Why is this? What is the difference between
1) Dealing 5000 damage + 15%
2) Taking 5000 damage - 15%
It's because monsters will have varying levels of % lightning resistance, and you already have a ton of + lightning skill damage % from lightning mastery. For example a lvl 20 lightning mastery alone grants you +278% lightning skill damage.
Assuming lvl 20 lighting mastery and + 15% light damage from Griffons, with no other sources of + skill or - enemy res, against a monster with 50% lightning resistance you will deal:
5000 dmg = D + D(2.78) = 1322 base ability damage (for example this would be your base lightning skill damage)
1322 + 1322(2.93) = 5197 total ability damage (this is your lightning damage increased by (278% + 15%) )
5197 - 5197(50 / 100) =
2598 monster damage (this is your total ability damage modified by how much was resisted by monster)
Now looking at it the other way with lvl 20 light mastery and - 15% enemy resistance, with no other sources of + skill or - enemy res, against a monster with 50% lightning resistance you will deal:
5000 dmg = D + D(2.78) = 1322 base ability damage
1322 + 1322(2.78) = 5000 total ability damage
5000 - 5000(35 / 100) =
3250 monster damageSo as you can see in this basic example - enemy res is much more beneficial. I believe this is the case until the monster goes into negative resistance but I don't know where the breaking point is.
e/ math is hard but I think I got it right
This post was edited by TheOmnipotent on Nov 1 2025 05:24pm
D2:R