Resistances not quite understod

Borderlands 2 Gameplay Discussion (Spoilers!)
#1

So apparently I have been trying to stay alive by investing in the wrong things. But what about this:

  1. Are “resistances” to things such as “non-elemental damage” resistance to just plain old damage, such as a bullet or a knife?
    1a. In other words, when I get a “resistance relic” which offers me x% or y% resistance to fire, shock, corrosion, or “non-elemental”, there is a little starburst next to that last one which smacks of “explosion”, but I’m not sure what I am resisting
    1b. Is slag elemental?

  2. Are “resistances” (from a relic, from an adaptive shield) applied to the gross damage, and then your shields remove some (if you have shields), or to your health? In other words: If I have 20% shock resistance, does that resistance help my shield from getting eaten up by shock damage, or only my health?

  3. If I slag an enemy, does it then take more damage from normal bullets and melee, or just from fire, shock and corrosion?

thanks!

#2
  1. Yes. Resistance relics will only resist damage from the type of damage listed (fire, shock, corrosive, NE, etc.). And slag is considered an element though, like explosive, it doesn’t do damage over time (DOT).
  2. I believe it’s the former: any damage resisted is subtracted before the remainder is either applied to your shield (if you have one) or your health if you don’t have a shield or it’s depleted.
  3. Yes, it takes more damage from all sources regardless of where it comes from (your weapons, grenades, friends’ items, barrels, etc.) Note in UVHM, the slag damage boost is tripled and slag on slag damage is 50% stronger.
#3

Thank you very much!

I want to make sure I understand. Please excuse my follow-up question:
The Resistance Relic I found lists 4 types of resistance: to fire, corrosion, shock and “non elemental”. I want to know what this last one means exactly, and in particular, if this last resistance applies to
a. slag
b. explosions
c. bullets
d. melee

If “yes” to c and d, then I’m going to stick to this Resistance Relic. If “no”, then I may go back to health, for lack of any of those cool ones you people obviously have access to.

And finally: Does the resistance from the Adaptive Shield also resist any type of damage (including explosions and bullets)? And does the resistance apply even when the shields are down / depleted?

Thank you!

#4

It applies to the element your were last hit with.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong

#5
  1. Non-elemental applies only to bullets, not melee.
  2. I believe adaptive shields only protect against fire, corrosion, and shock but I could be wrong. They do not protect against bullets or melee though.
#6

Number 2 definitely includes explosive, seen the yellow background after being hit by rockets from Hyperius’s minions during my NVHM solo kills.

#7

Thanks for the info. I thought so but wasn’t sure. Explosive is a bit strange in that it doesn’t cause DoT like fire, corrosive, and shock do, so some people don’t consider it an element.

#8

Explosive dots. I want them now

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#9

Jack does. :grinning: He’s a jerk, but he seems to have a pretty solid grasp on game mechanics…

iankaplow, in my opinion this discussion is somewhat tangential to your needs - I’d recommend either a damage relic or a cooldown relic. I think from other threads you’re playing Gaige mostly? In which case shock damage would probably make sense, though you could carry several in your backpack and swap depending on enemies and what gun you’re using. For example my Maya has fire and corrosive relics she swaps between. And of course it’s hard for any vault hunter to go wrong with making their action skill usable more often.

The reasoning here is that enemies in TVHM and even more so in UVHM do too much damage for defensive relics to be very helpful. Whereas killing things faster with your action skill or elemental damage multipliers can make things quite a bit less painful for you.

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#10

You can have them.

Try the ‘Kiss of death’ grenade from Moxxis ‘Hell hath no fury’ quest. If you get it in explosive it kind of gives explosive DoT’s :wink:

#11

Tried that thing once didn’t like it never used it again lol.

#12

I think I got it. Want to understand for sure though.
I just found a “Skin of the Ancients” which seems to offer something that goes well with my playstyle for Gaige (which is to cower behind and snipe while Deathtrap does his thing). The Relic offers a decent Shield Capacity bonus, some Incediary resistance, and decent resistance to “Non-Elemental Damage” – if that means bullets (but not explosions), then that seems like a good deal to me. Does the “Non-Elemental Damage” mean that (bullets, but not explosions)?

#13

Explosive is an element, so bullets only.