Accuracy and Resistance

I got a little tired of writing this up again and again in response to comments and/or questions. So here it is as a blog post...

EDIT: There has been a lot of discussion in the comments that I thought should be incorporated into the post. I also decided to clean it up for the sake of clarity.

Accuracy and Resistance[]

The concepts behind Accuracy and Resistance very commonly misunderstood. New summoners especially struggle to understand the mechanics of these two very important stats. While there is some disagreement about how this all works, what follows is the commonly accepted explanation. We'll start by defining the terms involved, then move on to discussing how this all works.

Definitions[]

Activation - When a debuff attempts to take effect on the target.

Application - When a debuff applies or "sticks" to the target.

Beneficial Status Effect (Buff) - Any effect that can be applied to allies to increase their effectiveness in battle. Examples include Increase Attack Power, Increase Critical Rate, Immunity, etc.

Negative Status Effect (Debuff) - Any effect that can be applied to an opponent to reduce their effectiveness in battle. Examples include Attack Power Reduction, Defense Reduction, Stun, Freeze, Attack Bar Reduction, etc.

Resistance - When a debuff's application is blocked.

Skills - The actions which can be performed by a monster in the game. Skills include attacking 1 or more enemies, applying buffs to your own monsters, applying debuffs to enemies, healing, etc. Some skills include multiple effects, such as attacking and debuffing, healing and buffing, etc.

Mechanics[]

The first thing that happens when you use a skill is a check to determine if that skill will attempt to apply a status effect to the target. This is the Activation Check. For debuffs there is usually a percentage chance listed in the skill for the activation of that debuff. For example the Inugamis' Scratch skill: Attacks the enemy with razor-sharp claws and decreases their defense for 2 turns with a 50% chance. This means that when the Inugami uses this skill there is a 50% chance that the Defense Reduction debuff will activate. Some debuff skills also have a 100% Activation Rate. Belladeon's strengthened Scratch skill does not list a percentage activation rate: Attacks with giant claws to decrease the enemy's defense for 2 turns. This means that every time Belladeon uses this skill it will attempt to apply the Defense Reduction debuff. The only way, other than the strengthening of a skill through an awakening bonus, to increase the activation rate of a debuff is through skill leveling, and then only on skills that include a Harmful Effect Rate +X% skill level bonus. See Darion's first skill, Slash Rocks as an example. It starts at a 40% activation rate and increases through leveling all the way to 100%.

Next, there is a check to see if the status effect will actually apply. This can be called the Application Check or the Resistance Check depending on how you want to look at it. There are a very small number of debuffs that skip this check and apply every time they activate. For all other debuffs Accuracy and Resistance come into play here. The in-game Help file describes Accuracy and Resistance like this: "The Effect Resistance Rate is calculated by subtracting effect accuracy from effect resistance. But no matter how high the effect accuracy is, the Effect Resistance Rate doesn't go down below 15%." (Settings > Help > Battle > Effect Resistance & Effect Accuracy.) The widely accepted understanding of this statement is that the chance to resist is calculated as follows:

max((R - A), 15) = rC

R is the Resistance stat of the target. A is the Accuracy stat of the monster performing the action. rC is the chance that the debuff will be resisted. 15% is the minimum chance to resist. No matter how high the Accuracy there is always at least a 15% chance that the debuff will be resisted (perhaps based on the base 15% resistance that all monsters have.) This would in effect make any Accuracy over 85% a waste. If the debuff is not resisted, it applies, or "sticks" to the target. To increase the application rate of your debuffs you must increase your monster's Accuracy.

Resistance Awakening Bonus Theory:

Some monsters get an awakening bonus in Resistance. Chasun , for example, receives 25% additional Resistance for a total of 40% Resistance. It is possible that this new base resistance becomes the floor for these types of monsters. or in other words the formula is actually:

max((R-A)), bR) = rC

Where bR is the Base Resistance stat of the target and may be higher than 15%.

This theory seems to be innacurate according to some recent testing by SlothSleuth over at Reddit.

So when a monster uses a skill that can apply a debuff we run through a process something like the following:

Activation Check

The system randomly picks a number (rN) between 1 and 100.

rN is compared to the activation rate (aR) of the skill.

Outcome 1: rN <= aR. Activation check succeeds. Proceed to Application/Resistance Check.

Outcome 2: rN > aR. Activation check fails. Nothing happens. End.

Application/Resistance Check

The system calculates the resistance chance (rC) using the formula above.

The system randomly picks a number (rN) between 1 and 100.

rN is compared to the rC.

Outcome 1: rN <= rC. The application fails/ resistance succeeds. The effect does not apply (Resistance notification.) End.

Outcome 2: rN > rC. The application succeeds/ resistance fails. The effect applies. End.

Example 1: Fire Inugami attacks Fire Hellhound.

Activation Check (rN = 60; aR - 50)

rN > aR; Activation fails. End.

Example 2: Belladeon attacks Chasun.

Activation Check (rN = 34; aR = 100)

rN < aR; Activation succeeds. Goto Application/Resistance Check

Application/Resistance Check (A = 43%; R=100%; bR = 15%; rC = max((100-43), 15) = 57%; rN = 8)

rN < rC; Application fails/ Resistance succeeds. Resistance notification. No effect applied. End.

Example 3: Belladeon attacks Chasun again.

Activation Check (rN = 34; aR = 100)

rN < aR; Activation succeeds. Goto Application/Resistance Check

Application/Resistance Check (A = 43%; R=100%; bR = 15%; rC = max((100-43), 15) = 57%; rN = 82)

rN > rC; Application succeeds/ Resistance fails. Effect applied. End.

Some skills can apply more than one debuff, and it should be noted that each debuff will be run through this process individually. Just because one debuff activates and applies does not mean that all will. Some skills hit multiple times and, depending on the mechanics of the specific skill, each hit may have a chance to activate and apply a debuff.

Nutshell[]

For every skill that includes a debuff there is a chance that the debuff will try to apply (Activation). Then, if the skill activates, there is a chance that the debuff will actually apply (Application). If the skill activates a debuff and if the debuff is not resisted, it applies. Accuracy and Resistance are only involved in "Application" and do not increase or reduce the chance of "Activation" that the monster will try to apply the debuff; They only affect the chance that the debuff will successfully stick.

Links to other discussions about this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/summonerswar/comments/2dyptb/acc_and_res_mechanics_explained/

forum.com2us.com/forum/main-forum/summoner-s-war/guides-and-tips-ac/53755-effect-acc-and-effect-res