Armor level (AL) in Guild Wars differs greatly from the way it works in most online games. For starters, armor and damage calculations in Guild Wars are location-based. This means that each attack or damaging spell has a random chance to strike any of the five body locations: chest, legs, hands, feet, or head. Only the AL from that particular piece of equipment will count when calculating damage. The chances that each body location will be hit are not equal. The chest is hit 3/8 of the time (37.5% chance); the legs are hit 2/8 of the time (25% chance); the feet, hands, and head are each hit 1/8 of the time (12.5% chance). Positioning modifies these odds somewhat. If you're standing atop a cliff attacking a foe who is below, you'll have a better than normal chance to hit his/her head. Likewise, you'll be more likely to hit his/her legs or feet if you're shooting upward from low ground. Hits to the head are reported to have a higher chance of scoring a critical hit, so high ground offers an advantage in that regard. Bonuses to armor from weapons, foci, or shields are added to the equipment's AL when calculating damage for any attack or spell that hits from the front; hits from the side or back ignore such bonuses. Also, armor bonuses due to enchantments or other skills are added regardless of the direction from which the attack/spell is coming. When two level 20 characters are fighting each other, an AL of 60 (which is what the strongest mesmer armor gives) is considered the "base" level for calculating damage. Generally speaking, a level 20 using an attack/spell on someone with an AL of 60 will deal the full base damage of that attack or spell. Fighter characters with exceptionally high ranks in their weapon's attribute will deal somewhat more damage, but your canes/staves will deal only their base damage. When figuring out how armor bonuses or penalties affect damage, you might find the following rule of thumb helpful: adding 40 armor cuts damage in half; subtracting 40 armor doubles the damage. If an elementalist is spamming Flare on you dealing 30 damage per hit, and you activate Elemental Resistance (+40 armor against elemental damage), you'll suddenly find yourself taking only 15 damage. But let's assume your stance is also giving you –20 armor against physical damage. Suppose a warrior runs up to you while it's still active and starts hacking away; you'll take 1.5 times the normal damage. But suppose the same warrior attacks you while you're not in a stance and have
the "Watch Yourself!" shout affecting you (a warrior shout that gives +20 armor to all nearby allies); you'll take only ¾ the normal damage. All of the above information will be important to you when you're trying to boost your own armor and survive enemy attacks, since your base armor level will offer minimal protection. But when you're using offensive mesmer skills, you won't need to worry much about enemy armor levels. The reason is simple: every single damaging skill in your arsenal ignores armor. Your direct damage skills like Energy Burn and Chaos Storm will deal their full base damage – no more, and no less (the one exception occurs when casting on primary warriors, whose Absorption runes will reduce the damage you deal by a few points). Your health degeneration hexes, like other degen effects, also completely ignore armor. The only thing armor level will affect is the damage dealt by your cane or staff, which will seldom be your primary method of harming opponents. Being able to ignore armor like this will make your damaging spells effective even against well-armored warriors and rangers. While most other casters should fear the fighter classes, your skill list will include plenty of ways to make short work of them, should you choose to make that the focus of your combat efforts.
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