When is absorbtion applied?

first off, Yes I tried searching but I couldnt find anything about absorbtion other than the usual 1 piece of knights is global.

If there IS a thread about this, sorry I didnt find it, please post a link to it

I have a question about how the dmg reduction is applied.

Backgroud info
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While soloing ice imps farming IDS I noticed that the ice spears were doing 2dmg while I was hexed. that was with a MAJOR absorbtion rune.

So after selling a few IDS I went ahead and upgraded to a sup absorbtion rune. I was assuming that with the sup rune I should only be taking 1dmg from an ice spear.

However even WITH the superior absorbtion rune I was still taking 2 dmg.

Question
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So my question is WHEN is the absorbtion applied? Is my assumption correct?

assumption
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To me it seems its applied in this order: (base dmg - armor absorbtion) then (calculate the remaining base dmg with regards to the armor rating) then (apply the shield reduction)

I'm fairly sure the dmg reduction from the shield is applied last, because whenever I wasnt hexed I was being hit for 5dmg, and 7dmg if I was not in a stance

all the dmg absorbtion on my char:
1 piece of knights
1 superior absorbtion rune
shield -2(st) -3(hexed)

Keep in mind, Ice spear is a spell, and doesn't calculate the same as MELEE damage.

As for how abs works, you have three charr on you right, and you take three hits. Total damage is calculated, and THEN abosorption/knights armor kicks in.

Just an observance.

--The Shim

Thanks guys for answering my question. I have one more though. The Shim looks like he is saying its strictly from MELEE, and Rotten is saying a WEAPON attack. So is bow damage afftected by absorbtion?

Rune of absorption (minor, major, superior) absorbes physical damage. IE: no elemental damage, spell damage, etc. Piercing damage from arrows, slashing, crushing, etc is absorbed.

Knights/Ascalon/Shield reduction is all sources.

Hope that helps, been doing alot of research on this lately

does this apply to non-spell skills that enhance an attack? or are they considered different and are not affected? (like warrior and rangers skills that enhance damage)

that, is incorrect.
it absorbs per attack, and since 3 charr would deliver 3 seperate attacks, it will reduce each attack seperatly.
it does, however take effect after armor, which makes it slightly better.

I'm sorry I didn't clarify. Three charr attacking at the same time, mr rigid :P

MELEE is a WEAPON ATTACK, btw. That's how GW puts it.


--The Shim

Absorption works on elemental spells too, if I remember correctly. Supposedly it works on attacks that count armor.

its still 3 seperate attacks...
whether they are all attackign at the same time or not, all 3 charr will deliver a different attack. if my warrior is fighting, lets say, 15 low-level enemies, he'll be showing zeros for each one, because even though they're attacking at the same time, each delivers their own attack with their own skill level and their own damage range, and each is subjected to damage-reduction.

I was just wandering if someone else could confirm what LifeInfusion is saying. So far everyone else seems to be saying only damage from attacks and not elemental spell dmg.

Lord Iowerth is saying anything but elemental dmg is absorbed, if I understood his post right. I'm not sure if he meant JUST spells or if he meant elemental weapon mods too. A little clarification would be nice.

I think the problem is that Absorption is being lumped into a broad category ... you have Absorption from runes, and then absorption from armor(ascalon or knights)/your shield if it has a -dam modifier. These two are different.

Absorption from armor/shield works for any source of direct damage (apart from those that ignore armor, like life stealing vampiric necro spells, for example) even elemental damage. You will get the -damage from any direct-damage dealing source, even AoE's like chaos storm, fire storm, etc., direct spell damage (fireball, flare) and so on.

Absorption from your rune works only for physical damage (bow attacks, a Charr smacking you around with an axe, etc).

The only thing I am unsure about, and someone speak up if you've tested this, is that if a weapon has an elemental attack attribute (Icy bow string, Fiery dragon sword, etc) if an absorption rune will still work. So far i've only tested it against non-elemental attributed weapons. I'll do some more testing as time permits, i'm sort of wishing I hadn't salvaged my test armor last week

absorbtion does work on illusionary weaponry though.

and i may or may not be right, but i was under the impression sheilding hands reduced all forms of damage (except of course degeneration)

Also worked on snowball fights. The snowballs were clearly spells so the absorbtion runes had effect. I know because my warrior has a health mod on his shield and no -damage and an Armor mod for the swords/axes.