🛡️ [Suggestion] Endgame Defensive Resonance System for Better Build Diversity and Survivability

Hi GGG and community,

I’m a Japanese player and longtime PoE fan.
I’d like to propose a system designed to make defensive layering more meaningful and rewarding in the endgame without disrupting early game balance.

⸻

🎯 The Core Problem

Currently, players are encouraged to hyper-specialize in a single defense type (Evasion, Armour, or Energy Shield), as hybrid setups tend to be mathematically inferior.
However, this often leads to one-shot deaths even in optimized builds, especially in high-tier maps or against specific bosses.

This reduces build diversity and punishes experimentation, making defensive strategies feel inflexible and overly punishing.

⸻

💡 Suggested Solution: Defensive Resonance

Introduce a system called Defensive Resonance, which grants a percentage of each defensive stat’s value as bonus to the other two types.

🧮 Basic Calculation (from level 91 onward):
• Every level from 91 to 100, you gain +1% Resonance per level.
• At level 100, you would have 10% resonance bonus.
• This bonus is calculated as follows:

Each of your defensive stats contributes 10% of its value (at level 100) as flat bonus to the other two types.

Example stats at level 91+ (Evasion-focused build):
- Evasion: 12,000 → +1,200 to Armour & +1,200 to ES
- Armour: 3,000 → +300 to Evasion & +300 to ES
- ES: 1,000 → +100 to Evasion & +100 to Armour

Final stats:
- Evasion: 12,000 + 300 + 100 = **12,400**
- Armour: 3,000 + 1,200 + 100 = **4,300**
- ES: 1,000 + 1,200 + 300 = **2,500**

🚫 This bonus is:
• Unaffected by passives, items, auras, or scaling nodes
• Purely a flat defensive resonance value
• Intended to reward endgame level progression, not trivialize early content

⸻

🎓 Why Level 91+?

Leveling past 90 is notoriously difficult and time-consuming.
Giving a unique, meaningful bonus beyond level 90 provides:
• Long-term progression reward
• Incentive to reach high levels
• Avoids disrupting PoE 2’s design goal of a challenging campaign and midgame

⸻

🏹 Optional Expansions

In the future, this system could interact with:
• Ascendancies: For example, a defensive-themed Ascendancy could increase the resonance bonus cap or slightly scale it via nodes.
• Items: Unique gear that modifies the resonance formula (e.g., “Gain 1.5x Resonance, but -15% all res”).
• Souls, Runes, or Keystone-like systems: Introducing build diversity through opt-in mechanics.

⸻

👁️ UI and Player Clarity

Defensive stats on the character sheet could include a visible “+X” next to the stat showing resonance bonus.
Example:
• Evasion: 12,400 (+400 from resonance)

This helps players understand the system without extra math or confusion.

⸻

📌 Conclusion

This system:
• Adds build depth and flexibility
• Rewards defensive investment without trivializing content
• Encourages level 90+ progression
• Creates future design space for items, ascendancies, and mods

⸻

📝 Note:

I’m not a native English speaker and used ChatGPT to help organize and translate my thoughts clearly.
Thanks for reading!