Punti Vita, Armatura e Resistenze, Info dettagliate e un pò di matematica

Diablo 3 is 80% gear and 20% skill, and of that 20%, 2% is in-game skill and the remaining 18% is math skills. If you don't know how resistances or armor or dps or all of the goody stats work in the game, you'll never be able to itemize correctly to beat the game. I hear people say all the time that "10 Armor = 1 All Resist" which is not true at all. I assume this comes from the fact that damage reduction from armor uses a scale that is 10x that of resistances and they misinterpret incorrectly that its "10 Armor = 1 All Resist" and not "10 Armor/1 All Resist" or 10 Armor PER 1 All Resist. If you take a look at the effective health equation, you'll notice that the relationship between Armor and Resistances is much, much more complex than that... and its not even close. You should instead think "my armor to resist ratio must always be 10:1"... and not that " an item with +200 armor essentially gives me 20 all resist." You also can't generalize that an item with 20 armor is always better than an item with 1 resist becuase "10 Armor = 1 all resist". I'll show you why you should be thinking 10 Armor/ 1 All Resist, and NOT 10 Armor = 1 All resist.

reduction from resist is "RESISTANCE/ [(5*monster level)+ RESISTANCE]
reduction from armor is "ARMOR/ [(50*monster level) + ARMOR]
effect health is therefore "HEALTH / [(1- "reduction from resist")(1- "reduction from armor")]

What does this mean? The denominator is the key (5 * monster lvl and 50* monster lvl... or 300 and 3000 assuming lvl 60 monsters) and also that the armor reduction and resist reduction are multplicative. In the simplest way to explain it, against lvl 60 monsters, every 300 resistance points adds (100% of your base health*[armor/3000+1]) to your "effective health" Every 3000 armor points adds (100% of your base health*[allresist/300+1] to your "effective health." against lvl 61 monsters, its 305 and 3050 instead of 300 and 3000.

Here's some math:

30k health + 0 all resist + 0 armor = 30k effective health
30k health + 0 all resist + 3000 armor = 60k effective health
30k health + 0 all resist + 6000 armor = 90k effective health
30k health + 0 all resist + 9000 armor = 120k effective health (+10 health/armor)

30k health + 300 all resist + 0 armor = 60k effective health
30k health + 300 all resist + 3000 armor = 120k effective health
30k health + 300 all resist + 6000 armor = 180k effective health
30k health + 300 all resist + 9000 armor = 240k effective health (+20 health/armor)

30k health + 600 all resist +0 armor = 90k effective health
30k health + 600 all resist + 3000 armor = 180k effective health
30k health + 600 all resist + 6000 armor = 270k effective health
30k health + 600 all resist + 9000 armor = 360k effective health (+30 health/armor)

30k health + 900 all resist + 0 armor = 120k effective health
30k health + 900 all resist + 3000 armor = 240k effective health
30k health + 900 all resist + 6000 armor = 360k effective health
30k health + 900 all resist + 9000 armor = 480k effective health (+40 health/armor)

(you can also switch the "all resist" and "armor" if you to know how effective health changes at increasing all resist while armor stays the same)

30k health + 0 armor + 0 all resist = 30k health
30k health + 0 armor + 300 all resist = 60k health
30k health + 0 armor + 600 all resist = 90k health
30k health + 0 armor + 900 all resist = 120k health (+100 heath/all resist)

30k health + 3000 armor + 0 all resist = 60k health
30k health + 3000 armor + 300 all resist = 120k health
30k health + 3000 armor + 600 all resist = 180k health
30k health + 3000 armor + 900 all resist = 240k health (+200 heath/all resist)

30k health + 6000 armor + 0 all resist = 90k effective health
30k health + 6000 armor + 300 all resist = 180k effective health
30k health + 6000 armor + 600 all resist = 270k effective health
30k health + 6000 armor + 900 all resist = 360k effective health (+300 heath/all resist)

30k health + 9000 armor + 0 all resist = 120k effective health
30k health + 9000 armor + 300 all resist = 240k effective health
30k health + 9000 armor + 600 all resist = 360k effective health
30k health + 9000 armor + 900 all resist = 480k effective health (+400 health/all resist)

If health doubles, effective health doubles as well and this can be compared directly to resistance and armor to differentiate between different pieces of vit/armor/resist gear... but things get complicated as we're bringing in a third variable and a change in one variable will directly impact the other two... this will be covered in a future post.

60k health + 9000 armor + 0 all resist = 240k effective health
60k health + 9000 armor + 300 all resist = 480k effective health
60k health + 9000 armor + 600 all resist = 720k effective health
60k health + 9000 armor + 900 all resist = 970k effective health (+800 health/all resist)

So as you can see, armor is more effective the higher your all resist is, and all resist is more effective the higher your armor is. Health just provide the baseline. Armor and Resistances are MOST effective when they're in their 10:1 ratio. If you deviate from this, even symetrically either way, your effective health would be lower than if you kept the 10:1 ratio, as seen below. The mindset that "10 armor gives 1 all resist" is incorrect as that increase in armor actually increases the value of each resistance while actually decreasing each additional armor value.

30k health + 6000 armor + 600 all resist = 270k effective health
30k health + 9000 armor + 300 all resist = 240k effective health
30k health + 3000 armor + 900 all resist = 240k effective health

So the KEY POINT is that it's not an equation stating that "10 armor is equal to 1 All Resist," like so many people keep saying incorrectly, but a ratio that states that the most efficient way to max damage reduction is to keep armor and resistance in a "10/1" ratio.

A benchmark to strive for before even thinking of starting act 3 and 4 inferno is 1,000,000 effective health (this is only for health and the two reduction stats, this does not take into account blocking stats, reduction to melee/ranged/elites, dodge, etc.)

1,000,000 effective health = 40k health, 12000 armor, 1200 all resist
You can also use the following rough guideline to reach 1,000,000 effective health

64k health, 9,000 armor, 900 resist
55k health, 10,000 armor, 1000 resist
46k health, 11,000 armor, 1100 resist

Also just in case your wondering,

30k health + 900 all resist + 9000 armor = 120k health + 300 all resist + 3000 armor

30k health with 900 all resist and 9000 armor is better than 120k health with 300 resist and 3000 armor as potions, health globes, blocking, and non percent healing abilities are more efficient.