Will Saffell's Frame be OP in 3.16?

Saffell's Frame got the mod "Cannot block attacks" but how is this mechanic working ingame?

A) You have 100% less chance to block attacks

or

B) You have 100% less maximum chance to block attacks

If A, then whatever, you just can't block and thats that.

If B, then you can't block attacks, BUT... your chance to block attacks is still a thing but it's now converted into overcapped chance to block attacks.

Previously that did not affect anything, but now with the new keystone your overcapped chance to block attacks now increase your chance to block spells by double its value.

So if B is the case, then you can equip Saffell's Frame and get the keystone and Saffell's Frame got a base 24% chance to block attacks which is converted into 48% chance to block spells and then you have 15-20% (depending on roll) extra chance of blocking spells. The keystone caps you at 50% chance to block spells, but taking the keystone and just equiping the Saffell's Frame would grant you a 50% spell block chance without any additional investment.

So.. which one is it? (If B, please don't nerf this because of this post!)

You cannot block attacks. There is absolutely nothing in game to overwrite "cannot."

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Aldonés wrote:

You cannot block attacks. There is absolutely nothing in game to overwrite "cannot."

I'm not talking about overwriting it, what I'm asking is how the function of not being able to blocked is coded in the game.

If a monster attacks the player, then the game checks for block. If "CanBlock = no" then you can't block the attack and if "BlockChanceMax = 0" then you can't block the attack.

So these both things will do the same thing in every scenario ingame from patch 1.1 up to patch 3.16 where suddenly the Versatile Combatant will interact with it in a different way.

So if they never added "CanBlock = no" and instead used "BlockChanceMax = 0" then no one would have noticed anything at all the past 10 years so it's not unlikely that they didn't invent a new mechanic "CanBlock = yes/no" since it's easier to just put the "BlockChanceMax" to 0 to achieve the same result.

I wouldn't call it OP. Even if it works the way you want, you'll still need to get your block above 50% to start boosting spell block, just like with any other shield...and you'll get on benefit of actually having 50% attack block.

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ExiledSarin wrote:

I wouldn't call it OP. Even if it works the way you want, you'll still need to get your block above 50% to start boosting spell block, just like with any other shield...and you'll get on benefit of actually having 50% attack block.

Nope, the beauty of this is that if the mechanic sets your maximum chance to block an attack to 0%, then you have 24% chance to block attack damage (base block of the shield) while your maximum chance to block attacks is 0%.

Overcapped block is calculated by [Chance to block attacks] - [Maximum chance to block attacks] which would be 24% - 0% = 24% overcapped block.

Then Versatile Combatant converts every 1% of overcapped chance to block attack damage into 2% chance to block spell damage so the 24% overcapped chance to block attackdamage would convert to 48% chance to block spell damage.

Easy to find out I guess. Just equip the shield now and check how much block chance you have in the tooltip. If its a positive value it seems the game still counts the block chance even though in the final calculation it is set to zero.
But then you still need to get above 75% block in order to trigger the keystone.
More interesting it would be if you dont get any value in the tooltip because then it may work as you specified.
I think you are right in that it actually could work as you specified which would be very OP considering that all the downside from the "cannot block attacks" is lost, you get 50% chance to block spells and you get the max ress on top. It is essentially the best defensive shield for any spellcaster then.

It may be a more appealing unique in 3.16 but that has little to do with block and everything to do with the planned additional max resist nodes on the tree.

I checked this in Standard, it does not modify the displayed "chance to block attacks" or "maximum chance to block attacks".

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6_din_49 wrote:

I checked this in Standard, it does not modify the displayed "chance to block attacks" or "maximum chance to block attacks".

Spoiler

Just wanna note interesting thing here.

You have Chance to Block Attack Damage stat displayed in character screen. Usually it's hidden (while holding Saffell's) to not confuse players. Once you get something that scales from your Chance to Block Attack Damage it shows up again, since the value of the stat matters again and you probably prefer to know it.

Yes, the stat is there, but it's effect is nullified.