Resistances

Resistances

Whether you think of armor as “physical resistance” or fire resistance as “armor against flames”, the point to grasp is that they work identically. Each element is counteracted by a specific resistance in the same way that armor counteracts physical damage. For example, characters with 10% fire resistance suffer 10% less fire damage.

Checking your character’s Resistance scores may reveal zero armor ratings against certain elements, meaning they suffer the full damage from such attacks. You can raise resistances through various means as revealed in the table below.

There are a few additional points worth noting:

• Damage resistance applies to damage of any kind and combines with all other resistances, making it the most useful resistance of all when weighing up items and abilities. Against a physical attack, it adds to armor; against a mage’s Fireball, it adds to fire resistance and magical resistance for a cumulative damage reduction. Applying negative damage resistance to enemies (see the Entropy talent tree) increases the efficacy of subsequent attacks, a viable strategy against tough bosses.

• Dealing in the permeating energy of the Fade, spirit-based attacks are unique in rendering the victim’s magic resistance and damage resistance only half as effective.

• Against magical attacks, magic resistance is added to the elemental or physical resistance. Mages develop magic resistance through their primary attribute, while other characters need protective accessories. Just like physical or elemental resistances, magic resistance counteracts a percentage of the damage that an attack would have inflicted. It also reduces the duration of hostile magical effects on a character in accordance with its percentage value.

• If enemies have significant resistance or immunity to a certain type of attack, a small shield appears next to their health bar whenever they’re hit by that element.