12-16-2003, 11:13 AM
Another way of looking at the to-hit formula is to rearrange it with a target figure in mind. Assuming attacker_lvl and defender_lvl are equal, you get:
attacker_AR = defender_DR x chance to hit / (1 - chance to hit)
Without level 20 Inner Sight, defender_DR is going to be 615 higher. We can use this figure to find out how much extra attacker_AR is needed to maintain our required level of chance to hit. Finally, assuming we make it up using level 20 Blessed Aim, we can divide by 360% to arrive at the base AR that this implies.
defender_AR: 615
chance to hit: 75% 80% 90% 95%
attacker_AR: 1845 2460 5535 11685
base AR: 512.5 683.3 1537.5 3245.8
What does this show? Well, if you're gunning for a 75% to hit, Inner Sight's 615 monster defence reduction is equivalent to Blessed Aim's 360% bonus on top of a base AR of 512.5 which is reasonably achievable whilst at 95% to hit, Blessed Aim needs a base AR of 3245.8 to match Inner Sight, a bit steep.
There's only one character class that's going to get close to a base AR over 3000, of course, since this is equivalent to a dexterity of 757 (AR = 4 x Dex - 28) and that's an amazon. Which is where it gets interesting since the amazon can do a similar comparison between Inner Sight and Penetrate. Level 20 Penetrate is nowhere near as good as level 20 Blessed Aim when compared against Inner Sight: a 225% AR bonus needs a base AR of 820 to beat Inner Sight on a 75% chance to hit which ain't going to happen.
This sort of suggests that a 1.10 dexazon should pump Inner Sight rather than Penetrate and could then afford to go with a Might merc. So Rogue or Blessed Aim? Neither!
I haven't even mentioned the percentage defence reductions of Conviction, Battle Cry or Cloak of Shadows so this analysis isn't restricted solely to amazons.
attacker_AR = defender_DR x chance to hit / (1 - chance to hit)
Without level 20 Inner Sight, defender_DR is going to be 615 higher. We can use this figure to find out how much extra attacker_AR is needed to maintain our required level of chance to hit. Finally, assuming we make it up using level 20 Blessed Aim, we can divide by 360% to arrive at the base AR that this implies.
defender_AR: 615
chance to hit: 75% 80% 90% 95%
attacker_AR: 1845 2460 5535 11685
base AR: 512.5 683.3 1537.5 3245.8
What does this show? Well, if you're gunning for a 75% to hit, Inner Sight's 615 monster defence reduction is equivalent to Blessed Aim's 360% bonus on top of a base AR of 512.5 which is reasonably achievable whilst at 95% to hit, Blessed Aim needs a base AR of 3245.8 to match Inner Sight, a bit steep.
There's only one character class that's going to get close to a base AR over 3000, of course, since this is equivalent to a dexterity of 757 (AR = 4 x Dex - 28) and that's an amazon. Which is where it gets interesting since the amazon can do a similar comparison between Inner Sight and Penetrate. Level 20 Penetrate is nowhere near as good as level 20 Blessed Aim when compared against Inner Sight: a 225% AR bonus needs a base AR of 820 to beat Inner Sight on a 75% chance to hit which ain't going to happen.
This sort of suggests that a 1.10 dexazon should pump Inner Sight rather than Penetrate and could then afford to go with a Might merc. So Rogue or Blessed Aim? Neither!
I haven't even mentioned the percentage defence reductions of Conviction, Battle Cry or Cloak of Shadows so this analysis isn't restricted solely to amazons.