Difference between revisions of "Defense and resistance"

Latest revision as of 02:37, 10 November 2024

What is the difference between defense and resistance? Why do some units have good defenses, while others have good resistances? For example, in the Knalgan Alliance, dwarves have good defenses in mountains, but they cannot defend well in forests. Outlaws are very fragile, but it is very hard to hit them.

Defense

Defense in Battle for Wesnoth means that any unit in the game has a chance to dodge the attack. In simple words, a unit with better defense is more lucky, and only a few attacks will hit them. Units have different defenses on different terrains.

core%24images%24units%24elves-wood%24ranger.png

Rebels have access to Elvish Rangers. They have a lot of experience surviving in the woods and hills. The ranger is covered very well in these terrains, and there is a very small chance, that someone with a sword or bow & arrow will hit this unit. On flat plains, this unit does not have anything that will help with survivability. Defense here is 40%, so from 10 hits, probably 6 will harm this unit, while 4 will be safely dodged. In forests, defense is as high as 70%, so rangers can stay here for much longer than in the flat plains.

core%24images%24units%24merfolk%24spearman.png

Another unit, like the Merman Spearman, can defend hexes in a completely different way. They are generally weak in forests or hills. They cannot even reach mountains. However, when fighting in water, this unit is better than an Elvish Ranger. Its defense is 50% in deep water, 60% in shallow water, and even 70% in coastal reef.

Resistance

Resistance is all about what will happen to the unit that gets hit. When a unit is attacked, some hits (the amount is based on defense on the terrain) will harm the unit. Resistance means, that for example, a sword or a club can deal different damage to a unit. Or, in other words, some units have armor, which is good against spears, but nearly useless against hammers or fireballs. Similar units have similar resistances.

core%24images%24units%24undead-necromancers%24dark-sorcerer.png

Dark Sorcerers have average defenses and resistances. Blade, Pierce, Impact, Fire, and Cold can do the same damage. The only difference is the arcane damage, which is good against skeletons, drakes, or simply anything "magic". Dark Sorcerers have a 20% resistance to Arcane, so successful attacks of 10 will only deal 8.

core%24images%24units%24drakes%24fire.png

Things get much more interesting with the Fire Drake. When enemy drakes use fire against this one, the 10 damage will be reduced by 60%, so only 4 hitpoints will be lost. A Dark Sorcerer with cold damage is more dangerous. The drake has -40% cold resistance, so attacks with force 10 will harm it by 14 hitpoints. The following table shows its resistances against all 6 types of attack:

Blade	Pierce	Impact	Fire	Cold	Arcane
10%	-10%	20%	60%	-40%	-30%

core%24images%24units%24undead-skeletal%24revenant%24revenant.png

Undead skeletons, such as the revenant, also have different resistances. Killing them with swords or arrows will be very slow, but arcane and fire attacks can kill them easily or force them to retreat. Resistances of an undead revenant:

Blade	Pierce	Impact	Fire	Cold	Arcane
40%	60%	-20%	-20%	60%	-20%

Marksman and magic attacks

Units with Marksman are good against well-defended units in good terrain. Their chance to hit is very high, at least 60%. A hiding Elvish Ranger will be as vulnerable in the forest as in the flat plains. Marksman is activated only when attacking, not defending. Magic attacks are even more deadly. Attacks have 70% chance to hit, in both offense and defense.

An Elvish Ranger has these defenses:

Forest (normal attacks)	Forest (marksman attacks)	Forest (magic attacks)
70%	40%	30%

To discover, how to kill an important unit efficiently, read the profile of that unit. The fastest way is to attack it with your multiple units with magic attacks of the correct type. About 6 Mages would kill a powerful Revenant quickly, because their fire and arcane attack is great against skeletons. Although the skeleton will try to dodge the attacks, terrain will not help him much against magic.

TIP: Units with high defenses and low hitpoints, like outlaws, are a great target for mages and other units with magic attacks.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Translations}}
-In the Knalgan Alliance, you can read, that dwarves have good defense in mountains and they have good resistances, while outlaws have good defenses everywhere, but low resistances. What does it mean, exactly?<br>
+What is the difference between defense and resistance? Why do some units have good defenses, while others have good resistances? For example, in the Knalgan Alliance, dwarves have good defenses in mountains, but they cannot defend well in forests. Outlaws are very fragile, but it is very hard to hit them.<br>
 ==Defense==
-<b>Defense</b> in Battle for Wesnoth means, that any unit in game have a chance to dodge the attack. In simple words, '''unit with better defense is more lucky and only a few hits will hit them'''. Unit have different defenses on different terrains.
+<b>Defense</b> in Battle for Wesnoth means that any unit in the game has a chance to dodge the attack. In simple words, '''a unit with better defense is more lucky, and only a few attacks will hit them'''. Units have different defenses on different terrains.
+<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24elves-wood%24ranger.png</div> Rebels have access to Elvish Rangers. They have a lot of experience surviving in the woods and hills. The ranger is covered very well in these terrains, and there is a very small chance, that someone with a sword or bow & arrow will hit this unit. On flat plains, this unit does not have anything that will help with survivability. Defense here is '''40%''', so from 10 hits, probably 6 will harm this unit, while 4 will be safely dodged. In forests, defense is as high as '''70%''', so rangers can stay here for much longer than in the flat plains.
-<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.14/pics/core%24images%24units%24elves-wood%24ranger.png</div> Rebels have access to this Elvish Rangers. They have a lot of experience in surviving in the woods, hills etc. So, this ranger is covering very well in these terrains and there is a very small chance, that someone with sword or bow and arrow will hit this unit. On flat plains, this unit does not have anything, that will help with defense. Defense here is '''40%''', so from 10 hits, probably 6 will harm this unit, while 4 will be safely dodged. In forest, defense is as high as '''70%''', so ranger can stay here for much longer time than in the flat plains.
-<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24merfolk%24spearman.png</div> Another unit, like this Merman Spearman, can defend hexes in a completely different way. They are generally weak in forests or hills. They even cannot reach mountains. However, when fighting in water, this unit is better than Elvish Ranger. His defense is '''50%''' in deep water, '''60%''' in shallow water and even '''70%''' in coastal reef.<br><br>
+<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24merfolk%24spearman.png</div> Another unit, like the Merman Spearman, can defend hexes in a completely different way. They are generally weak in forests or hills. They cannot even reach mountains. However, when fighting in water, this unit is better than an Elvish Ranger. Its defense is '''50%''' in deep water, '''60%''' in shallow water, and even '''70%''' in coastal reef.<br><br>
 ==Resistance==
-<b>Resistance</b> is all about what will happen to the unit that gets hit. So, when a unit is attacked, some hits (amount is based on defense on the terrain) will harm unit. '''Resistance means than sometimes a sword and a club can make different damage''' to a unit. Or in another words, some units have armor, that is good against spears, but nearly useless to hammers or fireballs. Similar units have similar resistances.
+<b>Resistance</b> is all about what will happen to the unit that gets hit. When a unit is attacked, some hits (the amount is based on defense on the terrain) will harm the unit. '''Resistance means, that for example, a sword or a club can deal different damage''' to a unit. Or, in other words, some units have armor, which is good against spears, but nearly useless against hammers or fireballs. Similar units have similar resistances.
 <div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24undead-necromancers%24dark-sorcerer.png</div>
-This is Dark Sorcerer. Very dangerous unit when attacking. Defenses are average, same as resistances. Blade, Pierce, Impact, Fire and Cold can do the same damage. Only difference is the Arcane damage. As a classic human, these guys can be injured commonly by everything, with exception of arcane. Arcane is good against skeletons, drakes and simply to say, anything "magic". Dark Sorceror have a 20% resistance to Arcane, so succesful attack of 10 will do lower damage, only 8.
+Dark Sorcerers have average defenses and resistances. Blade, Pierce, Impact, Fire, and Cold can do the same damage. The only difference is the arcane damage, which is good against skeletons, drakes, or simply anything "magic". Dark Sorcerers have a 20% resistance to Arcane, so successful attacks of 10 will only deal 8.<br>
 <div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24drakes%24fire.png</div>
-Things get much more interested with this Fire Drake. Generally, it is easy to hit a drake (they have low defenses on most terrains), but their resistance is very good against some attack - and very bad against another ones. Here are his resistances against all 6 types of attack:
+Things get much more interesting with the Fire Drake. When enemy drakes use fire against this one, the 10 damage will be reduced by '''60%''', so only 4 hitpoints will be lost. A Dark Sorcerer with cold damage is more dangerous. The drake has '''-40%''' cold resistance, so attacks with force 10 will harm it by 14 hitpoints. The following table shows its resistances against all 6 types of attack:
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-
@@ Line 24: / Line 33: @@
 |}
-Enemy drake can use fire against this drake. Attack with force 10 will be lowered by '''60%''', so only 4 hitpoints will be lost. However, Dark Sorcerer with cold damage is more dangerous. The drake has '''-40%''' cold resistance. Attack with force 10 will harm this drake by 14 hitpoints.<br>
+<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24undead-skeletal%24revenant%24revenant.png</div>
+Undead skeletons, such as the revenant, also have different resistances. Killing them with swords or arrows will be very slow, but arcane and fire attacks can kill them easily or force them to retreat. Resistances of an undead revenant:
+{| class="wikitable"
+|-
+! Blade !! Pierce !! Impact !! Fire !! Cold !! Arcane
+|-
+| 40% || 60% || -20% || -20% || 60% || -20%
+|}
 ==Marksman and magic attacks==
-Units with Marksman are good against well defended units in good terrains. Their chance to hit is very high, at least '''60%'''. So, hiding Elvish Ranger will be as vulnerable in the forest as in the flat plains. Marksman is activated only when attacking, not defending.
+Units with Marksman are good against well-defended units in good terrain. Their chance to hit is very high, at least '''60%'''. A hiding Elvish Ranger will be as vulnerable in the forest as in the flat plains. Marksman is activated only when attacking, not defending. Magic attacks are even more deadly. Attacks have '''70%''' chance to hit, in both offense and defense.
-Magic attacks are even more deadly. Attack have '''70%''' chance to hit, in both offense and defense.
+<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24elves-wood%24ranger.png</div> An Elvish Ranger has these defenses:
-<div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.14/pics/core%24images%24units%24elves-wood%24ranger.png</div> Elvish Ranger will have this defense:
 {| class="wikitable"
 |-
@@ Line 40: / Line 56: @@
 <div class="thumb tleft">https://units.wesnoth.org/1.15/pics/core%24images%24units%24undead-skeletal%24revenant%24revenant.png</div>
-To kill an important unit fast, read the profile of that unit. The fastest way is to attack it with your multiple units with magic attacks of the correct type. About 6 Mages would kill a powerful Revenant quickly, because their fire and arcane attack is great against skeletons. While the skeleton might try to dodge attacks, terrain will not help him much against magic.<br><br>
+To discover, how to kill an important unit efficiently, read the profile of that unit. The fastest way is to attack it with your multiple units with magic attacks of the correct type. About 6 Mages would kill a powerful Revenant quickly, because their fire and arcane attack is great against skeletons. Although the skeleton will try to dodge the attacks, terrain will not help him much against magic.<br><br>
 TIP: Units with high defenses and low hitpoints, like outlaws, are a great target for mages and other units with magic attacks.
 [[Category: How to Play]]