# Damage soaking

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Damage soaking is a recently added update to the Defence skill as documented in the December 2010 Behind the Scenes update. Damage soaking has been added to the majority of head, body, leg and shield slot equipment.

This update was designed to rectify an imbalance between the potential damage per minute (DPM) and damage capacity (DC) of higher-level players. The rate of damage dealt at high combat levels was far superior to the rate of damage that could be withstood with certain armours and prayers, especially when in a multiplayer environment. Previously, NPCs and monsters dealt with this by having life points totaling way beyond 990. The update helped reduce all damage over 200 life points as higher level equipment now provides higher damage soaking levels.

Damage soaking is only applied to helmets, legs, chest, and shield areas.

It should be noted that no Dungeoneering equipment has damage soaking.

 “ We have recognised an imbalance between the potential damage per minute (DPM) and damage capacity (DC) of higher-level players. The rate of damage that you can deal at high levels is far greater than the rate of damage you can withstand, especially when in a multiplayer environment. NPCs and boss monsters can deal with this issue because their life points can reach far beyond 990, but players' life points cannot. Dealing with this imbalance will be done in several ways, with the first of those ways being introduced this month in the form of damage soaking. In what will be a huge addition to the Defence skill and defensive equipment, we're aiming to add damage soaking stats (currently only applied to the chaotic, eagle-eye and farseer kiteshields) to the majority of head, body, leg and shield slot equipment. Damage soaking will help reduce all incoming damage values over 200 life points, with higher grades of equipment offering a greater percentage of 'soak', and with members' equipment offering the greatest percentage of all. ” — Mod Mark [1]
Damage Soaking does not apply to all damage dealt, but the damage which is in excess of 200 life points. The soaking percentage is applied to the excess damage, and does not occur if the hit is under 200. A common misconception is that a hit of 200 activates the damage soaking for a flat soaking rate, or that the soaking effect is random and does not always occur on hits above 200. The actual method of absorbing damage is as follows.

### Example

Ranged hit: 450.
Full dragon: 30% Absorb Ranged.

Ignoring the first 200 damage, 250 damage is excess, and is applied to the soaking percentage.

$250 x 0.3 = 75$ points soaked
$450 - 75 = 375$ damage taken

``` template  = :Damage soaking/Calc
form      = damageCalcForm
result    = damageCalcResult
param     = damage|Starting damage|0|int|
param     = percentage|% absorbed|0|int|
```
 This text will disappear if the form is loaded properly. This text will disappear if the form is submitted.

Therefore, to find the actual damage received, simply subtract the damage soaked from the total damage received.

This formula means that smaller hits from faster weapons will be reduced by smaller amounts, and that multi-hitting weapons (such as Dragon claws) are able to avoid much of the soaking, as the individual hits are rarely above 200. The basic concept is that should a large amount of damage be dealt in PvP, the armour will absorb some of that damage.