Damage reduction



Armor reduces physical damage done against you by a certain proportion. It depends entirely on the level of the monster (or player) hitting you and your own armor. Your level doesn't matter. By hovering your mouse over Armor on your Character screen, you can see the percentage value of this reduction for damage done by enemies that are at your current level. This percent reduction will actually fall as soon as you gain a level if you're still wearing the same armor. You haven't lost anything, it's merely showing you that your armor isn't as effective against monsters one level higher than you used to be.

The most important thing to remember about armor is: An X% increase in armor means an X% increase in armor's contribution to the amount of damage you can take.

The formula for the base armor value is:

Gear armor is the armor value from the gear you are wearing. Magic armor is the extra armor from buffs such as scrolls, mage armor, armor kits etc.

Note that talents which give a percentage bonus to armor (like druid bear form) do not include magic armor in their boost to the armor rating. This is especially important for druids since bonuses received from armor kits, sets and green effects in general are not affected by Bear, Moonkin, or Tree Form or armor-increasing talents.

For enemies from level 1 to 59, the reduction to physical damage, as a percentage, is given by the following formula:

For enemies from level 60 and up, the reduction to physical damage, as a percentage, is given by the following formula:

For level 80 and raid bosses, this simplifies to:

Note that the maximum damage reduction is capped at 75%. The 15232.5 and 16635 numbers in the denominator are often confused. The constant is based on the attacker's level, not the target's level. Use 15232.5 for your attacks (outgoing) and 16635 for damage received.

For level 83 bosses, as described below, armor caps at 49905. The Diminishing Returns on armor as you approach the cap are rather harsh; both functions are graphed below.

Damage Soak
Although the character sheet tooltip gives the amount of damage that the armor absorbs, it is more useful to think of how much more damage the player can take.

In general, the armor reduction formula can be written as

If the enemy is lower than level 60, X = 85 * Enemy_Level + 400. If the enemy is level 60 or higher, X = 467.5 * Enemy_Level - 22167.5 Therefore, the amount of damage that the player takes after their armor's damage reduction is applied is:

So the ratio of damage dealt to damage taken is:

Therefore, the increase in the amount of damage the player can take compared to having no armor at all, as a percentage, is:

Therefore, an X increase in armor (compared to 0 armor) means an 100% increase in the amount of damage the player can take. e.g. For a level 70 enemy, X = 10557.5. So a player with 10557.5 armor attacking a level 70 enemy would be able to take 100% more damage. A player with 31672.5 armor would be able to take 300% more damage than a player with 0 armor (which is the maximum).

Armor required to get X% damage reduction


To calculate the amount of armor needed for maximum mitigation against a lvl 59 or below enemy, one can use the following formula:

Thus a lvl 59 character who wants to achieve 75% reduction vs. lvl 59 mobs would need 16245 AC. Note that this changes beyond lvl 59, as the formula to calculate damage reduction for levels 60 and up requires much more armor to get the same mitigation. Despite the much higher armor values required for 75% reduction at levels 70 and higher, it is currently possible for a well-geared druid to reach this point (see this page).

Or a more general formula. The amount of armor needed for a specific reduction is:

Against a level 59 and less:

Against a level 60 and up:

Armor required to get 50%, 60%, 70% and 75% damage reduction against lvl 60, 63, 70 and 73 mobs.

%Reduction Formula