Ask Elb: Assorted Stat/Mechanics Questions

All of the questions featured in this article were asked by CSTM co-founder and co-host, Merric.

Why do so many classes seem to want frost damage spells?

In my experience with players, particularly those who play their Runekeepers extensively, I’ve not found anyone raving about frost damage or ever frost affinity (at least not for raiding/grouping).

However… I have heard several Runekeepers express that frost is a great tool for soloing and PvMP as there are many slows that come with using frost damage and frost affinity. With slows comes the ability to kite mobs or monster players and thus either get away or at least avoid a good portion of damage. There is also the perception that one gets less resists when using frost (There are not visible stats on any game tooltips to either confirm or deny this).

For other classes, the only reasons I can think to want for frost damage is because it’s better than common and there is at least one raid boss (Storvâgûn) that is weak to it. Other than that, there no real glaring reason to go hog-wild over frost.

What are the caps for stats?  (Might, Agi, Vit, etc.)

Stat caps have always thus far been Max level times 10. At level cap 50 stats were capped at 500, at level cap 60 the stat caps were 600 and now at 65 level cap the stat cap on all stats is 650.

What are the caps on resistances?

What resistances do I need in what dungeons?

Resistances are only capped based on what’s currently available in the game. Resistances are generally hard to push over 25%. I was able to get my captain to 10,500 fear resist rating with help from muster courage’s 6500 resist rating buff along with all the maxed virtues that provide fear resist (I would not typically have maybe more than 1 of these slotted). At that lofty 10.5k resist rating my captain had 29.0% fear resist ( I removed a very small amount of rating via dropping a small amount of will to confirm that this was not a hard cap).

As for what resistances for what dungeons… I honestly don’t find that actively stacking resistances is worthwhile. However, you’ll generally end up stacking a little bit in any normal trait setup. There is rarely an instance with only one type of nasty debuff, If an instance has nasty debuffs it’ll likely have a few types of them.

If you INSIST on resistance stacking, Fear, Wound and Poison are all very common in most dungeons and on the average equally detrimental. Disease is much more rare usually only cropping up in areas full of rats and wights. The best way to stack is the direction of the debuff you don’t have a curer onboard for.

Is block rating worth it?

A bit of an open-ended question in that there’s nothing to compare it to…But the simple answer, as-worded, is YES.

There’s a few things we need to note when considering whether any sort of rating is worth it on a capped stat such as block:

• Your actual block percentage is figured against the level of the mob attacking you and not your level (an amount of rating that is 4 times the mob’s level = 1% of block and .33% partial block)
• While full block may cap at 15%, partial block has no cap
• It is possible to get your common damage partial block mitigation very near, if not at 100% (which means that against common damage your partial block would be like a full block)

Given these facts, even if you’re at the 15% block from rating cap (against on-level enemies) it is still possible to increase your partial block as well as give yourself an extra boost against mobs that are above your level (and thus your actual block against them is lower than what your stat page displays since it assumes an on-level attacker).

What are the best tanking stats to aim for?

When it comes to tanking stats, it’s all about defense. Might, Agility and Vitality all have defensive properties.

Might- Increases your common mitigation and increases both your block and parry ratings. Heavier weighting towards block.

Agility- Increases both your evade and parry ratings. Heavier weighting towards evade.

Vitality- Increases your maximum morale (allowing you to take larger hits as needed) and increases your mitigation to all types of damage except for common.

In addition to Might, Agility and Vitality a tank also wants to stack a large amount of melee defense and have at the ready some ranged and tactical defenses as well.

Other things to look for: Max morale, Block/Parry/Evade Ratings, Fate (for In-Combat Morale Regen, the In-Combat Power Regen is nice too).

What are the best DPS stats to aim for?

DPS comes in three flavors: Melee, Ranged and Tactical. Each flavor has it’s own set of optimal stats.

Melee DPS

Melee DPS classes want to put their primary focus on Might as it will directly increase the base amount of damage they do. Melee DPS classes should also put a strong weight on agility as it increases their odds of scoring a critical hit and thus dealing more damage. Straight Melee critical rating and Melee offense are also good stats to look for (although far more scarce and hard to find)

Ranged DPS

Ranged DPS classes need only seek out agility as their main focus as it increases both their base damage and their critical chance. Straight Ranged critical rating and Ranged offense rating are also great when you can get them.

Tactical DPS

Like Melee DPS, Tactical DPS have a two part problem. First and foremost Tactical DPS classes want more Will as that’s what increases their base output. Tactical DPS classes also want a lot of fate as that increases their tactical critical chance as well as an aspect the other two DPS types don’t get from stats, tactical critical multiplier (makes big crits even bigger!). Not to mention the ICPR these classes get from stacking some fate as well! Stack also tactical critical rating, tactical offense and tactical critical multipliers.

General rule for DPS classes, stack the output stat first and foremost (higher consistent DPS is better in the long run) and then the critical stat second.