Damage calculation
| Cleanup | It has been suggested that this article should be rewritten, because: needs a rewrite to make it more accessible and coherent to new players. |
When damage is not armor-ignoring damage, its value may vary depending on several parameters. While no official formula has been given, the following formulae have been theorized by players.
Formula
Where :
- Base Damage is the damage stated on the skill or a random value in the weapon's range (critical hits always use the maximum damage).
- Armor level is the final armor rating obtained after Armor calculation.
- Strike Level is :
- Attribute level is the effective rank in the Mastery attribute of the weapon.
Without any other damage modifiers, characters with rank 12 in their weapon attribute or level 20 are therefore expected to deal the stated damage against foes with 60 armor rating.
In the event of an attack skill dealing +X bonus damage, such as Executioner's Strike, the armor-ignoring bonus damage from the skill is added to the base damage of the regular attack. Only one damage packet is inflicted.
Hit locations
Each player and hero can wear up to five pieces of armor - a chest piece, leggings, boots, gloves, and a headpiece. Any given attack on a player will hit one of these five locations, and only the armor rating of this location is considered.
In most circumstances, the chest piece and leggings have a higher probability to be hit, with respectively 3/8 and 2/8 while the other pieces each have 1/8.
However as far as melee attacks are concerned, the visual height of an attacking monster actually has an influence on the probability: small monsters or those close to the ground have higher chances to hit the legs or feet, while very tall or flying monsters have higher chances to hit the head or chest.
| Hit Location | Low Attack | Normal or Ranged Attack |
High Attack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Head | 0% | 12.5% | 27.3% |
| Chest | 18.2% | 37.5% | 40.9% |
| Hands | 13.6% | 12.5% | 13.6% |
| Legs | 40.9% | 25% | 18.2% |
| Feet | 27.3% | 12.5% | 0% |
Additional Parameters
Attacks
Weapon Customization and modifiers
Weapon customization increases Base Damage by 20%, or a 1.20 multiplier.
Base Damage can further be increased by one of the following inscription bonuses:
| Name | Bonus | Condition/Cost | Attaches to | Campaign | Inherent bonus for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Strength and Honor" | Damage +10...15% | while Health is above 50% | Weapons | Core | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon |
| "Guided by Fate" | Damage +10...15% | while Enchanted | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| "Dance with Death" | Damage +10...15% | while in a Stance | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| "To the Pain!" | Damage +14...15% | Armor -10 while attacking | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| "Brawn over Brains" | Damage +14...15% | Energy -5 | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| "Too Much Information" | Damage +10...15% | vs. Hexed foes | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| "Vengeance is Mine" | Damage +10...20% | while Health is below 50% | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| "Don't Fear the Reaper" | Damage +10...20% | while Hexed | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions), any inscribable weapon | ||
| No corresponding inscription | Damage +10...15% | Energy regeneration -1 (AKA Zealous strength) | n/a | n/a | Martial weapons (Prophecies, Factions) |
| Damage +10...15% | Health regeneration -1 (AKA Vampiric strength) |
In the case of axes, bows, hammers, and swords and (oddly enough) staves, the suffix of <affiliation or creature type>slaying can be used to further increase Base Damage by +10-20% vs. a specific creature type or affilition:
- Charr: of Charrslaying (Daggers, scythes, and spears can also be obtained with this modifier from Jonathan Blunt)
- Demons: of Demonslaying
- Dragons: of Dragonslaying
- Dwarves: of Dwarfslaying
- Giants: of Giantslaying
- Ogres: of Ogreslaying
- Plants: of Pruning
- Tengu: of Tenguslaying
- Trolls: of Trollslaying
- Undead: of Deathbane
- Skeletons: of Skeletonslaying
A few weapons have unreplicable modifiers:
- All Decade martial weapons (Decade Axes "Rival Skies", Decade Bow "Falling Star", Decade Scythe "Funeral Fang", Decade Sword "Distant Horizon", Decade Spear "Mist Piercer", Decade Hammer "Roaring Earth" and Decade Daggers "High Noon") have an inherent 20% damage during festival events.
- Various weapons in Prophecies have additional fixed damage against a specific creature type:
- The Foehammer and Ascalon Longbow crafted by Arthur Ayala (pre-Searing) and Hala (post-Searing) deal 1 damage against Charr.
- The Battle Axe from Hylas deal 2 damage against Dwarves.
- The Battle Axe from the collector Leighton Cranford, the axe, hammer and longbow crafted by Grahame deal 3 (4 for the hammer) damage against undead.
- The Long Sword crafted by Grahame deals 3 damage against Giants.
- The unique Ogre-Slaying Knife deals 9 damage against Ogres.
Weapon requirement
As long as their requirement is met, two identical weapons with different requirements will deal the same damage at the same attribute rank.
If you do not meet the requirement of the weapon, the weapon will still keep all modifiers, including internal modifiers such as built-in additions to damage, but it will only deal 1/3 of its stated damage. For instance a sword that deals 11-22 will do 5-8 (11 on critical) if you don't meet the requirement.
Weapon Attribute rank threshold
When attacking with a weapon, the rank in the corresponding "Mastery" attribute when applicable (i.e. not for staff or wand) usually increases your "Strike Level" by 5 for each rank.
However, there is a threshold above which Strike level is only increased by 2 instead of 5 for each additional rank, resulting in less than half increase to damage for each rank above the threshold compared to ranks below the threshold.
The attribute threshold is based on your level as follows:
For level 20 characters, the threshold is rank 12. A level 20 warrior with a hammer for instance would have a strike level of 5x12=60 with 12 Hammer Mastery, but a strike level of 5x12+2x2= 64 with 14 Hammer Mastery (and not 5x14=70).
Including the threshold, the damage becomes:
| Rank | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent to rank 0 |
100.0% | 109.0% | 119.0% | 130.0% | 141.0% | 154.0% | 168.0% | 183.0% | 200.0% | 218.0% | 238.0% | 259.0% | 283.0% | 293.0% | 303.0% | 314.0% | 325.0% |
| Percent to rank 12 |
35.6% | 38.6% | 42.0% | 45.9% | 50.0% | 54.5% | 59.5% | 64.8% | 70.7% | 77.1% | 84.1% | 91.7% | 100.0% | 103.5% | 107.2% | 111.0% | 114.9% |
Caster Weapons
Wands and staves behave differently from martial weapons: the damage they deal only scales up with your character level, as there is no "Mastery" for these two weapon types. A level 20 player meeting the listed requirement will deal the listed base damage. Aside from this, they behave the same as any weapon.
Critical hits
Every attack with a weapon of any sort has a chance of landing a critical hit. Each critical hit strikes for maximum damage, with the additional bonus of hitting as though the target had their armor level reduced by 20, which is identical to increasing the Strike Level by 20, or a 41% damage increase.
The frequency of critical hit is dependent upon several factors - both attacker and target's level, and if wielding a martial weapon the attribute rank of that weapon. The exact formula for landing a critical chance is as follows:
In rough terms, your chance of landing a critical hit against a foe of comparable level with a level 12 weapon mastery is roughly 12% - if you're a level 20 character beating up on level 1 targets with a level 12 weapon mastery, your critical chance is close to 90%.
Height advantage/disadvantage
Attacking with a ranged weapon from a higher position increases your damage output, while attacking from a lower position lowers it. Height advantage effect is currently not well known, but testing has shown that damage increase can scale up to 200% of the initial damage on attacks with ranged weapons.
Skills
As a baseline, the amount of damage dealt by a skill is listed in that skill's description, rounded to the nearest integer. In actuality the damage dealt is rarely the same as in the description. Notably, the character's level plays a role in how much damage is actually dealt.
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent of Skill Damage | 37.2% | 39.2% | 41.3% | 43.5% | 45.9% | 48.3% | 50.9% | 53.6% | 56.4% | 59.5% | 62.6% | 66.0% | 69.5% | 73.2% | 77.1% | 81.2% | 85.6% | 90.1% | 94.9% | 100% |
Damage modifiers
General damage modifiers (such as damage reduction from skills like Shielding Hands or increase such as from skills like Frenzy) are taken into account at the end of damage calculation for each packet of damage.
Examples
General Examples
- A level 15 Elementalist attacks a level 7 Charr (21 AL) with
Fireball at rank 8 Fire Magic (69 damage in the skill description). Each fireball deals:
- A Warrior with a rank 2 Hammer Mastery and a customized 5-10 Hammer attacks a level 2 Flash Gargoyle (6 AL) and hitting with a critical hit (+20 to strike level) will deal:
- A Ranger with a customized, 15-28 Half Moon Bow, and a rank 12 attribute to go with it, attacking a level 28 Rift Warden (118 AL) with File:Penetrating Attack.jpg Penetrating Attack (10% armor penetration) will deal:
Since the skill also deals 21 bonus damage, which is armor ignoring, the attack will be dealing 29.1~36.1 damage.
Example of damage calculation for an attack
If you had a normal, customized (20% more damage) 15-22 damage Fiery Dragon Sword, and a level 9 Swordsmanship attribute, each swing with the weapon would deal:
While swinging the same sword with a level 12 attribute would deal:
Example of damage calculation for a skill
A level 6 Elementalist with a Fire Magic attribute of 5. Each 
Flare (35 damage at attribute 5) you cast is going to be dealing:
If you then gained a level but didn't raise your Fire Magic attribute, your Flares would be dealing more damage regardless, to the tune of:
Unlike weapon damage, you don't exactly have control over your character's level - you're going to be dealing 100% of listed skill damage once you hit level 20. This makes it incredibly easy to min/max your skills, since the damage you're going to deal in combat is the same as the one listed in the skill description. You'll find this effect most useful when planning an attack against a mob who will quite often have levels that vary considerably from your own. For example, take a level 30 Elementalist boss casting a level 12 Deep Freeze:
Example for a wand or staff: Take a customized 6-10 wand, for example - when wielded by a level 10 character, each strike will deal:
Example of critical hit calculation
Every critical hit with a customized top (6-28) axe and a level 12 Axe Mastery will deal:
Example of armor effect calculation
A 30 damage physical attack directed at a Warrior wearing armor without Knight's Insignia (80 AL, +20 AL vs. Physical) using a 16 AL shield, would deal:
While that same attack on an Elementalist in a non-max level armor with Pyromancer Insignia (45 AL + 10 AL vs. Elemental, +10AL vs. Fire) would deal:
Note that the Elementalist actually suffered more damage than what the attack would have naturally dealt. This is the case whenever a target has a net armor rating below 60.
If the warrior's armor is upgraded with Knight's insignias and a Rune of Absorption, the shield has the inscription "Run For Your Life!" that reduces damage by 2 while in a stance, and this attribute is active during the hit, then the damage gets reduced to:
Note that this is only one tenth of the damage that would be dealt to an unprepared elementalist facing the same attack against a 60AL.
Now by using a skill such as "I Am Unstoppable!" or Vow of Piety and carrying the same shield, that same warrior can receive:
Armor penetration example
With the 30 damage attack from the previous examples dealt 11.6 damage to a well-defended Warrior, that same attack with 50% armor penetration would deal:
Example 1
Two twin level 20 warriors in PvP use the axe attacks Cleave or Penetrating Blow, both while in a stance (such as Sprint) with attributes of 12 in both strength and axe mastery, while wielding a sundering axe (20%) with +15% while in stance modifier, and striking a warrior wearing armor with Dreadnought Insignia of Superior Absorption and carrying a shield with 16AL and -2 damage while in stance:
- Strength grants 12% penetration, the axe grants 20% penetration (20% of the time), the axe has 20% increased damage from customization, the axe has 15% increased damage from the modifier and the skill does damage in addition to this attack.
- The sum of the armor penetrations makes the armor of the opposing warrior:
- The weapon damage is:
- The skill damage is 26.
- The damage reduction is:
- So the damage range for this attack is between 26.970 and 48.858 with an average of 37.914.
- The axe grants 20% penetration (20% of the time), the skill grants 20% penetration, the axe has 20% increased damage from customization, the axe has 15% increased damage from the modifier and the skill does its own damage in addition to this attack.
- The sum of the armor penetrations makes the armor of the opposing warrior:
- The weapon damage is:
- The skill damage is 17.
- The damage reduction is:
- So the damage range for this attack is between 19.011 and 44.718 with an average of 31.865 - slightly less than Cleave and at a slightly higher Adrenaline cost, but without taking the elite skill slot.
Example 2
If the situation changes and one of these twin warriors is now striking the opposing monk (who only has 60 AL against physical)
- The sum of the armor penetrations makes the armor of the opposing monk:
- The weapon damage is:
- The skill damage is 26.
- So the damage range for this attack is between 37.548 and 79.893 with an average of 58.721.
- The sum of the armor penetrations makes the armor of the opposing monk:
- The weapon damage is:
- The skill damage is 17.
- So the damage range for this attack is between 29.550 and 75.567 with an average of 52.559 – half again that of this attack against the warrior, which is to be expected since the monk only has about half the armor and does not carry damage reducing shields or runes.
The following analysis is based on level 20 characters with max basic armor and maxed attribute ranks (attribute levels).
References
A Treatise on Combat Mathematics by Charles Ensign (original source of this article)
- The text of this wiki article was originally taken verbatim from Charles Ensign's treatise, used with his permission. It has since been enhanced with additional findings and clarifications from the Guild Wars community and development team.
