Melee attacks
From EQ KnowledgePit
Contents |
[edit] Background Information
There has been extensive research by the player base, Warriors in particular, as to how damage is calculated for a melee hit. Over the years, The Steel Warrior has grown to house much of this research. On this site, the forums in particular, there are a number of players who do extensive parsing and other forms of research; into the benefits of AC, Attack, Shielding, Avoidance, and other mods to damage and defense. This article will attempt to encompass all this information as best it can. For those reading this article, the guys over at The Steel Warrior are largely responsible for the information found within.
[edit] The Calculations
[edit] Evasion
The first thing that has to be figured out, is whether or not a hit lands at all. This is simple; if the hit misses or is dodged, parried, etc., it doesn't land.
[edit] The Attacker's Side
Taken into account on the attacker's side are skill level (I.E. 1H Blunt, Bash, etc), raw +Accuracy modifiers on gear (found to be worth roughly 1% per every 15 points, with a cap of 150), and (possibly) Attack rating. These all improve your raw chance to land a hit in melee; countering your opponent's raw chance to avoid a hit in melee.
This does not affect defensive skills, such as Dodge and Riposte. Your Strikethrough (from gear or AAs) will counter that, and the calculation is simple; if their defensive skill avoids the hit, your strikethrough is your chance to ignore this and hit anyway. The strikethrough check is a simple roll of the dice. If the roll is less than your raw strikethrough value (gear + AAs), you make it through the defensive skill and hit anyway; if the roll is higher than your raw strkethrough value, you still miss.
[edit] The Defender's Side
The first thing checked is whether or not the defender's base avoidance (from Agility, AAs, class, and raw +Avoidance modifiers on gear) is enough to evade the hit; countering the attacker's accuracy and modifiers.
If it passes the basic hit/miss check, the attack then goes up against your defensive skills, such as Parry and Block. If it fails to make it through here (one of your defensive skills succeeds), a strikethrough check is made. This is a simple roll of the dice. If the roll is less than the attacker's raw strikethrough value (gear + AAs), they make it through your defenses and hit anyway; if it's more than the attacker's strikethrough value, your defensive skill still succeeds.
[edit] Mitigation
After the hit successfully lands, damage needs to be calculated. There are two parts to this; Damage Bonus and Damage Interval, or DB and DI for short. The DB is a constant; it always deals the same amount, provided the attack lands. The DI is the part that is randomized; the part that lands for more if the attacker has higher Attack, and less if the defender has higher AC.
[edit] The Attacker's Side
A couple things can help you deal more damage when you're on the offensive side. Number one is better weapons. A weapon with higher damage will provide higher DI; and a higher damage bonus (I.E. two-handed and slower) will provide a higher DB. Adding more Attack will help improve your DI rolls.
[edit] The Defender's Side
There are a number of things that will aid you in taking less damage when you get hit; on the most basic side, more AC and Shielding; AC helps reduce DI rolls against you, and Shielding directly reduces the DB of incoming hits (%Shielding = % reduction). The attacker's damage interval is multiplied by a value between 1 and 20; the attacker's Attack and defender's effective AC are taken into account here, along with the random number generator. However, with the AC side of things, there is a lot to consider, mostly related to the AC softcaps.
The AC softcap is the point at which your AC begins giving diminishing returns. In other words, below the softcap, 1AC displayed = 1AC effective; however, above the softcap, 1AC displayed < 1AC effective, meaning that each point of displayed AC is less than one point of effective AC. How much your AC diminishes above the softcap depends on your class; indeed, the softcap itself depends upon your class as well. Silk wearers all have the lowest softcap, and overcap returns. Beastlords and Druids come next; then Monks, whose softcap and overcap returns were equal to those of the other leather-clad classes, but they were improved. Next are the chain classes, then the Bards and Clerics, then the Paladins and Shadow Knights, and finally the Warriors, who get nearly a 2:1 displayed-to-effective ratio.
Players can raise their AC softcap by purchasing the mitigation (Natural Stability, etc.) line of AAs. These AAs do not directly improve your defensive capabilities; they indirectly do so by raising your AC softcap.
[edit] The Complete Sequence
So, to put it all together, the entire process of a melee hit goes as follows:
- Accuracy vs. Avoidance - if the attacker fails, the hit misses completely
- Defenses - if the defender's defensive skills succeed, the attacker has a chance for strikethrough
- Strikethrough - if strikethrough succeeds, the attack goes through and hits anyway; if it fails, the hit misses
- Damage Interval - the attacker's ATK and defender's AC are taken into account by the RNG, to determine a value [1,20] to multiply the attacker's DI by
- Damage Bonus - the attacker's base DB is reduced by a percentage equal to the defender's Shielding
- Total Damage - the DI roll and DB are added together to create the total damage
- Other Effects - procs, damage shields, and other effects (like the Shadow Knight epic 1.5/2.0 effect) are applied if necessary
