I just read that running lowers your defense and chance to block. Is that true? And if so, do people walk around versus running? I find running slow enough, I can’t imagine trying to trudge through Acts 3 or 5 while walking everywhere.
Yes, defense while running is ZERO. Block chance while running is 1/3rd .
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Defense is set to 0 while running, chance to block to max 25% (if you have 75% to begin with). One reason why everyone and their mother is always wearing Enigma. Then you don’t walk anymore 
There are several ways to circumvent running. I.e. when you use Charge on a Paladin, your Defense and block chance are not affected, same for Leap or Whirlwind on Barb.
And running is not really a problem if you don’t run into the middle of every mob pack.
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Bummer, thanks.
So do people hotkey walk/run and simply run around then switch to walk right before they attack a pack of mobs?
I should but dont, but as a frenzy barb without a shield ranged mobs are a real threat. When in full Frenzy just hit ‘R’ and you will still be fast anyway.
When you’re attacking in melee your not moving so your defense values are normal the only thing the 0 defense affects is if your trying to run away from enemies otherwise it doesn’t affect much
So when it comes to run vs walk, here are some basic tips.
Are you in a group, with players surrounding you?
If Yes,
Leave run on, the mob density shouldn’t be a worry as they will probably die quickly, and you need to be able to run to pick up drops competitively.
If No,
If you have any means of dashing, leaping, teleporting etc. and you have invested into certain items, uniques, skills to yield better defensive survivability, turn run off.
When I made a high survivability Sorc, she had super high defense and block chance, and teleport. There was never a moment where running was superior to teleporting near something and walking to it. This is because my defense and block chance stayed at their maximum. Anything in the room still targeting me had an extremely difficult time dealing me any damage. Any class with an Enigma could mimic a high surviability sorc build, and often times, do it better.
This isn’t to suggest that building high defense survivability into itemization preferences is ideal, especially if you’re going for clear speed and MF/Rune farming, however it’s generally understood that after clear speed, survivability is next on the list.
TLDR: Do not underestimate combining walking with other mobility boosting effects. It yields great results overall. Full armor and 75% vs 25% block while moving/teleporting is nothing to scoff at.
when i have a good amount of defence and\or block chance, I constantly switch running and walking. With some practice you can do frame perfect walks before getting attacked.
it’s one of many tactics to get hit less often and it’s very often not worth it, but sometimes it is. Remember that not getting hit is not only “not taking damage”. It’s not getting stunned, poisoned, chilled, mana burnt, not letting that Moon Lord or Thorned hulk ramp up frenzy…
My last 4 characters were all max block, one of them was also high defence, and it really is a game changer
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It is worth noting as a frenzy barb with 4k life, running past that demon archer boss in the pit with fana and enhanced damage etc will have you pummelling your full rejuv hotkey. Unless you are PKed, that is generally how we die.
As a Hardcore char, i can say its worth having that R button to the ready.
It’s just another mechanism which makes melee builds inferior to casters.
There are so many mobs in the game that you have to chase down early game… 
if only barb had a skill that made monsters come to him… if only paladin had a skill that would let him get on top of enemies really quickly and with a satisfying smack
werewolf and spear zon are the only melee fighters that have an issue with monsters kiting them.
Me too.
Also, as a simple melee without enigma, running towards a pack, I find it helps to take an indirect path, zig-then-zag if you will, or run all the way around behind them in a decreasing raduis/path… they seem to have a hard time targeting something that is not moving in a straight path, and sometimes you can circle right in behind them without getting hit, and wipe them out.
Just recently discovered Cat’s Eye amulet, that 30% to run/walk is very nice when farming areas you don’t need the extra attack bonus’s other amulets provide.
As usual, you missed the point.
Level 6 and 12 respectively.
You forget Assassins, dragon flight at 24.
Also, these skills aren’t exactly cheap and readily usable at early levels…
Yeah, now that werebear even more is useless…
yes, and?
yes, they are cheap and readily usable. Much cheaper than a most spells casters use. Did you even try? You’re “as usual” just crapping on the game without even giving it a chance.
i didn’t forget her, i didn’t mention her in the “issue” group
wearbear has this the easiest. Shockwave → everything is stunned.
For general PvM you should usually just be running unless you’re super weak. You’ll outspeed most enemies anyways and can decide whether to stop and engage or not. Walking comes into play more for PvP and Hardcore.
I am capping on the game without giving it a chance? I have only been playing it for 2 decades
My comment was about early game and you came back with Taunt and Charge as solutions…
Taunt costs 50% more mana than Leap, synergizes with only Frenzy or Battle Cry, and the debuff is utterly useless at 1 point for normal difficulty…
As for Charge, Holy Fire is the best option to leveling to hammerdin early on
I also have no idea why you are defending the idea of dropping defense down to ZERO when running as if your equipped armor just disappears but Teleport maintains full armor and block rating is perfectly reasonable…
And do what?
All true, but tell me you taunt those fallens or fetishes to come to you? (those are enemies that run from you)
Taunt has very niche use realistically maybe mumies or oblivion knights mages and in 2nd and 3 baal wave if you are really strugling? (that also mean your barb is relatively weak)
As for bear, i dont think he has the easiest, we are talking about early game, bear is painfully slow and shockwave is not until 24 lv. and early lv. shock stun is very short (considering slowness of the bear its probable that he wont be able to catch running enemy with shocwave and than land a hit).
Its nice and all to have those gimmicky skill but they are tedious to use and who would not rather smash things from afar with some aoe. (not that i want that for melee)
Letting defence count normally in running would not be game changing for melee early game rather “QoL feature”. And it would be nice help in hardcore late game.
Taunt is awful, but dont forget you have like 1000000000% FRW from frenzy, even when you press R you are fast.
I would take a no defense penalty when running to stave off teleport/enigma etc, but the shield block rate does have to be hampered in some way.
Yes with frenzy you walk. I dont even think about barbs because they dont need it really (ww also doesnt suffer from running), i mean for other melee.
Just to be clear running doesn’t reduce your defense to 0, it makes enemy attacks bypass the chance to hit formula altogether and guarantees you will get hit.
If it just reduced your defense to 0 then a level 1 Fallen would still only have a 5% chance to hit a level 99 character, but this isn’t the case and they will be guaranteed to hit you (assuming you don’t block or dodge).
As for the blocking penalty, yes it reduces your block chance by 1/3 and caps it to 25% maximum (so you can’t overstack your block chance to compensate).
What I usually do is run everywhere, when I get close to enemy melee range I start walking so that I don’t suffer the penalties.
I do the same for archers, if they run away I run after them until they turn around to shoot then I walk again. For caster enemies like skeletal mages I just run since they always hit anyways.
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