AV or DV?

[GrooveCrusader]

Been struggling to find some solid answers on this but which of the two is good to focus on in whatever stage of the game? High AV armor tends to carry a very harsh DV penalty to it until you can somewhat mod it away which obviously encourages one to focus on one value. So what is generally the "ideal" way in terms of progression? does it vary with every build? I heard focusing on AV early game is something thats fine to do but DV is something to focus on during the late game?

[I blame Earthshaker]

AV is usually more important early game, DV somewhat better towards the end when a player has more than 12 HP. But shouldn't really skimp on either...

[Dr.Desty Nova]

Short answer, you should ideally have high value of both.

If you skip on either one you will you will end up getting bully by stuff that can bypass whichever value you focused on.

The idea that AV is more important early game is misleading, both are important in any stage of the game. But as you can get high dv value from the start people ended up saying that you should focus on AV first.

[The Grand Mugwump]

Having an attack penetrate through armor (or the lack thereof) is much more dangerous than getting hit. However, AV's value decreases the more of it you get, since having more of it doesn't help reduce damage further if it is already high enough to prevent penetration.

I think one guide recommended that 1 AV is worth 3 DV (when comparing armor stats) until your total AV is greater than 6. Then it is 1 AV is worth 2 or so DV. The main drawback to focusing solely on DV is that everything will always have at least a 5% chance to hit.

[glass zebra]

You heard (simplified) correct: AV early game and for new players, DV late game or when you know the game better

As the game progresses, there are more and more things with special effects or attacks that don't just do normal physical penetration combat (e.g. elemental damage). You want to dodge those. DV is also a lot more luck based and that makes it pretty bad in early game (very low hp) and especially for new players (who don't know how to save themselves quickly).

When you get more used to the game, you can make DV builds in early game too, but then you likely would not need to ask this question. You can ignore DV entirely as a new player (but keep in mind that that is a oversimplification that you should not accept forever) and use all those very heavy armors and mostly ignore enemy hits. When you meet the first special attack enemies, you might want to kill those in ranged instead, since even with DV you are never 100% safe. When you meet more, you might want to start trying out DV.

[Haavik]

Try to balance them. They're both good.

As you level and increase your Agility, your DV will be higher.

you'll see that you might have like let's say (1 AV) and (11 DV). That's all fine and good but you want to hit a nice balance. Like let's say (5 AV) (6 DV).

Of course it depends on the build you're going for but that's the general rule of thumb I go for and it tends to work.

Hope that helps.

[uHu]

DV is only good, when it's very high and you also have enough HP.
Then it can potentially be stronger than high AV.

High AV is always good. And higher AV is always better.
Also low AV is absolutely dangerous, since enemies with high armor penetration get multiple hit rolls, when you can't dodge them.
It's the same for your attacks. With a high PV (penetration value) you will do a lot more damage on low AV targets.

[Pizzarugi]

I stack AV. You can stack it infinitely thanks to Neutron Flux and Wild Rice so you can quickly reach a point where you're invulnerable to all except elemental and vibro attacks which is a small percentage of enemies. You kinda need precognition though since you always run the risk of dying each time you eat.

Once you've boosted your AV high enough this way, you could then use DV equipment to have the best of both worlds! The main advantage of DV is that it's the only defense that can technically let you avoid damage from explosive projectiles such as rockets, special moves that could instantly kill you such as a Lithofex gaze, and elemental attacks that AV can't mitigate.

The reason I choose AV is that the examples for things DV is good at can be easily managed and makes it less necessary. With explosive projectiles, you use cover to close the gap until you can kill whatever is using that weapon. Lithofex gaze is a telegraphed move now (thank goodness) and can easily be dodged by just sidestepping out of the projected path of the beam. Elemental attacks can be mitigated with elemental resistances and it is possible to reach 100% with effort. Meanwhile, almost everything else is physical damage which AV soaks up easily.