Just wondering exactly how this works. I don't want to stack -%enemy resists if it's not getting used. I know lower resist can break immunities and those monsters will still have pretty high resists to that element, but what about normal monsters or bosses who aren't immune to that element?

Bottom line is, what is the maximum -%enemy resist I should use in gear? Let's say a poison necro against hell nihl. Should I try to get 90% from facets and pestilence eyes and then LR him? Or, will LR be enough that the -% from facets is useless?

I'd just like to get the most out of my sockets, I'm sure someone out there knows the numbers behind this.

-%Res from gear always kicks in with full effect only when the enemy is not immune (broken immunities allow -%Res to work fullly). LowerResistance curse stacks with -%Res, but only works at 1/5 strength if the enemy was immune.

Examples with -55% LowerResistance curse, 50% -%Res on gear:
1) 99% Resistant enemy becomes (99-55-50 = -4%) -4% Reistant, so your damage is buffed by 4% over listed char screen damage.
2) 100% becomes (100 - 55/5) 89% Resistant, which becomes (89 - 50) 39% Resistant, so your damage is nerfed by 39% under listed char screen damage.
3) 110% becomes (110 - 55/5) 99% Resistant, which becomes (99 - 50) 49% Resistant, so your damage is nerfed by 49% under listed char screen damage.
4) 111% becomes (111 - 55/5) 100% Resistant, which becomes (100 - 0) 100% Resistant, so your damage is nerfed completely.

If you're just looking for offensive strength, then you can't go wrong with getting more pierce. However, the math shows that +%Dmg buffs your char screen damage, while negative enemy res buffs the damage later. This means that the -%Res buff can effecively increase the +%Dmg buff by more than the sum of the two buffs. This means that the most damage is acheived when your +%Skill damage is the same as the enemy's negative Res (Their res after you've lowered and pierced it).

Examples where +%Dmg and -%Res add to 50, base skill damage is 100:
(BaseDamage * +%DmgBuff) * -%ResBuff
1) +25%Dmg, -25%Resistant (this is after LRes curse and your -%Res)
(100 * 1.25) * 1.25 = 156.25
2) +30%, -20%
(100 * 1.3) * 1.2 = 1.56
3) +40%, -10%
(100 * 1.4) * 1.1 = 1.54
4) +50%, -0%
(100 * 1.5) * (no buff) = 150

Ok, I guess I wasn't very clear. I know how lower resist and pierce works as far as breaking immunities and when it comes into play. For now, let's just take lower resist out of the equation.

If I have 90% pierce against a monster with 50% resistance, will that bring them to -40%? I've heard that enemy resists can't go below 0%, is this true? If so, what is the MAX that I can lower their resists with pierce? If I can only bring them to 0% then of course some of it will be wasted. If they can go negative, then I'll definitely be stacking it.

Also, is there a table somewhere in the game files that shows monster and boss resists in hell? Is there any kind of penalty vs bosses?

I appreciate the reply Brevan even though that wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Maybe it will help someone else understand how LR works though.

you can pierce to -100

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-150% is the max i believe.

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People who live in cinder block houses can throw whatever they want.

Hmm, i've always been under the impression its -100. My a3 light merc has -110 passive pierce, with conviction and his aura its another 98 so -208 altogether. It would depend on the resistances of enemys in act 5 hell I guess but If a nec uses lower resist I see no benefit at all. If the max res of trash is 60 then there would be no impact with lr, if they go up to the high 90's then there would be an obvious impact with lower resist active too. At such a high passive pierce he clears at an insane rate already and I cant really buff his passive pierce anymore. Would be good if someone could confirm the -150 possible. I'm sure someone who can be bothered can pull it from the text files.

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I think it was always -100 for players/monsters. -150 is max for conviction aura, e.g from 70 to -80 but also from 0 to -100.

-100% is vanilla's max cap, unless it was changed in this mod.

I think conviction overrides the merc's aura.

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I thought that too, but I was surprised to see that they stack when we tested it in pvp.

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People who live in cinder block houses can throw whatever they want.

Yeah, they stack.

Maybe if merc wears "lvl x conviction when equipped" is when the aura is overriden.... or did you test that already?

♥

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both auras on the same char stack too, it was changed with the latest patch update

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