Does AC actually matter ?

[Ereius]

Im in act 3 and im finding AC almost irrelevant til now. Even with AC 20-23 I get hit constantly like 5/6 times. Maybe cause im playing on the hardest difficulty, I dont know what +s to hit the enemies have but it must be somewhere around +15. Which i find very weird because unless im boosted by spells of magic items my % to hit is usually around 55-60%. Is there an AC range where there is actual decent chance for enemies to miss? Is it even worth increasing AC?

Im asking because unless im doing something wrong it much better to prioritize:

HP
Offensiveness

rather en AC

For example I can give karlach +3 ac with a gloves of dex 17. rasing her from 17-20 or I can give her gloves of +d4 damage. Maybe theres a bias I have but I dont see any difference between AC17 and 20/21

Same issue with Shields, I gave Shadowheart a Shield to boost her AC to 23 hoping to have some tanking but I rarely seen her avoid getting hit. Then again logically even with a +15 to hit theres an almost theoretically 30% miss chance I just dont see it happening

[Paroe]

Your chance to hit being so low is strange, honestly. Are you using a weapon or spell you actually scale with, and have you been trying to scale?

I know a lot of players dont think about it and just keep their stats are like 16/16/10--->

[Lil Larrikin]

yes

[dbond1]

The highest AC I had on a character in my first run was 26 on my warlock main (using gloves of dex plus armor that ignores dex limit) and he felt pretty shadowy. I'd say you need to be gunning for 24+, but that's no guarantee you won't be hit. Enemies have spells and abilities to roll some big numbers too. And on tactician they get a +2 to all rolls as well.

[Kernest]

Do you have Karmic dice turned on? If so turn them off.

Secondly, there are essentially two ways to take damage, one is getting hit and high AC helps with that.

The other one is having to roll a saving throw, usually against spells. And some spells can't be completely avoided ever, only damage halved.

Thirdly, if your hit chance is 60%ish in act 3, you're doing something wrong.

And finally, open the combat log and look at the rolls.

[DontMisunderstand]

AC means attackers need to roll that number or higher to hit you. If you think about what that means in terms of the d20 roll, subtract 10 from the AC, and that number is the to-hit bonus needed to make an attack a 50% chance to hit. Generally, even something like 17 AC is pretty good. If you get beyond 20, that's extremely good.

[wendigo211]

I had two characters with mid 30s AC (counting buffs) in my first run. One was a Paladin 2/Sword Bard 10, the other was a Sword Bard 6/Wizard 6. Defensive Flourish gives you a 4 AC, Haste gives you 2 AC, Defensive style gives you +1, Warding Bond is another +1, the Shield spell is +5. There's also a bunch of +1 AC gear like evasive boots, cloak of protection etc. One was wearing the Helldusk Armor, the other had Half-Plate+2, only one of them had a shield. Even on tactician you can get your AC high enough that enemies can only hit on a 20 (yes, on tactician there are enemies with +15 ABs, I think +17 was the highest I saw).

For AB, you should be able to get your primary ability to 22 (20+2 from Mirror of Loss) for every character except Shadowheart; you can get Strength to 24 (Astarion potion). You should at least have a +2 weapon. There are also gloves and a few armor pieces that give you a +1 to hit. However, hit chances can be low if you're using GWM or Sharpshooter. You can boost hit chances with the Bless spell or by getting advantage. I like Blindness for getting advantage (level 2 spell, no concentration, no save every turn and lasts for 10 turns), for a lot of fights the Blood of Lathander will inflict the condition on your enemies without having to cast the spell.

[Gracey Face]

AC 23 isn't that high. If you're focusing on AC you should have an AC at or approaching 30 by act 3. That's why you're getting hit. 23AC is just normal AC.

[Underprivileged White Male]

Originally posted by Gracey Face:

AC 23 isn't that high. If you're focusing on AC you should have an AC at or approaching 30 by act 3. That's why you're getting hit. 23AC is just normal AC.

Yeah 26-29 is pretty normal if you are going for "good" ac without over investment. By early act 3.

[Bishop]

23 ac with warding bond on top and character becomes almost immortal. But killing stuff quickly is still best defense.

[Ereius]

Originally posted by Kernest:

Do you have Karmic dice turned on? If so turn them off.

Secondly, there are essentially two ways to take damage, one is getting hit and high AC helps with that.

The other one is having to roll a saving throw, usually against spells. And some spells can't be completely avoided ever, only damage halved.

Thirdly, if your hit chance is 60%ish in act 3, you're doing something wrong.

And finally, open the combat log and look at the rolls.

My main fighter hit chance is over 80 with op ring i found that gives him auto advantage on all attcks, karlach barb hit chace is 60ish but with reckless this goes up to 80ish . The to hit part i get. If gale will shoot a Cantrip itll be around 55%

My point is.. is there any purpose of having AC 20 vs Having AC 12... ? or AC 26 vs AC 12? At which breaking point does AC actually make a difference?

[Underprivileged White Male]

Originally posted by Ereius:

Originally posted by Kernest:

Do you have Karmic dice turned on? If so turn them off.

Secondly, there are essentially two ways to take damage, one is getting hit and high AC helps with that.

The other one is having to roll a saving throw, usually against spells. And some spells can't be completely avoided ever, only damage halved.

Thirdly, if your hit chance is 60%ish in act 3, you're doing something wrong.

And finally, open the combat log and look at the rolls.

My main fighter hit chance is over 80 with op ring i found that gives him auto advantage on all attcks, karlach barb hit chace is 60ish but with reckless this goes up to 80ish . The to hit part i get. If gale will shoot a Cantrip itll be around 55%

My point is.. is there any purpose of having AC 20 vs Having AC 12... ? or AC 26 vs AC 12? At which breaking point does AC actually make a difference?

You'll start to notice having better AC around 24-26. Shoot for ~27-29 if you want to feel "tanky."

Sub 24 AC in act 3 feels pretty weak unless you give them disadvantage. I mean 22AC is basically just a hasted caster with no real other bonuses to ac. Just Mage Armor, 18 dex, a 3 ac shield and haste.

[Orion Invictus]

Yes, it matters. My Paladin with an AC of 26 is basically untouchable. I could push the AC even higher, probably to 30 or more if I really tried.

[Ereius]

Originally posted by Underprivileged White Male:

Originally posted by Ereius:

My main fighter hit chance is over 80 with op ring i found that gives him auto advantage on all attcks, karlach barb hit chace is 60ish but with reckless this goes up to 80ish . The to hit part i get. If gale will shoot a Cantrip itll be around 55%

My point is.. is there any purpose of having AC 20 vs Having AC 12... ? or AC 26 vs AC 12? At which breaking point does AC actually make a difference?

You'll start to notice having better AC around 24-26. Shoot for ~27-29 if you want to feel "tanky."

Sub 24 AC in act 3 feels pretty weak unless you give them disadvantage.

Noted so what you are saying is 24+ Ac makes a diffence while Ac below this becomes irrelvant

[Underprivileged White Male]

Originally posted by Ereius:

Originally posted by Underprivileged White Male:

You'll start to notice having better AC around 24-26. Shoot for ~27-29 if you want to feel "tanky."

Sub 24 AC in act 3 feels pretty weak unless you give them disadvantage.

Noted so what you are saying is 24+ Ac makes a diffence while Ac below this becomes irrelvant

Not irreverent but you're certainly going to get hit enough to make it hard to concentrate on spells, and have a much higher risk of a bad round downing you. A 23 AC pally in melee is going to have it's conc spell broken constantly even with warcaster for example, around 26-27 it happens a LOT less.

I mean you can get AC to 35+ if you really want to. Toss on the a crit immunity helm and you just ain't going to take much damage from melee period.

[Daniel]

Disable karmic dice. The more you try to tank the more it will work against you. Enemies will benefit from it as well.

This is an option that should really be checked off by default, especially in a game that lets you min-max defense and offense to bloody levels.

But generally speaking, putting your enemies at disadvantage rolls is the most important mechanic.