Do You Know How Energy Shield ACTUALLY Works? Diablo 2 Resurrected D2R Ladder Season 2

[@MacroBioBoi]

Consider subscribing to the channel! We're SOOO CLOSE to 10k subscribers! Thanks and I hope you enjoy the video!

[@phil-l]

Best breakdown ever, wow! IMO the magic absorb not working like magic reduce SHOULD be considered a bug

[@dmac303]

Amazing video. These guides are so detailed I'm always blown away.

[@shaylinjames2729]

I always love the technical side of diablo 2 and Mac is always my go to for current up to date tech. Love the videos

[@MacroBioBoi]

Thx fam! Hope I can continue to serve that purpose.

[@Nostfarato]

Great video, this is spot on what challenges the necro has. I loved that you pointed out, that there are way 2 many minion affixes, than we can fit on to our gear, and still survive.

[@JJ-mp1zt]

This is the best description of the functionality of energy shield I have found so far! Tyvm!

[@CodyOwnedU]

awesome explanation of ES when i was looking into this awhile back, i scoured google for like a few hours just to get this info, that you neatly and fully present. great vid edit: for immortal or big es nova/orb/firewall/hydra, prayer merc with insight gives synergy so you heal like 50(idk exact) hp per second. which is HUGE when your total like 700ish.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yeah it ends up being 50 every 2 seconds. I personally am not impressed by it, but you're going to need insight regardless. And thank you!

[@WingZeroType]

This was awesome to see. Man I love your breakdowns, I'm so glad that I found your channel

[@MacroBioBoi]

Thx fam, glad I can help.

[@honeybadger036]

I read that difficulty penalty increases the poison length, but it never clicked that it would multiply with the negative poison res penalty. Aside from the desire to be "immortal", energy shield is still super OP with respect to the fact that it negates the the difficulty penalty for resistance. One could almost say that energy shield becomes more powerful as game difficulty increases.

[@CGAR_420]

Yes with max telekinesis for 75% mana consumed per damage, that's basically 25% resist EVERYTHING (except poison)

[@honeybadger036]

@@CGAR_420 Nah nah, You missing the point pal. Resistance is ignored when taking damage with Energy shield. Let me try give a better explanation. Normal difficulty, with no resist penalty, resist is 0% and you take 100% of the damage, for example 1000 damage. Hell Difficulty, with -100% resist penalty, resist is -100% and you take 200% of the damage, for example that same 1000 damage is now 2000 damage. But because energy shield takes the damage before resist is calculated, even in hell difficulty you still only take the 1000 damage instead of the 2000 damage up to the % of the damage the energy shield absorbs. If it absorbs 75% then you only take 750 damage (75% of 1000) and then the remaining 250 gets doubled to 500.

[@CGAR_420]

@@honeybadger036 you just said what I said, with a wall of text added

[@withnofiller]

Solid breakdown, and I appreciate that you explain the "why" in a coherent way. You just don't see that enough! Also, your channel helped me when I was researching my recent D2 maps video, I gave you a shout out. I look forward to seeing more of your great work! Cheers!

[@MacroBioBoi]

Ayo thx fam. I really like your content.

[@mapron1]

Also would be great 'damage taken goes to mana' in this list :D It always felt like 'absorbish thingy' for me, though I clearly understand it's not.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yeah it just isn't that type of stat. It just regains some mana based on damage taken.

[@mapron1]

@@MacroBioBoi I know, but some people may wish to see it it this video too. You know, damage, regen :) Great job anyway, not complaining even a little bit

[@aztraeuz5560]

For anyone curious as it wasn't included in the video. Damage Taken Goes to Mana only works on damage to Life. You can follow all of the calculations in the video and when he finally gets to actual Life damage taken, take your % of damage to Mana, and that's how much Mana you will get back.

[@CodyOwnedU]

in short: dmg taken goes to mana is bad on ES sorc...

[@mapron1]

@@CodyOwnedU no, you're wrong. It's not bad, it just pointless. It does not hurt at all if it exist, you just don't need to max this stat.

[@SupraSayianOfficial]

I've gotten a lot of flack for applying resistances on my sorcs build videos and I always just refer those noobs to this video it helps me save time on comments LOL! Thank you for this video I wish most players understood these mechanics. Honestly, it's as easy as just hitting the blood moor and testing this out vs a players LOL. Awesome video I always link this video to most ES sorcs, the uninformed ones 😉

[@osobaum]

Thanks Mac! Really needed this.

[@noknownthrone2487]

Dude, best D2 content creator alive!!

[@MacroBioBoi]

I really appreciate that! Glad I can make this stuff for people who appreciate it.

[@heidevolk_le_gueux]

Awesome guide as always But now, could you please show us what is the ultimate end game immortal energy shield build ? :o

[@MacroBioBoi]

I really don't like the build but I could showcase it.

[@heidevolk_le_gueux]

@@MacroBioBoi Well, is the build you show really the best end-game energy shield build?

[@MacroBioBoi]

@@heidevolk_le_gueux it's an energy shield Nova build but it can always be optimized to what your primarily farming.

[@Gregski3]

​@MacroBioBoi would you put all your points into mana, life or 50/50?

[@Square_One]

cure helm on merc helps a lot with the blood mana curse and poison length

[@bobnewkirk7003]

great showcase of ES. The Mana Blood curse is the single worst part of running ES, if I weren't running bliz as my damage choice I don't think I could run Baal. An interesting addendum to this discussion would be minimal investment in ES to get the DR benefit of splitting up your incoming damage. I'm running a 16 tk 1 es max bliz build with a Memory pre-buff and full investment into Energy, But I'm starting to wonder if a mostly max Vit (for a balanced HP/Mana split) with a Prayer Insight merc might offer all the benefit without the issue of Blood Mana. Edit: I should also say that while unconventional to run Bliz/ES it has allowed me to farm far harder areas (TZs) at a gear and pace that would likely get a vit sorc killed so I'm really liking it this season.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Interesting. Do you think you run into survivability issues as blizzard Sorc?

[@bobnewkirk7003]

@@MacroBioBoi The Terror Zones offer some interesting challenges, especially when it rolls WSK or CS. I still don't have a CTA and my pacing is pretty Yolo so I can get into and (almost always) out of some pretty sticky situations leaning on the effective DR from ES. I had assumed I would be pushing into TZs early for S2 so it was part of my initial strategy, so I haven't tried on a Vit build yet, but for me that at 19 points of total extra investment has been well worth it.

[@D2RGGBuilds]

3 piece tals ( armor socketed with a sol, Amulet , belt) along with griffons socketed with a sol will give you 14 physical and tals armor will give you 15 magic, so if you can get your energy shield to absorb 86% you will not take any damage to your health pool. It's an op farmer for most locations, she struggles with Baal, the "harpee" types that cast blood mana in worldstone and nelathak's temple. But in cows, choas, pits, forgotten tower, and arcane she is the fastest farmer. You can use Nova or use a weaker lightning/ chain lighting after you max telekinesis and get enough into energy shield ( around 16 base with lighting skillers, dual sojs, occy/hoto, spirit, griffons, three piece tals). You'll have around 2600-2800 mana after battle orders and be an absolute tank

[@D2RGGBuilds]

I love your logical approach and the diligent research you put into your videos. Gg man, I appreciate the work you put in for all of us d2 junkies

[@greggen63]

Great description and detail as always, thank you!

[@MacroBioBoi]

My pleasure!

[@bigdongstudios4882]

This is one of the best mechanical breakdowns I've ever watched for a game. Do you think you could do one on block?

[@TopSecretGG]

i'm currently running a Nova shield build, i mean Energy Frost Nova, ah anyway now, great breakdown, as usual!

[@countervirus8644]

you are AMAZING on what you do!!! how are you only at 16k subs ??? ty for all the info you put into this

[@nolitamacht1189]

I to play diablo 2 when it came our like a lot. I wanted to play ressurecttion casually now but I was kind of thrown off when I found out that you can not really plan a build since you don't know which items you are going to find. I used to love the energy shield, but it requires an insane amount of mana plus refresh rate which you don't get from warmth and energy

[@PedrovoriskAB]

Lol, I had that question in my mind.. and just saw that video you posted 1 day ago. thank u !!

[@phil-l]

Man, I realize I never understood how poison dmg works

[@MacroBioBoi]

I wrote a whole guide on it on Maxroll if you want to read it

[@tns6862]

@@MacroBioBoi Pls VOD it, i cant bring myself to sit through The Tao of Poison in written format

[@TheAmazingBendini]

Incredible, love this! Do you personally prefer self wielding infinity and having prayer + meditation merc, or infinity merc with genke's?

[@pawnmove]

Very good explanation - thanks!

[@MacroBioBoi]

Np!

[@BryantHH]

I want Macro for the first official Diablo 2 University! Everyone: How much in depth can you go on D2? Macro: Yes!

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yes

[@Haliernik]

Best Energy shield video out there. 👌

[@Smakenzi]

Hi, great vid! A quick question: is there something like a "death hit check" regarding absorb? and when does it happen.. I find conflicting info on the internet

[@MacroBioBoi]

Can you expand on your question?

[@Dartlin]

Professor Mac is back!

[@freedomfighter8883]

So energy shield damage absorb isn't influence by resistances correct? Those stats only come into play with the remaining damage leftover after energy shield finishes absorbing?

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yes

[@ThePhotovoltaicMan]

GREAT breakdown thank you Macro! Question: What affect would running a defiance merc do to this calculation? Would running a defiance merc do anything for you to reduce dammage or does that not really help and running a might merc is better, for example...

[@MacroBioBoi]

Defiance gives you defense which decreases the chances that a monsters attack will successfully hit.

[@ThePhotovoltaicMan]

@@MacroBioBoi right, i get that, having a high def makes it less likely that youll be hit, but does that happen before the ES calcuation?

[@MacroBioBoi]

@@ThePhotovoltaicMan you don't take damage from an attack until a monster successfully hits you.

[@LittleRadicalThinker]

The damage formula in D2 is absolutely insanely crazy.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yep

[@smalps-gaming]

This was great 👍🏼

[@TheHolyApple009]

Here is a question I have been struggling to find the answer to and thought you would be the one to know: Can a sorc orb (like dimensional shard) roll with all of the following on the same magic item: +3 fire skills, 20fcr, and 3 soc? I am not super knowledgeable on prefixes/suffixes so I am not sure if this combination of rolls is possible (or any variation of the 3). I would love to get your input or a link explaining this in detail. Thanks!

[@MacroBioBoi]

Not on a magic item, no. Sockets and +skills are both prefixes and fcr is a suffix. You could have 3 staffmods that are all fire skills, but not the affix +3 to fire skills.

[@TheHolyApple009]

@@MacroBioBoi Thank you so much for answering my burning question (pun intended)! I appreciate it

[@Dawit49]

Watched this live. Love it. Buuuuuut imagine you say spirit spirit lore and here is where you at. That would grab the masses :)

[@MacroBioBoi]

What is spirit lore?

[@kennydingeldein7767]

Thank you for the good explanation. I wonder if with 1k life, 3k mana, 35 points in telekinesis and ES and 75 all ress I still need to play with storm shield or gerke in HC (max Block)? Without Spirit it is so hard to get to the 105% fcr and 60-86 fhr.

[@MacroBioBoi]

I'd argue that max block is the strongest defense for HC, but your setup seems fine.

[@abigailellis3207]

Is there a cap to the total amount of flat DR and/or MDR you can have before it's not supporting. Like DR% has a cap of 50%, right? Does DR and MDR have any caps like that, or the more the better to mitigate any damage out there?

[@MacroBioBoi]

They don't have caps

[@AndyGamezoldschool]

It's always funny when you hear the immortal Sorc die in baal's Throne.

[@Dawnarow]

Just wondering if youve tested this in d2r... Can you absorb a portion of "tick damage" the poison does with flat DR? It felt like it did. I may be wrong, but... I only had flat DR (a good amount) and got poisoned and my life didn't seem to move. I didn't look much into it, but I thought I would mention it since you seem to deep dive into every nook and cranny you can find (for us) ^___^ thank you!

[@MacroBioBoi]

Flat DR will stop the first Tick of poison damage if an incoming attack carries physical and poison damage and your DR exceeds the incoming physical damage.

[@blakeshutt4310]

Yay he did the video!

[@MacroBioBoi]

:D

[@blakeshutt4310]

I loved this breakdown, would like to see further detail on how partial es (max telekinesis only) works and how best to split stats between life and mana. At any rate great video, thanks!

[@110jmartin011]

what is the magic number to have %damage goes to mana = damage taken to mana pool (via e-shield, assuming level 20 telekinesis )

[@523duncanjones]

if you absorb an attack and gain life, will % damage to mana go negative?

[@WingZeroType]

Quick question - how does this interact with damage taken goes to mana, like you'd find on Tal's belt?

[@MacroBioBoi]

The final physical damage number you actually take, a percentage of that is gained as mana and you still take the damage.

[@WingZeroType]

@@MacroBioBoi ah ok thank you! so it ends up being a little extra mana gain that gets worse the higher your energy shield is (since you'd be taking less physical damage). I appreciate the quick response!

[@pikip1ki]

I watched this because was looking information how did i die with full mana, when all hits was taken from life instead mana? Does curse overwrite ES ? I been playing diablo series since. 1999 but cant remember how this all works, been playing poe for many years. Nice video tho :)

[@MacroBioBoi]

Curses don't overwrite Energy Shield, unless it's the blood curse from Baal or Succubi. That uses life instead of Mana for casting spells while it's on you.

[@pikip1ki]

@@MacroBioBoi I really had to check my stream why i died, and guess what.. I forgot to cast ES or i maybe have pressed wrong button and didnt notice it because i was tired. All i can blame is myself for that silly death.

[@notmyrealID]

the thing that stops me from trying it out, are the enemies in hell that somehow melee manaburn all my mana. But thanks for making this vid

[@LethalShadow]

Was that not the bug he mentioned was fixed?

[@notmyrealID]

@@LethalShadow yeah, wrote the comment before he mentioned it.

[@CodyOwnedU]

big mana pool + insight. i 99d with zero worries on ES max build (not full immortal) i will say, 100% recommend ES + armor spell as soon as you spawn cuz you mught accidentally skip when you cta buff (sometimes bugs out and doesnr cast) and sometimes mobs spawn on wp and instadead

[@notmyrealID]

@@CodyOwnedU ah nice, so the manaburn mobs are safe to tank as well?

[@notmyrealID]

@@CodyOwnedU or are they all removed?

[@RedGallardo]

I dunno if Bliz changed much in the last 20 years but Energy Shield was OP in D1 but total shit in D2. I remember whenever I tried to cast it, a few hits by monsters would drain ALL my mana and I became a piece of meat waiting to be killed. Because without mana I cannot attack, I cannot teleport, I become a lvl 1 Sorc who can run around and punch relying on base hp. So it's even worse than not having the ES because I STILL rely on hp but at least I can TP and attack. Better invest in MP regen (Warmth?) and put points into vit. Yes, the point-to-MP is way higher than point-to-HP for Sorc, but as i said, I faced more problems than solutions with ES. Maybe it's different in D2R. My subjective feeling was I take 500% damage to mana. So I cannot see why people love the skill. I'd rather just TP and avoid all damage. Cover with merc when needed.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yeah you needed to max the telekinesis skill to reduce the mana damage you take.

[@RedGallardo]

@@MacroBioBoi By 25% max. I did it. It sucked. I don't know if it's a glitch or some mechanics I didn't consider. But I remember over the years I played D2 on and off I tried like 3 times. And every time I was terribly disappointed. Even if I had infinite skill points it would be worse. But investing 20 of 100 points into useless telekinesis is pure shit. You get 3 more skills left like that. And that's 1 element. And 1 element Sorc is garbage anyway. I play with PlugY and I set skillpoints per level to 3, feels more balanced\fun to me. I could max all 3 elements. And I still never used ES. Literally anything else is better than losing all MP in 1 sec.

[@MacroBioBoi]

@@RedGallardo no sorry. Energy shield starts at nearly 200% damage to Mana and after maxing telekinesis it reduces to 75% damage to Mana. Also I'm sorry, but did you say you have 3x the skill points you normally would have? Then I'm doubly confused. You might want to read a build guide that uses Energy Shield because I think you're doing something fundamentally wrong.

[@RedGallardo]

@@MacroBioBoi Oh! I see, 200% to 75%. Nah, I played vanilla long time ago. But I switched to PlugY and it allows you to change the ini file and have different skill points and stats per level. I don't like the original D2 system. It's not hard, it's just boring. Can't wear anything, can't have all the skills you want... And I surely would never go back to the vanilla stash, that sucked ass. 3x4 storage for 1 unique armor? No thanks, I have 400 pages filled and need more. I like my collection. =)

[@ncasasola]

That's why Sandstorm Treks are good for Nova Sorc

[@AnhNguyen-hn9vj]

I use the cheapest way antipoison potion.

[@angelofbliss]

so defense doesnt apply until all that has been done, or is def checked b4 shield ?

[@MacroBioBoi]

Defense determines if a monster's attack has hit you. Then the game calculates damage.

[@dustofhell]

I saw the Video now 2 Times but i missed damage reduction in % when this scaled?

[@MacroBioBoi]

Damage reduction % is in the same step as your other resistances.

[@niklasfrisell5714]

What about FHR on es sorcs? I've heard fhr on applies if you lose 12%or more life on a hit so fhr isn't as neccessary on an es sorc.

[@MacroBioBoi]

There are attacks that put you into hit recovery without doing a lot of damage so it's still worth it imo.

[@niklasfrisell5714]

@@MacroBioBoi would like a video where you go through them all 😀👍

[@JoeBizzle]

Nobody covers "Damage taken goes to mana" stat.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Because it doesn't reduce incoming damage. It generates a percentage of the final damage taken as mana.

[@JoeBizzle]

@MacroBioBoi I'm imagining a build with maxed telekinesis but low ES and high %damage goes to mana. Would it function more like absorbs do? Where the damage is done, then restored to mana pool? Because the problem I see is having a 95% mana shield that destroys the mana pool instantly.

[@MacroBioBoi]

@@JoeBizzle It doesn't reduce incoming damage. It would help to generate mana to then act as a Shield for your, but you would just be better served by more of the damage being offset by the Energy Shield in the first place.

[@claudiahelmer4706]

D2R Energy shield doesn't stop after all the mana is gone!

[@jamesworkshop9181]

wait Hell reduces poison length like poison length increase

[@MacroBioBoi]

Yep

[@jamesworkshop9181]

@@MacroBioBoi better hold on to a venom ward then

[@sonofgud]

Very nice video, but you should def not have been rounding down. 75% of 11 is 8.25 which would be 2.75 then with 15% fire absorb you get another 0.4 points taken off and have 2.35. But because you’re rounding down you end up with 1 fire damage. The actual damage you take is 135% higher than your calculations. That is a huge error margin, just because we are rounding down. You should at least have chosen to round up, because then the numbers would be much closer to the actual values.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Thanks for the compliment.

[@minhthinhhuynhle9103]

10:54 so confused...

[@MacroBioBoi]

Which part?

[@attractivegd9531]

PS: the music was too loud a depressing

[@MacroBioBoi]

Which music. During the video or the intro/outro

[@attractivegd9531]

@@MacroBioBoi DUring the video, might be just me but I found it too loud and overwhelming, thanks for the informative video btw.

[@lorenzomonje5219]

Wow that was really complicated

[@MacroBioBoi]

Sure is

[@douglaspintor]

so hard to stack all these defenses and still actually deal damage. unless you use cold mastery lel

[@aburr1537]

WTF when did you break down energy shield

[@MacroBioBoi]

About this long ago

[@Heavysmoker123]

A well built 95 es sorc Is nothing to play with

[@KaldonWK]

Hmm you learn somthing new everyday. Didn’t know baal casts blood to mana.

[@MacroBioBoi]

Very rarely comes up except for low level Sorcs and energy shield Sorcs.

[@konomikohara7413]

This game's mechanics are so freaking ridiculous lol🤣 feels like a university course

[@johnpetrie9975]

Please learn how to youtube, Get that glare out of your glasses

[@MacroBioBoi]

Please learn how anti-glare works, what you just said doesn't exist.

[@drolak2158]

Guy reads wiki, guy prepares a video based on wiki. Guy never credits wiki. Type videos

[@MacroBioBoi]

I literally create wikis with credit to wikis. What're you talking about?

[@leejordan001]

@@MacroBioBoi dont even waste a word for it Macro... LOL!

[@CodyOwnedU]

i will say the info Mac is providing is great because it's hard to find clear, accurate information on this. there are many people and vids confidently giving wrong info as well. i.e. 2 streamers recommended Sur or Ber (p sapp would give more mana and sol gives more dr(so both bad info)) all info in this is accurate and very useful not only for ES, but understanding how dmg calculations work in general (great for optimizing your build for pvm or pvp) limited filler, maximum info, gets my likes and comments to boost algo

[@MacroBioBoi]

@@CodyOwnedU I appreciate all of this. Thank you.

[@drolak2158]

@@CodyOwnedU that’s obvious the info’s great there is just no credit to where the information was received

[@Youtubestolemyname99999]

The video too long like come on

[@MacroBioBoi]

How would you do it differently?