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Melee and ranged damage in PvP

This page tabulates what weapon swings actually hit another player for. The numbers are live playtest values; we tune them and update this page when they move.

Player-vs-player weapon damage runs on rails: every landed swing rolls only the top half of the weapon's damage dice, and the target's armor takes a fixed, predictable bite out of it. The wild lows are gone. A halberd that connects hits like a halberd every time, and nobody in armor ever eats a zero. PvM damage in both directions is untouched.

How the number is built

PvP weapon damage

roll  = Random(top half of weapon dice)      // a 15-39 weapon rolls 27-39
      + magic damage level flat              // Ruin +1 .. Power +7 .. Vanq +9
scale = 1 + (Tactics - 50)/100               // +50% at GM
          + Str/500 + Anatomy/500            // +20% each at 100
          + (Exceptional craft ? 0.20 : 0)
hit   = roll x scale / 2                     // the long-standing PvP halving
final = hit - floor(worn armor AR x 0.625)   // flat mitigation, no dice
result never drops below 1/5 of the hit (minimum 1)

Three things to know:

  • Every progression knob still matters. Tactics, Strength, Anatomy, Exceptional crafting, and magic or material damage levels all scale the number exactly as before. Only the bottom of the dice is gone.
  • Armor is a flat wall, not a roulette. The old system picked one random armor piece and absorbed a random amount from it; the same swing could lose 0 or 16 damage to the same suit. Now the worn suit's total AR mitigates a fixed amount from every landed swing: a 16 AR suit always absorbs exactly 10. Shields are separate and keep their parry behavior.
  • A landed swing always hurts. Damage never drops below one fifth of what reached the target's armor, minimum 1. Heavy plate still shrugs off daggers, but nothing lands for 0.

The table

Damage per landed swing against the reference target: a mage in a full leather suit showing 16 AR (absorbs a flat 10). Attacker has 100 Strength and GM Tactics; the two columns show the swing without and with GM Anatomy. Plain (non-magic, non-exceptional) weapons.

Weapon Dice No Anatomy GM Anatomy
Heavy Crossbow 19-48 20-33 25-40
Halberd 15-39 14-25 18-30
War Hammer 8-36 9-22 13-27
Crossbow 15-36 13-22 17-27
Bow 14-36 12-22 16-27
Viking Sword 6-34 8-20 11-25
Bardiche 14-34 11-20 15-25
Executioner's Axe 6-33 8-19 11-24
Axe 6-33 8-19 11-24
Hammer Pick 6-33 8-19 11-24
Black Staff 8-33 8-19 12-24
Mace 8-32 8-18 11-23
Battle Axe 13-31 9-17 13-22
Large Battle Axe 13-31 9-17 13-22
Two-Handed Axe 13-31 9-17 13-22
Maul 10-30 8-17 11-21
War Mace 10-30 8-17 11-21
Gnarled Staff 10-30 8-17 11-21
Double Axe 11-29 8-16 11-20
Broadsword 5-29 5-16 7-20
Quarterstaff 8-28 6-15 8-19
Cutlass 6-28 5-15 7-19
Longsword 11-27 7-14 9-18
Spear 11-27 7-14 9-18
War Axe 9-27 6-14 8-18
Short Spear 10-26 6-13 8-17
War Fork 10-26 6-13 8-17
Katana 5-26 4-13 6-17
Scimitar 10-24 5-11 7-15
Club 8-24 4-11 6-15
Kryss 9-22 4-9 6-13
Hatchet 2-17 1-5 2-7
Pitchfork 4-16 1-4 2-6
Dagger 3-15 1-3 1-5
Butcher Knife 2-14 1-2 1-4
Cleaver 2-13 1-2 1-3

The big two-handers hit hardest per swing but swing slowest; check Swing speed before crowning a winner. The Heavy Crossbow's monster numbers come with the slowest reload in the game.

Magic and material weapons

A weapon's damage level adds its flat before all scaling, so it carries through to roughly the same amount on the final number. On the halberd line above (GM Anatomy, same 16 AR target):

Weapon Per swing
Plain Halberd 18-30
Might Halberd (+3) 21-34
Force Halberd (+5) 23-36
Power Halberd (+7) 25-38
Vanquishing Halberd (+9) 27-40

Crafted material tiers carry a damage level too: Verm grants Might, Sun grants Force, and both Wyrm and Lyonspire grant Power. A Lyonspireite halberd is a Power halberd with indestructible durability, and an Exceptional craft adds a further +20% scale on top.

Against heavier armor

The flat mitigation is floor(worn AR x 0.625): a 30 AR chain suit absorbs 18, a 40 AR plate suit absorbs 25 from every swing. The one-fifth floor guarantees a landed halberd still deals real damage through plate, while a dagger tickles it, as it should.

See also