Help me understand abilities better!

[Kumori_Kumo]

So in my ongoing quest to be the best Warrior I can be, I realized today that there are some abilities which in-game text doesn't quite explain in full.

1. Foresight. +20% Defense. Is that based purely off of my character's stats, my character's stats plus gear, or stats, gear AND other buffs? Trying to see how good this is or could possibly be in the future.

2. Raw Intuition. It parries from the front, but only physical attacks. However, do magical attacks crit from the sides and back? There's a small gap Awareness can't cover so I want to be sure.

3. How exactly does Vulnerability Down work anyway? Is it a defense increase, does it jump in front of damage before anything else is calculated, what?

4. Would it be more self-healing to use Bloodbath with Unchained+Berserk, or with Vengeance in a group pull?

5. If a dragoon used Life Surge and I used Awareness, would they crit in PVP against me?

Appreciate any help!

[Phoenicia]

1- Foresight is a direct multiplicative buff on your defense stat after your defense from armor and other buffs (protect) are applied.

2- Raw Intuition had a bug where heals also crit from flank/rear. Yes, Magical attacks do crit.

3- Vulnerability Down is the same effect as any buff that reduces damage. It's just "added" on top of Vengeance counter effect buff. This was because in 2.0 Vengeance had no damage down component. But it works exactly like Rampart or Sentinel.

4- Every buff that increases your damage by a percentage increases your drained health by the same percentage. So Unchained (Unchained doesn't affect IB and SC) + Berserk a massive self heal increase from all your abilities. Vengeance alone is a 50 potency counter based on how many and how often you got hit. Vengeance alone is a loser here. But why not use Vengeance WITH Berserk? It's added damage on top of added damage.

[Kumori_Kumo]

snip

That was all very helpful, thanks!

But why not use Vengeance WITH Berserk?

Hmmmmm. Using Vengeance as the first defensive cooldown in a pull. Interesting thought. Maybe that would make sense. It's just that often I have such a hard time with DPSes either AOEing or attacking different targets that I have other priorities with gathering hate. But I guess Vengeance would help with that, wouldn't it? I'll try it, see how it works.