Swordsman Archive

So this is quite frustrating to me.

If something if Vuln blast, no AR and 20% kinetic_resist, i can still do more damage with my kinetic swords. Vuln doesn't account for AR2 on pwrHammer, so i get no additional damage modifier.

Anyone know if this is a bug, or just the way it's meant to be.

Soca

This is a known bug, but it is not all bad news.

The issue is that botharmor and resistance calculations are bypassed when a target is vulnerable to a damage type. That is when a target is vulnerable to a damage type, the damage assessed is simply the weapon damage times the damage modifier of the special (i.e, the damage that shows up in the combat window). This means that you lose the cumulative25% damage bonus for every level the armor piercing value of the weapon (AP) exceeds the armor rating (AR) of the target. So a powerhammer against a light armored target with 15% kinetic resists, but vulnerability to blast,may actually do less damage than a 2H cleaver against that same target.

On the other hand, since armor and resistances are ignored when the target is vulnerable, you also do not lose the cumulative 50% damage penalty you get when AR exceeds AP. So a medium AP weapon against a heavy armor target that is vulnerable to its damage type will do the same damage as if the target had medium armor, not heavy. That is, it gets the combat window damage with no adjustment for armor and resistances.

Also, it is true that a weapon that the target resists may do more damage than a weapon that it is vulnerable to, but there is a break even point. When AP exceeds AR by one level, a weapon doing a resisted damage type does more damage than a weapon doing a vulnerable damage type until the resistance reaches 20%. After 20% resists, the weapon to which the target is vulnerabledoes more damage. When it AP exceeds AR by two levels, the break even point is at 35.9% resists. For three levels, the break even point is at 48.7% resists (this only applies to heavy AP vs. unarmored, so we do not see this latterscenario as swordsmen).

So, yes, it is counter-intuitive that a target could take more damage from a weapon whose damage type it resists than from one to whichit is vulnerable, but there is a narrow range of circumstances where that is true. In other circumstances, the vulnerability helps, even though you would think the AP bonus should still apply.

Message Edited by Sotaudi on 02-05-2004 10:15 AM