Berzerker's Guide to Soft Capping Defense
By
Berzerker_NA,
Posted on: 2010-06-17 08:13 in Player Guides
This seems to be a guide to understanding hit mechanics, not a guide to soft capping defense. The build up and aim portion at the end seem out of place.
Still in development or am I missing something?
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Paragonwiki actually has a page on this. http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
My intention here is to break it down so that it is easy to understand and apply, so you can always know what your enemy's chance of hitting you is, and what you have to do in order to minimize their chances.
You can always check your predictions by purchasing a "Power Analyzer" temporary power at Wentworth's, and using it on an enemy. Just at the part that says "last hit chance" while they're fighting you to see what the final probability calculation is coming out to.
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The game's calculation is: HitChance = Clamp( AccMods × Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) )
The terms meanings are:
HitChance: - The total likelihood of hitting. (Never greater than 95%, or lower than 5%)
Clamp: - If the result of the calculation is greater than 95% or lower than 5%, the "Clamp" function will automatically set it to 95% or 5% respectively.
AccMods: - This is what Accuracy enhancements change. The accuracy of each power you have is usually somewhere between .80x and 1.20x. If you slot accuracy enhancements, the number goes up. A 1.20x Accuracy means you have a 6% chance to hit opponents with soft capped defense, rather than the normal 5% chance.
BaseHitChance: - This is set to 50% for mobs and 75% for players. If they're higher or lower level than you, then it changes. There's a table on the wiki page above.
ToHitMods: - This is what Aim and Buildup powers boost. It is also what ToHit debuff powers reduce. Putting Accuracy enhancements on a power does not change this value, nor do the global accuracy bonuses you get from set bonuses. The value only changes when you use an actual ToHit Buff or Debuff on it.
DefMods: - This is your target's defense.
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When we talk about soft capping defense, we're only talking about the last part of the calculation.
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods )
You can see that Debuffing an enemy's ToHitMod has the exact same effect as increasing your own defense. The best example to work from would be a Dark/Archery Defender. We'll say he has no enhancements.
If he's fighting an enemy of his own level and turns on Shadow Fall (5% Defense bonus), then hits his enemy with Darkest Night (18.75% ToHit debuff) and Fearsome Stare (Also a 18.75% ToHit debuff), and then follows up with Twilight Grasp (6.25% ToHit debuff)... he will have put himself at the soft cap for his defense against that enemy.
The total of the ToHit mods would be 18.75 + 18.75 + 6.25 = 43.75%
His defense bonus is 5%
So: Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 43.75 - 5) = Clamp(1.25) And the Clamp function will then adjust that 1.25 up to the minimum value of 5%
Now, if the enemy had an accuracy bonus, like 1.20x (which is standard for bosses), then his odds of hitting would increase up to 6% instead of 5%. That's true no matter how high your defense is. Bosses always have a minimum of 6% chance to hit you.
As a second example, let's consider a super Tank who has buffed their defense up to the 45% soft cap, but doesn't have any ToHit debuff powers.
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 0 - 45) = Clamp(5) Clamp doesn't adjust the value, because it's already at the minimum of 5%.
There are a few things to bear in mind.
1) - Although ToHit debuff has the same effect most of the time as adding to your own defense, this does not take into account the fact that many enemies have debuff resistance. Arch Villains especially have a very high debuff resistance.
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Archvillain_Resistance
For example, if the Dark/Archery defender above were at level 20, and fighting a level 20 AV, then the AV's ToHit Debuff resistance would be 0.70. Instead of his debuffs adding up all together to be 43.75%, they would only add up to 13.125%
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 13.125 - 5) = Clamp(31.875) In this case, the Clamp function just leaves the value alone as 31.875%. If the AV has an accuracy bonus of 1.20x then that would increase the final chance of hitting up to a 38.25% total likelihood of hitting you. He'll still miss you just about 2 out of every 3 times he attacks, but not 15 out 16 times, like before.
The Super Tank with 45% defense would clearly be better off in this battle, so long as the AV has no way to debuff his defense.
2)- When fighting enemies that have Buildup or Aim powers, the bonuses for those powers are ToHit bonuses, which means they directly counter your ToHit minuses, or your defense.
So, if a custom Electric Blaster, with an Aim power that boosts their ToHit by 37.50%, your soft capped defense isn't going to save you. In the case of our Dark/Archery defender, the total ToHit value is now -43.75% + 37.50% = -6.25%
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 - 6.25 - 5) = Clamp(38.75) If it's a boss with 1.20x accuracy, then their chance to hit you will be 46.5%. Almost 1 out of 2.
In the Case of the Super Tank with 45% defense, he fares no better than the Dark/Archery Defender.
Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods DefMods ) = Clamp(50 + 37.50 - 45) = Clamp(42.5)
If it's a boss with 1.20x accuracy, then their chance to hit you will be 51%. A little better than 1 out of 2.
Conclusion: Buildup and Aim are very powerful powers if you want to defeat an enemy's defense.