How much Toughness a Tank really need, and the simple math of Toughness in Rift.
Rift’s Toughness stat is important for Tanks and its maximum effectiveness depends on the level of the content.
The simple rules are:
For Normal dungeons, Tank does not need any Toughness.
For Tier 1 (T1) dungeons, Tank needs 50 Toughness at most.
For Tier 2 (T2) dungeons, or Expert Rifts (5-man), Tank needs 100 Toughness at most.
For Raid dungeons, or Raid Rift, Tank needs 150 Toughness at most.
What is Level Content?
Level Content is the difficulty of the game content. There are normal dungeons from level 1 to 50.
After level 50, dungeons can be turned into Expert dungeons that have progressive difficulties terms as Tier 1 or T1, and Tier 2 or T2.
There are also Raid dungeons designed for 20-man difficulty.
Minor and Major Rifts throughout the game world can be opened as Expert Rifts with difficulty equivalent to T2.
Raid Rifts exist in high level zones with difficulty equivalent to a Raid dungeon (20-man).
The math behind Toughness
Toughness only negates the Critical Damage Bonus of a monster or boss, and its effectiveness has a maximum (or cap) depending on the Level Content.
Toughness is a linear:
0 (zero) Toughness negates 0% Critical Damage Bonus
50 Toughness negates 100% Critical Damage Bonus
100 Toughness negates 200% Critical Damage Bonus
150 Toughness negates 300% Critical Damage Bonus
Understanding mobs damage
All monsters and boss (mobs) deals base damage when they critical hit a player–I will call this Normal Critical Hit Damage.
For each Level Content, a mob will deal its Normal Critical Hit Damage plus Critical Damage Bonus.
For Normal dungeons, mob’s Critical Damage Bonus is (zero).
For Tier 1 (T1) dungeons, mob’s Critical Damage Bonus is 100%.
For Tier 2 (T2) dungeons, or Expert Rifts (5-man), mob’s Critical Damage Bonus is 200%.
For Raid dungeons, or Raid Rift, mob’s Critical Damage Bonus is 300%.
Note that the mob’s Critical Damage Bonus increases, but its Normal Critical Hit Damage remains the same.
Put all this math in simple game terms
Suppose a mob deals 1,000 health damage when it “critical hit” the Tank. This 1,000 is the Normal Critical Hit Damage.
Normal dungeon
In a Normal dungeon, mob will deal 0 (zero) extra damage from Critical Damage Bonus. So the maximum total damage will be 1,000 + 0 = 1,000 damage to the Tank.
Since Toughness only negates Critical Damage Bonus which is 0 (zero) in Normal dungeons, the Tank will take 1,000 Normal Critical Hit Damage from the mob regardless of the amount of Toughness he/she has.
Tier 1 (T1) dungeon
In a Tier 1 (T1) dungeon, mob will deal 1,000 extra damage from Critical Damage Bonus. That is 100% of the Normal Critical Hit Damage. So the maximum total damage will be 1,000 + 1,000 = 2,000 damage to the Tank.
Critical Damage Bonus is 100% in T1 dungeons, so the Tank needs 50 Toughness at most to negate this 100% Critical Damage Bonus.
So, in a Tier 1 (T1) dungeon, mob critical hits will deal 2,000 damage total.
The Tank with 0 (zero) Toughness will be dealt 2,000 damage.
The Tank with 50 Toughness will be dealt 1,000 damage.
The Tank with 100 Toughness will be dealt 1,000 damage.
The Tank with 150 Toughness will be dealt 1,000 damage.
The Tank will still take the 1,000 Normal Critical Hit Damage, but with enough Toughness of 50, the Critical Damage Bonus is negated in a Tier 1 (T1) dungeon.
Tier 2 (T2) dungeon, or Expert Rift (5-man)
In a Tier 2 (T2) dungeon, or Expert Rift, mob will deal 2,000 extra damage from Critical Damage Bonus. That is 200% of the Normal Critical Hit Damage. So the maximum total damage will be 1,000 + 2,000 = 3,000 damage to the Tank.
Critical Damage Bonus is 200% in T2 dungeons, or Expert Rift, so the Tank needs 100 Toughness at most to negate this 200% Critical Damage Bonus.
So, in a Tier 2 (T2) dungeon, or Expert Rift, mob critical hits will deal 3,000 damage total.
The Tank with 0 (zero) Toughness will be dealt 3,000 damage.
The Tank with 50 Toughness will be dealt 2,000 damage.
The Tank with 100 Toughness will be dealt 1,000 damage.
The Tank with 150 Toughness will be dealt 1,000 damage.
The Tank will still take the 1,000 Normal Critical Hit Damage, but with enough Toughness of 100, the Critical Damage Bonus is negated in a Tier 2 (T2) dungeon, or Expert Rift.
Tier 3 (T3) Raid dungeon, or Raid Rift
In a Tier 3 (T3) Raid dungeon, or Raid Rift, mob will deal 3,000 extra damage from Critical Damage Bonus. That is 300% of the Normal Critical Hit Damage. So the maximum total damage will be 1,000 + 3,000 = 4,000 damage to the Tank.
Critical Damage Bonus is 300% in a Tier 3 (T3) Raid dungeon, or Raid Rift, so the Tank needs 150 Toughness at most to negate this 300% Critical Damage Bonus.
So, in a Tier 3 (T3) Raid dungeon, or Raid Rift, mob critical hits will deal 4,000 damage total.
The Tank with 0 (zero) Toughness will be dealt 4,000 damage.
The Tank with 50 Toughness will be dealt 3,000 damage.
The Tank with 100 Toughness will be dealt 2,000 damage.
The Tank with 150 Toughness will be dealt 1,000 damage.
The Tank will still take the 1,000 Normal Critical Hit Damage, but with enough Toughness of 150, the Critical Damage Bonus is negated in a Tier 3 (T3) Raid dungeon, or Raid Rift.
