What can helps you to increase your survivability in Median XL?

Good day everyone!
I would like to tell you, what can helps you to increase your survivability in Median XL.
I found, that any character in Median XL has very good damage, but his survivability is too low. It was very big problem for me   . And even big defence couldn't help me.

So, what can helps us?
 
Damage Reduced by %
Increase Maximum Life
Increase Maximum resistance
Reanimates from mystic orbs
 
Firs thing - it’s Damage Reduction for your character.
 
Early, when I didn’t use that - I died very easy in many locations of Destruction difficulty.
 
Pay attention that Damage Reduction should be in % - it’s very important.
 
You can get it from next items (for any character – amazon, druid, barbarian etc.):
 
Regular Unique
Body Armor
Jitan's Kamon (Splint Mail)
Tier 6
Defense: (2170-4307)
Durability: 75
Required Strength: 391
Required Level: 49
100% CtC lvl 42 Singularity when you Die
10% CtC lvl 19 Guard Tower when you Kill an Enemy
Adds (241-480)-(481-960) fire damage
Adds (241-480)-(481-960) lightning damage
Adds (241-480)-(481-960) cold damage
+(191 to 220)% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 10%
Socketed: 6

Also you get + fire/lighting/cold damage from this Armor – it’s very good.
 
Next item is runeword Truce Level 98 (rune Vith in Belt)
-5% Decreased Attack Speed
-5% Slower Cast Rate
Stun Attack
+(301 to 350)% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 10%
Slows Attacker by 5%
 
It adds Stun Attack for stopping your enemies – it’s good bonus.
 
Next item is runeword Megalith Level 90 (rune Ath in Boots)
+1 to All Skills
25% Faster Cast Rate
15% Faster Hit Recovery
+(201 to 250)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 50) to Strength
Regenerate Mana +50%
Damage Reduced by 5%
Level 8 Mana Tide Totem (15 Charges)
 
 
Additionally we can get +1% of Damage Reduction for each Armor (Helm, Body Armor, gloves, belt, shield)
For that we will use Luck recipe:
Any Armor + Oil of Luck = returns item, may add bonuses
This recipe has 20% chance to add following bonuses:
+40% Enhanced Defense and/or Damage Reduced by 1%
This recipe works only one time, so if it didn’t work, we have to rerol armor:
For rerol Body Armor use receipt: 
Body Armor + Oil of Enhancement + Arcane Crystal x2 → reroll item as unique
After that repeat Luck receipt until you get Damage Reduced by 1%
For Belt and Boots, before you insert rune in item, use luck receipt to add Damage Reduced by 1%. If it didn't work – rerol item (oil of renewal) and repeat luck receipt.
And only after that make runewords Megalith and Truce
 
Such you can get Damage Reduced by 1% for all of your armor (Helm, Body Armor, gloves, belt, shield).
 
When you will start farming Tran Athulua at Destruction difficulty – you get Sunstone of the Gods charm. Also you have 2% chance to get Tran Athulua Trophy (Cube with the Sunstone of the Gods to get Damage Reduced by 5%)
 
So we get DR: 11% (Body Armor) + 11% (Belt) + 6% (Boots) + 1% (Any Helm) + 1% (Any Gloves) + 1% (any Shield) +5% (Tran Athulua Trophy)= 36% Damage Reduction  – it will help you alot.
 
Also, you can find many special items with % DR (only for druid, only for amazon, …)–
see page of runewords:
http://mxl.vn.cz/doc/HTML_Doc_v2.5pre/runewords.html
and regular uniques:
http://mxl.vn.cz/doc/HTML_Doc_v2.5pre/uniques_tiered.html
 
Next our step for increased your survivability is Increase Maximum Life
You get it from next items:
 
Regular Unique Rings (2 pcs.)
Empyrean Band
Required Level: 40
1% CtC lvl 7 Singularity when you Kill an Enemy
(3 to 5)% Bonus to All Attributes
Increase Maximum Life and Mana 10%
(51 to 100)% Extra Gold from Monsters
 
Also Singularity is very good bonus for your killspeed.
 
Next item is Regular Unique Amulet
Teganze Pendant
+1 to All Skills
+(16 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Lightning Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Cold Spell Damage
Increase Maximum Life (11 to 15)%
Increase Maximum Mana (21 to 30)%
All Resists +10%
+100 Mana after each Kill
 
+1 to all skill is good bonus for this amulet
 
IMHO for many characters  next runeword will be a good gift:
Gehenna
Level 100
0-5 Jewels
+Xar
Weapons
25% Chance to cast level 27 Frozen Crown on Attack
+(251 to 300)% Enhanced damage
Adds 750-1000 cold damage
Adds 1500-2000 poison damage over 5 seconds
-50% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-50% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+50% to Cold Spell Damage
+50% to Poison Spell Damage
Increase Maximum Life and Mana 25%
Requirements -33%
 
Excellent increased maximum life (25%), - 50% enemy cold and poison resistance, + huge cold and poison damage – perfect weapon. But one important thing – you can get this runeword only from melee weapon.
 
And next very important way how to Increase Maximum Life – is Regular Unique Jewel
Demonstone Blood
Required Level: 40
Adds 5-20 fire damage
Adds 5-20 lightning damage
Adds 5-20 cold damage
Increase Maximum Life (2 to 3)%

 
Try to get 3% (not 2%) maxlife from each jewel.
You can insert 6 jewels to body armor (Splint Mail), 4 jewels to helm, 2 jewels to weapon runeword Gehenna, 3 jewels to gloves (I use gloves with runeword Kali), 1 jewel to belt, 3 jewels to boots, and 4-6 jewels to shield. Totally 23-25 jewels with 3% Increase Maximum Life = (69-75)% increase maximum life.
 
Also from uberlevel charms you can get
Sunstone of the Gods (Tran Athulua trophy)
Keep in Inventory to gain Bonus
Required Level: 100
Adds (51-100)-(101-150) Fire Damage
Adds (51-100)-(101-150) Lightning Damage
Adds (51-100)-(101-150) Cold Damage
Increase Maximum Life (11-15)%
Increase Maximum Mana (11-15)%
 
 
Laser Focus Crystal (Death Projector)
eep in Inventory to gain Bonus
Required Level: 80
Increase Maximum Life 10%
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+(6 to 15)% to Experience Gained

So we get 20% from rings, 15% from amulet, 25% from weapon, up to 75% from jewels + 25% from charms = 160% increase maximum life – it will help you alot.
 
Next our step for increased your survivability is Increase Maximum resistance and + to all resistance from mystic orbs for any armor.
Fist of all, I use gloves runeword Kali
Level 45
0-3 Jewels
+Pul
33% Chance to cast level 6 Fire Splash when you Kill an Enemy
+2 to All Skills
-214 Defense
+10% to Maximum Fire Resist
Fire Resist +31%
Level 2 Possess (124 Charges)
 
Main reason to use this gloves is +10% to Maximum Fire Resist, but such bonuses as +2 to all skills and 33% and Chance to cast level 6 Fire Splash when you Kill an Enemy – are very usefull for us too.

From charm Azmodan's Heart (Azmodan) you can get very big bonus:
Keep in Inventory to gain Bonus
Required Level: 100
All Resists +(31 to 40)%
+5% to All Maximum Resistances
Reduces Vendor Prices 10%

Next recipe is very expensive for us, but result is very good:
+5% to All Maximum Resistances.
For this result we have to use next recipe:
Our Unique Amulet (Teganze Pendant) + Moon of the Spider (charm from Lord Aldric Jitan) = our unique Amulet +5% to All Maximum Resistances
We have only 5% chance to get this bonus. If we don’t – we need cube this amulet one more time and repeat recipe.
 
Also cube your armor with mystic orbs:
Mystic Orb
Cube with Any Armor to Add Bonus
All Resists +2%
+2 Required Level
 
Pay attention, that all of your resistances should be at least 75 or above (if you use + to maximum resistances)
 
Better, if your resistance will be much higher, because many monsters pierce your resistances

Totally we have + 20 for max fire resistance and +10 to all other maximum resistances

And one more way to increase your survivability - use reanimates after each kill.
For that we can use mystic orbs for armor:
Mystic Orb
Cube with Any Armor to Add Bonus
1% Reanimate As: Fallen One
+2 Required Level
 
Or
 
Mystic Orb
Cube with Any Armor to Add Bonus
1% Reanimate As: Skeleton
+2 Required Level

Cube it with your armor to get reanimates after each kill. IMHO totally 20-50% reanimates after kill will be enough.
Don't worry, that your reanimates are too weak – they have the same level as all monsters around, so they won't die fast.
All enemies will hit your reanimates, while you will hit them  

So let's summarize. What can helps you to increase your survivability in Median XL.
 
We have Damage Reduction 35%
     We get less damage
Our Life Increased up to +160%
     You will die much more slowly
Our maximum resistances are increased up to 20% for fire and 10% for all other
     Elemental damage for us reduced very much
Reanimates after each kill
     Your reanimates will be meatshield between you and your enemies
 
That’s all. And luck you in your journey in Median XL!

Couple things;

Flat Dr is good too don't count it out. % and flat would be ideal.

You forgot boots when you listed the stuff that can get the lucky 1%


All around very informative. All those ways will definitely increase survivability and it may not be obvious to all newer players. Good job!

Cookie..good job.

Recently found valaska with +2 to sacred armor, it is written: invulnerability for 5.5 sec.
Are there any other such skills? Dunno.
I also wonder if damage reduced by X works the same way in terror and destruction or it is nerfed like lifeleech.

As i know damage reduced by X works the same way in terror and destruction.
And about sacred armor skill - unfortunatelly it has very big spell timer, so invulnerability not constant.
About other invulnerability skills i can't say definately.

unholy armor

FrostS wrote:Recently found valaska with +2 to sacred armor, it is written: invulnerability for 5.5 sec.
Are there any other such skills? Dunno.

There's also Conquest, which is a melee attack that makes you invulnerable.

Insert some ammendaments there :

A) flat bonuses to stats from skills (Paragon) do not benefit from %bonus to vit
B) % bonus to max HP only works for the following : HP gained from leveling + base HP , A Jade Figurine reward , HP gained from hard points into vitality , bonuses to max life such found on items (+max HP rare amulet might be better than anything depending on hou mich hp% you got) ; didn't get to test +flat hp from goodberry and treewarden form yet