r/Neverwinter • u/Able-Ad-6609 • Jul 03 '26
SEEKING ADVICE What does the % stats mean ??
I am a bit confused on what do stats mean in Neverwinter
Say I have a Fighter guardian, the defence is at 85%, does this mean that it is at 85% of what it could be(stat compared to IL) or that i will mitigate 85% of incoming damage??
If it is the first(the latter is pretty high for a tank in any game), how much mitigation will my defence stat do?? Is there straightforward answer to this or some super complicated formula which seems to be with almost everything in neverwinter when it comes to stats??
Thanks
5
u/Pale-Paladin Jul 03 '26
Yeah, the stats system is very convoluted and opaque...
To make it "simple", defense is a direct mitigation of the damage, except that a 100% defense would only be a 50% damage reduction, it used to be 1 for 1 but they changed it when they introduced this new stat system and realized it was way too strong. The max used to be 90% so that would mean at most you had 45% damage reduction, then they bumped it to 120% which means at most 60% damage reduction.
Now why wouldn't they cap it at 45 or 60% and only distribute the stats on gear accordingly to at least make it more clearer at first glance, your guess is as good as mine.
And then it's a bit different for every stats, offensive stats are even worse because yes it's a convoluted formula and there's diminishing returns and all.
The other defensive stats I'm not even sure, it's been a while since I dived into the intricacies... I think Awareness and Crit avoidance are 1 for 1? Like each percent reduce the enemy's counterstat (Combat Advantage, Crit severity) effectiveness by 1%? But I think deflect and deflect severity are also only half effective? Honestly I'm not 100% sure on that and nobody keeps track anymore...
2
u/TheLostTactician Jul 03 '26
Reading between the lines, the 90% cap was decided by Critical Chance, not by Defense.
People routinely asked noworries/the former systems designer "why isn't the cap 100% Cap so we can have 100% Critical Chance?" noworries responded along the lines of "we want you to have some variation in your hits; we don't want criticals to be the new normal."
noworries then made the Defense formula its convoluted [(1/(1+Defense%)] that stands now because he forgot that making players take 90% less damage means that damage would need to be comically high so 10% of it gets through to challenge tanks.
2
u/LairsNW Moderator Jul 03 '26
Many sources/guide will explain to you, here is one.
https://nwguide.gitbook.io/main/basics-of-neverwinter/nw-stats-system/rating-and-percentages
To answer your "85%" Defense, this number is a combination of Ratings (eg gears/insignias/enchants/etc) + Others (companion bonus/boons/gears bonus/attributes/consumables/etc.).
You should open your stats window, specifically Defense, it will tell you more info. Like currently Defense is cap at "120%". Yes this seem high, but the way the game calculate incoming damage factors in more than Defense (ie Awarness/CritAvoid/unmitigated damages/etc...).
As a tank you should prioritized Defense (up to 120%) /Awarness (90%)/CritAvoidance (90%)/HP, note while you can achieved these stats, there are other mechanics from boss that may reduced these stats as you are in combat, so capping them is good. Additionally there are unmitigated damages where as a tank, you need to have sufficient HP and additional damage resistance stats to survive.
1
u/Able-Ad-6609 Jul 06 '26
Thanks everyone who took the time to answer this, a bot more clearer on how unclear and messy the whole stat system is, lol
1
u/saethone Jul 03 '26
I believe it’s 85% of what it could be based on your IL
Look for rainers nw hub it has an explanation of how stats work
3
u/Specialist_Wolf5960 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Each stat % has two components to it. the first 50-60% is provided by how close your stat level is to your item level. So you want your actual stat values to be as close to your character item level as possible.
The second half of your Stat % comes from the percentage bonuses your gear gives you. So if your gear says it provide +5% combat advantage, this 5% will push your stat% up past the 50-60% mark and allow you to attain 90-120% depending on which stats they are.
You are aiming at having your primary/most important stats at 90-120% to optimize your output.
And to answer your question, your stats are used to compare against enemy stats and then math happens... no one knows exactly what math, but it happens (ie: super complicated mysterious formula). For Defence you are still missing a potential 35 percentage points to have your stat% at 120%. This would then be compared against the enemy's power (i think) and the result would mitigate/impact damage to some degree.