What are the best resists to choose?

[Peter_Principle]

Of the five resists to choose at lvls 5, 10 and 15, which would be the best, and why?

So far I've gone with fire and acid but that was just on the recommendation of a friend. I thought about taking electricity as my third, but I've got that djinn ring, and that tends to offer good resist against the zaps you take in FoT. Maybe cold, if I ever happen to want to tank the shadows in the Amrath raid?

[Matuse]

Fire is a given. Anybody who doesn't take Fire is an gibbering imbecile who should not be listened to on any topic.

Sonic is...pretty meh. Not many things use sonic, and the damage doesn't tend to be very significant. You can cast resist energy and be pretty much immune to all sonic damage you'll encounter. Not worth it.

The others are all viable. Acid used to be somewhat skippable - it really only defended against burning blood and the acid traps that you'd just skip over anyway. But now we've got more green/black dragons, and casters are regularly hitting with black dragon bolt and other ouchy spells.

Personally, I'd go Lightning and Cold. They show up a lot and come in big chunks that it's really nice to be able to take that extra 10 points out of. The Djinn ring is certainly nice, but it's taking up a ring slot and you lose whatever you normally wear there. Situationally when you KNOW you're going to need huge lightning protection (Blue Dragon, BOOM), that's fine, but for normal questing you still get hit with a lot of electricity and it's not feasible to have the Djinn ring on 24/7.

[Ancient]

Fire is a given. Anybody who doesn't take Fire is an gibbering imbecile who should not be listened to on any topic.

I used to take fire. But it is easy enough to scroll fire/cold shield which is 50% fire absorb, and there are lots of items with fire absorb.

Just some gibbering to consider.

[Blackheartox]

Polar rays hurt, so does black dragon bolt, sometimes you get eladrins on yourself stacked and whisps in ee druids cast lighting.
So id go with those 3, cold, acid and lighting.
Not much fire in endgame and can scroll fire shield for that.
Could say same for cold but realy, lotsa cold spam in stormhorns so its a must.

From fire youl get a ocasional met swarm which you can evade easily.
If its for tr only dunno, prolly different resists

[Matuse]

But it is easy enough to scroll fire/cold shield which is 50% fire absorb, and there are lots of items with fire absorb.

There's a lot of game before you're able to get enough UMD to use those scrolls (assuming you ever get enough UMD to use those scrolls), they don't last very long, as a buff it can be easily dispelled, and any item with fire absorb is an item with other stats that you're not using.

Even with all those other reductions, fire damage is so ubiquitous and huge that every drop of extra protection you can get is useful.

[SirValentine]

There's a lot of game before you're able to get enough UMD to use those scrolls (assuming you ever get enough UMD to use those scrolls)

Anyone who can't figure out how to get the fairly low UMD needed for Fire Shield scrolls (EIGHT points lower than GH or Heal, TWELVE lower than Res or GT, TWENTY-EIGHT POINTS LOWER than no-fail-any-scroll)...how did you put it?

is an gibbering imbecile who should not be listened to on any topic.

Electric & Cold are my top 2 choices. I'd personally put Fire 3rd, but I could see people choosing Acid.

[JOTMON]

I usually prepare for effects in this order as I level.

Fire
Acid
Cold
Electric
Sonic

[Matuse]

Anyone who can't figure out how to get the fairly low UMD needed for Fire Shield scrolls

It's only trivial if you build for it. If you start out with say, 8 int, 11 cha, getting any functional UMD is a major uphill climb.

And even if you do go gonzo for UMD, you're not no-failing fireshield scrolls at level 5.

[Ancient]

There's a lot of game before you're able to get enough UMD to use those scrolls (assuming you ever get enough UMD to use those scrolls), they don't last very long, as a buff it can be easily dispelled, and any item with fire absorb is an item with other stats that you're not using.

Ship buffs do an amazing job of covering the early game. Your equipment point is countered that any element you don't have an answer for is a weakness.

Even with all those other reductions, fire damage is so ubiquitous and huge that every drop of extra protection you can get is useful.

10 points of dmg isn't a game breaker, but I still think the broader coverage is better than overkill on one element.

[Ancient]

It's only trivial if you build for it. If you start out with say, 8 int, 11 cha, getting any functional UMD is a major uphill climb.

And even if you do go gonzo for UMD, you're not no-failing fireshield scrolls at level 5.

Ship buffs cover most level 5 fire damage. If you are going to talk about the "optimal" solution, don't make everything else completely un-optimal.

Remember, you set the standard that anyone who doesn't pick fire is a "gibbering imbecile". The very fact you have multiple people presenting valid arguments for things other than fire shows... you overstated that point.

[redspecter23]

I think one thing to consider is whether or not a build has evasion as that can change things slightly. Much of the large burst fire damage is evadable. With cold, you have to consider both Niac's and Polar Ray, neither of which can be evaded. I don't find electric to be as deadly to evasion toons as mobs use Eladar's much less than Niac's and most other electric spells can be evaded. I will agree that sonic seems to be the easiest one to skip. If new content has a pile of mobs just plain spamming sonic spells, that could change easily.

I think it really comes down to play preference as well. If you really don't like running Stormhorns for instance, then cold becomes a bit less important. If you end up running against a pair of fire dragons daily for the next 6 months, then you will find fire extremely useful.

[Matuse]

Remember, you set the standard that anyone who doesn't pick fire is a "gibbering imbecile". The very fact you have multiple people presenting valid arguments for things other than fire shows... you overstated that point.

I've seen zero valid arguments.

[Ancient]

I've seen zero valid arguments.

You lost the thread when you tried to use elemental damage at level 5 as an argument. Ship buffs cover that. If you haven't seen any valid arguments... it is not because they were not made.

[LOOON375]

I usually prepare for effects in this order as I level.

Fire
Acid
Cold
Electric
Sonic

This!

There's only a few places, mostly during the low levels, that sonic damage can kill you. There's maybe 5 sonic traps that I can think of. And those traps can be avoided.

Because of this, we don't keep a sonic resist shrine on our boat.

[Atremus]

Personally I take:

Fire at L5 - reasoning is not for Heroic, but for Epic, Burning Blood (not a lot of damage true, but bloody annoying in GH) and Fire based Spells that are cast at you.

Cold at L10 - reasoning is for Niacs. It sucks when a caster gets that stacked on you, even with Fireshield, I still want as little incoming damage. Note: this used to be handy in ToD when Shadow tanking but no one runs Amrath anymore (no need tbh)

Acid at L15 - reasoning is for all the freaking acid damage in Epics and black dragon bolt.

Sonic is hardly used in the game, so I see little need to spend a feat.

Electric is devastating but I find that twisting Sheath gets me through

However, due to the last winter games, I might go: Cold, Acid and Lightning from now on. My glowing eyes have FR10 on them now.

[unbongwah]

w/Evasion - Fire, Cold, Acid, Lightning
w/out Evasion - Lightning, Fire, Cold, Acid

For me the rationale is simple: Lightning spells have the highest burst DPS in DDO, but all of them except EES have Reflex saves. So if you've got Evasion (and good Reflex saves, ofc), you'll be avoiding a lot of electric dmg already and have less need for the added protection. OTOH, there are plenty of fire / cold / acid spells w/out saves (Scorching Ray, Melfs, Ice Storm, etc.); so while Evasion helps against Firewall etc., you'll want extra protection from those no-save spells.

W/out Evasion, though, electric spells do a lot of dmg, even if you have high Reflex; thus extra electric resist is a higher priority (for me). Even if you're good at dodging Lightning Bolts etc., Chain Lightning is a PITA.

[Matuse]

You lost the thread when you tried to use elemental damage at level 5 as an argument. Ship buffs cover that.

I never have or ever will care about ship buffs. Most people are not in level 60+ guilds to have major resist shrines available on a whim.

But ok, let's go with that. If you're carrying 30 point ship buffs, then you're also doing elite streaks. Fire damage on elites even at level 5 will frequently hit for more than 30 points. I've been hit for over 100 by traps on elite at level 7.

it is not because they were not made.

The only valid argument to be made as a reason to not take fire would be "I am immune to all fire damage, and therefore the FvS resists give no benefit of any kind." Since that argument has not been made, there have been no valid arguments made.

Fire is too common and too painful for the entire time you are in the game for any other response to be considered in any way.