Esoteric, Resists, Armor and Barb

Barbarian
1

Hello, Barbs!
I need ur help with understanding weight of stats for Barbs with Esoteric gem.
Few builds (IK HotA for example) use this legendary gem as third gem for good portion of elemental defense.
As we can see from description of Esoteric gem, we gain up to 60% non-phis DR. It means we want phis res as secondary stat at our items (helm, gloves, rings, amulet).
But what should we pick on such slots as belt or legs? We have 2 ways here:

  1. All res + life per kill
  2. Armor + phis resist

As i can see from my character items, max all res at non-ancient item is 100, in the same time max single res (as secondary stat) is 160 = same +60% as Esoteric.
But if we choose Armor + phis res we also can get some overall DR from Armor for free.
So, is Armor+Phis res better for Esoteric users, since we have all resist boost from this gem?
P.S.: sorry for my bad English =)

2

So, if you took the approach “Esoteric + Phys resist everywhere”, you’d end up with around 2958 Phys resist, and 648 of other resists.

You’d have about 89.42% DR vs Phys, and 64.92% DR vs other elements. Esoteric would remove 60% of the remaining damage from non-Phys, bringing you to 85.97% reduction. Below 50% life, your non-Phys resists would be increased by 75%, to 1134, and you’d end up with a total DR vs non-Phys of 90.57%.

So, in this situation, using Esoteric means you are roughly as tough vs non-Phys as you are vs Phys, even though you have 4.5 times as much Phys resist.

On the other hand, if we took some AllRes instead, in those places we often take it (Boots, Pants, Belt, Shoulders), we would have 2638 Phys resist (88.29% DR) and 1168 of other resists (76.94% DR). Esoteric would bring our non-Phys DR to 90.78%, and 94.15% when below half life.

So by taking the AllRes, we’re losing about 10% DR vs Phys, but gaining about 34% DR vs other elements.

As for taking Armor on gear, that won’t give the best returns, since we already get a point of Armor from every point of Str. So for me, for instance (about 3500 paragon), picking up Armor where I would normally have AllRes only adds about 4.4% DR.

The bottom line is: either “Esoteric + AllRes where you can get it” or “Esoteric + Phys resist everywhere” will work well. But, generally speaking, I would just stick with the AllRes in those spots where you usually take it, since you can still stack quite a lot of Phys resist, while having so much DR vs non-Phys that you don’t have to worry very much about dying from elite affixes or elemental RG attacks.

3 Likes
3

So, seems no point to use Armor+Phis res at all, only all resist for barbs.
I have collected few good ancient items with Armor+Phis res, now its all gonna be salvaged =(
Anyway, thx for such a nice and quick answer, Rage! As always =)

4

Hold on, don’t salvage! (writing more)

Just to be clear, I’m saying both approaches are good. If you’ve got great gear that fits into the “Esoteric + tons of Phys resist” plan, but only OK gear with AllRes, then stick with the Phys resist gear.

If you want me to look at comparisons of specific gear pieces, just give me a D3planner link or some imgur pictures.

1 Like
5

Probably builds with Stone Gauntlets can get even more profit from these Armor + Phis res items.
No, i dont have Great items with Armor+Phis res, just few good. Ill try to find some right ancients with all res, Diablo 3 is a long run anyway =)
Btw, seems D3Planner doesnt work correctly after merc-patch. I cant load my characters at maxroll.gg planner - error, even if i see my character list.