About armour

So, I've got a question.

Out of the guides / builds I've read, there seems to be no one who puts points into increased armour. Instead they go for hp and hp reg. I'd like to know the main reasons (ofc they will vary depending on which build). Why is armour so unpopular? I've read the dmg mitigation forumla for armour, and I understand it, but it doesn't provide a simple answer. Is it just too many points to pay compared to what you get in actual survivability? Hp and reg is more useful? How?

For example, I'm using a build on my mara with some similarities to the popular ground slam one, spent an equal amount of points on armour and hp / hp reg. And I havn't had any problems yet (a1 merci). I'd like to know out of a melee Marauders perspective, but any class works.

Thanks in advance for some insight into the above.

From what I gather, it isn't necessarily that points invested into +armour% are useless compared to +HP% or +HP regeneration, but rather than your armour value only absorbs a percentage of any attack.

For weaker attacks, armour is great because you barely feel it, so being surrounded by weaker mobs is not as dangerous. However, even a high armour rating won't absorb enough damage if the initial hit is very powerful (like a critical hit). So, to avoid getting one-shotted by rare mobs/bosses, players stack HP (or conversely ES with CI)

Actually, now I do understand.

Damage Reduction = Armour / ( Armour + (12 * Damage) )

So for example: If I want 50% dmg reduction on an attack which deals 100 dmg, I'd need 1200 rating.
If I want the same 50% reduction on a 300 dmg attack, I'd need 3600 rating.
600 dmg attack = need 7200 (!) armour rating. And so on.

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cynicalidealism wrote:

For weaker attacks, armour is great because you barely feel it, so being surrounded by weaker mobs is not as dangerous. However, even a high armour rating won't absorb enough damage if the initial hit is very powerful (like a critical hit). So, to avoid getting one-shotted by rare mobs/bosses, players stack HP (or conversely ES with CI)

But could it be worth investing for example 2 points into reduced crit dmg taken (found close to Mara starting position)?

I find I have some trouble with hard hitting fellas such as Brutus and Kole.

While those nodes are probably more useful than the other path in the Marauder tree (increased flask effectiveness) I do not think they'll save you from critical hits by guys like Brutus/Kole

The best way to survive their attacks is to either
a) avoid them by running away OR
b) use things like totems (esp. decoy) to distract bosses

Ideally the above, because no matter what you can't really face-tank those particular bosses without crazy high life/ES and equally crazy leech/regen