%
100 - 94.29 = 5.7%

But to calculate total damage reduction the formula you should use is;
(15780 - 14880) / 50000 = 0.018 = 1.8%

Also, adding one piece going from 4 to 5 is not a difference of 4.5% total damage reduction but again rather 1.8%.

As for recommending people to choose either 4 or 5 audacity pieces.. I would place priority in making sure that your Orc-craft mitigation (a few people have recommended 18K points in Orc-craft) and Tactical mitigation is capped. In my 4+2 build I have 2 tact mtg essences, 4 phys mtg essences and 1 Critical Rating essence.. by adding a fifth audacity pieces I have to make up those stats in jewellery and virtues. So I think if you can get comparable stats with 5 audacity pieces then that is great (may require playing around with virtues and jewellery), but if you're losing important stats then for the time being at least stay at 4 pieces.

You lost me on saying you would receive a 5.7% morale upgrade going from 4 to 5 pieces because 15780 - 14880 equals 990 less damage taken, or written differently as saving 990 morale. Using your example of a 30K morale Guardian 990 points would equate to 3.3% of the Guardian's morale. I think an important factor to consider is that as you mentioned this is not a single big attack but a sum of many attacks that resulted in a small difference of 990 (1.8%) damage taken. As per my previous paragraph, as anyone reading this you may wish to consider how important 990 morale saved is to you versus the potential stats that you may (or may not) lose.

Another scenario to look at is whether you are mostly solo in the moors or whether you are mostly either grouped or solo but part of a shuffle. In cases where you are receiving buffs and getting healed from other characters then audacity starts to look more attractive. What I have found solo is that the only important difference for me is the reduced crowd control duration, which even then I'm still divided on since I mostly solo and avoid shuffles, but I've been playing around with both builds; audacity versus essence; switching between both so that I can get a good feel for each.

[Giliodor]

(a few people have recommended 18K points in Orc-craft)

This may sound strange, but overcapping mits reduces incoming damage by about 5%. Sundering would otherwise take a few percent off, while it won't now. I always take Sundering as an example, but nearly all creep classes have a mitigation debuff of some sort.

[Arathaert]

With the help of Giliodor in-game I was able to tweak my PvMP build as follows (with room for improvement via upgrading to Supremes);

Rank 9

Morale: 31,331
Critical Rating: 23.9%
Finesse: 24.3%
Physical Mastery: 53,709 (149%) <-- 2 Outposts
Resistance: 25%
Critical Defence: 50.7%
Incoming Healing: 5%
Parry: 25%
Physical Mitigation: 60%
Orc-craft Mitigation: 18,063 (60%)
Tactical Mitigation: 16,361 (59.5%) <-- this will improve once I upgrade my Greater essences to Supremes

Thanks again Giliodor! Sometimes you just need a another set of eyes to make the jigsaw puzzle come together. Now I can stop wasting Essence Reclamation Scrolls.

Yet another great Guardian thread

Which essences did you use for this build?

[Zonflux]

Yet another great Guardian thread

Which essences did you use for this build?

That build you quoted is using a full essence build set-up which I will post the essences below.

Note that I have been investing equal time in PvMP using both the (4 aud + 2 ess) and the (6 ess) builds to determine which one I like better.

To be honest it is difficult to notice any survivability difference and my mastery is close enough in both builds. In my Audacity build I lose around 3K morale but take approx. 4% less damage and am crowd-controlled for 14% less duration.

So far both builds are viable in my opinion, though the audacity build is obviously exponentially cheaper to get since commendations are 100% free.

Essences uses in the 6 essence piece build;

• 4x T7 [Supreme Essence of Physical Mastery]
• 2x T7 [Supreme Essence of Tactical Mitigation]
• 2x T7 [Greater Essence of Critical Rating]
• 5x T7 [Supreme Essence of Morale]
• 3x T6 [Supreme Essence of Morale]
• 1x T7 [Supreme Essence of Physical Mitigation]
• 3x T7 [Greater Essence of Physical Mitigation]
• 3x T7 [Supreme Essence of Critical Defence]
• 1x T7 [Supreme Essence of Finesse]

The stats comparision of my audacity build versus my essence build are close and largely boil down to differences of 1-2% for the various stats with the exception of a difference of 3K morale. Just to make a quick edit, I also have nearly 1400 more Power in my essence build which is an optional but very nice-to-have stat.
As noted, I am investing equal time in both builds to see if I can notice a difference.

Personally I absolutely hate the look of the audacity gear which makes me want to wear my essence gear just to spite.

[Gray]

While you are calculating the damage taken correctly...

Your damage reduction formula is;
(14880*100)/15780=94.29%
100 - 94.29 = 5.7%

But to calculate total damage reduction the formula you should use is;
(15780 - 14880) / 50000 = 0.018 = 1.8%

Also, adding one piece going from 4 to 5 is not a difference of 4.5% total damage reduction but again rather 1.8%.

Offcourse i don't contest that. The point i emphaze on is that i think it's easier to see what a piece will really bring you as an upgrade if you consider it from a relative point of view (aka from your previous build)

As for recommending people to choose either 4 or 5 audacity pieces.. I would place priority in making sure that your Orc-craft mitigation (a few people have recommended 18K points in Orc-craft) and Tactical mitigation is capped. In my 4+2 build I have 2 tact mtg essences, 4 phys mtg essences and 1 Critical Rating essence.. by adding a fifth audacity pieces I have to make up those stats in jewellery and virtues. So I think if you can get comparable stats with 5 audacity pieces then that is great (may require playing around with virtues and jewellery), but if you're losing important stats then for the time being at least stay at 4 pieces.

That's exactly the point, for a lot of people, choosing a fifth piece of audacity is not worth it. That's because mitigations aren't overcapped or overcapped (I personnaly think that this choice really depends on a lot of things, sometimes i overcap my champion by 2k5 because of the high number/high burst state of PvP, sometimes i'm totally ok with ~50%). So the fifth piece audacity and further is only viable on few situations (i'd say a light armour dps like RK with an already high morale pool and getting focused a lot for example).

You lost me on saying you would receive a 5.7% morale upgrade going from 4 to 5 pieces because 15780 - 14880 equals 990 less damage taken, or written differently as saving 990 morale. Using your example of a 30K morale Guardian 990 points would equate to 3.3% of the Guardian's morale. I think an important factor to consider is that as you mentioned this is not a single big attack but a sum of many attacks that resulted in a small difference of 990 (1.8%) damage taken. As per my previous paragraph, as anyone reading this you may wish to consider how important 990 morale saved is to you versus the potential stats that you may (or may not) lose.

Well the way to calculate this is simple. Which burst can't take out my guardian in matter of seconds ? If i have 30khp then it's a burst for +30000dmg.

To take 30000 dmg as a guardian with mits capped and audacity at 5 (25.6%), creeps have to effectively do 30000 * (1/(1-0.256)) * (1/(1-0.60) = ~100806 damage.

This burst taken on a 4/2 (21.1%) mit capped guardian is: 100806 * (1-0.6) * (1-0.211) = 31814 damage.

This litteraly mean that the 5/1 30000khp guardian and a 4/2 31814khp guardian dies at the exact same speed against this burst. And i'll not bother calculate this but i believe that 31814hp is roughly 5.7% more HPs than 30000hp.

This is infact a comparison of HPvsAudacity viability in a Spike Burst situation, which i think is the most common situation that leads to a guardian death in pvp.
If we look at this as a long term fight situation, where the guardian have to soak collateral or direct constant DPS, then the overall damage reduction of audacity is highly superior if the guardian is grouped with a heal. And i think the morale tends to be better if the guardian is playing solo, given it provides more heal by proc of PotW.

And again, these are calculations on how damage will be soak by each build, people have to remember that realisticly, a guardian with 30000hp on a 5/1 build, will be standing at something between 33k or 35k in the moors on a 4/2 build if he decides to go full morale essence on the 2th piece of essence. It's then really easy to see that full morale in this case provide more burst resilience than 5/1. This often what the decision is all about when choosing between 5/1 and 4/2: "Can i lose some burst resilience to gain some other stats ?"

Another scenario to look at is whether you are mostly solo in the moors or whether you are mostly either grouped or solo but part of a shuffle. In cases where you are receiving buffs and getting healed from other characters then audacity starts to look more attractive. What I have found solo is that the only important difference for me is the reduced crowd control duration, which even then I'm still divided on since I mostly solo and avoid shuffles, but I've been playing around with both builds; audacity versus essence; switching between both so that I can get a good feel for each.

Exactly. Like i said on my previous post, one thing to remember is that stacking morale instead of audacity for example become more and more effective if you're within a group with a lot of morale buffs.

[Gormrid]

Since the thread says finesse, OC mits and crit D:
Finesse should be 25%+
OC mits should be capped at least, I slightly overcap to cpe with warg piss BA punctured armour skill...
Crit D: 50% is fine
I put all mits and 1 finesse essence on my 2 essence pieces, virtues for morale/dps
Matery is completely irrelevant
Crit capped will make a difference
tact mit same as OC mits capped maybe slightly over capped
1v5 + on the way

[Arathaert]

Here goes.. I decided to try a 4 Aud 2 Ess build thanks to the Guardians who posted above.

Rank 9

Morale: 28,093
Critical Rating: 23.7% (lower than I'd like)
Finesse: 26.9%
Phys.Mast.: 51,967 (2 OP)
Resistance: 27.1%
Critical Defence: 49.1%
Orc-craft Mtg.: 17,372
Tactical: 58.9%

So my Audacity build is actually very comparable to my full Essence build except that I lose around 3K morale. However I should be taking 4% less damage and be crowd-controlled for 14% less.

Hm - coming back to this thread. Does this build use the armour pieces suggested by Giliodor?

What you can try is:
Sovereign Blade Helm & Gloves
Fearless Armour & Shoulders
Boots with 3 Supreme Mit and 1 of a stat you're lacking (crit defence?)
Legs with 3 Supreme Mit and 1 morale
All gold DPS pieces
Teal BB earring with crit mastery morale
Teal BB bracelet with Finesse and crit
Gold Pelargir ring (vit/tact mit) with crit rating.

This should put you on:
15k finesse
Capped crit
45k unbuffed mastery
10k crit defence
Overcapped mits (if you have maxed virtues: Zeal, Innocence, Compassion, Fidelity, Charity/Discipline)
Not sure about morale, since I use this setup on a champ, not guard. I think you'd be looking at a solid 27k in PvE-land, though.

I'm curious about the details on what exactly you used/are using for the 4 aud/2 essence build. I'm working on my virtues at the moment (going for all tact mit), but I'll be slowly getting the comms for the armour, so I'm pretty sure that's the way I'll be going in the moors.

How is your test going? Which are you finding is more effective, the essence build or the 4/2 audacity build? (Besides the obvious cosmetic advantages of essence gear, of course...)

[Zonflux]

Hm - coming back to this thread. Does this build use the armour pieces suggested by Giliodor? I'm curious about the details on what exactly you used/are using for the 4 aud/2 essence build. I'm working on my virtues at the moment (going for all tact mit), but I'll be slowly getting the comms for the armour, so I'm pretty sure that's the way I'll be going in the moors.

Yes, I chose to use the 4 audacity pieces recommended by Giliodor.

How is your test going? Which are you finding is more effective, the essence build or the 4/2 audacity build? (Besides the obvious cosmetic advantages of essence gear, of course...)

They are both very similar but my essence build does edge out my audacity build in terms of dps, more importantly my last 3 attacks on a creep, morale and critical hit chance. I do take slightly (and let me REALLY EMPHASIS SLIGHTLY) less damage with my audacity build and am not crowd-controlled for as long (like barely, again slightly and only relevant against Wargs, BA's and Weavers).. but the differences are slight and barely noticeable. I mean sure if you were using all Greater Essences then I think the Audacity build would be better, but if you are using all Supreme Essences my feeling so far has been leaning towards a full essence build. A difference of 13.5% reduced crowd-control duration and 4.5% less incoming damage is so minor that in my personal opinion it really comes down to which build is easier for you to grind.

I'm not even using all Supreme Essences, I'm still upgrading and this has already been my impressions so far. Starting fresh Rank 9 to having 15K remaining to Rank 10 I have spent equal parts in both gear builds and both builds have their advantages and are comparative with each other, but I think the deciding factor is which is easier for you to obtain. It should be noted that well over 95% of my time spent in the moors is solo roaming and I generally avoid shuffles, where shuffle time is an excuse for me to create some PvE videos.

I have been hearing rumours from at least 2 freep players and 1 creep player that there has been talk about getting rid of the current Freep Audacity system and instead making it either purchased, same as creeps, or based off of promotion rank. If this does actually happen then nobody will use Audacity gear so I personally think this is simply just rumour / speculation, like a Freep wish list. I think @Arathaert or @Bludborn could verify this since both of you are more in-touch with the LoTRO Devs and Community Managers.

A new test which I will be starting up in about 1-2 weeks (may need to farm some gold) is to lower my Orc-craft mitigation to just 60% and my morale down to 26-27K using my full essence build, then using the freed up essence slots to pimp out my dps some more. This is a question I have had many of my viewers asking me is why I need so much Orc-craft mitigation and is it really worth it. I tell them it is to compensate for mitigation debuffs, but is it worth it? I am hoping that by the end of March or early April I can answer that question.

*EDIT: Apparently it is perfectly okay to use the word 'pimp' in LoTRO threads. LOL

[Arathaert]

I have been hearing rumours from at least 2 freep players and 1 creep player that there has been talk about getting rid of the current Freep Audacity system and instead making it either purchased, same as creeps, or based off of promotion rank. If this does actually happen then nobody will use Audacity gear so I personally think this is simply just rumour / speculation, like a Freep wish list. I think @Arathaert or @Bludborn could verify this since both of you are more in-touch with the LoTRO Devs and Community Managers.

I've never heard of this, but we don't actually have an in as far as info goes :P

And I expect what I'll do is the audacity gear for pvp, then slowly upgrade my pve essence gear til it's comparable and slowly switch over.

For the two essence pieces, with full tact mit virtues, would I really need 3 tact mit essences? From what I've seen, I can almost hit cap with two and #### virtues. What would you recommend filling those essence slots with if it turns out I don't need them in tact mit? Phys mit? Or morale? Or mastery? Or crit?

[Zonflux]

For the two essence pieces, with full tact mit virtues, would I really need 3 tact mit essences? From what I've seen, I can almost hit cap with two and #### virtues. What would you recommend filling those essence slots with if it turns out I don't need them in tact mit? Phys mit? Or morale? Or mastery? Or crit?

In my current 4+2 audacity build I am geared for 18K Orc-craft so that requires 4 essences of Physical Mitigation and 2 essences of Tactical Mitigation get me close to cap, leaving 1-2 essences for Critical Rating. The Audacity build works but has very little wiggle room.

[LegendOfKamikazee]

I'm the opposite and go 6 essence gear. I have 35k morale and 60% mitigations in ettens.

Essentially essence v audacity boils down to more morale/power/inc healing or reduced inc damage/CC duration in my experience.

[Zonflux]

I'm the opposite and go 6 essence gear. I have 35k morale and 60% mitigations in ettens.

Essentially essence v audacity boils down to more morale/power/inc healing or reduced inc damage/CC duration in my experience.

+1
^__ What he said!

[Arathaert]

A new test which I will be starting up in about 1-2 weeks (may need to farm some gold) is to lower my Orc-craft mitigation to just 60% and my morale down to 26-27K using my full essence build, then using the freed up essence slots to pimp out my dps some more. This is a question I have had many of my viewers asking me is why I need so much Orc-craft mitigation and is it really worth it. I tell them it is to compensate for mitigation debuffs, but is it worth it? I am hoping that by the end of March or early April I can answer that question.

So - do mits really need to be overcapped?

I've decided I'll be going with the 4/2 build, at least at the beginning, cause I don't have many supreme essences yet and comms are easier for me to come by, since I do creep quite often. 4 Phys Mit, 2 Tact Mit and 2 somethingelse, which I'll figure out when the time comes based on what stats I need most. Just wondering if 3 Phys Mit essences would be plenty 'nuff.

[Zonflux]

So - do mits really need to be overcapped?

I've decided I'll be going with the 4/2 build, at least at the beginning, cause I don't have many supreme essences yet and comms are easier for me to come by, since I do creep quite often. 4 Phys Mit, 2 Tact Mit and 2 somethingelse, which I'll figure out when the time comes based on what stats I need most. Just wondering if 3 Phys Mit essences would be plenty 'nuff.

I'm not sure how important it is to over cap Orc-craft mitigation, though being close-to or at cap certainly doesn't hurt.

[Murtanion]

So - do mits really need to be overcapped?

I've decided I'll be going with the 4/2 build, at least at the beginning, cause I don't have many supreme essences yet and comms are easier for me to come by, since I do creep quite often. 4 Phys Mit, 2 Tact Mit and 2 somethingelse, which I'll figure out when the time comes based on what stats I need most. Just wondering if 3 Phys Mit essences would be plenty 'nuff.

Over capping Orc-Craft (Physical Mit) should not be underestimated. In a combat scenario you could potentially face Sunder (Reaver debuff), Curse of the Deadly Sorrows (Defiler armour debuff), Warg Puddle, and BA's Punctured target. All of which will affect your overall mitigation cap.

Worth noting that I may be wrong about the defiler skill name, though I do know they have an armour debuff.

[Arathaert]

Mmkay... I'm not quite satisfied but my brain can't figure out where to improve. I know I can cap crit with finishing up my sword's relics (gonna match my belt at the end) and can cap tact mit (and overcap oc/fw mits) by finishing up my virtues (running Discipline, Tolerance, Fidelity, Honour, Innocence). I expect the phys mastery will come with finishing out my LIs but I still feel like it's lacking. My main concern, though, is that I'm sitting at barely 25k unbuffed at r6. I feel like it oughta be a couple thousand more than that, no? Or is that supposed to be that way and I just gotta burn hope tokens and wait for the extra morale to come with rank? Or is there another way I can increase my morale a tad without sacrificing any other stats? (I do have all the vitality stat tomes, btw - working on the might ones now)



Note - in my regular essence gear, I have about the same stats, but with a few thousand more morale. And that's with mostly greater essences. Curious.