How to upgrade DPS armor properly

When it comes to upgrading a DPS armor piece, there are two main goals - cap all resist types on Nightmare difficulty and upgrade the important hero stat(s) only. While the most important hero stat is hero attack in most cases, capping all resist types on Nightmare difficulty usually requires (extensive) testing in Open mode, which can be (extremely) troublesome. Thanks to our Armor Resistance Calculator™, this is no longer a hassle.

When using our Armor Resistance Calculator™, you simply put in current upgrade level, maximum number of upgrades (the calculator automatically leaves one upgrade left, so that the item doesn't become named, i.e. the 'Forged by' field remains 'Unknown'; note that naming items drastically reduces its resell value), current resistance, and hero stats (usually hero damage is upgraded as first priority, followed by either hero health or a hero ability), and subsequently click the "Calculate" button. The calculator will then show the stats of the armor piece upgraded in the most optimal way, and you can view the stats both with and without set bonus (4 pieces of armor with the same armor type, i.e. leather, mail, chain, plate or pristine, make a set, which gives a set bonus to stats). Below the final stats achieved, you can see the "(show steps)" button, which when pressed reveals the detailed upgrade path step by step for the your reference.

We recommend reading through our user guide in the next section (also shown on the calculator page itself), and checking the version changes from time to time - but otherwise just use it, and get the most out of every armor piece that you can ^^

So without further ado - you can find the calculator at http://ddfrbr.com/armorresistcalc.watwat

The calculator has been made by sniffy and wat from DDFreeRunsByRequest, and we invite you to read more about our group on our website[ddfrbr.com], or on our Steam group page.

Enjoy our calculator, and more optimally upgraded DPS armor from now on!

/sniffy and wat

The calculator is meant for DPS armor pieces (i.e. reaching as close to maximum resistance on Nightmare difficulty as possible is the primary goal).

All fields marked by asterik (*) in the calculator are MANDATORY.

• Step 1 - Select armor quality - "Mythical", "Transcendent", "Supreme", "Ultimate", "Ultimate+" or "Ultimate++".
  
• Step 2 - Fill in current upgrade level, and maximum upgrade levels.
  For an unupgraded piece of armor, with "1/300" for instance, please input "1" into "Current upgrade level" and "300" into "Max upgrade levels". For an upgraded piece of armor, with "100/300" for instance, please input "100" into "Current upgrade level" and "300" into "Max upgrade levels". Please note that fully upgrading your item (i.e. name it) will SIGNIFICANTLY reduce its resell value.
• Step 3 - Fill in all current resist values (or see the detailed text below for armor pieces missing one or more resist types).
  It's strongly advised against using armors pieces that miss certain resist type(s). However, if you still would like to proceed with the calculation, please input the following values for the missing resist(s): For Mythical/SupremeUltimate/Ultimate+/Ultimate++ armor pieces, please input "31" for the missing resist(s); For Transcendent armor pieces, please input "31" if the missing resist is Generic, Fire or Poison; if the missing resist is Electric, please input "28" instead; Do notice that these value(s) will be displayed as part of the result, but you should treat them as missing resist(s).
• Step 4 - Determine hero stats priorities (usually hero damage > hero health > hero ability 2) and fill in hero stats values.
  For "Current hero stat - 1st priority", "Current hero stat - 2nd priority" and "Current hero stat - 3rd priority", you must at least input the value for "Current hero stat - 1st priority". The calculator upgrades hero stats according to priorities, i.e. 1st priority > 2nd priority > 3rd priority. You may choose from the dropdown list which hero stat you would like to upgrade as first priority - e.g. for hero boost armor piece, you should choose "Hero ability 2" for "Current hero stat - 1st priority".
• Step 5 - Click on the "Calculate" button.

Results are rather straightforward. Whether an armor piece caps resists on Nightmare or not, please refer to "General information" below.
Clicking on "(show steps)" button reveals the step-by-step upgrading pathway. Simply follow the steps shown precisely, you will arrive at the calculated stats. Nifty~ Stats cap:
Ultimate++ - 999
Ultimate+ - 700
Ultimate - 600
Supreme - 500
Transcendent - 420
Mythical - 360

Resist-capping means all resist types sit at 90% on Nightmare difficulty. (Refer to section - Resist capping explained)

For an Ultimate/+/++ armor piece, ideal resist-capping piece is:
Generic - 29
Poison - 29
Fire - 29
Electric - 29
However, a set of Ultimate armors each with 3 * 28 + 1 * 31 resists can still cap resists on Nightmare.

For a Supreme armor piece, ideal resist-capping piece is:
Generic - 30
Poison - 30
Fire - 30
Electric - 30
However, a set of Supreme armors each with 2 * 28 + 2 * 31 resists can still cap resists on Nightmare.

For a Transcendent armor piece, ideal resist-capping piece is: 3 * 31 + 1* 28. Therefore, the default upgrading path of the calculator is: after reaching 28 on each resist type, ONLY Generic, Poison and Fire will be upgraded further, and in the following order: Generic > Fire > Poison.

For Mythical armor piece, ideal resist-capping piece is: 4*31, which is extremly unlikely to happen.

There are four types of resist - Generic, Posion, Fire, Electric. The general order of importance is: Generic > Fire > Poison > Electric. There are four armors on each character - helm, chestpiece, gloves and boots. If all four armors are made from the same material (i.e. Chain, Plate, Leather, Mail or Pristine), they form an armor set. Armor set comes with set bonus, the amount of which depends on armor grade/quality (Mythical - 30%, Transcendent - 33%, Supreme - 36%, Ultimate and above - 40%). Armor set bonus not only applies to hero and tower stats, but also to resists. In order to cap resist on Nightmare difficulty, an armor set must reach at least 164% resist for each type of resist. However, since set bonus varies according to armor grade, for each armor grade, there is a different optimal way to cap resists with the minimum number of upgrades required.

• Please refer to the colorful chart in this guide[www.dungeondefenders.com] made by EC-10 for resists with set bonus.
  
• All resists below are listed in the order of Generic/Poison/Fire/Electric.

Ideally, upgrade a Transcendent armor to 3*31% and 1*28% (meaning, any three types of resist to 31%, the remaining type of resist to 28%). An armor set consisting of four (3*31% 1*28%) Transcendent armors will cap resists on Nightmare. This is because, for each resist type to reach resist cap on Nightmare, 164% resist is needed. If you refer to the chart in EC-10's guide, on a Transcendent armor, 28% resist corresponds to 38% resist w/ set bonus, and 31% resist corresponds to 42% resist w/ set bonus, and 1*38% + 3*42% = 164%. To make this clearer, an example of a resist-capping Transcendent set is given below.
If a Supreme armor has sufficient upgrades, upgrade it to 30%/30%/30%/30%. An armor set consisting of four 30%/30%/30%/30% Supreme armors will cap resists on Nightmare. Upgrading resists on a Supreme armor to higher than 30%/30%/30%/30% is generally a waste of upgrades. If the number of upgrades on a Supreme armor is insufficient to reach 30%/30%/30%/30%, upgrade it to 2*28% and 2*31% (meaning, any two types of resist to 31%, the remaining two types of resist to 28%). An armor set consisting of four (2*28% 2*31%) Supreme armors will also cap resists on Nightmare. This is because, for each resist type to reach resist cap on Nightmare, 164% resist is needed. If you refer to the chart in EC-10's guide, on a Supreme armor, 28% resist corresponds to 39% resist w/ set bonus, and 31% resist corresponds to 43% resist w/ set bonus, and 2*39% + 2*43% = 164%. To make this clearer, an example of a resist-capping Supreme set is given below.
If an Ultimate armor has sufficient upgrades, upgrade it to 29%/29%/29%/29%. An armor set consisting of four 29%/29%/29%/29% Ultimate armors will cap resists on Nightmare. Upgrading resists on an Ultimate armor to higher than 29%/29%/29%/29% is generally a waste of upgrades. If the number of upgrades on an Ultimate armor is insufficient to reach 29%/29%/29%/29%, upgrade it to 3*28% and 1*31% (meaning, any three types of resist to 28%, the remaining type of resist to 31%). An armor set consisting of four (3*28% 1*31%) Ultimate armors will also cap resists on Nightmare. This is because, for each resist type to reach resist cap on Nightmare, 164% resist is needed. If you refer to the chart in EC-10's guide, on an Ultimate armor, 28% resist corresponds to 40% resist w/ set bonus, and 31% resist corresponds to 44% resist w/ set bonus, and 3*40% + 1*44% = 164%. To make this clearer, an example of a resist-capping Ultimate set is given below.

All you need to do is follow the detailed upgrade path shown by the calculator.

If you find the detailed upgrade path difficulty to understand, here is some more in-depth explanation.

1. Do NOT upgrade hero stats first. Always upgrade resists first.
   
2. Start upgrading from the highest spawn resist. Keep upgrading until it reaches a "soft cap" (the first "soft cap" is either 23 or 24).
   
3. Once a resist reaches a "soft cap", you can only upgrade it further on every 10th upgrade level.
   
4. Continue upgrading the second highest spawn resist.
   
5. Remember to upgrade those resists which have already reached "soft caps" on every 10th upgrade level. Do NOT miss it. You must realize that, in order for those resists to increase 1, you need extra 10 upgrade levels, and on most armors, total upgrade levels are not so high that you can waste such chances.
   
6. Continue upgrading the thrid and fourth highest spawn resists, until all resists reach soft caps.
   
7. Start upgrading hero stats, which, under most circumstance, is hero damage.
   
8. Once again, on every 10th upgrade level, upgrade a resist which has reached a "soft cap".
   
9. Base your end result on the explanation given in the previous section.

Here is a video demonstrating step by step how to upgrade a capping Supreme DPS armor:

• Supreme quality armor detailed upgrade path step numbering has been fixed.

• Hero stats with armor set bonus have been added (blue)

• Major algorithm update!
  For Supreme armor pieces, If old output was (generic/fire/poison/electric) either 30/30/30/29 or 30/29/30/29, the new algorithm yields 31/28/31/28 for both cases. For Ultimate armor pieces, if old output was 29/29/29/28, the new algorithm yields 31/28/28/28. The detailed upgrade paths have been updated correspondingly. Please note that 30/30/30/30 and 31/28/31/28 are resist-capping Supreme armor pieces; 29/29/29/29 and 31/28/28/28 are resist-capping Ultimate armor pieces. For detailed explanation, please refer to previous section - Resist capping explained.

• You may now choose from a dropdown list of hero stats for each "Current hero stat" field.

• "Reset" feature has been added

• "Ultimate+" and "Ultimate++" armor quality have been added

• Calculation counter has been added

• "Mythical" armor quality has been added

• Initial version