Damage calculation¶

When a swing connects (see Hit chance), damage resolves in two phases:

Base scaling - roll the weapon's flat Min/Max, then scale by Tactics, Str, Anatomy, and quality.
Percentage stack - multiply by talent and specialty bonuses, slayer multipliers, weapon-ability scalars, and the rest.

Damage stays flat and readable - no stat inflation, no hidden curves. Player-on-creature damage runs at full; PvP and creature-on-player swings deal half. The halving is deliberate and we've kept it.

Phase 1 - base scaling¶

The roll starts from the weapon's Min/Max and adds these modifiers:

Damage-level offset (Ruin / Might / Force / Power / Vanq): adds 2 × level − 1, so Ruin = +1, Might = +3, Force = +5, Power = +7, Vanq = +9.
Tactics scalar: (Tactics − 50) / 100 - +50% at 100 Tactics.
Strength + Anatomy: +1% per 5 points of each, capped by the stat cap.
Crafting quality: Exceptional adds +20%.
VirtualDamageBonus: a flat per-item adder on a handful of weapons (Tribal Spear = +25%).
Durability: a damaged weapon loses output linearly, bottoming out at 50% at 0 HP.

Pre-bonus damage

roll = UniformRandom(OldMinDamage, OldMaxDamage) + damageLevelOffset

scale = 1
      + (Tactics  − 50) / 100        // +50% at 100 Tactics
      + Str             / 500        // +20% at 100 Str
      + Anatomy         / 500        // +20% at 100 Anatomy
      + (Exceptional ? 0.20 : 0)
      + VirtualDamageBonus / 100     // e.g. TribalSpear = +25

base = roll × scale
base × = (durability < max ? 0.5 + 0.5 × (cur/max) : 1)

Tactics, Str, Anat at 100 each, Exceptional = `×2.10`¶

A fully-trained warrior baseline:

Modifier	Contribution
Base (1.0)	1.00
Tactics 100 → `(100−50)/100`	+0.50
Str 100 → `100/500`	+0.20
Anatomy 100 → `100/500`	+0.20
Exceptional craft	+0.20
Total multiplier	× 2.10

So 100/100/100 plus an Exceptional weapon turns every raw damage roll into roughly 210% of its label value, before any talents, specials, or slayers touch it.

Phase 2 - percentage bonuses¶

Phase 2 sums a percentageBonus, then multiplies the Phase-1 damage by 100 + percentageBonus percent, capped at +300%. The sources:

Source	Approx contribution
Weapon-ability primary/secondary specials	varies; usually `×1.30 - ×1.50`
Macing PvM proc (Pierce)	`×1.50` on triggering hit (`+×1.50` if armor already 0)
Fencing PvM proc (Cripple)	`×(1.25 + hit_chance)` on triggering hit
Archery PvM proc (Hinder)	varies per rank
Macing/Fencing/Archery talent damage bonuses	per-rank %, see talent pages
Superslayer	+100%
Enemy of One (player)	+50% vs marked type
Honor (Virtue) active	+25%
Perfection ladder	up to +50% over Perfection ladder
Pack Instinct (multiple summons/pets)	+25 / +50 / +75 / +100%
Killer talisman	varies
Specialty melee / ranged bonus	percentage points
Crown Regalia Hunt gems	active total against creatures only
Double Strike penalty	−10%
Silver slayer vs. undead/necro-form	+25%

Hunt gems add their active Crown Regalia total to melee and ranged damage only when the target is a creature. Hex gems use the spell-damage pipeline instead and do not enter this weapon Phase 2 stack. Neither family increases damage against players.

After Phase 2, armor comes off (regular AR plus virtual AR) and the final number lands on the target.

Worked example - Broadsword¶

Weapon: Broadsword, Min 5 / Max 29 / Speed 45.

Attacker: Player, 100 Tactics, 100 Anatomy, 100 Str, Exceptional craft, no talents, no special.

Defender: a creature, so the damage /= 2 halve does not apply.

Step	Min	Avg	Max
Raw roll (OldMin/OldMax)	5	17.0	29
× 2.10 (Tac+Str+Anat+Exc)	10.5	35.7	60.9
Final, no extras	10-11	~35	60-61

Add a +10% damage talent (T1 Swords) and the final range climbs to 11 - 67 (avg ~39).

A superslayer swing (+100%) on the same Broadsword: 21 - 122 (avg ~71).

Worked example - Bow¶

Weapon: Bow, Min 14 / Max 36 / Speed 20. Same archer profile (100 Tactics/Str/Anat, Exceptional):

Step	Min	Avg	Max
Raw roll	14	25.0	36
× 2.10	29.4	52.5	75.6
Final, no extras	29-30	~52	75-76

A Headshot-talent crit (× 2) pushes an upper-roll bow hit to ~150 raw damage before armor.

What does NOT apply¶

There's no parallel pipeline with elemental damage breakdowns, a DamageIncrease item property, or per-element resists. Lyonspyre never enters that branch. The "100% Physical" line you see on a weapon tooltip is informational only - every player swing is physical, and there is no cold/fire/poison/energy split for player melee.