Damage Calculation

Information here was translated directly from [https://pso2.swiki.jp/index.php?ダメージ計算] and will require some level of proofreading.

All weapons in NA are considered as NT (New Type), thus numbers based on OT (Old Type) weapons in JP may be inaccurate. Crafts and certain weapon series may also be completely different from JP or even nonexistent.

Damage Composition and Variance

Damage Composition

PSO2's damage is divided into the following:

• Player Damage (Base Stats, Mag Stats, Augments, etc.)
• Weapon Element Damage
• Weapon Damage

In the case of Techniques, "Weapon Element damage" is not applicable.

Damage variance only applies to Weapon Damage. For this reason, there is no damage variance when attacking without a weapon equipped (AKA bare-handed). The minimum value of Weapon Damage always ranges between 10% and 90%. When under conditions which are too good or too bad outside the range of 10-90%, the resulting minimum Weapon Damage will always be capped within 10%-90%. A critical hit removes this variance, resulting in 100% of Weapon Damage being applied.

Maximum damage on a critical hit (Criticals are shown as blue numbers in-game):

Player Damage

Weapon Element Damage

Weapon Damage 100%

Non-critical damage under the best conditions:

Player Damage

Weapon Element Damage

Minimum Weapon Damage 90%

Variance

Non-critical damage under the worst conditions:

Player Damage

Weapon Element Damage

Min. 10%

Variance

As shown above, the damage variance only applies to Weapon Damage, thus it is less evident when observing only the total damage. Since Techniques do not have Weapon Element Damage, it is slightly easier to notice the damage variance compared to other types of attacks.

It should also be noted that Summoner Pets have a wide damage variance. The exact reasoning is unknown, but it's presumed they follow the non-rare OT damage formula. More on that later in this page.

Damage Variance

The above section can be summarized as the following table:

Maximum Damage
Player Damage	Weapon Element Damage	Weapon Damage 100%
		Minimum Weapon Damage	Damage Variance

To determine the minimum weapon damage, there are two broad categories.

• Rare weapons ( and above) → fixed 90%
  • Note that while it was previously possible to have less than 90%, it is no longer the case currently.
  • The Invade OTs and Val series have the minimum weapon damage formula similar to that of "Non-rare Crafted Weapons".

• Non-rare, crafted weapons, Invade OTs, Val series → calculated based on the difference in DEX between the player and the enemy, weapon rarity, and weapon grind.
  • Silver tier or higher crafts, Invade OTs, Val series → calculated minimum weapon damage has a large modifier, resulting in generally higher minimum weapon damage.
  • Crafts that are below Silver tier, common, uncommon, Red and Blue weapons, non-primary ATK stats (e.g. Vibras weapon's TEC) → calculated minimum weapon damage has a small modifier, resulting in generally less minimum weapon damage.

In the case of non-rare, the value of minimum weapon damage is not dependent on weapon attack. If we were to compare between a weapon with 500 attack and another weapon with 1000 attack, under the same surrounding conditions (same difference in DEX between the player and the enemy, same weapon rarity, same level of weapon grind), the calculated minimum weapon damage of both weapons would still be the same.

See Minimum Damage for more details on minimum weapon damage calculation.

Damage Calculation Formula

Notice: The calculation formula is based off of information that can be verified in-game, not from any official sources.

Damage Type Reference

When calculating damage, there is an implied understanding to what the damage type an attack is. There are many different attacks with varying properties affecting how damage is calculated.

Key:

Attack Power

The ATK stat from which the damage is calculated. Increasing the specified ATK stat will increase damage. Other ATK stats have no effect.

Defense Power

The enemy's DEF stat against which the damage is calculated. The higher the specified DEF stat, the less damage can be dealt to the enemy. Similarly, other DEF stats have no effect.

Weapon Element Damage

The ATK stat from which the Weapon Element Damage is calculated. This is dealt as elemental damage and is affected by elemental Part Boost multiplier. For example, when attacking an enemy with fire weakness with a fire element weapon, the Weapon Element Damage is increased by the enemy's fire Part Boost multiplier.

Part Boost

The specific type of Part Boost multiplier used. This differs for each part on the body of the enemy hit by the attack. If the Part Boost is specified as "Ranged", the damage will be affected by headshot multiplier when attacking the head of an enemy. If the Part Boost is specified as "Elemental Attribute", the damage is considered as elemental attribute damage and is affected by elemental Part Boost multiplier. Note that this is independent from Weapon Element Damage which is always affected by elemental Part Boost multiplier.

Final Attack Type

The final damage type of the attack. This is used to determine the effects of class skills, Skill Rings, Potentials, etc. For example, if the Final Attack Type is "Ranged", the damage will be boosted by Ranger's skill "Advanced Precision Hit".

Base

Method of Attack	Attack Power	Defense Power	Weapon Element Damage	Part Boost	Final Attack Type	Notes
Normal Melee Attack	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Normal Ranged Attack	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Ranged
Technique	TEC	TEC Def	None	Elemental Attribute	Tech
Bare hands	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Talis Attack	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Tech	Melee
Harmonizer Normals	TEC	TEC Def	None	Tech	Tech	Enhanced Attack not applicable
Jet Boots (Without Switch Strike)	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Melee	Melee
Jet Boots (With Switch Strike)	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Pets (Without Switch Strike)	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Tech	Tech	Pets stats are used in lieu of weapons, not the stats of the Harmonizer.
Pets (With Switch Strike)	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Tech	Tech	Pets stats are used in lieu of weapons, not the stats of the Harmonizer.
Pets (With Switch Shoot)	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Tech	Tech	Pets stats are used in lieu of weapons, not the stats of the Harmonizer.
Phantom Rod Normals	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Melee	Melee	Unlike other classes' rod attacks, Phantom's does not scale from MEL.

Class Skills & Others

Method of Attack	Attack Power	Defense Power	Weapon Element Damage	Part Boost	Final Attack Type	Notes
Guard Arts	MEL	MEL Def	None	Melee	None
DS Whirlwind	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Katana Counter Edge	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Braver Combat Finish	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Sidestep Tackle	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
SB Photon Blades	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Hero Sword Weapon Action	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Ranger Tools (Traps, Bullets, Bombs)	RNG	RNG Def	None	Ranged	None	Stationary Fire & Mobile Fire not applicable
S-Roll Arts	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Ranged
Phantom Marker Detonation (Rifle)	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Melee
Rod Shoot	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Tech	Melee Damage
Photonic Fury (Wand Focus)	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Elemental Attribute	Melee
Detonation Skills	TEC	TEC Def	None	Tech	Tech
JB Double Jump	TEC	TEC Def	None	Elemental Attribute	None
Elemental Burst	TEC	TEC Def	None	Elemental Attribute	None
Hero Talis Marking Shot	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Tech	Melee
Hero One More Jump	TEC	TEC Def	None	Tech	None
SB Tackle	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Perfect Reversal B	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Angelic Adept	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Retaliating Fist	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Hexing Spirit	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Thundering Blades	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Mysterious Conjurer	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Melee
Switchblade Surprise	MEL	MEL Def	MEL	Melee	Ranged
Antique Shot	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Ranged
Soaring Brilliance	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Ranged
Auxiliary Dart	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Ranged
Glance of Darkness	TEC	TEC Def	None	Elemental Attribute	Tech	Treated as an uncharged Technique
SP Auto Action (MEL)	MEL	MEL Def	None	Melee	None	Only scales from base stats
SP Auto Action (RNG)	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	None	Only scales from base stats
SP Auto Action (TEC)	TEC	TEC Def	None	Elemental Attribute	Tech	Treated as an uncharged Technique with equipment stats scaling
Photon Blast (MEL)	MEL	MEL Def	None	Melee	None
Photon Blast (RNG)	RNG	RNG Def	None	Ranged	None
Photon Blast (TEC)	TEC	TEC Def	None	Tech	None
Dash Panel Boost Kick	MEL	MEL Def	None	Melee	None	Power 250%, 3500%, 5000%

Photon Art & Technique Exceptions

Method of Attack	Attack Power	Defense Power	Weapon Element Damage	Part Boost	Final Attack Type	Notes
Physical Moves from TMG PAs	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Melee	Ranged
Wild Wallop Impact Slider Kick Kamikaze Arrow Kick Kickshot Combo Kick	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Melee	Melee
Kamikaze Arrow Dash	RNG	RNG Def	RNG	Ranged	Melee
Hero Talis PAs	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Tech	Melee
Phantom Rod PAs	TEC	TEC Def	TEC	Melee	Melee
Volkraptor Explosion Banishing Arrow Explosion	None	None	None	Attribute-less	Not Applicable
Zanverse Boost Effect	None	None	None	Wind Attribute	None	Is not boosted by Wind Mastery skills

Maximum Damage

Maximum Damage
Player Damage	Weapon Element Damage	Weapon Damage 100%
		Minimum Weapon Damage	Damage Variance

To calculate the Maximum Damage as shown in the figure above:

• Replace Attack Power, Defense Power, and Part Boost in the formula with their respective values.
• Weapon Attack Power refers to the relevant Attack Power of the weapon, excluding Augments.
• 1.05 is from the latent 5%, colloquially referred to as the "Mystery Multiplier" in the Japanese community.
  • This multiplier did not exist during PSO2's intial Japanese launch, however its existence was confirmed with the release of subclasses.
  • With the exception of a few attacks, all damage is eventually affected by it. The only exception currently confirmed is the direct damage from Zonde.
  • On a side note, when calculating enemy's attack multiplier based on red damage numbers when hit by an enemy's attack. Dividing the damage by 1.05 reveals a rounder value, suggesting that there is a high probability that even the enemies themselves are affected by this multiplier.
• Total Multiplier is the product of all the relevant damage multipliers except Part Boost. This includes the 1.05, PA notation, Skills, Potential Abilities, etc.
• For Pets, use Pet's Attack Power instead of weapon's.
  • Pet's default base ATK → Weapon Attack Power
  • Pet's Plus Stats → Augments (affected by Shifta).
  • Stats from Sweets → Augments (unaffected by Shifta).
  • Interactions between Pet stats and Shifta will be explained in detail later in Applying Buffs.

Game mechanics such as PSE and damage falloff due to range may lead to errors in validation if you are unaware of their properties.

Damage Source = (Total Attack Power - Defense Power) x Part Boost

Weapon Element Damage = Weapon Attack Power x Element Percentage x Elemental Part Boost
(If Technique: Weapon Element Damage = 0)

Total Multiplier = 1.05 x PA Notation x Skill Multiplier x Potential Multiplier etc.

Maximum Damage = (Damage Source + Weapon Element Damage) ÷ 5 × Total Multiplier

Advanced Calculation (same formula but distributed into parts): Show/Hide

Player Damage = (Total Attack Power from Base Stats, Units, Mag, Augments, etc. ÷ 5) × Part Boost × Total Multiplier

Weapon Attack Damage = (Weapon Attack Power ÷ 5) x Part Boost x Total Multiplier

Weapon Element Damage = (Weapon Attack Power x Element Percentage ÷ 5) x Elemental Part Boost x Total Multiplier
(If Technique: Weapon Element Damage = 0)

Defense Damage Reduction = (Defense Power ÷ 5) × Part Boost × Total Multiplier
		
Maximum Damage = Player Damage + Weapon Attack Damage + Weapon Element Damage - Defense Damage Reduction

Minimum Damage

Maximum Damage
Player Boost	Weapon Element Type	Weapon Damage 100%
		Minimum Weapon Damage	Damage Variance

As mentioned earlier in Damage Variance, weapons are divided into groups based on the formula used in the calculation:

• Non-rare group consists of the following:
  • Weapons with through rarity.
  • Crafted weapons using less than Silver tier recipes.
  • Blue and Red Series of weapons.
  • Any weapon when using a non-primary ATK stat (e.g. Vibras weapon's TEC).
• Silver Craft group consists of any weapon crafted using Silver tier recipe.
• Invade OT & Val group consists of said weapon series.
• Rare group consists of other weapons not mentioned above.

Note that not all weapons have been thoroughly tested and there may be exceptions to the grouping and formula not yet discovered.

• Grind Modifier is defined as the growth rate of weapon stats based on the current grind level of the weapon. For instance, a weapon at +35 has 135% of its original ATK, which is equal to 1.35 in decimal format. In this case, the Grind Modifier used in the formula becomes 1.35.

• In the case of Pets, both Player's and Pet's DEX values are added together in the calculation.
  • It has not been verified whether Pet's DEX value is multiplied by PA DEX Modifier. Though for PAs with 100% DEX Modifier, the result of the calculation should be the same.

Weapon Modifier =
        Non-rare group:
                50 × (Grind Modifier - 1)
        Silver Craft group (Twin Daggers, Double Sabers, Gunslashes):
                50 + 100 × (Grind Modifier - 1)
        Silver Craft group (Other Weapons):
                100 + 150 × (Grind Modifier - 1)
        Invade OT & Val group:
                150 + 200 × (Grind Modifier - 1)
        Pets:
                -50
                (If self-inflicted damage, use 0 instead)

Guaranteed Minimum Attack = (Player DEX x PA DEX Modifier - Enemy DEX + Weapon Modifier) x 2

90% Cap = Weapon Attack Power x 90%
10% Cap = Weapon Attack Power x 10%

Effective Attack Power = 
        Rare group:
                90% Cap
        Else:
                90% Cap if Guaranteed Minimum Attack > 90% Cap
                10% Cap if Guaranteed Minimum Attack < 10% Cap
                Guaranteed Minimum Attack otherwise

Minimum Weapon Damage = Effective Attack Power ÷ 5 × Part Boost x Total Multiplier

Applying Buffs

Maximum Damage
Player Damage, Mag Stats			Weapon Element Damage	Weapon Damage 100%
Base Stats, Mag, Stat Ups, etc.	Augments	Photon Flare, etc.		Minimum Weapon Damage	Damage Variance

Fraction of stats caused by calculations from buffs are kept in calculation, even if numbers are rounded before being displayed in-game. Thus, when calculating damage, do not round off decimal values, as they can become significant under very high multipliers.

Based on the figure above, Base Stats, Mag, Stat Ups, etc. includes:

• The player's base stats.
• Mag stats.
• Stat Up skills (e.g. Melee Power Up, Ranged Power Up, Tech Power Up).
• Stat Up SSAs on units.
  • Mag-based stats skills such as Braver Mag are also included.
  • Skills which increase stats dynamically such as Photon Flare and Deadline Slayer are not included.

Stat buffs e.g. Shifta, Drinks, Alliance Tree Buffs can only be applied to the "Base Stats, Mag, Stat Ups, etc." section.

The formula to calculate Attack Power with these buffs is:

{ (Base Stats + Mag + Stat Ups) × Photon Tree Buff × Shifta Drink × Shifta}

The Effect of Shifta on Pets

The effects of Shifta on Pets is different than that of the player's.

The formula for the effect of Shifta on Pets is:

{ Shifta x (Attack Power of player with no equipped weapon + Pet Plus Stats + Attack Boost from Support Roll)}

• The Pet's base stats (not Pet Plus Stats) are not affected by Shifta.
• The Pet's Attack Power from its Element is not affected by Shifta.
• The Attack Boost granted by Cookies are not affected by Shifta.
• The equipped Harmonizer's Attack Power is not affected by Shifta.
• "Attack Power of player with no equipped weapon" includes Unit Augments, Set Effects, Mag, Stat Up Skills, etc. I.e. everything that is also affected by the Attack Power increase of released Katana Focus.
• Using Switch Skills will cause the referenced Attack Power to change, as noted in Damage Type Reference. For instance, if Switch Shoot is active, the referenced Attack Power will change from TEC to RNG, then RNG values from Augments on equipped Units and Set Bonuses will be used instead.
• The player's increased Attack Power from Shifta has no effect on the Pet's damage output. Shifta must be applied on the Pet to take effect.

Criticals and Expected Values

When you deal critical damage, the damage will show up in-game as a blue damage number. The default critical rate is estimated to be 5%.

The higher the critical rate, the higher the average damage will be. To calculate the expected value considering the critical rate, the following is recommended:

Mid-range = (Maximum Value + Minimum Value) ÷ 2
Expected Value = Mid-range + Critical Rate x (Maximum Value - Mid-range)

And taking critical damage bonuses (e.g. Critical Strike) into account:

Mid-range = (Maximum Value + Minimum Value) ÷ 2
Expected Value = Mid-range + Critical Rate × (Maximum Value x Critical Damage bonus - Mid-range)

External Reading

• Potency Analysis - A spreadsheet that compiles and calculates all the DPS tables in a single place.
• Combo Simulator - A Japanese PSO2 damage calculator that does similar things to the Potency Analysis spreadsheet. Uses Japanese terms and PSO2JP English Patch terms.