In a recent developer livestream, lead systems designer Meng Song recently overviewed the new damage reduction and armor mechanics in Diablo 4. Here’s what you need to know.
If you are a die-hard Diablo fan, you’ve probably become accustomed to enormous damage numbers constantly flashing in front of your face. Blizzard has decided this is unnecessary and plans to solve it with their new Damage Reduction and Armor mechanics. Here’s what you need to know.
Diablo 4 Damage Reduction from Armor
Damage Reduction in Diablo IV will increase as a player increases in level, from around 12% at level 1 to over 40% at level 100. At a low level, things like low-quality leather armor will protect players for less. However, as players climb in level and begin to obtain higher-level armor like chest plates and Legendary items, the Damage Reduction provided by those items will be higher.
In Diablo 4, armor not only mitigates incoming physical damage, but it also absorbs half of the incoming non-physical (elemental) damage. For example, if your armor absorbs 60% of physical damage, it also absorbs 30% of non-physical damage like Shadow damage, Fire damage, etc.
Damage Reduction Contribution Per Armor
As the quality of players’ armor improves at higher levels with better items, the Damage Reduction per point of armor actually reduces. This mechanic prevents players from being too overpowered and tanky in the late game and provides more opportunities to gain Armor Reduction through other means, such as the Paragon System or skills like Fortify for Druid and Barbarian, Energy Shield for Sorceress, and Dodge Chance for Rogue.
Armor Damage Reduction vs. Monsters
The higher the monster level, the less that your armor will absorb, decreasing Damage Reduction for higher-level enemies. This mechanic will make higher-level monsters penetrate your armor more, and as you level you’ll need to ensure that your Damage Reduction stays in pace with the Armor Damage Reduction done by higher-tier monsters.
Ultimately, Armor and Damage Reduction will be a big part of Diablo 4. In addition to the changes to players, monsters in the world will also have armor reduction, a departure from earlier games when stronger monsters merely had a larger health pool.
Diablo IV officially releases June 2, 2023, but will have an Early Access weekend from March 17-20 for those that preordered the game. Players can find Diablo IV on Battle.net.
You can watch the full VOD for the Diablo IV developer live stream on YouTube.
See our Diablo IV Section for more content on the upcoming game.
