Question about the Combat Triangle

[BinaryDigit09]

Melee takes extra damage from Magic. If I level up Magic a few times, then switch back to Melee, is my defense against Magic enhanced by that? Or do I only get the Magic combat enhancements if I'm actively using Magic?

[Truth_X_ile]

No, the combat system doesn't calculate damage and defense that way

Your Question in Magic: Your level in magic does help, but only helps in a way that increases your evasion rating in which their accuracy of hitting you will be lower depending on a percent amount based on how high your evasion rating is but doesn't decrease the amount of damage they deal

Other Bonuses: Only equipped items will give you the benefit of said effects of magic rating or damage reductions alike from armor or specific items that state to do so, aside from other skills bonuses that include Herblore, Summoning, Agility Prayer & Astrology

Damage & Damage Reduction: Damage is only affected by the enemies stats as they will vary between each one you face will depend on the level of the enemy which will determine how high or low it can max hit you by default, then the items/bonuses you have with Damage Reduction to reduce said damage types alike, doesn't matter which style of armor you use against any enemy, if it has damage reduction it works the same, just which ever you use will affect the evasion rating stats

Melee with Ranged Armor vs Magic Enemies: If you were using melee against magic based enemies, you can actually equip ranged gear, which will lessen the chance they can accurately hit you, then if the ranged armor is also upgraded to provide damage reductions then you'd also take less damage as well, but you also sacrifice some of those strength bonuses aka max hit bonus with your melee gear if you have them upgraded to provide it for using the ranged gear instead

Good Luck & Have Fun

[BinaryDigit09]

Thank you for such a detailed reply, you answered all my questions.

[MustangMR]

Can someone explain why when I'm in Magic mode, a melee target can hit me near 80% of the time, in Ranged mode they can hit me near 60% of the time, and in Melee mode they can barely hit me for 15%?

I am CL 124 and fighting elite mobs. In Magic mode going against any melee, I get destroyed and burn through food like crazy, but in Melee mode I destroy them. I have roughly the same level of boss and crafted gear in each mode. I don't see the combat triangle at all. Magic can't fight anything even level. What am I missing?

[Nelly]

i think most magic robes just generally have low melee defence stats, while most melee armor has strong melee defence.

[MustangMR]

Magic is just broke. Half the time I fight even level mobs, it just stops doing damage all together. It's just 'miss... miss... miss...' continuously, even with a 70%+ hit chance. Only damage I do is if the summon'd pets hit. Once it breaks, it won't start hitting again. Add to that the extra damage you take from wearing cloth and it's just not worth the effort. Have to level it up on garbage mobs or else I will die eventually. Magic needs a major look at.

[Nelly]

sounds like you ran out of runes

[DerAuer]

Originally posted by Nelly:

sounds like you ran out of runes

gave me a good giggle.
i agree. im at the beginning of the dlc and my gear right now is still the gear from the god dungeons/ finished basegame.
my combat levels are all between 105-110
magic is on the lower end of this, yet my by far strongest style. ofc it takes time to upkeep all the runes (or to make a stash once) but with all the dmg buffs/ atts reduction/ high base dmg/ ocensong proccs etc. it just outdps the rest. obviously in regards to combat triangle.

maybe you guys are using a staff? and therefore lack the dr of a shield? no diamond luck potions? idk. trying to find out where u guys lack stats in order to have magic feel weak

[MustangMR]

Originally posted by Nelly:

sounds like you ran out of runes

Nope. Fully stocked.

[MustangMR]

Originally posted by DerAuer:

Originally posted by Nelly:

sounds like you ran out of runes

gave me a good giggle.
i agree. im at the beginning of the dlc and my gear right now is still the gear from the god dungeons/ finished basegame.
my combat levels are all between 105-110
magic is on the lower end of this, yet my by far strongest style. ofc it takes time to upkeep all the runes (or to make a stash once) but with all the dmg buffs/ atts reduction/ high base dmg/ ocensong proccs etc. it just outdps the rest. obviously in regards to combat triangle.

maybe you guys are using a staff? and therefore lack the dr of a shield? no diamond luck potions? idk. trying to find out where u guys lack stats in order to have magic feel weak

Fire imbued wand, Enchanted shield. Could be better, sure, but I do have some gear pulled from the four bosses. Should not be 'missing' nonstop on an elite with a combat rating of 125. Tried switching to different types of magic as well, no change. I think this is a bug I'm running into and probably should be treated differently from the overall magic system.

I have diamond luck potions, but when I'm missing on every attack, I don't see how rolling two misses would help.

I dunno. I've read that magic is the way to go... that is not my experience.

[MustangMR]

Well, guess I have to eat one here. The 'miss miss miss...' was from not having the right item equiped for the mobs I was fighting. Didn't matter on the first mobs, but then after the slayer task reset, the new mobs needed the right item. I have a couple slayer capes but often switch out for crafting ones and didn't realize it. So that's that issue.

Still think magic needs some adjustment on defensive skills. The extra offense just doesn't help very much.

[The Winter Bud]

Originally posted by MustangMR:

Well, guess I have to eat one here. The 'miss miss miss...' was from not having the right item equipped for the mobs I was fighting.

Oh man I did this myself. Had the mirror on when I went to fight a mob. I switched builds while fighting and started missing as the switch out didn't have the mirror on. I was like "WTF? why am I missing every shot?" After a half hour of beating my head against the wall I realized it was because I didn't have the mirror equipped

[DerAuer]

i really dont know what kind of lacking defense you are talking about. the gear gives you the same dmg reduction as all the other gears, u can even just use non-magic shields without getting real negative effects.
with having access to curses and auroras you clear things faster=getlessdmg.
maybe it feels weak to you right now for some reason i am not aware of. just keep playing it will be strong.

[MustangMR]

Originally posted by DerAuer:

i really dont know what kind of lacking defense you are talking about. the gear gives you the same dmg reduction as all the other gears, u can even just use non-magic shields without getting real negative effects.
with having access to curses and auroras you clear things faster=getlessdmg.
maybe it feels weak to you right now for some reason i am not aware of. just keep playing it will be strong.

Well, my magic gear set is about the same level as my ranged and melee set. On the same mob, I can switch sets and watch the stats. On my Magic set, the %chance of the mob to hit me will rise to 80%-90% range, and the damage will often be higher than my auto-eat % will allow, even with potions, Astrology and Agility buffs, meaning they can kill me on a good hit unless I watch it nonstop. If I switch to ranged, it goes down to 40%-50% and damage falls under my auto-eat point and melee takes it all even lower. This is against some of the higher level elites, whether they're magic/ranged or melee doesn't seem to make a difference, though I suppose there is some. I expect to have to watch things on dungeons.

Usually what I experience is that I have to fight magic mobs with ranged, ranged mobs with melee, as expected, but melee mobs are best attacked with melee and sometimes ranged, and using magic against melee is a risk.

So maybe I'll find some better gear out there that will tip that balance, but any time I switch to my Magic set, I have to really watch the numbers to make sure I don't get swatted, or just switch over to my melee or ranged sets and go back to autopilot. Several times I've left the slayer tasks just run on my magic set only to come back to a death, and that's when I started looking here. And it was against the same melee mob; I hadn't finished the task. I typically don't let it just run, but watch it to make sure the switch doesn't bring in another type of mob, especially on elites.

[Nelly]

an item's defense and it's damage reduction are 2 separate stats, despite sounding similar. having a high melee defense means a melee attack will have a lower chance to hit you in the first place. it doesn't actually reduce the damage you take. evasion would probably be a better term for it. damage resistance is the stat that lowers damage. mage armor sucks for dodging melee, so i would recommend just getting a big stockpile of food for training magic as you'll use it faster due to getting hit more than with the other attack styles.