Elite Buff: Tough

Internal engine status effect. This is the status applied to elite enemies with the Tough modifier. Tough reduces all incoming damage by a flat amount per hit, making rapid multi-hit attacks and chip damage nearly useless.

The flat reduction is applied per hit, so attacks that deal damage in many small instances are heavily penalized. A 10-hit ability dealing 1 damage per hit is reduced to 0 per hit, while a single hit dealing 10 damage only loses a small portion. This makes Tough the polar opposite of Shielded, which is bypassed equally by all damage amounts. Tough specifically punishes multi-hit builds.

Use single heavy strikes to overcome the damage reduction threshold. Damage Up buffs and Marked crits help ensure each hit exceeds the Tough threshold by a comfortable margin. The boss variant, Elite Buff: Tough (Boss), has a higher damage reduction threshold and requires even larger hits to deal meaningful damage.