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Mechanics FAQ: Armor, Crit, Chests & Soul Stones
Answers to the mechanics players ask about most but rarely find explained.
Does armor have a damage-reduction cap?
Yes. Damage reduction is capped at 75%. Past the cap, more armor does nothing, so pivot to HP or resistances.
What does chest drop rate multiplier do?
It raises how often chests (incl. blue chests) drop while farming, so more chests per hour means more gear and materials. Stack it when farming for drops rather than raw EXP.
How do I get Soul Stones?
Soul Stones drop from Act Boss chests at X-10 (1-10 / 2-10 / 3-10), and rarely from stage chests. They are not guaranteed, and they are consumed only on a successful Act-boss clear.
How is damage / crit calculated?
Auto-attack DPS is roughly Attack × Attack Speed × (1 + Crit Chance × (Crit Damage − 1)), so stack Crit Chance and Crit Damage together for the biggest gains. Crit Chance caps at 75%, and any gear pushing past that is wasted. Crit Damage has no hard cap but soft-diminishes after about 300%. This is base auto-attack damage and excludes skill and element multipliers. (Community-datamined.)
Do I get chests while farming offline?
No. Offline progress grants gold and XP only, never chests. Since chests are the sole source of gear and materials, active play sessions matter far more than idle time for gearing up.
Are chest cooldowns based on rarity or level?
Level. Each chest level has its own independent cooldown timer, and there are ten levels. That is why jumping between stages that drop different chest levels lets you collect several chests in the time one timer would take to recharge. See the Chest Farming guide for routes.
Do pet bonuses work if the pet isn't equipped?
Yes. A pet's passive effects apply as soon as you unlock it, whether or not it is your active pet. Unlock every pet you can; the one you set as active is purely cosmetic.
Can I respec skill points for free?
Yes. Refunding and reallocating skill points costs nothing, so respec freely between a wave-clear setup for farming and a single-target setup for bosses. Remember to re-equip a skill after moving points for it to take effect.
What about elemental and chaos resistance?
Armor only blocks physical damage. Elemental resistance (fire, cold, lightning) and chaos resistance handle the rest, and each caps at 75%. Fire resistance becomes essential around Hell, and chaos resistance from roughly stage 3-7. See the Resistances guide for the full breakdown.
How does armor reduce damage?
Armor only reduces physical damage (not elemental or chaos). The reduction is about armor / (armor + 14 × stageLevel + 12), so the same Armor is weaker on higher stages because the threshold grows by 14 per stage level. The final hit is damage × (1 − reduction), and reduction is capped at 75% in practice (reached around 3× that threshold), so past the cap more Armor does nothing and you should stack HP instead. Large hits also partially pierce Armor. (Community-datamined.)
Sources
- Steam store page
- In-game verification (TBH: Task Bar Hero)
Data updated 2026-06-22