Damage reduced by X build?

I've heard the concept of maximizing "damage reduced by X number of points" discussed before, but I've never found any guide of substance that elaborates on how to best accomplish such a build. I think a build that properly utilizes such equipment could avoid more damage than a traditional damage reduced by % build (or, maybe a mix of the two would be ideal).

Has anyone seen such a build or attempted one themselves? I'm looking for any suggestions for a setup that would completely maximize damage reduction. I'm not worried about killing speed of the character, this is just a sort of curiosity and I want to see if it holds any merit. If so, maybe a sorceress could best take advantage of such a concept (or a necromancer, though they're designed not to take damage in the first place). Any suggestions for equipment would be appreciated. I realize that elemental and magic damage are separate issues. Like I said, this is just a curiosity at this point. I'm not worried about cost.|||As you said, killing speed will not be your greatest side, though a sorc can get quite good damage still.

If you play sorc, you'll probably go ES too.

You can then stack up lots of pdr (physical damage reduce) and be pretty much invulnerable as long as you still have mana. Mana burn monsters will still give you a hard time.

I myself am making a pally with lots of dr combined with maxed prayer, insight staff and lots of res too. This means you'll have lots of res/pdr and your life will also replenish at an insane speed. That is probably the closest to invulnerable you'll get. Of course you can also put a shield on switch (storm/gerkes) for either extra %dr or pdr and also chance to block.

The advantage with this build is that if you stack up on resists and life, nothing can stop you. The sorc is a little limited by the mana burn.

A combination of %dr and pdr is most likely the best, but you have to keep in mind that when your character takes damage, it will first be reduced by the pdr, then the %dr will kick in. If it was the other way around, a mix would be the best by far, but %dr still helps. Taking some damage is inevitable, though minimizing it should be your goal.

Prayer is a huge advantage. If you regenerate 150life/2secs (possible with the right gear and insight staff) you will most likely have your health bulb jumping between [maxlife - 150] and [maxlife] :)

So if you are about to try, I would recommend making a pally. Also, getting max block has never been as easy for any other char than a pally due to holy shield.

As for gear recommendation, I'll pass you along to SSoG's great guide (which was my inspiration, even though I've been spinning off a little since then)

Well written, and covers most of it.

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=483473

Good luck, and make sure to tell about your progress and ask further questions! |||Quote:








I've heard the concept of maximizing "damage reduced by X number of points" discussed before, but I've never found any guide of substance that elaborates on how to best accomplish such a build. I think a build that properly utilizes such equipment could avoid more damage than a traditional damage reduced by % build (or, maybe a mix of the two would be ideal).

Has anyone seen such a build or attempted one themselves? I'm looking for any suggestions for a setup that would completely maximize damage reduction. I'm not worried about killing speed of the character, this is just a sort of curiosity and I want to see if it holds any merit. If so, maybe a sorceress could best take advantage of such a concept (or a necromancer, though they're designed not to take damage in the first place). Any suggestions for equipment would be appreciated. I realize that elemental and magic damage are separate issues. Like I said, this is just a curiosity at this point. I'm not worried about cost.




Look up some of SSoG's posts. He is a big advocate of straight PDR over DR%.

He has a guide for a Paladin who can literally stand in place around ~95% of the monsters in the game and not die. It's based on pdr and taking advantage of how meditation and prayer work together.

Also, a Taunt barb is another good pdr way to go. The lowering of enemy damage from the taunt skill works before pdr.

EDIT: The nearly unkillable Abbot. The Necro weaken skill, like taunt, will reduce enemy damage before pdr.|||I made my MA assassin like that. Sol-d glad bane. Along with dual shadowkillers, she was pretty robust.

I also managed to make a -43 damage recieved armor for my beserker barb, but I gave up on D2 before I he could use it.

-damage is quite useful for pvm though. THe strongest monsters (other than some uniques) only do around 200 melee damage. A sol is like 3.5% damage reduction in that case, and they are very cheap.|||Would a fury wolf be good for a defensive build? :scratch:

I was thinking:

Doom BA / Stormshield

Jalals

Gladiators Bane

Thundergods

2 x Natures Peace

Amulet with DR

Dracs

Sandstorms

What about safety crafted items, any good?|||i have a WW barb that has 66 DR and 50% PDR on top of that. tomb vipers and dolls do little noticable damage unless hes ampd and not enough to really hurt him even then. even those nasty extra fast, extra strong , enchanted frenytaurs arent much of a threat. he uses an upped sol'd iron pelt ( 27 dr ), 25 dr amy, sol'd arreats face ( 7 dr ) and sol'd SS ( 7dr , 35% pdr) and dungo ( 15% pdr )|||PDR builds are absolutely, positively viable. I'm probably the biggest advocate of straight "Damage Reduced by X" that you'll ever find. I've designed several builds around the mod, and truly and honestly believe that it is the single most powerful PvM mod in the entire game.

A couple of examples of amazing PDR builds include:

Sorceress- search for some good ES guides. With a 95% Energy Shield, 25 PDR and 25 MDR will make you immune to all damage for as long as your mana bulb holds out. I have yet to see an enemy capable of dealing enough damage to scratch your red orb through that (poison damage notwithstanding). The big problem, of course, is mana burners, who will tear you to shreds.

Necromancer- I would never dream of making a meleemancer without PDR (unless he was relying on Bone Walls and hoping to never get hit during the entire game). Decrepify will double the effectiveness of PDR by reducing monster damage by 50%, so 80 PDR on a Necro is as good as 160 PDR on anything else (other than a Barb or Sorc). 80 PDR + Decrepify = Hell-viable Meleemancer.

Barbarian- Taunt or Battle Cry, take your pick. Taunt offers more EDR% (my term for anything that reduces enemy damage) and is ranged, but is harder to aim and only affects one monster at a time. Battle Cry is easy to aim, offers a ridiculously cool defense reduction, and targets everything around you... but it's got a short range and won't help you against elemental attackers (whereas Taunt can frequently force them to use melee attacks, instead). Either way, load up on PDR and max one or the other, and use that to make yourself practically invincible. My favorite combos are Battle Cry/Berserk, Battle Cry/Double Swing, and Taunt/Frenzy.

Assassin- One word: kicksin. Get yourself a rocking pair of boots, then devote the rest of your gear to cramming on as much PDR as you can possibly hold. When all is said and done, you should have 100+ PDR without sacrificing a bit of killing power. No way to reduce enemy damage naturally, so get yourself a Lawbringer, or a Lawbringer or Reaper's Merc. Either will let you trigger Decrep, which will double the effectiveness of your PDR.

Paladin- The abbott build has already been linked. That's the closest you can possibly come to immortality in Diablo II.

Druid/Amazon- neither has any build that really shines with the addition of PDR, but that isn't to say that you can't incorporate PDR into an existing build. In particular, I think a Spearazon is a good place to load up on PDR, especially if you eschew D/A/E/Valk in order to avoid the Fend bug.

My strongest recommendation for people just starting out with PDR would be the Kicksin, the Battle Cry/Berserk Barb, or the Abbott Paladin. The reason why is because the biggest weakness of PDR builds is that it's incredibly hard to maximize resists while maintaining a high level of PDR, and those three builds have the easiest time with it (thanks to Fade, Natural Resists, and Palashields, respectively).

Even if you don't want to go off the deep end and make a build with 80+ PDR, you can always benefit from adding a bit of PDR to existing characters. Generally speaking, 1 PDR is about as effective as 1% DR, depending on how much damage the monster deals (against weaker monsters, PDR will be better- against stronger monsters, DR% will be better). Generally speaking, 7 PDR (from a Sol rune) will do more to help your survivability in PvM than 5% DR.|||how useful is damage reduce by X in pvp?|||Useless. Just think of a grief user smiting you for thousand's of HP.|||That's why %DR wins out in PvP.