Energy shield mechanics

[Striker]

I've been reading Tommi's (excellent) guide to damage modifications and 2 questions popped up:

1. Why does the formula for mana loss contain a multiplier of 2? That is, why is everything calculated and then multiplied by 2? Is it something that I missed?

2. In regards to vulpine items, is the mana that is gained calculated from the unmodified damage, or is it calculated after all modifications (including ES) have been accounted for?

2. a. In theory, is it possible to have 100% or more in terms of damage taken goes to mana? If the vulpine calculation is done on the unmodified damage (and I suspect it isn't), could you generate mana by being hit?

Thanks in advance

[AtomicKitKat]

Hail Striker,

1: Energy Shield converts X% of hp damage(or rather, the "raw" damage you would suffer due to getting hit by anything) into mana damage, but at the rate of 2 MP per HP converted. So if you took 100 damage and your ES absorbed 50% of it, you would still lose 50 HP and 100 MP. I believe slvl 20 is only 65%, so if you're trying to get 75% of the damage converted to ES, you would need a lot of +skill items(and suffer 25 hp damage and 150 mp damage)

2: I forget whether damage/magic damage reduction(whether flat sums or %ages) is calculated before or after ES. I'm pretty sure Vulpine only works on what HP you actually lose.

3: Vulpine items only go from 7-12%, and, according to Arreat Summit, can only appear on orbs, staves, amulets, and shields(for a maximum of 36% damage converted to mana(you still take the full 100%, after damage reduction, but your mana increases by 36% of that modified value) If I recall correctly though, I've seen the Vulpine affix on belts, gloves and boots... Hitpower Belt provides a "Vulpine" type bonus of 5-10% also. Speaking of belts, Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth(Mesh Belt) confers 37% Vulpinity(good luck getting that) Naj's Light Plate(Hellforge Plate) confers 45% Vulpinity. Hwannin's Blessing(Belt) is low level, and confers 12% as well. Aldur's Advance(Battle Boots) confers 10%.

Amulet 12%
Orb 12%
Shield 12%
Belt 37%
Body 45%
Boots 10%
Total 128%

I believe that's the lot. Theoretically, there may be more parts in the "Classic" sets, but that's just a rough outline.

[Odd]

nightsmoke has 50% IIRC

[WarBlade]

Yep, Nightsmoke is the big one at 50%. Another easy 10% source is Ancient's Pledge and a certain Barbarian practically gives that away. ;)

2: I forget whether damage/magic damage reduction(whether flat sums or %ages) is calculated before or after ES. I'm pretty sure Vulpine only works on what HP you actually lose.

Yes, the 'Vulpine' part of the formula is applied after Energy Shield has had it's wicked way with the incoming damage. Only at the lowest levels can ES mana drops be off-set by Damage Taken goes to Mana.

[ldw]

Howltusk helm 35%
Ith rune 15%

[Striker]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm curious as to how this works because of the Chain Light/Blizz/Meteor sorc that I've been playing off and on. She actually has Tal's belt (found by another char of mine :) ) but she is just a smidge too low of a level to use it right now.

With the mana sinkhole that is CL, and considering I get hit more often than I would like *cough*, I'll just leave ES at 1 and let some +skills boost it from there. Maybe with some more vulpine items, I'll get a slight boost in the mana recovery. I'll see how it goes.