Matk vs Mdef Piercing Guide

[Menace651]

Introduction
I was curious about raw Matk vs Mdef piercing. I did a few searches online but could not find any real side by side comparisons. So, I took it upon myself to crunch the numbers for raw Matk vs Mdef Piercing gears. Some of you might find this useful if not, meh /.

Mdef Piercing and How It Works
Before I do the number crunching I want to explain how Mdef Piercing works from what I have been able to research. Mdef Piercing works by reducing the Mdef of a monster. So for example, if you have 10% total MDef Piercing and you attack a monster with an MDef of 25 the total MDef will be:

25Mdef-(25Mdef x .10)= 22.5%

So you will basically ignore 2.5% of the monster's 25%MDef. Which simply translates into 2.5% more matk on that monster. That being said, Magic Piercing is most useful against high Mdef Monsters because it reduces more Mdef vs low Mdef monsters.

*Note, Mdef also reduces the "soft" Mdef of a monster/player (the Mdef you get from INT) in the same way. However this is less significant towards overall Magic damage so I'll avoid it in this comparison.

Comparisons
Now I will get down to the nitty gritty number crunching. For this comparison I will be using my Hwiz's base Matk value which is:

Matk - 408-648 Average Matk of 528 Unbuffed, With No Gears

I will also be using the following Wands:
+9 Lich's Bone Wand w/2xNecro Cards (+23%Matk 4%Mdef Piercing) hereafter referred to as +9LBW
+7 Staff of Piercing (+15%Matk 17%Mdef Piercing) hereafter referred to as +7SoP
+9 Staff of Piercing (+15%Matk 19%Mdef Piercing) hereafter referred to as +9 SoP
+10 Staff of Piercing (+15%Matk 20%Mdef Piercing) hereafter referred to as +10SoP
+6 Staff of Destruction (+28%Matk) hereafter referred to as +6SoD
+8 Staff of Destruction (+29%Matk) hereafter referred to as +8SoD
+10 Staff of Destruction (+30%Matk) hereafter referred to as +10 SoD

*I will not be taking +INT bonuses from wands. I will only be using my base Matk of 528 for all comparisons mutiplied by the +Matk% from each wand.

Secondly, I will be comparing each wand against a 0Mdef, 10Mdef, 25Mdef, 50Mdef, 75Mdef and 90Mdef defense. So without farther delay here are the numbers for each of the wands listed above vs each of the Mdef values.

My formula for each total matk vaule will be as follows:

(Base Average Matk x Matk% bonus from wand) x (100% - MdefValue x (Mdefvalue x MdefPiercing))


1st Comparison (0Mdef Value)
+9LBW - 528 x +23%MAtk = 649.44 MAtk (no MDef pierced since value is zero)
+7SoP - 528 x +15%Matk = 607.2MAtk (no MDef pierced since value is zero)
+9SoP - 528 x +15%MAtk = 607.2MAtk (no MDef Pierced since value is zero)
+10SoP - 528 x +15%MAtk = 607.2MAtk (no MDef Pierced since value is zero)
+6SoD - 528 x +28%MAtk = 675.84MAtk
+8SoD - 528 x +29%MAtk = 681.12MAtk
+10SoD - 528x +30%MAtk = *686.4MAtk
*The clear winners are the +6-+10 SoD's since there is no MDef. The +9LBW comes in 2nd and the SoP's last. Raw MAtk wins here! Now let's move on to the next comparison.

2nd Comparison (10Mdef Value)
+9LBW - 649.44Matk x (100% - (10Mdef x (10%Mdef x 4%MdefPierce)) = 587.09376MAtk
+7SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (10Mdef x (10%Mdef x 17%MdefPierce)) = 556.8024MAtk
+9SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (10Mdef x (10%Mdef x 19%MdefPierce)) = 558.0168MAtk
+10SoP - 607.2xMatk x (100% - (10Mdef x (10%Mdef x 20%MdefPierce)) = 558.624MAtk
+6SoD - 675.84 x (100% - 10%Mdef) = 608.256Matk
+8SoD - 681.12 x (100% - 10%Mdef) = 613.008Matk
+10SoD - 686.4 x (100% - 10%Mdef) = *617.76Matk
*Again our SoD's come out on top with the most Matk with the +9LBW trailing not to far behind. Let's now move on to the 25Mdef comparison!

3rd Comparison (25Mdef Value)
+9LBW - 649.44Matk x (100% - (25%Mdef x 4%MdefPierce)) = 493.5744Matk
+7SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (25%Mdef x 17%MdefPierce)) = 481.206Matk
+9SoP - 607.2Mat x (100% - (25%Mdef x 19%MdefPierce)) = 484.242Matk
+10 SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (25Mdef x 20%MdefPierce)) = 485.76Matk
+6SoD - 675.84Matk x (100% - 25%Mdef) = 506.88
+8SoD - 681.12Matk x (100% - 25%Mdef) = 510.84Matk
+10SoD - 686.4Matk x (100% - 25%Mdef) = *514.8Matk
*The SoD's come out on top again with the +9LBW second. Notice, however, that the SoP's are coming in closer! Lets move on to the 50Mdef Comparison!

4th Comparison (50Mdef Value)
+9LBW - 649.44Matk x (100% - (50%Mdef x 4%MdefPierce)) = 337.7088Matk
+7SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (50%Mdef x 17%MdefPierce)) = 355.212Matk
+9SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (50%Mdef x 19%MdefPierce)) = 361.284Matk
+10SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (50%Mdef x 20%MdefPierce)) = *364.32Matk
+6SoD - 675.84Matk x (100% - 50%Mdef) = 337.92Matk
+8SoD - 681.12Matk x (100% - 50%Mdef) = 340.56Matk
+10SoD - 686.4Matk x (100% - 50%Mdef) = 343.2Matk
*What's this?! Our +7-+10 SoP's have all of a sudden overcome the raw Matk of the SoD's. The +9LBW is about the same as the SoD's. This is where Mdef Piercing becomes more useful than raw Matk. Let's keep going to a 75Mdef comparison!

5th Comparison (75Mdef Value)
+9LBW - 649.44Matk x (100% - (75%Mdef x 4%MdefPierce)) = 181.8432Matk
+7SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (75%Mdef x 17%MdefPierce)) = 229.218
+9SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (75%Mdef x 19%MdefPierce)) = 238.326Matk
+10SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (75%Mdef x 20%MdefPierce)) = *242.88Matk
+6SoD - 675.84Matk x (100% - 75%Mdef) = 168.96Matk
+8SoD - 681.12Matk x (100% - 75%Mdef) = 170.28Matk
+10SoD - 686.4Matk x (100% - 25%Mdef) = 171.6Matk
*Wow! As you can see now our SoP's have both the +9LBW and the SoD's beat by far (as much as 28% more Matk!). Even the +9LBW has overtaken the SoD's. Let's now compare at 90Mdef.

6th Comparison (90Mdef Value)
+9LBW - 649.44Matk x (100% - (90%Mdef x 4%MdefPierce)) = 88.32384Matk
+7SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (90%Mdef x 17%MdefPierce)) = 153.6216Matk
+9SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (90%Mdef x 19%MdefPierce)) = 164.5512Matk
+10SoP - 607.2Matk x (100% - (90%Mdef x 20%MdefPierce)) = 170.016Matk
+6SoD - 675.84Matk x (100% - 90%Mdef) = 67.584Matk
+8SoD - 681.12Matk x (100% - 90%Mdef) = 68.112Matk
+10SoD - 686.4Matk x (100% - 90%Mdef) = 68.64Matk
*As you can see at 90Mdef our SoD's have fallen far behind the SoP's (about 40% less Matk). Even the +9LBW is more effective as the SoD's at this point but still not comparable to the SoP's.

Conclusion
From these comparisons we can conclude that raw Matk gears are more effective against monsters and players with low Mdef while Mdef Piercing gears are more effective against monsters and players with higher Mdef. I believe the threshold for Mdef Piercing overtaking raw Matk occurs somewhere around 30Mdef-35Mdef. So what does this mean to the average RO player? Simple. It means that raw Matk gears like the Staff of Destruction are more effective against low Mdef monsters (below 35'ish Mdef) and Mdef Pierceing gears like the Staff of Piercing is more effective against high Mdef Monsters (above 35'ish Mdef). Gears that combine a little of both, like the +9Lich Bone Wand with/2xNecro Cards, are good all around but not as good as pure Mdef Pierce or raw Matk gears. Well that was a lot of freakin math and my brain is shot. Hope this helps you guys out.

Disclaimer and Whatnot
All these values and calculations were done based on real in-game vaules. Although, I didn't take into consideration other stuff like spell/skill multipliers, race/elemental weaknesses, INT bonuses, etc. the values should be very close to actual game vaules. If anyone notices any mistakes in my calculations or anything please point them out. All these calculations were done by me and not copied from anywhere else. I did get some basic information from various forums and websites.

[azurerogue]

Overall not a bad comparison but there's a couple of problems. You state that MDEF Piercing also works on soft MDEF but that it's not significant. It might be less significant for Storm Gust (which uses a 500% multiplies) but for Meteor Storm or Bolts (for Professors) soft MDEF can be a real pain considering some monsters 200+ INT. A monster with 50 MDEF and 200 INT will require 401 MATK to even hit for damage while a monster with 50 MDEF and 100 INT will only require 201 MATK. Thus, I think if you're going to compare raw MATK increases versus MDEF Piercing you should take soft MDEF into account as well.

Furthermore, as I began to point out above, MDEF piercing tends to get better with smaller % increasing attacks. Bolts are a perfect example since each individual bolt is subjected to hard/soft MDEF. In the case of bolts (or meteor storm which also uses individual calculations for each hit) MDEF piercing becomes pretty important pretty fast. For spells like Storm Gust (or amped Storm Gust) you can kind of just bowl over the enemies soft MDEF so it's not as noticeable.

Just some thoughts.

[Menace651]

Hmmm. Yes you are correct Azure. I didn't consider spells that do idividual hits like bolt spells. Soft Mdef can be calculated into the overall matk pretty easy just by subtracting the reduced soft MDef from the "hard" Mdef just like soft and hard Def. Also note, the values I have listed above are pretty modest. 408-648 matk is pretty low for a hwiz.

[Nachi]

I've been thinking about this just recently!
Thanks for making this comparison.

Maybe you (or someone else) can add examples with soft mdef too and maybe put everything in a table for easier reading. XD
Sadly, i've no idea about how to make proper tables, or i would do it.

Either way, this was quite educative.

[Menace651]

I've been thinking about this just recently!
Thanks for making this comparison.

Maybe you (or someone else) can add examples with soft mdef too and maybe put everything in a table for easier reading. XD
Sadly, i've no idea about how to make proper tables, or i would do it.

Either way, this was quite educative.

Ill see if I can get these plotted into a graph form. My algebra and trigonometry is a little rusty from my college days but I think I can find a graph program online to plot these for a more visual comparison.

[Nachi]

That would be awesome!
I didn't even think of graphs... they give me nightmares in math lessons.