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What's your AC and need suggestion on how to improve mine

darkpanday#7133 darkpanday Member Posts: 9 Arc User
edited June 2017 in The Wilds
Hi guys, I need some help. I've recently got promoted to level 70 and I noticed that I easily get killed after just a few blows. I noticed that some of my other friends who are from a different class like paladins have a way much higher AC than mine so I'm not sure if HR classes have a comparable much lower AC or its just that I'm doing my gear selection wrong. Any inputs are well appreciated. Thanks.


Comments

  • nirafelosnirafelos Member Posts: 113 Arc User
    In general, you should not worry about your AC on anything but a tank.

    Our guild has a cleric that won't shut up about his AC, and literally no one but him cares.

    AC gives you (AC-10)/2% Damage Reduction. Yours is a little low, but that's probably because you're in all blues, and it will go up as you fix that, without you paying attention to it. Mine's 28, which is a whole 4.5% more DR than yours. Woo.

    Epic gear also comes with higher defense ratings per piece. Each 400 Defense is ~1% DR, so my total DR is probably another 5-10% higher. Don't focus on picking gear or enchants specifically for defense, either.

    As a DPS class, your survivability will come primarily from HP, lifesteal, and standing in the right place. You will find solo content exponentially easier as your gear increases -- particularly with things like bonding stones and good companion equipment.

    If you go combat, you will also have several feats that give you boosts to or key off of deflection -- but even there, there's no reason to focus on deflection on gear beyond considering Vicious or Black Ice enchants over Darks in your defense slots (and even though those yield higher stats than Darks, that's a harder sell than offense slots are).

    There are zero pieces of DPS armor in the game that are worth equipping solely because they have abnormally high AC. Yes, at low gear levels you will feel squishy.
  • darkpanday#7133 darkpanday Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    nirafelos said:

    In general, you should not worry about your AC on anything but a tank.

    Our guild has a cleric that won't shut up about his AC, and literally no one but him cares.

    AC gives you (AC-10)/2% Damage Reduction. Yours is a little low, but that's probably because you're in all blues, and it will go up as you fix that, without you paying attention to it. Mine's 28, which is a whole 4.5% more DR than yours. Woo.

    Epic gear also comes with higher defense ratings per piece. Each 400 Defense is ~1% DR, so my total DR is probably another 5-10% higher. Don't focus on picking gear or enchants specifically for defense, either.

    As a DPS class, your survivability will come primarily from HP, lifesteal, and standing in the right place. You will find solo content exponentially easier as your gear increases -- particularly with things like bonding stones and good companion equipment.

    If you go combat, you will also have several feats that give you boosts to or key off of deflection -- but even there, there's no reason to focus on deflection on gear beyond considering Vicious or Black Ice enchants over Darks in your defense slots (and even though those yield higher stats than Darks, that's a harder sell than offense slots are).

    There are zero pieces of DPS armor in the game that are worth equipping solely because they have abnormally high AC. Yes, at low gear levels you will feel squishy.

    Thanks for the input
  • jonkocajonkoca Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,586 Arc User
    Yeah, as said, don't worry about AC, just get lifesteal to a decent 20-30% depending on what guild boons you have and get your hitpoints up to at least somewhere around 120-130k. Good to go.
    No idea what my toon is now.
  • kleineryoda#3363 kleineryoda Member Posts: 60 Arc User
    As the others have pointed out your AC is perfectly fine and you don't need to worry about it.

    @nirafelos How did you even get to 28 AC? Are you using a cloak with AC? Because the only item you get AC from "normally" is the coat - MW II coat still has 9 AC so darkpanday wouldn't get an increase even if he was BiS equipped.

    For comparison I have the Lifesilk Spinneret with 12 AC - so 22 total (as you already have 10 when naked).

    And just a hint, don't be fooled by the blue gear, it's the new company guild gear which is as good as Dragonflght - even though it's blue, so don't expect too much of a jump forward in stats (AC or otherwise) because that equip is quite decent for a start.
  • nirafelosnirafelos Member Posts: 113 Arc User


    @nirafelos How did you even get to 28 AC? Are you using a cloak with AC? Because the only item you get AC from "normally" is the coat - MW II coat still has 9 AC so darkpanday wouldn't get an increase even if he was BiS equipped.

    I was totally mistaken, but didn't come back to correct myself after I got home from work and logged on, because it doesn't change my conclusion that there's no need as a HR to worry about AC. I believe my actual AC is 24, with 14 of that coming from the Executioner's Black Attire.

    And yeah, the Manticore coat's 9 is kind of disappointing, but would absolutely not stop me from equipping it. (the il500 gear in Mod12 already having been announced, on the other hand, has me reconsidering that purchase, at least unless the market prices continue to collapse).
  • gabrieldourdengabrieldourden Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,212 Arc User
    @jonkoca is pretty much right for group content. Only if you want to try soloing dungeons then defense start to be interesting, but only if you can stack a lot of it.
    Le-Shan: HR level 80 (main)
    Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
  • darkpanday#7133 darkpanday Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    Guys, I would just like to thank everyone who shared their inputs. Much appreciated
  • stefoid#1036 stefoid Member Posts: 74 Arc User
    Pants of Howling Hatred. LOL, we've all been there!
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