Anthem's Damage Formula
The Formula
Anthem's damage formula is as follows:
DAMAGE = (Base* (1+A)*B*C*(1+D)*E*F)+1
Parameters used
Base: Card damage on the Weapon/Ability. For secondary damage sources this value is hidden.
A: Damage Modifiers. If you’re looking at a weapon with 75% weapon damage and no other modifiers, this number is 0.75. However, this should be the sum of every applicable damage modifier. Consult the Damage Types guide for more information about how to calculate this.
B: Source Crit Multiplier. For anything that cannot crit, this value is 1. For anything that can crit, this value depends on the damage source. Every weapon and ability that can crit has a crit multiplier specific to the item. Blastback is 2.4, Plasma Star is 1.5. a full list of datamined values can be found on AnthemArchive Please note that shielded enemies cannot be critically hit for damage purposes.
C: Target Crit Multiplier For anything that cannot crit, this value is 1. Each weakpoint on an enemy has it's on crit multiplier. For most enemies, this value is 0.5. Some enemies such as scars, outlaw shotgunners, and Ash Titan's have higher or lower values.
D: Critical Damage Modifiers. If your item cannot crit, this value is 0. If your item can crit, this value is the total of all applicable crit damage modifiers. If you have 10% on your primary gun (gear icon) and 50% on your secondary gun (gear icon), these values are 0.1 and 0.5, respectively. However, some slots other than weapons can roll javelin-wide (javelin icon) critical inscriptions. These inscriptions should be included.
E: Damage type multiplier. This represents the damage bonus (or penalty) applied based on the damage type of your attack and the health type of the enemy. All attacks fall into one of 5 categories: Impact, Acid, Electric, Ice, or Fire. A table showing what the value of D should be is shown in the table below
F: Debuff multiplier. If the enemy is neither afflicted by Acid nor Target Beacon, this value is 1. This value increased by 0.25 if the enemy is afflicted by Acid, and increases by 0.33 if the enemy is marked with Target Beacon. If both are applied, this value is 1.58.
Damage Type Multipliers
| Attack Type | Against Health (Red) | Against Armor (Yellow) | Against Shields (Blue) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact | 1 | 0.5 | 0.75 |
| Acid | 1 | 1.5 | 0.5 |
| Electric | 1 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Ice | 1 | 0.75 | 1.25 |
| Fire | 1 | 1.25 | 0.75 |
Example
Weapon: Level 38 Epic Anvil
Other Relevant Gear: Viper's Bite with +18% Weapon Damage
Target: Ursix
Critical: Yes
Our values for the formula are as follows:
Base: 687 (from weapon card)
A: 0.68 (50% from weapon, 18% from the Viper’s Bite equipped in Case 1)
B: 1.75
C: 0.5
D: 0 (I do not have additional critical modifiers on)
E: 0.75 (Impact attacking armor)
F: 0.33 (Target Beacon applied)
Plugging it in:
DAMAGE = 687 * (1 + 0.68) * (1.75) * * 0.5 * (1+0) * 0.75 * (1 + 0.33) + 1
DAMAGE = 1008
The weapon will deal 1008 damage per shot to the target Ursix.
Oddities and Exceptions
Sometimes, the damage numbers seen will not match this document. Every ability is buffed by an array of modifiers, and perhaps not the ones you might expect. For example, acid damage is physical and not elemental.
Here are a list of possible reasons your damage is not what you expected:
- Range - there is range falloff. If you are outside of the effective range, your damage may be reduced.
- Explosive Weapons/Gear - Devastator and all three grenade launchers, as well as many abilities, do damage in an area. Enemies may be hit for partial damage based on their proximity to the blast.
- Confusing Inscriptions - What inscriptions actually do is not always clear. For example, damage inscriptions on a Truth of Tarsis will apply only to the ‘Damage’ stat, but a weapon damage inscription elsewhere will apply to both
- Effects of other gear - Be sure you don’t have anything on that you forgot about. This may include in-combat buffs.
- Bugs - Unfortunately, many inscriptions don’t work exactly as you might expect. The Ranger’s Chaos Core and Crossed Arms components are great examples of this.
- Rounding - The game rounds numbers it displays. An item may read 100 damage but that could be anywhere from 499.5 to 500.49 (note: I am not sure how many decimals it rounds to). This will not cause a difference of more than a few points of damage, however.