Asking for a friend, why do any boss abilities need 200% pen?

Shaper balls were already really dangerous previously at 60% pen or w/e it was, without just converting completely out of cold damage taken. What purpose does making them 200% pen serve?

It's gone from one of the most dangerous projectiles in game to near guaranteed death unless you don't take cold damage, and I'm just not seeing the reason for doing that (it pretty much railroads you into cold taken as x for any 16.5 or 17 farming build, and that's silly)

I've never heard of it being 200% pen, do you have any source for that?

As far as I know Uber Shaper Balls have 40% pen.

hehe.....there is nothing in the game with more than 100% penetration, or anywhere close. Because that WOULDN'T make sense.

The only possible way you could get that high is with a combination of various negative effects all at once. But even then, I don't think its possible to reach values higher than like 50-60% from enemy attacks, counting for every possible penetration mod all stacked together.

In fact, this is the reason why so many people complain about overwhelm: because overwhelm from monsters almost always starts at 100%, whereas penetration never gets anywhere close to that. This is why conversion of physical damage is the king of all defensive layers. (except ofc unconditionals like endurance charges and fortify).


BTW: regular shaper balls are only 25% penetration. Only lvl 85 uber uber shaper, the hardest hitting shaper ball, is 40%. Not 60% and certainly not 200%.