Damage pipeline
The exact order in which a hit crosses the defenses, just as the game resolves it in v0.8.4.
The order of a hit
Every hit a unit takes goes through the same chain of checks, always in the same order. That order explains almost every “odd” combat interaction: why a dodged hit doesn’t trigger Thorns, why the shield blocks a tiny hit and a huge one alike, or why a killing blow never gets to apply its status.
The chain distinguishes two damage families. Direct hits travel the full pipeline. The periodic damage of statuses —Burn, Poison, Bleed— skips evasion, shield and armor: only percentage damage reduction can mitigate it.
Step by step
| Order | Step | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Evasion | Direct hits only, capped at 75%. Dodging cuts the entire pipeline: no Thorns, no shield, no status. |
| 1 | Reflection (Thorns) | Returns the raw damage to the attacker. The bounce carries no statuses and cannot be reflected again. |
| 1.5 | Shield block | One charge blocks one whole hit, whatever the damage. A blocked hit touches no health and applies no status. |
| 2 | Elemental synergy | ×1.3 if your element beats the target’s, ×0.7 if it loses, ×1 if unrelated. Initial hit only. |
| 3 | Armor | Damage is reduced by the formula below. Periodic damage skips it. |
| 4 | Damage reduction | damage × (1 − reduction), capped at 95%. Unlike armor, it does apply to periodic damage. |
| 5 | Health and events | Health is subtracted and damage events fire. |
| 6 | Apply status | Only if the target survives the hit: a killing blow never applies its status. |
| 7 | Death or downing | The outcome resolves: death, co-op downing, or auto-revive. |
Step 1.5 really exists: the shield block resolves between Thorns and elemental synergy.
The armor formula
| Armor | Damage that passes |
|---|---|
| 0 | 100 % |
| 25 | 50 % |
| 50 | 33 % |
| 75 | 25 % |
| 100 | 20 % |
Armor has diminishing returns: the first 25 points cut half the damage, but doubling your armor no longer doubles the mitigation. From there, each point is worth a little less than the previous one.
Practical consequences
- Dodging is total defense: a dodged hit doesn’t exist. It triggers no Thorns, consumes no shield and applies no status.
- The shield doesn’t look at numbers: one charge blocks a 5-damage hit and a 500-damage hit alike. Against a boss’s big hits, every charge is gold.
- A killing blow never applies its status: if the hit kills, the poison or stun it carried is lost.
- Only damage reduction protects against periodic damage: evasion, shield and armor play no part.
Verified against game v0.8.4.