Spiffy post (even Castle thinks so) on how Defiance (the Blaster Damage boost when HP drop low) works — hard numbers and (proven) equations from the devs.
An interesting table the writer generates:
Current Damage Health: Bonus: Notes: 100.00% 0.55% Full health 57.00% 10.88% Assault (10.5%) 45.00% 25.00% Small rage 42.00% 30.78% Circa one-shot death from average boss 41.00% 32.99% Fortitude (31.25%) 35.00% 50.00% Large Rage (50%) 31.00% 65.98% Aim (62.5%) 28.00% 81.23% Perma Rage (80%) 25.00% 100.00% Build Up (100%) 15.00% 200.00% Circa one-shot death from average LT 9.00% 303.14% Damage Cap (assuming 3-slot damage) 8.00% 324.90% Circa one-shot death from average minion
The notes show either equivalents (at 35% health it’s the same as having a Large Rage) as well as some danger points (yeah, you get a 200% bonus when you’re at 15% — but average LTs at that level can one-shot you … numbers based on Level 50s).
And I thought this was interesting, too:
The interesting stuff, as you might expect, happens at or below half health. But you don’t need to be at a sliver of health to get a significant benefit. Also, in spite of conjecture to the contrary, my own testing indicates that the defiance bar lags, but defiance itself doesn’t: if you have X% health when you fire a shot, you’ll get that much defiance boost, period. If you are there when you hit the activation button, you’ll get the boost (at least as far as my testing so far indicates).
I’ve never had a good sense of Defiance on the blasters I run — if I’m around 25% health I’m a bit too busy to see what sort of damage I’m doing or where the Defiance bar is, I’m just either fleeing, popping greens, or trying to Blast Him Before He Blasts Me.
Defiance also adds a (tiny) TH bonus, but nothing to write home about.