Gear with several small 'Damage Reduction while X' affixes (Close/Distant/Fortified/Injured) LOOKS like it adds up to a big defensive number, but multiplicative DR stacking means the real total is meaningfully less than naive addition, and each one is also individually conditional on its trigger being active.
See def_fewer_bigger_dr_sources_beat_many_small for the math. The trap compounds because these are also conditional (not always active), unlike Armor/Resistance which apply to every hit - so the realized value is often even lower than the already-reduced multiplicative total suggests.
Two 25% DR sources = 43.75% actual combined mitigation, not 50%; less again once you account for uptime on the trigger condition.
Prefer one large, always-on DR source (base Armor/Resistance investment) over accumulating several small conditional DR affixes with the same nominal total.
trapConfirmedAll
Open in the planner