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[PS4] Defensive Enchantment setup?

planeshifter#6755 planeshifter Member Posts: 35 Arc User
edited January 2019 in The Library
I'm finally at an Item Level where I can start to tweak specific stats to where I want them to be. Offensively I have a gameplan for what I want to accomplish. But, unfortunately, I've never paid too much attention to what I was doing defensively, mainly just plugging in the best enchants I had at the time and occasionally refining them up here or there when I had spare RP.

Looking over my items, it seems I put a lot of Draconic enchants into defensive slots, I guess I must've liked the blend of stats at the time. I see that I've completely ignored the Deflect stat. I guess I figured as a CW it would never be a bit part of our toolkit, so why waste enchant spots on it? Is that a terrible mistake?

* What do you guys use for defensive enchants for the most part, I don't need a complete listing of each and every slot, just a general description
* Are there certain setpoints you are trying to reach for various stats? Much like offense, obviously you want Crit% and ArPen at 100%, then raise others as you can. Does Defense have similar "must have" numbers? At what set-point are you comfortable with your Lifesteal, Deflection, Defense, etc?

Comments

  • rjc9000rjc9000 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,405 Arc User

    I'm finally at an Item Level where I can start to tweak specific stats to where I want them to be. Offensively I have a gameplan for what I want to accomplish. But, unfortunately, I've never paid too much attention to what I was doing defensively, mainly just plugging in the best enchants I had at the time and occasionally refining them up here or there when I had spare RP.

    Best strategy has always been to hone your defensive skills, like learning how do avoid attacks, or knowing when to use teleport vs. using the "Get out of the Way" move.

    I would just slot in the Shepherd's Devotion insignia bonus and enjoy your cannon CW (if not with a team, then Shepherd's Devotion is a pretty nice way to reduce the glass in glass cannon).

    But if you insist on trying to stack defensive stats manually....

    This link by Janne SnailMoonmist is a good primer on defensive stats.

    If you want an explanation, then the short version is that the best way to stack defensive stats on CW is a focus on HP, with some lifesteal thrown in.

    Damage Resistance (officially called "Damage Taken" or something like that, comes from Defense & Armor class) gets better as you stack more of it, but is near useless if you have very little of it. CW armors don't really give a lot of Defense or Armor Class. If you decided to stack Defense/Armor Class, you would have to give up offensive potential, which isn't really ... wise ... on a class that has always been about killing things quickly.

    Deflect is more or less an inverse Critical hit: a lucky chance to reduce damage taken. Unfortunately, for CW, your Deflects only reduce incoming damage by 50% (because CW base 50% Deflect Severity, adding in Deflect Severity consumables kills your offense...). This is on top of being a luck based stat. Even if you stacked enough Deflect to have 100% chance to Deflect, a similar investment in damage resistance would yield more consistent results (max DR will always reduce incoming damage by 80%).

    HP is always worth it because it gives you more chances to not get one shotted. Unlike damage resist or Deflect, HP always works and doesn't really need much of an initial investment to be worth while.

    If you survive a one shot, or only take scratch damage, then you stack Lifesteal to recover your lost HP. CW doesn't particularly need much lifesteal to be effective, a minimum of 10-15% chance is good enough due to CW attacking rather rapidly. Alternatively, you can just slot in the guild lifesteal boon for soloing (if you are confident you can avoid one shots) and turn on the guild HP boon while in groups.

  • mebengalsfan#9264 mebengalsfan Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
    IMO it goes like this for defensive enchantments on a CW.

    1) Draconics
    2) Radiants
    3) Savage

    Draconics provide HP, Life Steal and Defense. This enchantment offers more HP than a savage and offers some nice defensive stats that Radiants don't offer. Radiants are second due to them providing a slight increase in damage over the draconics when you run with a OP. Savage are third on my list as it offers LS and HP equally.

    I run draconics and have since mod 13. I was told I should use radiants but I never changed my setup and the damage loss between Radiants and Draconics are now lower due to the changes to Aura of Courage for CWs.

    All three of these are good defensive enchantments. If you like Draconics why change if it works for you.
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