Damage

From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Call it whatever you like—DPS, damage per second—we just call it DAMAGE, and when it comes to making red bars go down, you can never have enough of it. Don't trivialize it though; damage is a very versatile aspect of combat. There are so many ways that a character can do damage.

— GuildWars2.com promotional material

Damage is any effect caused by an action that results in a target losing health. Damage is one of the three aspects that comprise the combat system, the other two being support and control. Strike damage and condition damage are the two primary forms of damage, incurred mainly by character's skills as well as certain traits and upgrade components. If not otherwise specified, the term "damage" usually refers to strike damage in the game.

There are three types of damage (not to be confused with the cosmetic effect also called damage type):

  • Strike damage — also commonly referred to as "power damage" and sometimes as "direct damage", it is inflicted by skills and/or traits directly, can critically hit, and is mitigated by the target's armor attribute.
  • Condition damage — damage-over-time inflicted by damaging conditions every second for their duration, can not critically hit and is not mitigated by the target's armor.
  • Falling damage — incurred when hitting the ground after free falling and scales with the relative height. Above certain height, the falling damage becomes lethal and immediately defeats the character, bypassing a downed state. Falling damage isn't mitigated by armor or any skill that reduces or prevents damage.

Each instance of damage is calculated individually at the moment it occurs, not when the associated skill was cast. This includes both separate instances of strike damage from multi-hitting skills and damage over time from conditions. As a result, consequent hits or condition ticks from the same ability may do different damage if any of the associated attributes change in that time. This includes offensive attributes and effects of the attacker and defensive characteristics of its target.

Outgoing damage is generally not affected by the Health status, and a player character deals the same amount of outgoing damage regardless of whether they are at 100% health or 1%. Exceptions to this are special modifiers such as traits with effects based on the character's health.

Note that the filter options apply to the whole page: strike damage and condition damage, incoming and outgoing, skills and traits.

Strike damage[edit]

Strike damage instantly reduces enemy's health by the calculated amount, and scales with the attribute Power. The attribute Precision increases Critical Chance – up to the maximum 100% of strikes being critical hits. Ferocity determines how strong the critical hits are by increasing the Critical Damage. All these attributes can be increased by using the relevant traits and equipment.

Base strike damage[edit]

Base strike damage is given by the following equation:

Damage done = (Weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient)/(target's Armor)
  • Weapon strength: a uniformly distributed random number taken from the range of weapon strength of the equipped weapon. The weapon strength used for a skill will typically be that of the weapon associated with that skill; utility and elite skills are typically not affected by weapon strength and use a strike damage range based on the character's level. The weapon strength is also fixed for the duration of the skill, in particular pulsing aoes and channeled skills; although damage per hit is still affected by attributes, potions, sigils and other modifiers.
  • Power: The current power attribute as listed on the Hero tab.
  • Skill coefficient: Every skill has a unique coefficient used to calculate damage inflicted. Listed by the () after tool tip listed on wiki pages, not shown in-game however.
  • Target's Armor: Not shown in-game for PvE targets.

Strike damage modifiers[edit]

This base strike damage can then be modified by the following effects:

Only successful attacks will cause damage. The following will prevent this:

  • The blind condition affecting the attacker, resulting in a miss
  • The target blocks or evades the attack by use of skills or effects or makes a successful dodge
  • The target is out of range of the actual attack (some attacks have greater reach than their skill tooltip indicates, e.g. projectiles with high arc)
  • The target is obstructed by terrain, structures or objects
  • The target is invulnerable

Skill tooltip value[edit]

Strike damage is listed on a skill's tooltip with the Damage.png Damage icon. Skill tooltip damage is given by the following formula:

Tooltip damage = [number of hits] * round[(average weapon strength) * Power * (skill-specific coefficient per hit) / (level-based Armor value)]
  • Average weapon strength is the average of the range of damage listed as Weapon Strength on the equipped weapon's tooltip.
  • The damage actually done is unlikely to equal to the tooltip damage, since it depends on your opponent's Armor value and other factors listed above.
  • At level 80, the opponent Armor value used to calculate the tooltip's damage is 2597. The value the game uses at other levels can be derived from the amount shown in the tooltip using the damage formula.
  • Some skills do not calculate their tooltip damage based on the equipped weapon. These are frequently the same skills that are unaffected by Weapon Strength.
  • Some skills list multiple strikes of damage. Each strike is treated independently as to whether it hits or misses and for the application of modifying effects. Using "Damage (2x): 500" as an example, the base damage of each strike is 250. Each strike that hits will have relevant modifying effects applied to it (crit, glancing, etc.).
  • Some skills which apply conditions, such as Burning, may also have strike damage associated with them. For example: Damage (8x): 800, 8x Burning.png Burning (2s): 4800. In this case the fire will apply 8 pulses of damage of 100 each at 1sec intervals. Each strike damage packet or pulse will apply 1 stack of burning each having 2 second duration.

Skill fact value[edit]

The skill facts on this Wiki quote a standardized number for the strike damage associated with a skill at level 80. It is used in the following formula for damage:

Damage done = (skill-fact damage) * (Power/1000) * (2597/target's Armor)
  • The skill fact damage is the tooltip damage displayed in the game for a level 80 character with an exotic level 80 weapon (if it is a weapon skill), but without any further equipment and without any other damage increasing effects. It is the default strike damage dealt by a level 80 character with base power 1000 against armor 2597, see Skill Facts for details.
  • For power 1000 and target armor 2597 the formula says that damage done is equal to skill-fact damage.
  • Damage is proportional to power. Twice the power means twice the damage. For example, increasing power from 1000 to 2289 by wearing exotic Soldier equipment leads to 2.289 times the damage.
  • Damage is inversely proportional to target armor. Twice the target armor means half the damage. This applies equally to the case when the player is the target.
  • Damage here refers to non-critical hits. The average damage increase due to critical hits can be formulated by replacing power by an increased effective power in the above formulas. Damage is then proportional to effective power, which includes the effect of precision and ferocity.
  • The skill-fact damage combines the average weapon strength and the skill coefficient into one convenient number for damage calculation for level 80 exotics. The skill coefficient is not shown in-game but has to be computed from the above formulas, while the skill-fact damage is given directly by the tooltip.
  • The skill-fact damage formula can also be used to obtain damage for ascended weapons. Since the average weapon strength of ascended weapons is 5% higher than that of exotic weapons, multiply the result by 1.05.

Skill coefficient[edit]

The skill-specific coefficient is not shown in the game. It is computed as follows:

Skill-specific coefficient = 2597 * (tooltip damage)/(weapon strength * Power)
  • Given the default strike damage at power 1000 (for example from the Wiki) and the weapon strength, the skill coefficient can be computed. This relation should hold approximately for all skill entries on the Wiki.
  • Given the strike damage for some other power value (for example from the in-game tooltip), the skill coefficient is given by the second equality.
  • Small differences in the skill-coefficients are expected because of numerical round-off errors. For example, a tooltip of 100 is accurate to about 1%. For reliable results, it is advisable to compute the skill coefficient for several different power values and combine the results. The numerical result may be a coefficient of 1.006471, which can be assumed to be an exact 1.0. However, in some cases it is not clear what number the game uses internally. The approach seems valid since in many cases the above calculation leads to simple numbers like 1.0, 0.4, or 2.5.
  • Weapon strength is shown in the game for weapons, but it is not shown for utility skills or other sources of damage. Assuming that the game uses simple skill coefficients for such skills as well, we can use the formula to compute a weapon strength for most non-weapon attacks to be 690.5 at level 80 from the tooltip damage and some assumed skill coefficient.
  • Bundles, including kits and conjures, appear to have an internal weapon strength of 922.5. This is the same value as a one-handed main hand weapon in sPvP, but it is then given a further modifier in PvE/WvW based on the rarity of the weapon, with exotic being the default.
  • Skill coefficients can also be obtained from the skills API.

Strike damage reduction[edit]

Damage Reduction describes an effect that provides the character reduced incoming damage, often under certain circumstances.

The Armor attribute (a combination of the Toughness and Defense attributes) is the primary source of damage reduction. All received strike damage is divided by this value. Incoming strike damage is further reduced by various percentage reductions from effects and traits. The Protection boon reduces damage received by the defender by 33%, while the Weakness condition causes Glancing blows from the attacker, which only deal 50% of their regular damage. 100% damage reduction (granted by some skills) will prevent all strike damage by reducing it to zero. Note that the attack is not actually blocked and can still apply conditions, control effects or trigger on-hit effects.

Condition Damage is not reduced by armor or most percentage reductions, but can be reduced by use of the Resolution boon. The total damage received by conditions over time can be reduced by Condition Duration reducing bonuses, or by Condition removal skills and traits.

Damage reduction can also occur by preventing a hit from landing on the defender, using one of the following:

Related skills[edit]

Skills that increase damage or deal increased damage[edit]

Weapon skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Bundle skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Transform skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Healing skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Utility skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Elite skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Profession mechanic skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Downed skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Drowning skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Trait skills that increase damage or deal increased damage
Common skills that increase damage or deal increased damage

Skills that reduce incoming damage[edit]

Weapon skills that reduce incoming damage
Bundle skills that reduce incoming damage
Transform skills that reduce incoming damage
Healing skills that reduce incoming damage
Utility skills that reduce incoming damage
Elite skills that reduce incoming damage
Profession mechanic skills that reduce incoming damage
Trait skills that reduce incoming damage
Common skills that reduce incoming damage

Skills that have outgoing damage reduction per hit[edit]

Weapon skills that have damage reduction per hit
Bundle skills that have damage reduction per hit
Utility skills that have damage reduction per hit

Related traits[edit]

Traits that increase outgoing damage[edit]

Traits that reduce incoming damage[edit]

Related effects[edit]

Effects that reduce strike damage[edit]

  • Protection.png Protection — Incoming damage decreased by 33%; stacks duration.
  • Frost Aura (effect).png Frost AuraChill foes that strike you (only once per second for each attacker); incoming damage is reduced by 10%.

Related equipment[edit]

Relics that increase outgoing strike damage[edit]

Relics that reduce incoming strike damage[edit]

Upgrade components that increase strike damage[edit]

Sigils
See also Sigil#Damage bonus for sigils that increase strike damage against specific NPCs

Related consumables[edit]

Consumables that reduce incoming damage[edit]

Item Effect Duration Level Required
Bowl of Mussel Soup.pngBowl of Mussel Soup -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Vitality
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Bowl of Curry Mussel Soup.pngBowl of Curry Mussel Soup -10% Incoming Damage
+5% Condition-Damage Reduction
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Bowl of Lemongrass Mussel Pasta.pngBowl of Lemongrass Mussel Pasta -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Toughness
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Plate of Mussels Gnashblade.pngPlate of Mussels Gnashblade -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Concentration
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Fried Oysters.pngFried Oysters -10% Incoming Damage
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Fried Oyster Sandwich.pngFried Oyster Sandwich -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Power
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Oysters Gnashblade.pngOysters Gnashblade -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Expertise
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Oysters with Cocktail Sauce.pngOysters with Cocktail Sauce -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Precision
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Oysters with Pesto Sauce.pngOysters with Pesto Sauce -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Healing Power
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Oysters with Spicy Sauce.pngOysters with Spicy Sauce -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Condition Damage
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80
Oysters with Zesty Sauce.pngOysters with Zesty Sauce -10% Incoming Damage
+70 Ferocity
+10% Experience from kills
30 minutes 80

Condition damage[edit]

For the eponymous attribute, see Condition Damage

The damage done by conditions is governed by the character level, the condition inflicted, and the player's Condition Damage attribute. Unlike strike damage, condition damage is not reduced by armor or toughness. Players can increase the total damage done by conditions over time by increasing the Condition Duration attribute via traits, equipment, or nourishments. Players can reduce incoming condition damage with Resolution, Light Aura, Dark Aura, as well as other effects listed below.

Condition damage calculation[edit]

Condition Formula Inflicted
Bleeding.png Bleeding 0.06 * Condition Damage + 0.25 * Level + 2
lvl80: 0.06 * Condition Damage + 22
per second
Burning.png Burning 0.155 * Condition Damage + 1.55 * Level + 7
lvl80: 0.155 * Condition Damage + 131
per second
Poisoned.png Poisoned1 0.06 * Condition Damage + 0.375 * Level + 3.5
lvl80: 0.06 * Condition Damage + 33.5
per second
Torment.png Torment2 0.06 * Condition Damage + 0.25 * Level + 2
lvl80: 0.06 * Condition Damage + 22
per second
Confusion.png Confusion 0.035 * Condition Damage + 0.1 * Level + 2
lvl80: 0.035 * Condition Damage + 10
per second
Confusion.png Confusion 0.0625 * Condition Damage + 0.575 * Level + 3.5
lvl80: 0.0625 * Condition Damage + 49.5
per foe skill use
  • 1 Poison reduces incoming healing by 33% for its entire duration.
  • 2 Torment deals more damage to stationary targets, see Torment for moving/stationary damage in PvE/WvW+PvP.

Related skills[edit]

Skills that increase outgoing condition damage[edit]

Weapon skills that increase outgoing condition damage
Utility skills that increase outgoing condition damage
Elite skills that increase outgoing condition damage
Profession mechanic skills that increase outgoing condition damage
Trait skills that increase outgoing condition damage
Common skills that increase outgoing condition damage

Skills that reduce incoming condition damage[edit]

Weapon skills that reduce incoming condition damage
Transform skills that reduce incoming condition damage
Healing skills that reduce incoming condition damage
Utility skills that reduce incoming condition damage
Profession mechanic skills that reduce incoming condition damage

Related traits[edit]

Traits that increase outgoing condition damage[edit]

Traits that reduce incoming condition damage[edit]

Related effects[edit]

Effects that reduce incoming condition damage[edit]

Related equipment[edit]

Relics that increase outgoing condition damage[edit]

Relics that reduce incoming condition damage[edit]

Sigils

Falling damage[edit]

A fall from a sufficient height will instantly put a character into the defeated state.

A character that falls will take a percentage of their health in damage, based on the distance. The damage appears to scale exponentially, and the maximum safe falling distance is around 1200 units. Landing in water negates fall damage, but invulnerability does not. In some cases, falling damage can be disabled by game mechanics, e.g. by the Windfall effect in World versus World game mode.

Fall Damage.jpg

Nonfatal falls can still be quite dangerous in areas with hostile NPCs, as sufficiently long falls can cause characters to be knocked prone upon landing; this leaves the character vulnerable to attacks while recovering.

Slopes

The character can fall while attempting to navigate a slope, since it is more difficult to estimate the height and angle. Sometimes, instead of sliding safely down, a character can be inflicted by repeated short falls that are each far enough to cause falling damage, sometimes resulting in becoming defeated, even though individually the falls would not have been fatal.

Forcing opponents to fall

In WvW and PvP, players can cause opponents to fall by using control effects, such as fear and knockback, to move them over the edge, but NPCs will never fall off ledges.

Notes[edit]

  • When rounding numbers, Guild Wars 2 uses a specific type of rounding known as Round Half to Even.

Trivia[edit]

  • Direct damage has been clarified to strike damage in most runes, traits, skills and sigils with the May 11, 2021 game update.
  • Prior to the December 3, 2019 game update, every profession had a trait which halved falling damage and granted one or more other effects after falling.

See also[edit]