What works better against Defense?

rtma

Lowering Resistance with DEX Prime + Certain spec trees, or INT Defense penetration? and overall how does it affect damage dealing in contrast?

williamkony

Was waiting for someone with more information to post, but that doesn't seem to be happening. X)

I would wager that, solo, penetration via Intelligence is generally more effective. In a group, reducing their resistance is likely preferable, so long as your allies deal a decent amount of damage.

Penetration only affects yourself, and it can't take their effective resistance below 0%. To my knowledge, the highest resistance value you're going to find outside of Defiance-toting enemies or Rampage enemies is around 20-30%, meaning it's pretty easy to hit that "overkill" mark with the Intelligence tree.

Resistance debuffs, on the other hand, lends its effect to your allies as well, not just yourself. I'm not completely certain if it can drop their resistance into the negatives, though... I know Sentinel tree's Wither effectively increases all damage the target takes by 10%, but I'm not sure if other abilities are comparable.

As for how much effect it has, that depends on the resistances of the target. Against Frosticus and Kenina, Defiance enemies, or players, penetration's quite potent. If they don't have much resistance to pierce through, it's not gonna do a lot. The resistance-debuffing is similarly unable to do much against enemies with low resistances unless it can drop their resistance into the negatives, and it's not going to do a whole lot for you solo no matter what, but with a Rampage boss or a large-scale event mission, it's going to make a huge difference.

jimhsua

As a general guideline, you want about as much penetration as the target has defense %. Most mobs have 20% resistance, hence why Depleted Uranium Cores (-15%) are so effective. INT specialization alone also bring you over the 0% mark (which provides no further benefits).

As far as resistance debuffs, more is better. DEX, powers, Paint the Target, etc can bring mobs into hilariously low negative resist territory. I run at -20% effective resist frequently on my Rimefire character against bosses, and there's much effectiveness to be had at those levels or below. (translating into an effective 20% overall damage boost). Paint the target MK3 can produce laughable numbers such as -66% on mobs/master villians, but has limited applicability on Legendary/cosmic enemies due to the debuff cap.

pantagruel01

The significant virtue of defense penetration is that it's immediate; most of the debuffs take a while to build up. That matters for obliterating weaker critters (though many low rank critters have no defense to start with and are thus unaffected by penetration) and pvp. The virtue of defense debuffs is that they help everyone. However, there may be a limit to how far defenses can be reduced, at which point additional reduction has no effect.

monsterdaddy

Well, you can't really look at it as just Expose Weakness vs. Detect Vulnerability because the DEX spec buffs Severity very significantly and once again through Dex Mastery. In general, almost everyone will have more DPS with DEX as PSS. Even STR with a DUC is better than INT, especially if you are melee and maybe if you are ranged. And STR and DEX both have Defense buffs that when combined with Vindicator/Best Defense add more DPS through Offense bonuses.

If you cannot afford a DUC, INT with a Piercing Glove or Justice Precision isn't bad for a ranged toon. Loading up on cooldown gear with AO's helps make up some DPS. I have a INT PSS toon with Radiance EB and Revitalize spec that spams DoTs and it's not bad, very survivable with Necrullitic Elixir always being on plus the quick AD's. Not as great as before the Revitalize nerf but still tanks Gravitar and farms Andrith on the cheap.