What are the Softcap Numbers

So, I've been hanging around long enough to gather that softcapping defense is a Good Thing. And I have Mid's and know how pick powers and various IO's in it. What I don't understand is what exactly are the softcapped numbers I should be aiming for.

I assume that softcapped defense or accuracy might be difference for a controller than say, a tank. The paragonwiki entry is pretty brief, but it does say that defense is 45%. So does that just mean that in mid's I should be aiming for my IO set bonuses to add up to the 45% for smashing, leathal, fire, etc etc? And how do the the IO set bonus interplay with any sheilding powers that that particular character might have? And what about accuracy, which the paragonwiki article doesn't even adress?

If anyone could point me in the direction of a good guide, or break it down using small words and easy to follow numbers, I'd really appreciate it.

Hiya TeaLeaf,

As I understand the concept of "softcapping", all you're trying to do is set your
defense levels so that the foe is floored with a 5% chance to hit, and set your
accuracy levels high enough so that you always attack with a 95% chance to hit.

Those are the highest "practical" values you can get.

Obviously, it's a bit of a moving goal in the sense that it varies depending on the
level of enemies you're facing, what kind of buffs/debuffs/resistances they have,
and so on.

Personally, I don't sweat the numbers *too* much, but rather approach my builds
a bit more holistically.

Along that line, you can look in your combat chat tab and see the Chance To-Hit
your attacks had, along with the same chances they had to hit you. Of course,
you can also monitor Def and Acc percentages in Combat Attributes as well.

If you see numbers you don't like, you can adjust slotting/enhancements accordingly
based on what you commonly fight.

Of course, you can always min/max the numbers too, but in that instance, you
may get better detail in the particular AT forum for your character.

One little Acc trick I use is to gauge attacks on Sands of Mu vet power - it *always*
hits worse than my other attacks, so if I have enough set and proc bonuses (I always
get a Kismet 6% acc) to boost that number up around 85% (iirc) or better, I'm pretty
much assured that everything else is softmaxed to 95% To-Hit...


Regards,
4

Nobody ever explained softcapping very well to me, but I think I've got it.. mostly.

One of the big huge problems with explaining this crap is that the terms are really ambiguous and most people explaining it use the same word for multiple different parts of the calculations. So I will color-code it. If you are color blind, I could like, format it? Bold/Italic/Underline I guess? Let me know if you want me to.
I'll be using:
Yellow for the ToHit stat.
Orange for the Accuracy stat.
Green for the Final Chance To Hit stat.

Chance to hit someone is ToHit x Accuracy. This I understand. But I end up getting confused between Chance to hit and ToHit once in a while- I know ONE of those is Floored/ceilinged so it can't go below .05 or above .95 - but I don't remember which one. or if it's both.

Base stats for NPC's are .50 ToHit and 1.00 Accuracy.
Base stats for Players are .75 ToHit and 1.00 Accuracy.

Defense subtracts directly from ToHit.
So, if you have 45% Defense, it reduces a foe's ToHit against you to .05 for a grand total Chance to hit of .05 -- Like so: .05 = .05 x 1.00.

Now we get into the part where I'm missing a little information. Whether this is from poor reading or being not informed, I dunno. This is now me asking a question, so if you're trying to understand what the softcap is, this lower part will probably just be confusing- stop reading below this line.
__________________________ Line _____________________________

More than 45 Defense doesn't help you, because enemies can't possibly have a harder time hitting you. But, again, I can't remember if this is because Chance to hit is floored at .05 or because ToHit is floored at .05 (or both?).
For even-level foes, it doesn't matter which one is floored, but when you're fighting higher-up (or lower-up) enemies, the enemy's Accuracy against you changes. I'm pretty sure this is .10 per level difference.

So, a +1 Foe against someone with 45 Defense hits like this: .05 x 1.10 = 5.5% Chance to hit. Right?
Now, what if it's a +1 Foe against, say, 49 Defense? Which part is floored? Which one of these is right?
Floored(.01) x 1.10 = .05 x 1.10 = 5.5% Chance to hit
.01 x 1.10 = Floored(1.1%) = 5.0% Chance to hit

And I know there's some point where there's a big enough level gap that the attacker starts gaining (or losing?) ToHit instead of Accuracy. But I also don't know where THAT is.

Also, don't forget that some NPC attacks have a higher base accuracy than others, and higher ranks also have a higher accuracy modifier (AV/EB -> boss -> lt -> minion). That's why even with softcapped defenses, an AV will have something like a 10% chance to hit you. It's just another way that defense is balanced against resistance - where an attack would likely hit for more damage against a resist-based character from a higher-ranking enemy, it's simply more likely to land against a defense-based character.

And some foes have autohit attacks.

They're as infuriating as they sound.

Yeah, all two of them.

Thanks for the great replies, everyone. It makes much more sense now. I figured that after over 5 years in the game, I ought to have an idea of what one of the more commonly used terms around here meant!

What reaching the softcap does, effectively, is reduce the foe's statistical average damage against you to 10% of what it would be normally. This result comes about because of the interactions between accuracy and defense (and toHit). Here's the fairly fully detailed version of the math for things' chance to hit a target.

HitChance = AttackAccuracy*(BaseChance-TargetDefense-DefenseDebuffsOnTarget+SelftoHitBuffs-SelftoHitDebuffs)

HitChance can't be smaller than 5% or bigger than 95%. Of interest, however, neither can the part in parenthesis.

For players attacking even-mobs, BaseChance is 75%. For even-level to +5 level mobs attacking players, BaseChance is 50%.

For a player, AttackAccuacy is PowerAccuracy*(1+SlottedAccuracy+AccSetBonuses). For a mob, AttackAccuracy is PowerAccuracy*(1+LevelBonus)*(1+RankBonus)

Mobs get accuracy bonuses for being higher level than their target and for being ranks above minion.

Let's simplify some of those terms out. We'll say this is a +2 minion mob attacking a player. We'll assume no toHit buffs or debuffs in play. Let's give the mob one attack that has a 1.0 base accuracy. A +2 critter has a +20% accuracy bonus. That simplifies the math for when this critter attacks us down to this.

HitChance = 1.2*(50%-TargetDefense)

Now, initially, if we have no defense effects that work against the mobs attacks, TargetDefense will be zero. That means that the mob has a 1.2*50% = 60% chance to hit with each attack. Let's assume this attack does 100 damage every time it hits. It's going to hit you 60% of the time, so over many, many attacks, the average damage the foe delivers to you is 60 damage/attack.

Now lets turn on some defense toggles. Let's start with 10% defense that works against the mob's one attack. Now the mob's hit chance looks like this.

HitChance = 1.2*(50%-10%) = 1.2*40% = 48%

So the attack hits 48% of the time. It still deals 100 damage per hit, but it misses more, and the average damage per attack drops down to 48.
Let's look at what happened in terms of ratios. The new average is 48 and the old one was 60. 48/60 = 0.8 = 80%. Increasing your defense by 0.10 absolute reduced your foe's new over old average damage output by 100%-80% = 20%.

If we play with different defense values, we'll find that this ratio holds constant. No matter how much accuracy is involved, increasing your defense by 0.01 (usually called 1%) reduces the ratio of average damage foes deliver to you by 2%. If this holds true, then reaching the defense cap (+.45 defense) should reduce our foe's average damage by 2*45% = 90%.*

Let's get back to the softcap question. Lets say you turn on additional powers and bonuses and your poor +2 mob finds himself looking at 65% defense against his one attack. (Impressive toggles, eh?)

HitChance = 1.2*(50%-65%)

Now, it looks like the quantity in parenthesis is going to go negative, but it can't. I mentioned before that the smallest it can be is 5%. So...

HitChance = 1.2*(5%) = 6%

Old average damage was 60, new average damage is 6. 6/60 = 0.1 = 10%. So when you're at the defense softcap, your foes' ratio of average damage is reduced by 90% when compared to you having no defense at all.

The 5% "floor" on the parenthetical value is where the 45% softcap comes from. Since mobs below +6 levels to you don't get to toHit bonuses, more than 45% defense in the parenthesis is overkill versus most foes, because 45% is what you need to drive that parenthetical quantity to 5%. Of course, if you go back up to the more complicated version of the HitChance formula I showed near the top of this post, toHitBuffs on your opponents or DefenseDebuffs on you can change how much defense you need to drive the foes to 5%.

I know that was long. Hopefully it was at least a little clear.



*This also works in reverse. If something reduces your defense by 0.01 (1%), it increases the ratio of average damage you sustain by 2%. Since the parenthetical value caps at 95%, this means foes can increase their average damage against you by as much as 2*45% or 90%. Letting enough Cimeroran traitors hit you in a short time can mean they start dealing 1.9x as much average damage against you, which can get pretty ugly.

I can't honestly say that I followed along doing all the math, Uber, but your point was clear enough. I do have a much better handle on this stuff now.