Mechanics of Life/Mana

- and socketing Jah / Sur or Perfect Ruby / Sapphire


Table of Contents
- [1] Formulae
- [2] Tal Sorc using CtA
- [3] Jah/Sur vs Perfect Ruby/Sapphire


[1] Formulae

The reason for this section is that percentage bonuses to life and mana are available in the game. Without them, we would only have to consider the character specific conversion of Vitality/Energy
points to Stamina/Life/Mana. Furthermore, what some of you may still not know, the game does not just add all your life/mana bonuses together and then apply the percentage boosts to the result.
Some bonuses are "boostable", whereas others are not. And we obviously want as much life and mana as possible with whatever character build and equipment we are aiming for.

(Max) Life and (Max) Mana displayed on your character screen is calculated as follows,


Source : Things you SHOULD know about Diablo 2 - posted by Ernir @ Battle.net Forums
> http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=d2-general&t=1312543&p=1&#post1312543 (Question 47)

Stamina, Life, and Mana all follow the same mechanics. Although Stamina is mostly irrelevant in practice, it is included here for the sake of completeness.

Boostable Life/Mana

• Gained from spent points in Vitality/Energy (hard points as we speak) *)
• Gained naturally per level-up **)
• Gained from quest rewards (Act III, "The Golden Bird" quest, +20 to Life)
• "+X to Life" / "+Y to Mana" from items

Each of these stack with the default Life/Mana on a new character, to form a single number (Boostable Life/Mana) used in (1) / (2).

*), **) Values depend on character class. Refer to the Arreat Summit : http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/classes/

Life/Mana Boost (%)

• Battle Orders (+35 % Stamina/Life/Mana @ slvl 1, then another +3 % per slvl)
• Oak Sage (+30 % Life @ slvl 1, then another +5 % per slvl)
• Lycanthropy (+20 % Life @ slvl 1, then another +5 % per slvl)
• Werewolf (+25 % Stamina/Life and synergised by Lycanthropy)
• Werebear (+50 % Life and synergised by Lycanthropy)
• Jah/Sur Rune (+5 % Life/Mana, only when socketed into Helms or Body Armor)
• "Increase Maximum Life/Mana X/Y %", e.g. Doombringer (20 % Life), Hoto (15 % Mana)

Each of these stack to form a single percentage (Life/Mana Boost) used in (1) / (2).

Non-boostable Life/Mana

• Gained from Vitality/Energy on items (soft points as we speak)
• Gained from "+Z to Vitality (Based on Character Level)", e.g. Infinity
• "+X to Life (Based on Character Level)" / "+Y to Mana (Based on Character Level)", e.g. Harlequin Crest, Wizardspike

Each of these stack to form a single number (Non-boostable Life/Mana) used in (1) / (2).

Stamina benefits from Vitality. Level-ups and hard Vitality points count towards Boostable Stamina. Soft Vitality points count towards Non-boostable Stamina. Refer to the Arreat Summit link above.


[2] Tal Sorc using CtA

We will be using my level 89 Tal Sorc to check (1) and (2) as well as Max Stamina. Additionally, I want to compare the Life and Mana when swapping Tal Rasha's orb + mask for Harlequin Crest + Ocu.


Those were the values read in-game. Note that Setup 1, using the entire set, yields more Life and Mana with CtA than Setup 2, using 3 set pieces and Harlequin Crest + Ocu.

Now for the calculations. First, the inherent bonuses

• 88 level-ups, 345 Vitality points spent, 3 x 20 life from "The Golden Bird" quests

Hence,

• Base Stamina = 74 + 88*1 + 345*1 = 507
• Base Life = 40 + 88*1 + 345*2 + 3*20 = 878
• Base Mana = 35 + 88*2 = 211

confirming the base values read in-game. Next, consider all external bonuses

• +57, 60, 50 to Life from Tal Rasha pieces and +150 to Life from the full set
• +77, 30, 30, 42 to Mana from Tal Rasha pieces
• +97 to Life from inventory charms, excluding Annihilus + Hellfire Torch
• +120 to Mana from Raven Frost + mana ring
• 10 % to Mana Boost from Lidless
• +32 Vitality from Anni + Torch
• +10 Vitality from War Traveler
• +10 Energy each from Tal Rasha's orb and Lidless
• +133 (= 89*1.5, truncated) Life and Mana from Harlequin Crest
• +22 (20 + 2) Vitality and Energy from Harlequin Crest + Ocu

From these we calculate the following,


again confirming the values read in-game.


[3] Jah/Sur vs Perfect Ruby/Sapphire

Here is another application of (1) and (2). Suppose we have decided to socket either a Jah/Sur Rune or a Perfect Ruby/Sapphire in our helm (or body armor), for the additional Life/Mana they provide.
Now, which one is best ... Jah or Pruby ? Sur or Psapp ?

Consider (2) first.

Since we are comparing Sur (+5 % to Mana Boost) and Psapp (+38 to Boostable Mana), Non-boostable Mana is clearly irrelevant here. And we may disregard all of our equipment for the same reason.
Hence, it suffices to consider Base Mana (our Mana without any bonuses from equipment and charms) which is part of Boostable Mana.

Setting X = Mana Boost (excluding Sur), then we have to compare

• (Base Mana)*(1 + X + 5%) "Sur"
• (Base Mana + 38)*(1 + X) "Psapp"

Most terms are equal except "Base Mana * 5 %" and "38*(1 + X)". Dividing by 5 % leaves us with

• Base Mana
• 760*(1 + X)

and these are easy to compare,


In particular by (5), if Base Mana < 760, then Psapp is better.

The exact same reasoning applies to Jah vs Pruby. Simply replace Mana with Life everywhere.

I hope some of you found it useful. Any relevant comments or suggestions ?

what is the meaning of life

Part 3 answers a commonly asked question.

Good work on that again.

Trust in Faelwen.

Thanks.

This post was edited by Faelwen on Oct 1 2008 07:00pm

Might point out that multiple sockets don't change the 760 balance point.


Other than that,

n1

Sticky plz

Definatly sticky this, Very informative

I liked #3.
Helped alot.
The rest was way over my head