Resistance

"Elemental Resistance" redirects here. For the passive skill, see Elemental Resistance (passive skill).

Resistances affect the amount of damage taken of specific damage types when all avoidance forms have failed. Enemies can also have resistances, which are indicated beneath their life bar.

Each damage type except physical has its own resistance value which is viewable on the Defence tab in the Character panel (default hotkey C). Physical damage is mitigated by armour.

Chaos damage is not elemental, thus "+% to all Elemental Resistances" does not affect chaos, but "+% to all maximum Resistances" does. Chaos resistance can be modified by items and passive skills. The Keystone passive skill Chaos Inoculation grants total immunity to Chaos damage.

Maximum resistances are hard capped at 90%.

Mechanics

Damage mitigation

Resistances mitigates the incoming damage according to

$\color[RGB]{163,141,109} \begin{align} \text{dmg}_{\text{red} } & = (1 - \text{Resistance}) * \text{dmg} \end{align}$

where dmgred is the damage after reduction, Res is the character's resistance and dmg is the initial damage.

The damage ratio between a character with -60% resistance and a character with 75% resistance that are hit with same amount of damage is

$\color[RGB]{163,141,109} \begin{align} {{1 - (-0.6)}\over{1 - 0.75}} & = 6.4 \end{align}$

Resistance penetration

Main page: Penetration

Penetration is applied as damage is dealt, after other resistance calculations. This means that Penetration will affect damage dealt even if the target's raw resistance value is far above its resistance cap.

Both reduction (as from curses), and penetration (as from Penetration gems), can reduce a target's resistance below 0%. There is no minimum resistance floor.

Ignore resistances

Some effects ignore resistances altogether, effectively acting as if the enemy's resistance is at 0%. Consequently, this effect will reduce your damage if the enemy's resistance dips into the negatives without this effect.

Sources of ignore resistance

• Inevitable Judgement

Resistance penalties

A penalty to all resistances is applied to player characters depending on their progression in the story.

• Completion of Part one: -30% to all resistances
• Completion of Part two: -30% to all resistances (-60% total)

Uncapped resistances

Uncapped resistances are shown in parentheses

Total resistances a character has are uncapped resistances. This total is affected by the difficulty penalties. Only resistances up to a player's maximum will provide damage mitigation, but a player may have their uncapped resistances lowered by curses, potentially reducing them below their maximum.

Maximum resistances

Each resistance has the following cap:

• +75% to maximum Chaos Resistance
• +75% to maximum Cold Resistance
• +75% to maximum Fire Resistance
• +75% to maximum Lightning Resistance

There are various ways to alter the maximum resistances:

• Auras: , ,
• Passive skills: Barbarism, Survivalist, Unnatural Calm, Chaos Inoculation, Soul of Steel
• Incursion rooms:

Name	Tier	Mods
Corruption Chamber	1	-6% maximum Player Resistances
Catalyst of Corruption	2	-8% maximum Player Resistances
Locus of Corruption	3	-10% maximum Player Resistances

• Maps: ,
• vaal side areas:
• Item modifiers:

• Unique items:

Active skill gems

Main page: List of resistance related skill gems

Support skill gems

Main page: List of resistance related skill gems

List of sources that alter resistances

Charges

• +4% to all Elemental Resistances per Endurance Charge

Maximum resistances

Each resistance has the following cap:

• +75% to maximum Chaos Resistance
• +75% to maximum Cold Resistance
• +75% to maximum Fire Resistance
• +75% to maximum Lightning Resistance

Passive skills

Cluster jewel passives

The following cluster jewel-only passives are related to resistance:

Shrines

Shrine		Description
	Resistance Shrine Fear not the elements.	You have additional Resistance to Elemental Damage +50% to all Elemental Resistances +10% to all maximum Resistances
	Lesser Resistance Shrine Fear not the elements.	You have additional Resistance to Elemental Damage +25% to all Elemental Resistances +2% to all maximum Resistances

Achievements

Name	Description
Elemental Aegis	Have at least 75% resistances to Fire, Cold and Lightning.
Raise the Bar	Have at least 90% resistance to any Element.

Version history

Version	Changes
3.6.0	Added a Maximum Resistances Maximum. You can no longer have your Maximum Resistances (and therefore your Resistances) raised above 90% from any source.
3.0.0	The Cruel and Merciless resistance penalties have been moved to the completion of Act 5 and the completion of Act 10 respectively. Once either act has been completed, these penalties affect your character in all game areas.