"The Wyrmking Descends"

[Krandor]

Ok I'm kind of confused, the MDB from Shell is actually counted as part of the set number for Magic Damage reduction (which obviously caps at 50%)? I.E. Putting MDB/Damage-% gear past 25-27% (depending on merits) won't decrease damage further?

This is my typical set, specifically with some MND+ for Citadel Buster.

input /equip Waist "Resolute Belt";
input /equip Body "Cor. Scale Mail +1";
input /equip Head "Walahra Turban";
input /equip Neck "Dst. Gorget +1";
input /equip Ring1 "Merman's Ring";
input /equip Back "Resentment Cape";
input /equip Ear2 "Merman's Earring";
input /equip Range "Lamian Kaman";
input /equip Ring2 "Merman's Ring";
input /equip Sub "Palmerin's Shield";
input /equip Main "Templar Mace";

[Dammerung]

-mdmg% wont go farther, MDB has no cap I believe; however -mdmg% is better until you hit the cap since it is guaranteed.

[Suiram]

-mdmg% wont go farther, MDB has no cap I believe; however -mdmg% is better until you hit the cap since it is guaranteed.

Just to be clear, both MDB and magic damage -% are guaranteed damage reduction, but magic damage -% is better than an equivalent MDB due to the way they are calculated (until the cap).

MDB is calculated as 1/(1 + MDB/100) damage, magic -% is a fraction of 256, depending on the gear and spell, for example shell4 (56/256) and a merman's ring (10/256) you take ((256-66)/256) damage. Due to this method of calculation, adding MDB gets less and less effective the more you already have, while adding magic damage -% gets more and more effective.

Here's an example, say you had a piece of gear that has MDB+28 or one magic damage -22% (56/256). If a spell or magic ability would have done 1000 damage to you naked, then wearing one or the other would both reduce your damage to 781. Similarly, if the spell or ability would have done 1280 to you naked, then wearing either piece would bring you to 1000 damage.

But now, doubling up the gear on a spell with 1280 base damage you can see the difference. MDB+56 brings the damage you take down to only 820, while doubling the magic damage -% is 144/256 so 720 damage taken.

That's why an increase in magic -% is better than an equivalent one in MDB until you hit the magic damage reduction cap.

[DreizehnOfSiren]

-mdmg% wont go farther, MDB has no cap I believe; however -mdmg% is better until you hit the cap since it is guaranteed.

Just to be clear, both MDB and magic damage -% are guaranteed damage reduction, but magic damage -% is better than an equivalent MDB due to the way they are calculated (until the cap).

MDB is calculated as 1/(1 + MDB/100) damage, magic -% is a fraction of 256, depending on the gear and spell, for example shell4 (56/256) and a merman's ring (10/256) you take ((256-66)/256) damage. Due to this method of calculation, adding MDB gets less and less effective the more you already have, while adding magic damage -% gets more and more effective.

Here's an example, say you had a piece of gear that has MDB+28 or one magic damage -22% (56/256). If a spell or magic ability would have done 1000 damage to you naked, then wearing one or the other would both reduce your damage to 781. Similarly, if the spell or ability would have done 1280 to you naked, then wearing either piece would bring you to 1000 damage.

But now, doubling up the gear on a spell with 1280 base damage you can see the difference. MDB+56 brings the damage you take down to only 820, while doubling the magic damage -% is 144/256 so 720 damage taken.

That's why an increase in magic -% is better than an equivalent one in MDB until you hit the magic damage reduction cap.

Interesting, never thought about that. I think the problem is, not sure if i remember right, but i think magic -%, similar to physical -%, doesn't stack directly. By this, I mean that say you have earth staff and D. ring (just an example). You get hit for 1000 damage naked. Putting on earth staff would lower this 20% to 800, then the D. ring would lower this 800 another 10%, to 720. If they stacked, they would go to 700 damage. (10% off of 80% is the same as 20% off of 90%). I guess then you'd have to eliminate the 'less effective' pieces to optimize a MDB/-%magc/HP build. Correct me if this is wrong about it not 'directly stacking.'

The bonus of MDB is that this indirect stacking doesn't matter, as you just add numbers, and not %s.

[qatsi2]

I think the problem is, not sure if i remember right, but i think magic -%, similar to physical -%, doesn't stack directly. By this, I mean that say you have earth staff and D. ring (just an example). You get hit for 1000 damage naked. Putting on earth staff would lower this 20% to 800, then the D. ring would lower this 800 another 10%, to 720.

You're misinformed; it stacks directly.