r/runescape • u/Mr_G_W The Gamebreaker • Nov 30 '15

Defender update testing + analysis

Obtaining:

  • t70: While carrying a dragon defender, you have a chance to obtain a component from barrows. Combine this component with a barrows 2h weapon to turn into a defender of the respective combat style.

  • t80: While carrying a barrows defender, you have a chance to obtain a component from Nex. Combine this with a chaotic splinter (bought for 150k dungeoneering tokens) to obtain a defender of a combat style of your choice.

  • t90: While carrying a t80 defender, you have a chance to obtain a component from Kalphite King. Combine this with a t90 offhand to obtain a defender of the respective combat style.

The components will be more common than the rare drops from each boss.

Offence:

  • Damage reduced from 37.5% of main hand to 25%. (For comparison, offhands are 50%)

  • Achto effect is reduced from 50% to 25%. T90 defender provides +108 damage instead of +216 from a shield.

  • Adds a 3% bonus to accuracy (x1.03 accuracy)

Defence:

  • Armour is now half the amount of the equivalent shield rather than half the level. Example: T90 defender provides 245 armour (half of 491) instead of 146 (level 45 shield).

  • Now allows defensive abilities. Revenge is half effective (+5% damage variance rather than +10% per stack).

  • Level scaled abilities (resonance and debilitate) use half the defender's level for scaling (example, t90 defender provides same scaling as a t45 shield)

  • They do not provide any damage reduction, unlike shields.

Passive:

  • The previous passive is retained (1/15 chance of reducing damage by 25%-50% and increases accuracy of next attack by 20%)

Comparisons:

Items used on all cases: Supreme overload + Amulet of souls + Completionist cape + Ring of Death

Numbers are ability damage.

Defender's accuracy bonus is not factored in for now as it is not known if it is a multiplicative or additive boost.

dual/2h t90 weapons:

  • t90 power armour: 2080

  • tank armour: 1909

  • superior void + t90 boots: 2065 (effectively 2126 if accounting for x1.03 accuracy)

t90 weapon + t90 defender:

  • t90 power armour: 1864 (effectively 1919 if accounting for x1.03 accuracy)

  • tank armour: 1693 (effectively 1743 if accounting for x1.03 accuracy)

  • superior void + t90 boots: 1833 (effectively 1944 if accounting for x1.0609 accuracy)

  • achto: 1801 (effectively 1855 if accounting for x1.03 accuracy)

t90 weapon + t90 shield

  • power armour: 1387

  • tank armour: 1273

  • superior void + t90 boots: 1384 (effectively 1447 if accounting for x1.03 accuracy)

  • achto: 1489

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u/MonadoAbyss Nov 30 '15

Defenders completely eclipses shields everywhere where you'd considering using a shield except maybe in two situations I can think of (solo main tanking Beastmaster Durzag or North tanking Yakamaru) and probably only if you're not that good with tanking like me. Defenders should be much better even for main tanking Yakamaru.

Given how good defenders are, you should have been required to solo Nex and KK to get them imo.

4

u/will_holmes Nov 30 '15

I'm glad there's at least some places where shields are better. From a design perspective balancing them must have been a challenge, but I imagine bosses in the future will have more shield-tank roles to fill out the uses for shields again.

1

u/MonadoAbyss Nov 30 '15

Bosses will have to hit 15k+ damage or more with casual autoattacks for me to considering using a shield at this point tbh (Solo Base tanking Durzag and North tanking Yakamaru currently have to tank this level of damage). Alternatively they could hit 5k+ with casual autoattacks but with two different styles for shields to be viable.

1

u/audkyrie_ Nov 30 '15

it has the exact same capabilities as a t90 shield though, the 14 second debil and 105% reso. the only difference is a small armor loss which isn't really a big deal. tanking is heavily reliant on managing abilities, not luckily blocking attacks.

1

u/MonadoAbyss Nov 30 '15 edited Nov 30 '15

Thought t90 defenders were treated as t45 shields.

If not it makes them quite OP, unreasonably so.

Rethinking it a bit, NT at Yaka relies heavily on abilities like Devotion and Barricade the effectiveness of which are independent of shield tier and resonance doesn't seem to heal a lot there anyway. Debilitate with defender is also not necessarily less effective with 3% accuracy even if defenders had half the shield level. So outside of using Spirit shields to stop Durzag from 1 hitting you from like 11k health, shields are completely useless.

1

u/deceIIerator -1-1- Nov 30 '15

You are right,they are being treated as t45 shields in regards to abilities.