Damage Formula

Calculate one kind of damage at a time

For an ordinary direct hit, an ability first supplies a damage amount from its scaling stats. A critical hit, applicable damage bonuses and the target’s defenses then change that amount. Understanding those separate terms explains why adding 20% to a stat or bonus does not always add 20% to the final number.

This guide covers the ordinary, CRIT-capable portion of an attack. It does not calculate Break or Super Break, DoT, Elation, True DMG, special kit-defined damage or conditional flat additions. One action can produce several of those at once. Do not feed its combined on-screen total into a formula intended for just one component.

Our example also excludes additional encounter mitigation, Weaken and special final multipliers. It uses resolved in-battle stats and ordinary positive resistance. These are conditions for the calculation, not claims that such exceptions never exist.

Start with the stat the ability names

Base damage here means the amount produced by ability scaling before the multipliers below. A hypothetical hit dealing 80% of ATK uses 0.8 × ATK. With 2,000 applicable ATK, that is 1,600 base damage. Write percentages as decimals: 80% is 0.8 and 150% is 1.5.

Use the named stat. ATK scaling uses ATK, HP scaling uses the specified HP value, and DEF scaling uses the attacker’s DEF. For mixed scaling, add the contributions: B = a × ATK + h × Max HP + f × DEF. Here a, h and f are that damage instance’s decimal ability coefficients; an unused stat has coefficient zero. This expression excludes flat additions and conversion mechanics.

Read Blade’s Kit for the separate main-target and adjacent-target coefficients. Aventurine’s Ultimate, by contrast, names DEF. Neither should be calculated by substituting ATK merely because ATK is a familiar offensive stat.

Use the ability’s actual level and the relevant combat stats, not an assumed maximum Trace or an unbuffed build screenshot. For a multi-hit ability, account for its hit distribution and any conditions that change between hits before summing the result.

Keep the CRIT result separate from damage bonuses

The ordinary CRIT factor C is 1 for a non-critical hit and 1 + d for a critical hit, where d is applicable CRIT DMG as a decimal. At 100% CRIT DMG, a successful CRIT doubles this component. CRIT Rate decides how often that result occurs; it is not another multiplier on a hit that already crit.

For an average over matching conditions, use 1 + c × d, where c is the effective critical chance between 0 and 1. That expected factor is not an individual hit result. The CRIT guide covers this distinction and kit-specific exceptions.

Next total only the DMG Bonuses that apply to this hit. Call their decimal sum b; the multiplier is 1 + b. A hypothetical 30% matching elemental bonus plus 20% general DMG Bonus gives 1.5, not 1.3 × 1.2. An Ultimate-only bonus does not automatically apply to a Basic ATK.

DEF and RES reduce damage in different ways

For the ordinary DEF model, let L be the attacker’s level and E the enemy DEF counted for this hit after applicable reduction and Ignore. Then K = 200 + 10 × L and the damage remaining after DEF is the factor F = K ÷ (K + E).

At attacker level 80, K is 1,000. If the counted enemy DEF is also 1,000, F is 0.5. If eligible effects leave 500 DEF counted, F becomes 1,000 ÷ 1,500, or two-thirds. That example does not assume every level-80 enemy has 1,000 DEF.

Below any cap, qualifying DEF reduction and DEF Ignore add for the attack they affect. With no other DEF modifiers, a synthetic 30% reduction and 20% Ignore leave E = original DEF × (1 − 0.3 − 0.2). Do not use this expression to extrapolate negative DEF or assume every similarly named effect stacks.

RES concerns the damage’s Element. In the ordinary range used here, effective resistance r is the target’s relevant RES minus applicable RES reduction and RES PEN. The factor is 1 − r. A target with 30% relevant RES and 10% applicable RES PEN leaves r = 0.2 and a factor of 0.8.

A Weakness icon alone does not specify an enemy’s complete resistance state, and Effect RES is a different system governing effect application. See DEF Reduction, DEF Ignore & RES PEN for recipients and conditional coverage.

Account for damage taken and the target’s state

Applicable increased damage taken, often called vulnerability, forms another ordinary multiplier. Let v be its qualifying decimal total; use 1 + v. It is separate from the attacker’s DMG Bonus. A 25% vulnerability effect contributes 1.25, provided its attack, target and duration conditions are satisfied.

The ordinary target-state factor T is 0.9 while the target is not Weakness Broken and 1 while it is already Weakness Broken. This describes how that state affects the ordinary hit. It does not calculate the separate damage caused by breaking Toughness. A multi-hit attack that crosses the Break boundary needs per-hit treatment; do not apply the final state to all its earlier hits.

Additional damage reduction, Weaken or encounter-specific effects need their own treatment. They are absent from the worked case. The DMG Bonus & Vulnerability guide explains why matching the effect’s wording to the damage instance matters.

Combine the verified ordinary terms

With the exclusions above and a target state that stays the same for the hit:

D = B × C × (1 + b) × F × (1 − r) × (1 + v) × T

D is the modeled damage for this instance; B is scaled base damage; C is its CRIT factor; b is applicable DMG Bonus; F is the DEF factor; r is effective elemental resistance; v is applicable vulnerability; and T is the target-state factor. The percentages b, r, v and CRIT DMG are decimals. All factors except B are dimensionless.

Add qualifying values within the ordinary bonus family, then multiply the separate families. Reordering scalar multiplication produces the same arithmetic answer. It does not establish the engine’s buff snapshots, execution sequence or display-rounding behavior.

Follow one hypothetical hit

Assume an ordinary 80%-ATK hit using 2,000 ATK from a level-80 attacker. It crits with 100% CRIT DMG, has 50% applicable DMG Bonus, and hits a target with 1,000 counted DEF, 20% effective RES and 25% applicable vulnerability. The target is not Weakness Broken and stays that way. There are no other modifiers or additional damage instances.

Keeping everything else fixed, a non-critical hit gives 1,080. Against an already Weakness Broken target, the critical result becomes 2,400 because T changes to 1. Neither alternative adds a Break damage instance. At 60% CRIT Rate, the same unbroken setup averages 0.6 × 2,160 + 0.4 × 1,080 = 1,728.

Use discrepancies to find a missing condition

If a number differs, first identify the exact ability, hit and target. Check the ability level, in-battle stats, CRIT outcome, matching bonuses, target defenses and Toughness state. Then check whether a separate damage instance or a special kit effect was included in the displayed total.

This model is not a replacement for kit-specific handling of flat additions, snapshots, damage sharing or caps. It makes no universal claim about DoT, Break, Super Break or Elation. Their names identify different calculations, even when some defensive factors overlap.

For equipment decisions, return to Relic Stats and the relevant Character Kit. Compare a defined attack under matching conditions before turning a larger isolated number into a build recommendation.