AC vs HP (enchanter solo solutions)
 

Hello everybody,

i am sorry in advance if this subject has been discust in the past but i didn't find
a proper answer to that theoretical question about the importance of the AC stats due
to his many melee hit situation encountered by a soloing enchanter.

I had this question in mind since severals months but i didn't saw the point to write a thread just for this item :

https://wiki.project1999.com/Belt_of_Inconsistency
VS
https://wiki.project1999.com/Bone-Clasped_Girdle

The + 11 AC is worth +7 sta and +5 hp ?

But, after the chardok revamp and the apparition of this item :
https://wiki.project1999.com/Hammered_Golden_Loop

It might be the dream earing for any soloing enchanter hp wise. and IT'S NOT LORE !

My quesiton is simple, that -15 AC is relevant or not ?
How can we translate that -15 AC in hp ?
Should i buy the belt of Inconsistency to minimize the AC lost.
(Originally, i really wanted to buy the Bone-Clapsed Girdle to have the possibility to not throw 90k away if i have better in the futur, sell it. (the costs values of these item are very close)

If that AC lost is a problem, the alternatives to this earring are :
https://wiki.project1999.com/Pearly_Sarnak_Bangle
https://wiki.project1999.com/Earring_of_Blazing_Energy
https://wiki.project1999.com/Inlaid_Jade_Hoop

But we are very far away of the huge hp pool that hammered golden loop is offering.
And what i am looking for :) I am speaking about hp focus priority.
I have 3k mana and that's all i need for the moment.

Thanks in avance for your enlightenment :)

Peace.

Why

I have a 60 enc that is pretty well geared (I have about 5-6 BIS or arguably BIS items). I do not have that earring, in part because I’m unwilling to pay for something thay I will be able to farm myself someday, and in part because in my hierarchy of stats, mana and HP are almost equally important at this point. I raid on my enc, and my desire for even numbers now has me reaching to get to 4K/4K when I’m raid buffed.

In the HP vs AC analysis, I personally come down in favor of HP. Enchanters have crap mitigation, so unless your enchanter is getting many high end NToV drops, AC will have a marginal but not game-changing effect on your gameplay. On the other hand, I’ve had several instances where I stabilize with 5-10-15% HP. So, for me anyway, AC is never a concern.

Sorry to split hairs, but if higher AC means getting hit fewer times or for lower amounts then that will also mitigate your HP loss and might also let you stabilize on low HP, if you take my meaning. It's just hard to know exactly how it works with AC. HP on the other hand is extremely intuitive to understand.

I'm totally in the dark as to how exactly AC benefits a purecaster and at what increments so I don't know if AC is at all worth focusing on. But I guess that's also what the OP is asking.

If I have an extra 500hp. And a mob hits for 100. That's an extra 5 times I can get hit. If I have an extra 100AC and a mob hits for 100... well fuck I don't know at all what that means for my expected damage taken :)

Oh, I don’t disagree at all. I think that fundamentally, casters get hit for max value a lot unless you are at the upper stretches of gear (Zarza, for example, likely has a different experience). It’s also extremely hard to test because it requires a clothie getting beat on for a while.

My guess (and that’s all it is) is that max HP helps more. It also helps prevent low HP agro, which is a huge issue in raid or group environments (but is irrelevant for solo play). While AC mitigation is useful in the long run, enchanters are usually at risk in edge scenarios, and HP helps more in those scenarios IMO.

I’m really open to other arguments, but fundamentally there aren’t many gear paths that result in high AC for enchanters.

Baylan is right, unless you are raid gearing the enchanter you will never be able to prioritize ac in a way that is more meaningful then hp

This is great, but anecdotal evidence. If I understand you correctly you would need a very high amount of AC (or, perhaps, to break through a cap of some sorts) in order to actually gain anything meaningful as a purecaster?

But would anyone happen to know of hard facts as to how AC contributes exactly to avoidance and dmg mitigation for purecasters? :)

You're going to get 3-4 different opinions on this topic and it's going to be trumped by the fact that It really doesnt matter. It wont be long before Alleriah chimes in saying an enchanter can solo aow with a glamour rod and bone caster robe

OP, if you're managing to solo meaningful stuff with 3k mana and wanna focus on hp or ac then by all means do it because it's working for you. Enchanter is a skill based class and it's just a moot point.
I think a balance of HP / Mana and to a lower degree AC is good.

Interesting. Thanks you all for sharing your opinions.

In resume, we can't see the difference if we dont have a large amount of AC. In total.
Well, it's a good point. I have a solo stuff so i guess that the earing or the belt won't change anything and it might be better to focus on hp pool.

About the 3k mana thing, i precised " for the moment ". I solo Sebilis and Velk mostly.
The harder target i killed it's the epic target and it's more based on wand of allure reflexes than take hit and keep going on.

Well, i will farm these earings, finish my solo stuff et see the results with that hp pool.

To Eberron’s point, better gear on an enchanter just widens the margin for error. It doesn’t make the impossible possible.

Absolutely 100% agree with this. On consecutive charm breaks where you don't even have time to re-rune yourself - having more HP definitely helps. It will not make the impossible possible, and conversely an enchanter with glamour rod and bonecaster's can certainly do any content a raid geared enchanter can.