Finally killed Mr. D

@DavidB1111 Do not worry, I feel no emotion about you either positive or negative. The caps was to place emphasis on the statement. In response to your question...

I would rather a Pumpkinn that does 0 slashing plus bonus damage against the Pumpkinn because I countered his attack. Not to mention I can counter/block/dodge enemies that do Piercing also, or Conflag, or Hyperborean, or any other damage type that Armor Absorption cannot reduce.

 

I know that. I'm just saying Armor Absorption isn't that bad.
Having high block/counter/dodge is nice, but having a good amount of Armor + that is basically adding chocolate Syrup to Ice Cream. A good combo.

 

@Incendax
Last I check block don't neutralize elemental or piercing damage. I hacked 100 block on a character just to test.

 

@123stw I think you are are correct, but block raises naturally with stat increases where Armor Absorption does not. This makes block the least effective option of the Counter/Block/Dodge defenses but still ends up being better than the underdog that is Armor Absorption.

@DavidB1111 Armor Absorption is not bad, and actually really helps in the early parts of the game. However, you should not go out of your way to optimize it unless you are intentionally trying to increase your challenge. If you happen to pick some up, without making any sacrifices then consider yourself lucky! But, it probably should not even be thought of as a good and proper defense since it is so much easier to get better results out of the other three.

Counter is king. Dodge is neat. Block is average. Armor is just to survive the beginning.

 

I'm sorry, but that's not the way I play this game. I play the game to get a good amount of armor absorption and resists, by doing so, I usually end up with a rather nice amount of either dodge or block.

I definitely don't try to increase my challenge. I'm insulted you think that. The game would have to be massively nerfed to fix block/counter/dodge, if it's better than armor.
I'm sorry, I still don't get it.

 

@DavidB1111 You are free to play in whatever way you desire. It's just important to give accurate information to those that want to get an idea of which defenses work best and in which circumstances. This debate started when I offered advice to BeeGentle and you disagreed with me.

Nobody is telling you that you are wrong for playing your game the way you want.

 

Also, I'm fairly certain block works on elemental and piercing damage, because when I do block certain monsters, the piercing is reduced by the block. This goes for Diggle commandos, and other more annoying enemies.
Otherwise it makes Block useless against certain monsters.

And sorry, Incendax for sounding a bit hostile, I get extremely defensive over certain things. You can thank my Asperger's for the Asperger's Focus curse. Where when I focus on something, if someone tells me I'm wrong, I get extremely cranky.

 

I honestly thought block decreased Piercing damage as well, and even recall a forum thread that specifically discussed a person who wondered what the block equation was since he was reducing piercing damage when he blocked but not by the amount of his block score.

I took 123stw at his word when he tested a 100 Block character, but it appears this bears further investigation!

 

@Incendax Quick to the investigationmobile! :Batman 60s interlude plays:

 

@DavidB1111 I honestly had the same image, but felt it might be lost on some if I said "To the Dredmor Cave!" =D

 

You guys are right. The numbers shown on the left side do not reflect the actual damage taken. More testing are needed to confirm what exactly affects the damage taken.