Sunday, November 1, 2009

Shield Strike

When I wrote the entry "Strategy for Tough Levels", my guild mate Andypearce pointed out that Shield Strike can improve the efficiency of the Wither + defense setup.

Shield Strike is a level 700 skill and was not generally available until relatively recently. It is under the Offense tree, cost 20 stamina to buff and has a duration of 45 mins. Its description is :

0.1% per point chance that your defense stat is reduced to zero and your damage is doubled.

So, at level 175, it gives a 17.5% chance of activation.
While we are at it, a level 175 Deathwish has 5.25% chance of activation.
Wither at 350 has a 70% chance of activation.
Critical strike also has a reported chance of 3% activation if max'ed. If you have statistics to show otherwise, please let me know.

All the above skills enhances the 2-hit defensive setups. When any one of those activates, it will turn the 2-hit situation into a 1-hit. Some players mentioned Spectral Knight. I beg to differ on the usefulness of that buff. If the creature is easy, then you can 1-hit without the need of armor reduction. If you can't 1-hit and need to use a defensive setup, chances are that you won't be able to 1-hit even if Spectral Knight is activated.

Now, do NOT add all those percentages.
So the chance that none of them activate is (30% wither, 82.5% shield strike, 94.75% deathwish, 97% critical strike), multiply those, and that will be about 22.75%. That gives a 77.25% chance of 1-strike, and the efficiency is about 1.23.

Note that below assumes 16x doubler, and the Wither setup includes the use of Shield strike and Deathwish.

Efficiency Setup
1 1-hit
1.06 CA-25
1.13 CA-50
1.19 CA-75
1.23 Wither 350 + Defense
1.25 CA-100
1.25 Back-level (1-hit)
1.3 Wither 350 + CA25 + Defense
1.31 CA-125
1.33 Back-level (CA-25)
1.35 Wither 350 + Imp
1.38 CA-150
1.39 Wither 350 + CA50 + Defense
1.41 Back-level (CA-50)
1.44 CA-175
1.46 Wither 350 + CA75 + Defense
1.48 Back-level (CA-75)
1.56 Back-level (CA-100)
1.64 Back-level (CA-125)
1.72 Back-level (CA-150)
1.8 Back-level (CA-175)
2 2-hit

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