Why Phalanx Big Deal?

[Xodia]

I Have a ? About Phalanx And Stoneskin....Why Is Phalanx always SUCH a big deal when stoneskin takes it all to 0 and it doesnt?? am i missing somehing? plz lemme know wassup

[lionx]

Stoneskin to my knowledge is just something that gives you a psuedo HP bar where the stoneskin will absorb a fixed ammount of dmg based on your Enhancing skill. However i believe that Phalanx raises your DEF really high that your Stoneskin will take minimal ammounts of dmg so that your stoneskin lasts really long on non-IT mobs. Correct me if i am wrong.

[Apple Pie]

Stoneskin will be broken after it absorbs certain amount of damage but Phalanx helps it lasts longer depending on mob's strength.

Especially when farming EP or weaker mobs for money, Phalanx makes a difference. You really don't need Stoneskin that requires you of longer recasting time if you have Phalanx.

[magnius]

When you are fighting Easy prey and lower that are doing 15 damage or so phalanx can sometimes lower that 15 to 0. 15 damage doesn't sound like that much but eventually it adds up and you will have to heal, so it really does help and is worth the money.

Also like Apple Pie said, it will make your stoneskin last longer. I'm not exactly sure if this is right and have not been able to test this formula but I'm going to use it as an example anyway.

For stoneskin:
F1: ([Enhancing Magic Skill] / 3) + MND when X < 100
F2: {([Enhancing Magic Skill] / 3) + MND} * 2 - 60 when X = 100 - 150
F3: {([Enhancing Magic Skill] / 3) + MND} * 3 - 190 when X > 150

"X" is calculated by

X = ([Enhancing Magic Skill] / 3) + MND + 20

Ok so say you have 200 enhancing magic skill and 80 mnd, stoneskin will absorb 250 dmg. so if something is hitting you for say...25 dmg a hit, youll last 10 hits before it breaks through.

Now this phalanx formula is from Apple Pie so I really don't doubt it at all.
[Your Enhancing Magic Skill] / 7.5 - 10

So if you have the same enhancing magic skill as I used above you will be taking 16 less dmg per hit. That lowers the dmg you take to 9 and because you take less dmg, your stoneskin will now absorb 27 hits before it breaks.

Now I know this might have been a little long and confusing but I'm just trying to prove my point which is that Phalanx is defenitly worth the 100k or so that it costs. Also its 2 AM right now so forgive any math errors. :sweat:

[Xodia]

ok i get it... thanks ALOT!!! Weee ok... very helpful!

[little ninja]

an yet the phalanx rings give you +20 def. but dont do jack crap when you get hit by any mob. worthwhile or it, kinda bogus how the spell works in relations with the rings. same name, is suppose to do the same thing, but never does.

[ifandbut]

The way I see it is phalanx is just another form of dammage buffering like protect and your natrital deffence.
I have attached a drawning I did that trys to illistrate my idea.
Basicly, a mobs attach has to go through several layers before hit actualy hits you. At each layer a certin amount of power is taken away from it. Stoneskin is unique because instead of lasting a cetrian ammount of time it absorves dammage till it's "buffer" is full....then any dammage recived afterword us passed directly to your HP bar.


p.s. Pleas forgive the....crappyness of this drawing. It was done in 10 min useing MSPaint and I have no drawing skill past that of stick figures.

[Apple Pie]

I'm sure Phalanx is the spell that makes any attackers with one-handed weapons cry in Ballista.

Whatever ubber weapons they have such as Craken Club, Joyeuse and Ridill, they aren't able to hurt us very much and they hurt themselves by our -spikes spells on the contrary. When both Phalanx and Stoneskin are up, they only do 0 damage on us for a while.

Have a look at the picture showing the average damage taken in Ballista. This tiny taru RDM took the lowest damage. You can easily imagine how long it takes them to break my Stoneskin while they're blinded, often paralyzed, slowed and sometimes stunned by my enfeebling spells and Shockspikes

[magnius]

Lol thats awesome, now I want to see when you put up a Genbus shield, defending ring, jelly ring and Cheviot cape and see how much damage you take.

[little ninja]

speaking from my days as a drk. i could remember fighting a mob with 2 sniper rings on, getting hit hard, then putting on 2 phalnax rings an seeing around the same amount of damage. the numbers were not the same, but they were close. like a 1-9 diff.

so whats that all mean, if some do not know sniper rings have a negetive 10 def. so thats -20 def i was fighting with. now switching to the phalnax rings +10 def. that would give me +20 total. now add the -20 i get back, an i basically bumped my def up by +40. you would think the damage number id take would decrease alot more. but it doesnt.

[Apple Pie]

I think it depends on mobs you're fighting with.

When you fight with TW mobs, you defence is often capped against their attack and you may not be able to see the difference between -20 DEF and +20 DEF.

However, when you fight with DC or stronger mobs, you'll notice the difference in the long run when you compare the average damage after taking hundreds of samples.

40 points of defence is equal to what Protect III offers. We can't let PLDs tank without it in XP PT, can we?