How much survivability is enough?

Now this question is somewhat subjective, because adding more survivability is comfortable even well after one hits a certain criteria. The criteria for reaching ‘enough survivability’ for this guide is measured via two scenarios:

1. Surviving Peak damages dealt in one hit. Tank Busters count into that category. The mod 27 hardest hitting tank buster is the ‘Disintegration Blade’ from Captain Zoor'lar in the Master version of Defense of the Moodancer (MDoM). It hits with 6m-8m crit (non-deflectable, non-fixed base dmg) damage so strong that the default setup for MDoM contains a pally shielder to conveniently tank the trial.

2. The constant damage from bosses like from ‘Halbryn Darkstalker’ in Temple of the Spider. (As a reference, the base damage from Halbryn Darkstalker’s Shocking Execution is 2 223 007 fixed damage)

In general, if one can survive MDoM without too much struggle, then both scenarios can be well handled. Thus the criteria for reaching ‘enough survivability’ is set to surviving the Disintegration Blade.

Disintegration Blade

The Disintegration Blade is assumed here to deal 7 500 000 base damage which is then calculated with Captain Zoor'lar’s offensive stats against the tanks defensive stats. Deflect and Deflect Severity do not play a role here, because the Disintegration Blade cannot be deflected. A tank without any defensive stats would thus eat:

7 500 000 * 1.9 (CA) * 1.9 (Crit) = 27 075 000 damage!

The Disintegration Blade comes directly after a stun attack before, but the main damage is still part of the Disintegration Balde, thus the MEHP metric is the right choice to take. It is practical that the MEHP already describes the maximum survivability in form of base damage. That means that if the tank has a MEHP of over 7 500 000, then it is guaranteed to survive the hit. The usual vanguard build for MDoM caps all three main Defense stats (Defense, Awareness, Critical Avoidance), but it is possible to survive with less and a good pally healer. Let’s take a look at three different scenarios where the tank takes the Disintegration Blade:

The ideal

Having

• 90k IL with capped stats and 1 500 000 Hit Points.

• using ‘Dig In’ with full Stamina

• using 'Second Wind' (+20% Hitpoints)

• using ‘Iron Warrior‘ decreasing incoming damage by 20%, using a tank Combat Enchantment (-10% incoming damage) and using 'Lich' (-7.5% incoming damage, companion equipment power)

• with a barrier from Paladin Healer worth of 750 000 Hit Points

Then the Minimal Effective HP is calculated by:

$MEHP =(1~500~000~HP + 300~000~Second~Wind+ 750~000 ~Barrier+ 1~080~000~Dig~ In)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1.9 (Defense)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1~(Combat~Advantage_{Enemy} - Awareness)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1~(Critical~Severity_{Enemy}-Critical~Avoidance)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1/(0.8*0.9*0.925)~(Mitigation)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\thickapprox 10~350~000> 7~500~000$

This is more than sufficient! You can easily drop Second Wind without dying.

The struggling

Having

• 90k IL with 80% Defense, 80% Awareness, 80% Critical Avoidance and 1 500 000 Hit Points.

• using ‘Dig In’ with 50% Stamina

• using ‘Iron Warrior‘, using a tank Combat Enchantment and using 'Lich'

• with a barrier from a strong Paladin Healer worth of 1 000 000 Hit Points

• using Swarm to escape the stun and to reduce the damage from 7 500 000 to 6 375 000

Then the Minimal Effective HP is calculated by:

$MEHP =(1~500~000~HP+ 1~000~000 ~Barrier+ 450~000~Dig~ In)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1.8 (Defense)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1.1~(Combat~Advantage_{Enemy} - Awareness)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1.1~(Critical~Severity_{Enemy}-Critical~Avoidance)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1/(0.8*0.9*0.925)~(Mitigation)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\thickapprox 6~590~000 > 6~375~000$

This is just sufficient! Good that Captain Zoor'lar didn't rolled a higher base damage!

The messed up

Having

• 90k IL with 90% Defense, 75% Awareness, 80% Critical Avoidance

• stunned (or flying ...) and no 'Dig In'

• using a tank Combat Enchantment, using Combat Balance (with stats for -7.5% incoming damage) and using 'Lich'

• with a barrier from a strong Paladin Healer worth of 1 000 000 Hit Points

Then the Minimal Effective HP is calculated by:

$MEHP =(1~500~000~HP + 1~000~000 ~Barrier)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1.9 (Defense)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1.15~(Combat~Advantage_{Enemy} - Awareness)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1.1~(Critical~Severity_{Enemy}-Critical~Avoidance)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1/(0.9*0.925*0.925)~(Mitigation)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\thickapprox 4~880~000 > 7~500~000$

Good Bye!

Constant damage + Shocking Execution

MToS is quite old already so fighting Halbryn Darkstalker isn't as challenging as before anymore. But since I have the data, here are two examples at different stats:

Great 70k IL

With 70k IL, great stats and good use of the Fighters tools, the Shocking Execution will just take the Guard’s bar without dealing much damage.

(70k IL, 1 075 000 HP, 90% Def, 90% Awareness, 90% Critical Avoidance, Iron Warrior, Dig In, Lich, Combat Enchantment)

$MEHP =(1~075~000~HP + 645~000 ~Dig~In)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1.9 (Defense)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1~(Combat~Advantage_{Enemy} - Awareness)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1~(Critical~Severity_{Enemy}-Critical~Avoidance)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1/(0.8*0.9*0.925)~(Mitigation)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\thickapprox 4~880~000 > 2~223~007$

This is more than sufficient to survive! Easy!

Struggling 90k IL

With 90k IL, okish stats, but no Awareness of the situation (forgot to block) and no Paladin healer to babysit, the Shocking Execution may oneshot!

(90k IL, 1 400 000 HP, 80% Def, 65% Awareness, 70% Critical Avoidance, Combat Balance, Lich, Combat Enchantment - forgot Dig In and Iron Warrior)

$MEHP =(1~075~000~HP)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1.8 (Defense)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1.25~(Combat~Advantage_{Enemy} - Awareness)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~1.2~(Critical~Severity_{Enemy}-Critical~Avoidance)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~1/(0.925*0.9*0.925)~(Mitigation)\\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\thickapprox 2~180~000 < 2~223~007$

This is not sufficient! One shot incoming!