Afer re-reading "An analysis of osmosis and pain" by Charis, I decided to try out a mage with a nearly maxed -dfe setup.
Here's how he goes:
Obsidian helm of Deflection : -4 dfe
Scavenger Carapace : -15 dfe
Wicked Axe: -5 dfe
Dual RoE: -4 dfe
Jade/Garnet/Crystal amulets or Harmony for when stun occurs
Total -28 dfe
Maxed resistances
and he only sports 580 mana at clvl 41 (no magic/mana adders)
On normal diff, only stronger physical attackers can cause me more than one point of damage, no stun.
On nightmare diff, only stronger physical attackers can cause me to go into hit recovery, not stun until Hell.
On hell diff, no stun through the Church and Cats, except from bosses. Lesser snakes don't stun, same for weaker dogs. Stronger breeds stun frequently.
The biggest advantage I've seen is VS elemental attackers. They cause extremly pathetic damage. Magistrates on Hell diff, sometimes don't do a single point of damage. Even the mighty Advocates are reduced to an aproximation of their Nightmare version damagewise.
This test was done at -23 dfe actually, I found the Wicked Axe in the process and chose not to use it for a better linearity of test results. So I may replace the two RoE with Stability and Balance rings, to achieve Zen Hit Recovery with a total -24 dfe.
Here's how he goes:
Obsidian helm of Deflection : -4 dfe
Scavenger Carapace : -15 dfe
Wicked Axe: -5 dfe
Dual RoE: -4 dfe
Jade/Garnet/Crystal amulets or Harmony for when stun occurs
Total -28 dfe
Maxed resistances
and he only sports 580 mana at clvl 41 (no magic/mana adders)
On normal diff, only stronger physical attackers can cause me more than one point of damage, no stun.
On nightmare diff, only stronger physical attackers can cause me to go into hit recovery, not stun until Hell.
On hell diff, no stun through the Church and Cats, except from bosses. Lesser snakes don't stun, same for weaker dogs. Stronger breeds stun frequently.
The biggest advantage I've seen is VS elemental attackers. They cause extremly pathetic damage. Magistrates on Hell diff, sometimes don't do a single point of damage. Even the mighty Advocates are reduced to an aproximation of their Nightmare version damagewise.
This test was done at -23 dfe actually, I found the Wicked Axe in the process and chose not to use it for a better linearity of test results. So I may replace the two RoE with Stability and Balance rings, to achieve Zen Hit Recovery with a total -24 dfe.