Padding precedence

[megadeth]

Looking for some opinions on armor. I've decided that double leather is the way I'm going, but the importance of padding to enchant is perplexing. I am a ranged war mage. I'm assuming that crit padding is the way to go. Do I prioritize enchantments over padding level? Looking for some bow mages to chime in if you have any opinions. I appreciate the input.

[neimanz1]

padding >enchant

mages don't have ds issues especially range mages

[BLZrizz]

After the initial 4x (around which the game is balanced), padding is the higher priority. In addition to helping with combat resolution (not just by preventing instant death criticals but by reducing overall injury severity and stun lengths, improving overall survivability), it has a host of other benefits, such as protecting from non-bolt spells, maneuver attacks, falling off a cliff, traps, etc.

Availability is going to be your greatest issue. Melee classes don't use doubles except as a transition armor, so you're not going to find many highly padded sets out there.

[megadeth]

Thanks for the input!

[wetsand]

Don't forget about 520 (adds somewhat ~5 pts) and will stack with other crit padding. So even lower tiered crit padding can easily be pushed into higher levels. Not to mention Earth attuned Mages gain another +5 pts when stunned.

[Viekn]

Also don't discount temp padded armor. As a mage, you're generally not getting hit a lot, so even temporary padding can last a very long time. With the price for temporary padded armors being significantly cheaper than permanent, you could afford to pick up 2-3 sets and have backups whenever your current set diminishes enough.

[Maerit]

You don't need major padding either because of 520. Depending on race and MjE ranks (plus lore training), you might be better served with damage padding. Especially if you're in GoS...

For example, a Halfling with 95+ ranks in MjE and GoS would be running around with a constant 20 points of padding due to Sigil of Major Protection and 520. They'd have low HP, and would be more susceptible to being killed from damage / blood loss than crit killed. Add in some ranks in Earth Lore to add even more critical padding when stunned... In this case it makes more sense to have damage padding.

If you're say a Giant wizard with only 50 ranks in MjE and in Voln or COL, then adding some Crit Padding would probably be a stronger benefit.

At least that's my opinion. At some point there would be some diminishing returns on value for additional crit padding due to the randomization.

[Whirlin]

I'd aim to enchant up to 7x, then worry about padding.

The decision doesn't actually make sense mathematically... However, I have a few counterpoints to the arguments made above:


In addition to helping with combat resolution (not just by preventing instant death criticals but by reducing overall injury severity and stun lengths, improving overall survivability), it has a host of other benefits, such as protecting from non-bolt spells, maneuver attacks, falling off a cliff, traps, etc.
While it seems logical that padded armor would protect against criticals induced from fall damage/environment/CMANs... in reality, there is an unknown correlation between padding and CMAN criticals, and seemingly no correlation between things like Major E-Wave criticals and any aspects of armor at all. I've observed an anecdotal positive correlation between Double Leathers versus Full when it comes to things like Head Butt, but the additional padding from 520 didn't seem to have any additional positive effects.


padding >enchant
mages don't have ds issues especially range mages
While leveling as a ranged warmage, you'll have DS problems when you move to a new hunting ground... I was dependent on small statues when I moved to the Aqueducts and Old City. It's not terrible, but it's not the same level of no concerns about anything ever that you'd get from being a pure. It's also dependent on bow enchant!


You don't need major padding either because of 520. Depending on race and MjE ranks (plus lore training), you might be better served with damage padding. Especially if you're in GoS...
At least that's my opinion. At some point there would be some diminishing returns on value for additional crit padding due to the randomization.
Maerit hit the nail on the head as well. Currently, it is unknown about how padding effects stack with eachother, and if it's a pure 1+1+1 = 3 simple math from GOS, Armor, and 520. Even if it was 1+1+1=3, Padding naturally has diminishing returns for values above SOMEWHAT (6 points), where the values can be randomized in some unknown way across the spectrum. Since 520 will get you up to 6 points alone at 35 ranks of MjE, that means any additional padding you add via armor is subject to randomization, so it's not always negating that full 10 critical damage.

Lastly, we also need to consider WHAT you're fighting. If you tend to fight things with heavier weapons (more common in post-60 hunting grounds), lets take a super quick look at damage factors of such weapons:
Two-Handed Sword: .5
Flail: .425
Halberd: .4

So, lets use a .4 DF as a baseline for some super quick analysis: 4x HCP versus 7x.
Base endroll of 130 against the 4x
4x: That would be a base damage of 12, resulting in a Tier 2 critical before padding. Padding would reduce to Tier 1 critical.
7x: That would be a base damage of 6, resulting in a Tier 1 critical.

So, in this example, the end critical tier is the same, but we saved ourselves 6 blood loss.

However, it is not as advantageous against low DF weapons:
.2 DF example, 200 endroll:
4x: 20 Damage, Critical Padding reduces to a either Tier 1 or Tier 2 due to randomization of padding.
7x: 17 Damage, Critical is a Tier 2

This also doesn't take into account critical randomization that occurs AFTER the padding calculation, which could result in a Tier 4 base critical tier resulting in as little as an observed Tier 2 Critical


With all of that that being said. First thing I would do is enchant yourself up a set of 7x armor for yourself, then worry about padding afterwards. If you're currently using 4x, grab some temp crit padded stuff for relatively cheap, and use that until the 7x armor is all set. If you find yourself having super awesome DS in whatever hunting grounds you're in, then consider wearing the 4x padded stuff, but if your DS is lacking, or you're not unhittable when on the ground and stunned, grab the 7x.

[time4fun]

Having recently moved from HCP to MCP, I can tell you unequivocally that padding helps with most maneuvers.

[Whirlin]

Having recently moved from HCP to MCP, I can tell you unequivocally that padding helps with most maneuvers.
I'd agree with SOME, but not ALL, and definitely not spells

[Ceyrin]

I was pretty sure crit padding worked against spells. I know for a fact damage padding does.

[Maerit]

I was pretty sure crit padding worked against spells. I know for a fact damage padding does.

It works against damage spells definitely, but spells which use SmR is something of a mystery. I can say for sure that it mitigates Spike Thorn and new Boil Earth criticals. For example, I switched to HCP full leathers and saw a noticeable difference in mitigating spike thorn. Adding 520 changes in while my warmage was hunting Shan also demonstrated significantly higher survival and mitigation to spike thorn.

With HCP against Jarls and Elders in the Bowels, I survive much better against Stone Fist and Boil Earth mechanics. My warmage is now fighting Stone Trolls and Giants, and the Giants are 8 levels higher using Boil Earth - I can definitely see the benefits of crit padding in this situation as the hits from boil earth result in rank 1 criticals most of the time.