Overview
Armor benefits you by increasing Defense, Absorption, and Resistance, reducing the amount of damage you take.
Defense Penalties
Leaving an Armor slot empty will induce a Defense penalty on the character, reducing it by a multiplier. These multipliers stack together the less armor slots are filled (E.G. no Head + no Hands = 0.855x penalty).
| Slot | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Head | 0.9x |
| Chest | 0.8x |
| Hands | 0.95x |
| Legs | 0.87x |
Source:1
Absorption Diminishing Returns
Absorption is actually the inverse of what is displayed. 20% Absorption would be 0.8 inside the game data, and diminishing returns are the result of values being multiplied together. For example, with a common PvP Armor Set's Dark Absorption:
Are actually different values in data, and are multiplied together for diminishing returns:
0.943 * 0.833 * 0.955 * 0.919 = 0.6894068228
Subtract from 1 for the value of % Absorption represented in-game:
1 - 0.6894068228 = 0.3105931772
Which is our final result for:
31.05931772% Dark Absorption
Shown in-game as 31.059% (values for three Winged Knight Set pieces + Harald Legion Leggings).
If desired, the formula for the values represented in the game would thus be:
(1)Poise Diminishing Returns
Poise is affected by diminishing returns for additional items. The diminishing returns formula is as follows:
(2)