Is Assassin's Mark Worth It?

[snugginz]

I suppose the title might as well be 'When does Assassin's Mark actually make a difference?' As far as I can tell from looking at the GD Wiki, none of the bosses even have Physical Resistance. Pretty sure none of the regular mobs have it. Does Assassin's Mark actually strip armor? I have it assigned to my main attack Forcewave but I'm thinking about losing it for something else. I'm a level 34 Commando with a little pierce damage but not much, and mostly physical. I'm playing hardcore. Thanks.

BTW, great game. Wish I'd found it sooner :)

[FlamingX21]

if you are physical build then it's mandatory.

EDIT: you might want Dire Bear too.

[Raziel]

It can bring enemies to negative resistance value (which of course increases your damage output).

[snugginz]

Originally posted by FlamingX21:

if you are physical build then it's mandatory.

EDIT: you might want Dire Bear too.

Thanks for your response.

So which mobs actually have physical resistance? BC I've never seen it on gear or seen any mention of any bosses having it. Is it some kind of hidden stat?

Also, Dire Bear looks good except I'm worried about the '40% of damage converted to health' is this the same as life leach which most bosses are immune to? And does it lower my DPS?

[snugginz]

Originally posted by Raziel:

It can bring enemies to negative resistance value (which of course increases your damage output).

Oh that's interesting. OK now it sounds promising.

[wilky]

The interesting thing about the Assassin's Blade proc is that (at max level) it reduces the target's Physical Resistance by -32%. The percent sign % is important. This does stack with the flat RR resistance that you might get from, for example, a skill like War Cry.

For example, I'm playing a heavy Soldier/physical damage build right now, and here is my devotion setup which is really nasty. Almost all of these constellations contribute toward +dmg except for maybe Scales which is just one of my favorite self-heal devotions. The main ones are like Assassin's Blade, Stag, Dire Bear, Kraken, Hammer, Ulzaad, Oleron... all pretty strong.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GdeK6V

[snugginz]

Originally posted by wilky:

The interesting thing about the Assassin's Blade proc is that (at max level) it reduces the target's Physical Resistance by -32%. The percent sign % is important. This does stack with the flat RR resistance that you might get from, for example, a skill like War Cry.

For example, I'm playing a heavy Soldier/physical damage build right now, and here is my devotion setup which is really nasty. Almost all of these constellations contribute toward +dmg except for maybe Scales which is just one of my favorite self-heal devotions. The main ones are like Assassin's Blade, Stag, Dire Bear, Kraken, Hammer, Ulzaad, Oleron... all pretty strong.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GdeK6V

Sorry what did you mean by 'flat RR resistance' from War Cry? Reduction to enemy's health, or reduced target damage? -Physical resistance stacks with these?

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

there are 3 types of RR
-% (minus symbol is important - we call it stackable) ex Assassin's Mark
%reduced (no minus symbol) ex Viper or ultos devotion
n'th reduced (we call it flat) ex Break morale or Manticore

you can get and stack as many -%RR from different sources as you want, you only get one %reduced and one N'th reduced, highest applies, they stack along with -%

this means if you have -32% RR from AM, and 30 flat RR from Break Morale, you apply 62RR to your target, regardless of how much or little phys res they have, ie boss phys res might go into negative and you deal compoundingly increased dmg from it

stackable RR and a flat RR is almost always worth it, because +%dmg boosts drop off in effectiveness and RR quickly becomes your biggest source of dmg increase

PS, plenty of bosses have phys res, they usually just don't have much of it since they also reduce your phys dmg via their armour

[snugginz]

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

there are 3 types of RR
-% (minus symbol is important - we call it stackable) ex Assassin's Mark
%reduced (no minus symbol) ex Viper or ultos devotion
n'th reduced (we call it flat) ex Break morale or Manticore

you can get and stack as many -%RR from different sources as you want, you only get one %reduced and one N'th reduced, highest applies, they stack along with -%

this means if you have -32% RR from AM, and 30 flat RR from Break Morale, you apply 62RR to your target, regardless of how much or little phys res they have, ie boss phys res might go into negative and you deal compoundingly increased dmg from it

stackable RR and a flat RR is almost always worth it, because +%dmg boosts drop off in effectiveness and RR quickly becomes your biggest source of dmg increase

PS, plenty of bosses have phys res, they usually just don't have much of it since they also reduce your phys dmg via their armour

Nice explanation thanks. That explains a lot.

[wilky]

Originally posted by snugginz:

Originally posted by wilky:

The interesting thing about the Assassin's Blade proc is that (at max level) it reduces the target's Physical Resistance by -32%. The percent sign % is important. This does stack with the flat RR resistance that you might get from, for example, a skill like War Cry.

For example, I'm playing a heavy Soldier/physical damage build right now, and here is my devotion setup which is really nasty. Almost all of these constellations contribute toward +dmg except for maybe Scales which is just one of my favorite self-heal devotions. The main ones are like Assassin's Blade, Stag, Dire Bear, Kraken, Hammer, Ulzaad, Oleron... all pretty strong.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GdeK6V

Sorry what did you mean by 'flat RR resistance' from War Cry? Reduction to enemy's health, or reduced target damage? -Physical resistance stacks with these?

Ah, I must've meant the Break Morale modifier on War Cry, then.


The important thing to remember about flat resist reduction(RR) is that it does not stack; only the highest modifier is applied to the enemy. So for instance on my character, if I tried to use both Agonizing Flames + Break Morale, it is my understanding that they would not stack and only the higher of the two would be applied.

[snugginz]

Originally posted by wilky:

Originally posted by snugginz:

Sorry what did you mean by 'flat RR resistance' from War Cry? Reduction to enemy's health, or reduced target damage? -Physical resistance stacks with these?

Ah, I must've meant the Break Morale modifier on War Cry, then.


The important thing to remember about flat resist reduction(RR) is that it does not stack; only the highest modifier is applied to the enemy. So for instance on my character, if I tried to use both Agonizing Flames + Break Morale, it is my understanding that they would not stack and only the higher of the two would be applied.

OK that's good to know when planning synergies between skills. Thanks for the tip.

[mikeydsc]

This page will list the damage type and resistance to counteract it
https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Damage_Types

Check out the quick guide crate made for some good info
https://www.grimdawn.com/guide/

[snugginz]

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

This page will list the damage type and resistance to counteract it
https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Damage_Types

Check out the quick guide crate made for some good info
https://www.grimdawn.com/guide/

Thanks for the links. It helps to plan resistances.

[mikeydsc]

Originally posted by snugginz:

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

This page will list the damage type and resistance to counteract it
https://grimdawn.fandom.com/wiki/Damage_Types

Check out the quick guide crate made for some good info
https://www.grimdawn.com/guide/

Thanks for the links. It helps to plan resistances.

In Crates guide, it also explains order of operations such as where in the math does conversions happen, when does overcaps come into play and tons more.

Also look at how crits are calculated and did you know there are 5 levels of crits in this game? Check it out how the math works.

[snugginz]

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

Originally posted by snugginz:

Thanks for the links. It helps to plan resistances.

In Crates guide, it also explains order of operations such as where in the math does conversions happen, when does overcaps come into play and tons more.

Also look at how crits are calculated and did you know there are 5 levels of crits in this game? Check it out how the math works.

Wow still a lot more to learn. Thanks for the tips I'll read the guide.
I am playing hardcore so it's likely in my best interest ;-)