1 reply to this topic

[henrycao]

This gem seems to have no good use at Lvl 220

 

Pierce defense is meant to ignore enemy defenses but right now it seems to me that every gem scales better than pierce.

 

What is pierce meant to do?

~amplify damage by penetrating low defense classes

 

~amplify damage by penetrating mid defense classes

 

~amplify damage by penetrating high defense classes

 

3000 defense ~ pierce 5% +200 = 350 defense ignored     <-5% of 3000 is 150 pierce defense

 

6000 defense ~ pierce 5% +200 = 500 defense ignored     <-5% of 6000 is 300 pierce defense

 

9000 defense ~ pierce 5% +200 = 650 defense ignored     <- 5% of 9000 is 450 pierce defense

 

so gradually the more def they have, the more you can pierce, but the problem seems to be the value in how the damage reduction curve works. The more def one has the lesser the value gained from % damage reduction per def. So with that in mind, how is pierce defense at all effective? Damage reduction only shreds off a % of damage that is about to be dealt. And at the moment pierce defense ignores part of the damage in which case you could've chosen straight damage over.. 

 

it looks possible that flats were meant for low defense targets, and % meant for high defense targets..

anyone got any insight?

I request a rework on this gem to maybe something like pierce reduction instead of pierce defense.

Edited by henrycao, 09 December 2016 - 03:58 PM.

[Feuer]

Pierce only works on classes with pierce passives. It's due to the way defense scales with diminished returns.

 

Example, at very high defense levels, adding 100 defense grants very little physical reduction. BUT, losing 100 defense causes you to take very little more damage. This is where the passives come into play.

The higher the rating, the more the percentages ignores. Once those percentages are calculated, the flat amount comes into play now causing more impact due to the diminished returns curve being dealt with by the percentage.

 

To see the full effect, try using things like Toxic Shot from an Artisan without learning the pierce defense passive, and without using the gem or anything else. Shoot a Knight or a Champ, something with good Defense [but preferably not a shield]. Then learn the passives and you'll see just how huge of a difference it really makes.

 

As for dealing with low Def targets [like a Mage] well, that's why you stat high static amounts [flat amounts]. Tbh, Dual Raiders are best at stacking high flat amounts, while Artisans are good at stacking high percentage amounts.

With a proper set-up, you have effectively ignore 100% of a targets defense. If you land a crit on that, it's like a mac truck to the face. That's why I used to pull massive amounts of Damage on Shellac, High Pierce, High AP, High Crit Damage.