how do resistances work?

[Torik]

Lately I've been getting some conflicting information on how resistances work.

I understand that 315 is the effective maximum you ever need for the current encounters. However, how effective are resistance values under that? How much more protection do I get with 200 Fire resistance vs 150 Fire Resistance?

[FodderCannoned]

see this isnt easy to explain because it depends on the level of the person you are fighting. Lets assume that you are talking about MC/BWL bosses as far as FR is concerned, all the bosses in there are level 63.

And for a level 63 boss 4.2FR=1% damage reduction.

So lets assume that you are fighting rag/vael, whoever, and he sends a 1k fire damage effect your way.

With 0 FR you would take 1,000 damage
With 100 FR you would take 762 damage
With 150 FR you would take 643 damage
With 200 FR you would take 524 damage
With 250 FR you would take 405 damage
And with 315 FR you would take 250 damage.

The max you can resist off of any elemental attack is 75% of the damage.

So lets say you are fighting Lord Incidous in BRD, he is a level 56(I am pretty sure, but lets assume this is the case) To hit the maximum of a 75% resist you would need 280 FR. And against him every 3.73 FR you have is a 1% damage reduction.

[silkfire]

you're a real mathematician :)

[Torik]

How sure are you of this? It seems to contradict the info on the Blizzard site
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/resistances.html

[zkajan]

i have no idea where you got that,but resistances are not linear. furthermore, you some spells are partialy resistable and some spells are considered "binary" (either you resist the whole thing or nothing at all), usualy things with dmg + something else (like frostbolt that also gives you a slowing effect)

[FodderCannoned]

Corrected a couple mistakes, sorry

The equations i used were correct, but i thought you always resisted the same ammount, but its on AVERAGE that you resist that ammount.
Against a level 63 raid boss
Binary resistance
With 0 FR you would take 1,000 damage
With 100 FR you would take 762 damage On average 25%
With 150 FR you would take 643 damage On average 35%
With 200 FR you would take 524 damage On average 47%
With 250 FR you would take 405 damage On average 60%
With 315 FR you would take 250 damage On average 75%


You can resist more or less with the FR's listed but on average thats going to be the amount of damage dealt.

The max you can resist off of any elemental attack is 75% of the damage.

Also binary spells the same equation, but they have a straight chance to resist the spell, you either resist 100% or you resist none, the values i listed in the second collumn are the % you have to resist a spell with the corrisponding FR, and that would be spells like immolate, fireball.


Also blizzards site is really hard to understand, i had to read it about 4-5 times to understand what they were trying to get across, plus it doesnt say anything about how it scales with level.