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Resistance and Damage Types Guide
Do you often find yourself wondering: What good is all this +resist stuff on my gear? Why do I have tactics that give 200 to a stat that doesn't do anything? What, really, is it all about?
| Contents [hide] |
The Formula
Resistance works as a straight damage mitigation percentage. In other words, your resistances are essentially the same as armor, only for the magic damage types instead of physical damage.
All 3 resistances use the same formula:
Resistance Value / (Level * 0.42) = % Resistance
Resistance Value is the total amount of resistance on your gear plus any tactics or buffs you have. Characters have 0 'base' resist.
Level can be assumed to be the level of your enemy. This explains why lower level mobs have a much greater chance to be resisted.
% Resistance is the amount of damage that will be mitigated from every spell. Resistance stats do not give you a chance to completely avoid the spell (See Disrupt/Block). Rather, they reduce the damage done to you by every spell of that type. The % shown on the tooltip is based on an enemy of equal level to your character.
Resistance Types
Spirit Resistance
Elemental Resistance
Corporeal Resistance
Summary
| Career | Primary Type | Secondary Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order | |||
| Engineer | Corporeal | Physical | Turrets are also Corporeal or Physical |
| Ironbreaker | Physical | Has no magical damage | |
| Rune Priest | Elemental | Very low damage output | |
| Bright Wizard | Elemental | Corporeal | About half Elemental and half Corporeal |
| Warrior Priest | Physical | Spiritual | Has only 2 Spiritual attacks |
| Witch Hunter | Physical | Spiritual | Has Buffs which add Spirit damage to Executions |
| Archmage | Spiritual | ||
| White Lion | Physical | War Lion is Physical damage as well | |
| Shadow Warrior | Physical | Elemental/Corporeal | One Core Elemental, One Mastery Corporeal |
| Swordmaster | Physical | Spiritual | |
| Destruction | |||
| Black Orc | Physical | Corporeal | One Mastery ability is Corporeal. Everything else is Physical |
| Shaman | Elemental | ||
| Squig Herder | Physical | Elemental/Corporeal | One Core Elemental, One Mastery Corporeal |
| Chosen | Physical | Spiritual |
|
| Magus | Elemental | Spiritual | About half Elemental, half Spiritual (Daemons are also half and half) |
| Marauder | Physical | Has no magic damage | |
| Zealot | Corporeal | Low damage output | |
| Disciple of Khaine | Physical | Spiritual | One Core and one Mastery is Spiritual |
| Sorceress | Corporeal | Spiritual | About half and half |
| Witch Elf | Physical | Has no magic damage | |
|

