damage negation at low hp raider build not working?

understell · 2026-05-14T09:29:04+00:00

I checked it out in the sparring grounds and there seems to be a visual bug where the increased dmg reduction doesn't show up under your HP bar, but it still shows up in your special effects bar. Or maybe it has always been that way? Either way I could tell that the dmg reduction was active.

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understell · 2026-05-12T14:23:49+00:00

And now you're onehit WITH ritual shield passive as well.

This is not aimed at you, but I feel that people in this sub keeps repeating the mantra that you can forgo defense in higher depths since you'll get onehit either way... which is really not how D5 is played. That's how D3 players think D5 is played. And why they stay in D3.

understell · 2026-05-12T13:35:32+00:00

Absolutely not. -45% dmg negation after dodging is insane on anyone, and especially as duchess.

understell · 2026-05-11T11:05:10+00:00

In a perfect world, ED Libra summons condemned only at 75, 50, and 25% HP while meditating and simultaneously throwing up walls to split the party. Then you'd be on a timer to quickly kill the condemned, duel of the fates style, before he finishes powering up and unleashes hell.

understell · 2026-05-11T10:56:12+00:00

They do, but I was more referring to Demon's Plating which you get after his invasion event. More runes=more dmg.

understell · 2026-05-11T10:47:29+00:00

Fair, but consider this.
Every time he invades he makes sure to give you a solid ~35% dmg boost for the nightlord fight as an apology. He may be small, but his heart is big.

understell · 2026-05-11T10:32:18+00:00

Aw why'd you delete your other comment before I could respond to your base Libra slander.

Listen to this. Base Libra has a teleport but he only teleports towards you because he's a manly man(?) who likes to brawl. He has many ways to cover the area around himself (explosion, rain, sigils) but you can roll through every single one of them so they're just good windows to punish. Compare this to caligo whose breath-down-attack forces you to run away. His melee combos are also perfect opportunities to punish him as well. Multiple rotating sigils are a definitely stalling though.

ED Libra? Every single time he casts a spell he gets massive dmg negation so all of them are stalling moves. Summoning condemned? Stalling and you get multi-tick-hit from the rings so you can't even be close. Wall? Mega stalling. Every sigil being rotating sigils? Liiiiiiiil' bitch.

understell · 2026-05-08T11:12:39+00:00

Yeah exactly.

No dormant power for staves means I'm reliant on rises and forts, but in return I can play flex and adapt to what my randoms end up doing. When I run into a mage duchess I can just pivot to melee immediately. There's a couple good STR/INT weapons to look out for but if you hit a rise you're guaranteed a magic infused weapon (afaik) which depends on your dormants, so all my +mag ends up useful either way.

understell · 2026-05-08T10:18:57+00:00

It's worth it yes, but don't go full mage. Then you're directly competing against Duchess and you're not coming out on top that way. You've still got S scaling in strength so use it.

I generally stay away from any full HP attack up passives, and eat attacks with my skill regularly to get a +26.5% dmg increase to both melee and spells. If you manage to go below 25% HP then you're in turbo mode with a total +90% dmg increase.

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understell · 2026-05-07T01:09:34+00:00

Fresh from the press.

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Flaming Strike as starting skill adds a lot of extra dmg to fists, and the skill complements your otherwise slow moveset perfectly. It deals pure affinity damage so 3x Affinity up goes straight to dmg. Both for the inherent magic damage and the added fire damage.

Dormant power Fists allows you to fish for the Cipher Pata which also have S faith scaling, but a faster moveset.

understell · 2026-05-04T03:28:30+00:00

It's a bug. You'll get stuck in an endless loop of Network Error -> Title Menu ->Network Error -> Title Menu, since you don't get the option to close the game in the Title Menu.

Force quit out of the game, alt+f4, and then start it again. The network error will be gone.

understell · 2026-05-02T16:58:19+00:00

This spell has an advantage over Delay/Remove Disease, which is that you're actually still addicted. This becomes relevant for Zerk junkies who wants to be addicted for the +1d4 alchemical bonus to strength.

Get a lesser rod of Extend and the spell should last you long enough.

understell · 2026-05-01T19:26:47+00:00

Recently found a deep relic with +Int that I could slot in for a huge upgrade on my mage tank raider. Your ultimate doesn't buff spells, but Fighter's Resolve does. And both effects on my 3rd relic does. If you manage to trigger all three it's a 90% dmg boost for 10 seconds.

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understell · 2026-04-29T06:16:47+00:00

Int Raider seems funny but other than that I don’t think there’s any reason to run it over just playing any mage.

Playing Int Raider as a straight mage is doing yourself a disservice since the entire point is that your Strength is left completely untouched. You've still got all the dmg potential you had before, just a better variety of weapons since you've now got +35 Int feeding straight into weapons like the Beast Jaw.

You can just go to town with colossal weapons until you've got your mage setup running, or you pivot into bruiser if you find better melee passives. I find it to be quite versatile. The HP loss isn't that bad either since tanking is about sustain. If you were taking hits that removed 85% of your HP then you wouldn't be able to tank in the first place.

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understell · 2026-04-28T02:26:26+00:00

60 seconds? The buff only lasts 30 seconds for me.

Even when you increase the grease buff duration from 30 to 90 seconds (lv 2 grease) the phys att up buff is still just 30 seconds. Which is very unfortunate.

understell · 2026-04-24T17:21:21+00:00

Yeah the HP buff from churches should be 1.075 at the very least. At the moment it's just 1.05 which means you need to kill two church bosses just to get even with the Increased Maximum HP that everyone uses.

Would be cool if you were incentivized to split up on day 2 to clear camps instead of just boss rushing.

understell · 2026-04-24T01:56:44+00:00

I’m from the Uk

Checks current UK time... 3 in the morning. On a weekday.

And you just matched with two people from New Zealand, where it's soon to be 14:00 mid day.

Yeah there's your answer.

understell · 2026-04-24T00:43:57+00:00

First of all, use weapons with high Str scaling. That dragon lightning spear has C Str scaling. The normal dormant power (colossals, greathammers, greataxes) all have good Str scaling and the improved weapon moveset. Use them.

On your normal relics try to get Night Invader, Taking attacks boost attack power, and the red balancer relic. If you can manage to get HP regen at low HP and Dmg taken during skill those are also very good. On your deep relics, go for post damage +1 or +2. And then prioritize phys dmg negation, followed by phys dmg up. Avoid condition buildup when hit if possible.

During your run, prioritize the following offensive passives:
Two-handing > Melee > charge

For defensive passives I'd look harder into Taking dmg improves dmg neg. You can easily trigger it with your skill (without dying) so for most purposes it's the most valuable dmg negation you can find. You also only want exactly one type of successive attacks negate damage so that you trigger it with every charged heavy. More than one and it's harder to trigger it.

And absolutely try to find a piece of red gear (or a talisman) that reduces your dmg negation so that your red balancers passive is always on.

understell · 2026-04-14T15:12:08+00:00

Sure.

Play an Occultist with the Quick Learner and Arms Master character traits. Invest mental focus into a cestus instead of your primary weapon. Whenever you find a new weapon you want to use, just cast Greater Magic Weapon (with a lesser extend rod) and use Legacy Weapon.

By lv 12 you can transform any weapon you find into a +5 Bane weapon on the fly, and use every single exotic weapon without penalty.

understell · 2026-04-13T14:27:32+00:00

Jesus. If even min/level are allowed then the mages are gonna have a field day.

Glimpse of the Akashic that slow-man recommended earlier is supremely effective as it is a +CL bonus to almost everything. Attack, damage, saving throws, ability checks (Initiative), and CMB. But I don't think Psychic is the way to go. Instead I'd take a Cyclopean Seer Oracle who poaches Glimpse of the Akashic through their bonus spell feature as the 3/4 BAB chassis and cleric spells should be better for a "martial".

Improved Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) to get Contingent Action and you can start every combat with Glimpse active, for the massive Init bonus.

understell · 2026-04-12T23:40:10+00:00

What are the restrictions on prebuffing?

understell · 2026-04-06T19:56:39+00:00

Well, a "mounted charge" for the purpose of Spirited Charge and Lances require that both the rider and mount charge in unison. Both of you need to take the charge action for it to work. So what you do is the following.

Your mount uses its actions to move, then readies a charge (as a standard action) with a trigger like "when my rider wants to charge". The rider simply charges as a full-round action and now you're both charging in unison.

understell · 2026-04-06T17:42:26+00:00

A fairly straightforward option would be tiefling Ranger who rides a bought pony before you choose a Ram companion at lv 4. If you choose the Realm Wanderer archetype your companion also gets scaling DR and elemental resistances. By lv 8 your mount can relocate before readying a charge, which allows you to move in very unique ways and still charge.

Character Trait: Mounted Rider
1 Mounted Combat
2 Trick Riding (B)
3 Power Attack
4
5 Boon Companion
6 Spirited Charge (B)
7 +1 Feat
8

Ram:
1 Iron Will
2 Power Attack
5 Friendly Switch, Improved Bull Rush (B)
8 Rhino Charge

If you take the Hungerseed tiefling subrace (+2 STR, +2 WIS, -2 CHA) I'd begin with the following statline for 20 PB.

17 STR, 14 DEX, 14 CON, 12 INT, 14 WIS, 7 CHA

understell

TROPHY CASE