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Guide to Decoding AQ's Game Mechanics and Balance System
Purpose
The purpose of this guide is to provide the reader with an in-depth description and discussion of AQ's base game mechanics and system of balance. Many of these base game mechanics can be found in the Master List of Game Formulae. By contrast, this guide will discuss them in greater detail, identifying any necessary prerequisite information, walking through their use, and contextualising them in relation to AQ's balance. Before proceeding, it should be noted that the above master list has not been updated (at the time of writing) since 2020. Since that time, several updates have been made to the base game mechanics. Should this guide deviate from the formulae described in this master list, hyperlinks to official update posts will be provided wherever possible. This guide also contains formulae that do not/no longer have associated official posts. These formulae will also be signposted.
AQ's base game mechanics and system of balance are entirely inseparable. Making any changes to the base game mechanics risks undermining AQ's balance model, along with the associated negative impacts (NB: Despite the risks, this has been done before; examples can be found below). Conversely, changes to the balance model would also involve making changes to these base mechanics. Hypothetically, if an entirely new balance system was adopted, the associated mechanical changes would make AQ gameplay completely unrecognisable.
This guide was not created to extoll the benefits of the balance system (if desired, the reasons for adopting a balance system is necessary can instead be found here). Rather, it instead was created to document the current system, while simplifying its intricacies so that they can be easily understood. The inclusion of the word 'decode' in this guide's title is deliberate; many of the formulae discussed below reflect the real process occurring in the game's code, and much of the prerequisite data to use them also represent variables that the code requires. You may have to search for this information in-game, in the AQ Encyclopedia, or in the info submission section to find what you need.
Disclaimer
Before proceeding, it is necessary to highlight that the notes provided in the Master List of Game Formulae are also relevant in this post. To briefly summarise:
^ means 'to the power of'. For example, 10^3 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000.
>= means 'greater than or equal to'. For example, >=10 means 'greater than or equal to 10'.
<= means 'less than or equal to'. For example, <=10 means 'less than or equal to 10'.
round() means 'round to the nearest whole integer'.
floor() means 'round down to the nearest whole integer'.
ceiling() means 'round up to the nearest whole integer'.
sround() meas 'round stochastically'. For example, 14.2 would have a 20% chance of rounding up to 15 and an 80% chance of rounding down to 14.
min() means 'take the minimum of'. For example, with the structure 'min(1, 10)', 1 would be chosen as it is the smallest value.
max() means 'take the maximum of'. For example, with the structure 'max(1, 10)', 10 would be chosen as it is the largest value.
mean() means 'take the mean of'. For example, mean(1, 2, 3) = 2, as (1 + 2 + 3) / 3 = 2
log() means 'take the logarithm of' with a base of 'e' (i.e, a natural logarithm. The value of e is 2.71828). A logarithm is the inverse of an exponent. It is the number a fixed base has to be raised to in order to yield the stated number. For example, log10(100) = 2, because the log base 10 has to be raised to the power of 2 to reach 100. log(100) would be 4.605, as the value of e (2.712828) must be raised to the power 4.605 to reach 100.
As in all mathematical expressions, expressions are simplified and should be conducted in the order of Parentheses > Exponents > Multiplication and Division > Addition and Subtraction. Work left to right with the latter two categories. The example provided by Kaelin has been pasted for clarity:
quote:
Example:
3 - 4 * (5 + 3 ^ 3) / 8
= 3 - 4 * (5 + 27) / 8 <-- First we work inside the parentheses. The Exponent takes priority over the Addition.
= 3 - 4 * (32) / 8 <-- We do the addition in the parentheses.
= 3 - 4 * 32 / 8
= 3 - 128 / 8 <-- Multiplication and Division have priority over the Subtraction, so we work the Multiplication left to right.
= 3 - 16
= -13
Contents
[1] The Player Turn Model
[1.1] What is %Melee?
[1.2] Build Differences
[1.3] SP
[1.4] Other Characteristics
[2] Calculating Resources
[2.1] Power Level and MPLevel
[2.2] HP
[2.3] MP
[2.4] SP
[2.5] Resource Conversion
[3] Calculating Damage
[3.1] Calculating Average Melee Weapon Attack Damage
[3.2] Expected Player Damage
[3.3] Lucky Strikes
[3.4] Spells and Companion Attacks
[3.5] Expected Player Damage
[3.6] Status Damage
[3.7] Damage Modifiers
[3.8] Other Characteristics
[4] Calculating Accuracy
[4.1] Calculating Melee Weapon Attack Accuracy
[4.2] How does this work in practice?
[4.3] Weapon Special Accuracy
[4.4] Spells and Companion Attack Accuracy
[4.5] BtH Leans, Berserk, and Autohit
[4.6] Accuracy Modifiers
[5] The Status System
[5.1] Inflicting a Status
[5.2] A Worked Example
[5.3] Damage over Time Statuses
[5.3.1] Burn and Poison
[5.3.2] Prismatic Burn
[5.3.3] Regeneration
[5.3.4] Bleed
[5.3.5] Spore
[5.4] Disease
[5.5] Inaction Statuses
[5.5.1] Daze and Fear
[5.5.2] Paralysis
[5.5.3] Control
[5.5.4] Freeze and Freeze-like Statuses
[5.5.5] Sleep
[5.6] Attack Alteration Statuses
[5.6.1] Choke
[5.6.2] Panic
[5.6.3] Elemental Shield
[5.6.4] Elemental Vulnerability
[5.6.5] Defence and BtH Boost
[5.6.6] Blind and Dazzled
[5.7] Stat Boost Statuses
[5.8] Instant Death
[5.9] Other Statuses
[6] Stats
[6.1] Expected Stats
[6.2] Style Bonuses
[6.3] STR
[6.3.1] Style Bonus
[6.4] DEX
[6.4.1] Style Bonus
[6.5] INT
[6.5.1] Style Bonus
[6.6] END
[6.6.1] Style Bonus
[6.7] CHA
[6.7.1] Style Bonus
[6.8] LUK
[6.8.1] Style Bonus
[6.8] Initiative
[7] Elemental Compensation
[7.1] What is elemental compensation?
[7.2] Calculating elemental compensation
[7.3] A Worked Example
[7.3.1] ArmourLeanMod
[7.3.2] BlockingMod
[7.3.3] DamageTakenMod
[7.3.4] DamageDealtMod
[7.3.5] Converting CompensationMod to Elemental Compensation
[7.3.6] Elemental Compensation for Weapon-based skills
[8] Miscellaneous Mechanics
[8.1] Levelling Up
[8.2] Player Experience and Gold Caps
[8.3] Monster Encounters
[8.4] Monster Experience and Gold Rewards
[8.5] Equipment Prices
[8.6] Potions
[8.7] Damage Modifiers and Penalties
[1] The Player Turn Model
At the heart of AQ's balance system is the Player Turn Model. This is an extremely simple model of player-monster battles. It is also known as the '20-turn model' because it assumes that the player is able to successfully kill two 'normal' monsters (or one 'boss' monster) within 20 turns, before receiving a full heal. The assumptions made by this model are extremely important; they govern the majority of the game mechanics on the Master List of Game Formulae, as well as item/monster design standards. This model is shown below:
quote:
Each Turn: 100% Melee [Player Damage] + 20% Melee [SP] + 20% Melee [Pet] = 140% Melee [Monster Damage]
This equation has no official linked post
Before proceeding further, it is important to discuss what '% Melee' means.
[1.1] What is %Melee?
%Melee is a metric that refers to the value of a standard Melee attack. This metric applies relative to player level; 50% Melee is worth less in terms of absolute damage to a Level 30 player than it is for a Level 150 player (damage calculation will be discussed below). 100% Melee means the value of 1 standard Melee attack.
In other words, each turn, the player turn model assumes that the player deals 1 standard Melee attack's worth of value from their own action, receives 0.2 standard melee attack's worth of value from their pet*, and gains a further 0.2 standard melee attack's worth of value from their SP. Balancing the scales, a standard monster's attack is worth 140% melee. Over 20 turns, the player is expected to deal:
quote:
Over 20 turns: 20 * 100 [Player Damage] + 20 * 20 [Pet] + 20 * 20 [SP] = 2800% Melee
... or 28 standard melee attack's worth of value. The word "value" is intentional, this does not have to mean direct damage (see section 1.4).
*You can see this with booster pets such as Dunamis, which provides a 20*0.6 = 12% base boost to your melee weapon attacks without CHA. The reason for the *0.6 modifier will be discussed further in Section 8.7
[1.2] Build Differences
Up to this point, %Melee has been discussed because the Warrior build forms the baseline assumption of AQ's balance model. This poses no problem for Rangers; each turn, Ranged weapon attacks are also expected to deal 100% Melee (i.e. a Ranged weapon is just as strong as a Melee weapon). You can see this with Melee/Ranged weapon damage values in-game). Things are, however, slightly more complicated for Mages. Magic weapons deal 75% Melee, or three quarters of a standard melee attack (this can also be seen in-game). In exchange, the remaining 25% is stored as MP, which can be used to cast spells. Over 20 turns, Mages are assumed to cast 4 spells, each worth 200% Melee (or 2 standard Melee attacks), using Magic weapon attacks on the remaining 16 Turns:
quote:
Over 20 turns: 16 * 75 [Magic Weapon Damage] + 4 * 200 [Spell Damage] + 20 * 20 [Pet] +20 * 20 [SP] = 2800% Melee
This means that a Mage's MP is actually condensed Player damage; a Mage's Weapon + Spell is the equivalent of a Warrior/Ranger's base weapon. This is also the key difference between MP and SP; Mage MP is a separated player damage, whereas SP is an entirely different component of the player turn formula.
[1.3] SP
Each turn, the player is estimated to gain 20% Melee from SP. This is done through base SP regeneration; unlike MP, you regenerate SP over time. The amount regenerated is sufficient for the player to be able to cast 5 skills for Warriors and Rangers, and 4 skills for Mages, over 20 turns. The number differs because normal skills deal 200% Melee (the same as spells), but Mages start from a lower baseline (75% melee, versus Warrior/Ranger's 100%). This works out fine over 20 turns due to it being divisible by both 4 and 5:
quote:
Warriors + Rangers: 20 Turns / 4 Turns Per Cast * 100% Melee = 500% Melee
Mages: 20 Turns / 5 Turns Per Cast * 125% Melee = 500% Melee
However, in practice, this highlights the first (and by no means the last) major flaw with the player turn model. The model assumes that the player regenerates 20% Melee per turn rather than 25%, i.e. Warriors and Rangers should be able to use skills once every 5 turns, not every 4. Similarly, Mages should be able to use skills every (200-75)/20 = 6.25 turns. It also means that, in reality, the player has access to 145% Melee per turn, rather than the 140% Melee assumed under the turn model.
[1.4] Other Characteristics:
Aside from the incorrect valuation of SP, there are several other important characteristics to note about the player turn model:
The above values assume that the all actors (player/pet/SP/monster) have an 85% hit rate. This becomes important when discussing accuracy calculations.
The model assumes you will invest in at least one mainstat (i.e. one of the stats that directly affect player damage: STR/DEX/INT), but makes no assumptions about the tertiary stats (CHA/END/LUK). Overall, pets are worth 40% Melee, with half of that value coming from the companion stat CHA*. This will also be important later in relation to damage calculation.
This model makes no assumptions about the items you choose to use. This means that all non-direct damage mechanics (e.g., healing, status conditions) are not explicitly assumed as part of the model. It simply allocates %Melee value that the player/monster can choose to use as they see fit. Depending on the items/mechanics used, they can deviate from this 20 turn assumption.
*This is why Dunamis' base boost value is 12%, with a further 12% coming from your stats.
[2] Calculating Resources
[2.1] Power Level and MPLevel
In order to survive 20 turns under the player turn model, the player requires access to 20 turn's worth of HP, SP, and (if invested in INT) MP. These resource bars are scaled relative to the player's level, stats, and (in the case of SP) MPLevel (MPLvl). This latter variable is the player's level modified by their 'Power Level' (PowLvl), the player's level modified by Guardian status. Any player with Guardian status is treated as being 3 levels higher than their current level. MPLvl is calculated as:
quote:
MPLvl: floor(PowLvL*3/4 + Level/4)
Source
For example, if the player is a Level 150 Guardian, their PowLvl would be:
quote:
PowLvl: 150 + 3 = 153
This equation has no official linked post
and their MPLvl would be:
quote:
MPLvl: floor(153*3/4 + 150/4) = 152
[2.2] HP:
To survive twenty turn's worth of damage, the player requires at least twenty turns of HP. As monsters are assumed to deal 140% Melee per turn (see section 1 for further details), the player requires 2800% Melee worth of HP:
quote:
Player HP Value: 140 * 20 = 2800%
At any given level, the player has access to this amount of HP regardless of their stats. This is because the player turn model does not assume which tertiary stats you invest in (see section 1.4). However, your HP can increase further above this amount depending on your END. The player's HP is calculated as:
quote:
Player HP: round(23.8 * ((5.25 + 0.5625 * Level + 0.00375 * Level^2) + (1 + 0.066 * Level) * END/16) * 1/1.4)
Source.
The majority of the numbers in this formula are used to scale your HP according to your level. The first main component:
quote:
23.8 * ((5.25 + 0.5625 * Level + 0.00375 * Level^2)...
Creates your base HP (when modified by the '*1/1.4' value at the very end), while the second creates the level-scaled bonus associated with your END. The '*END/16' modifier ensures that this bracket would be worth nothing if the player had 0 END:
quote:
...(1 + 0.066 * Level) * END/16)...
As would be expected, Level and END in this formula refers to the player's Level and END investment respectively.
For example, a Level 150 player with 75 points invested into END would have:
quote:
Player HP: round(23.8 * ((5.25 + 0.5625 * 150 + 0.00375 * 150^2) + (1 + 0.066 * 150) * 75/16) * 1/1.4) = 3827 HP
The player would thus have 3827 HP.
[2.3] MP:
MP is slightly more complicated to contextualise within AQ's Balance System. Mages are expected to cast 4 spells over 20 turns (see section 1 for more details), worth a total of 200*4 = 800% Melee. However, not all of this value comes from MP; Mages are expected to receive 75% Melee in base player damage per turn. This means, when casting a spell, only the remaining 125% Melee of value comes directly from MP. The player must therefore have enough MP to be worth:
quote:
Player MP Value: 4 * (200 - 75) = 500% Melee
...with the remaining 300% coming from base player damage (NB: the other 1200% Melee of player damage is assumed to be obtained over the remaining 16 turns through magic weapon attacks. 16 * 75 = 1200% Melee).
The player's MP can be calculated as:
quote:
Player MP: round(4.1 * (33 + (5.1 + 2.3375 * Level + 0.01125 * Level^2) * min(1, INT / max(min(2 * Level + 4, 250), 10))))
Source. Please note that the formula on the master list is currently includes '200' rather than '250'. This is because, prior to 2019, the player could only invest 200 points into any one stat.
Similar to HP (see section 2.2), the majority of these numbers are used to scale your MP according to your level. However, this is calculated in a slightly different way. The first part of the formula calculates what your level-scaled MP should be if you have fully invested in INT:
quote:
4.1 * (33 + (5.1 + 2.3375 * Level + 0.01125 * Level^2)...
...while the latter modifies this depending on whether you have reached the appropriate amount of INT for your level:
quote:
...* min(1, INT / max(min(2 * Level + 4, 250), 10)))
This can be rewritten as a sequence of components:
quote:
Component 3: min(1, Component 2), where...
Component 2: max(Component 1, 10), where...
Component 1: min(2 * Level + 4, 250)
For example, a Level 150 player at expected INT for their level (250) would have:
quote:
Expected Player MP: 4.1 * (33 + (5.1 + 2.3375 * 150 + 0.01125 * 150^2) = 2631.585 MP
Working in reverse, this base MP must then be modified by their true INT. Assuming that the player had 175 INT:
quote:
Component 1: min(2 * 175 + 4 [354], 250) = 250
Component 2: max(component 1, 10) = Component 1 [250]
Component 3: min(1, 175 / component 2 [250]) = 175 / Component 2 [0.7]
round(2631.585 * Component 3 [0.7]) = 1842 MP
The player would thus have 1842 MP.
[2.4] SP:
Unlike HP and MP, the player slowly obtains SP over time. They do not need to store it all to gain its benefits under the player turn model. As such, at any given level, the player can store up to 375% Melee worth of SP (see section 1.1 for further details on %Melee).
Player max SP is also simpler to calculate than HP and MP because it does not rely on stats. Rather, it is simply scales to the player's Level:
quote:
Max Player SP: round(2.25 * (38.1 + 2.3375 * MPLvl + 0.01125 * MPLvl^2))
Source
As noted in section 2, MPLvl refers to a 3/4 weighting of the player's PLvl (i.e. current level combined with Guardian status) and 1/4 weighting of their current Level:
quote:
MPLvl: floor(PowLvl*3/4 + Level/4) where
PowLvl = Level + 3 (if Guardian)*
Source
*please note that this equation has no official linked post
Thus, a level 150 Guardian is expected to have:
quote:
PowLvl: 150 + 3 = 153
MPLvl: floor(153*3/4 + 150/4) = 152
Player Max SP: round(2.25 * (38.1 + 2.3375 * 152 + 0.01125 * 152^2)) = 1470 SP
The player would thus be able to store up to 1470 SP.
Similarly, SP regeneration only scales through Level:
quote:
SP Regeneration per turn: round(0.15 * (38.1 + 2.3375 * MPLevel + 0.01125 * MPLevel^2))
Source
Thus, the same Level 150 Guardian would regenerate:
quote:
SP Regeneration per turn: round(0.15 * (38.1 + 2.3375 * 152 + 0.01125 * 152^2)) = 98 SP
...or 98 SP per turn. To reiterate from section 1, please note that player SP regeneration is stronger than is assumed under the player turn model. At 98 SP at Level 150 is worth 25% Melee rather than the 20% assumed. Please see section 1.3 for further details.
[2.5] Resource Conversion
The player's SP, HP, and MP is converted in a 1.125; 1; 1.5 ratio*. In other words, Each 1 HP is worth 1.125 SP and 1.5 MP. This is easily demonstrated through skill costs. At Level 150, a typical Melee skill costs 392 SP to use. This SP is worth 100% Melee (i.e. 100% Melee comes from normal player damage, the rest is fuelled by SP). A spell costs 653 MP to use, with the MP worth 125% Melee (Mage player attacks are worth 75% melee, the rest comes from MP). Thus, if we convert the skill SP cost into MP (*1.5/1.125), and then multiply the result by 1.25, the result should be 653:
quote:
392 * 1.5/1.125 = 522.67
522.67 * 1.25 = 653.34
As is shown, the numbers align.
Please note that you may find inconsistencies in this system with some items that cost HP to use. This is because these items follow an older and now outdated standard that calculated the value of HP based on incoming damage. This system meant that HP was valued much more highly than in the modern ratio system (approximately *2.3 as much). Under the modern standard, 100% melee in HP should be 392/1.125 = 348.4 HP at Level 150.
*NB: This is also the reason why damage to MP and SP is modified by *1.5 and 1.125 respectively. Source.
[3] Calculating Damage
The Player Turn Model (see section 1) assumes that the player receives 100% Melee from player actions, 20% Melee in Pets (though see below for a caveat), and 20% Melee from SP per turn. This section of the guide will explain how to translate these relative numbers into estimates of absolute damage. The term 'estimates' is important; as will be explained below, damage in AQ contains a 'Random' component that makes the actual amount of damage done by you/your companions vary somewhat.
The formulae for calculating the average damage of attack types are shown below, with subsequent subsections discussing how to use them:
quote:
Average Normal Weapon Damage: (Weapon Base) * (Armor Base) + (Weapon Random) * (Armor Random) / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Armor Stat) / 2
Average Weapon Special Damage: (Weapon Base) * (Special Base) + (Weapon Random) * (Special Random) / 2 + (Average Lucky Strike Stat) * (Special Lucky Strike) / 2
Average Spell Damage: Spell Base + Spell Random / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Spell Stat) / 2
Average Pet/Guest Damage: Pet/Guest Base + Pet/Guest Random / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Pet/Guest Stat) / 2
Source
[3.1] Calculating Average Melee Weapon Attack Damage
Calculating the average damage of an attack in AQ is not mathematically challenging, but is complicated due to having multiple prerequisite components. To simplify this calculation, this guide will assume that the player is Level 150 and using a modern (at the time of writing) weapon and armour: The Rubicon Legate Gladius (a Melee weapon) and the Rubicon Legate armour.
The formula for calculating average weapon damage is:
quote:
Average Normal Weapon Damage: (Weapon Base) * (Armor Base) + (Weapon Random) * (Armor Random) / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Armor Stat) / 2
Source
The components "Weapon Base" and "Weapon Random" refer to the minimum damage and damage range (calculated via maximum damage - base damage) a weapon is capable of dealing. This data can be found on the stats of the in-game or (if you don't own the item) on its encyclopedia / info submission entry. In the case of the Level 150 Rubicon Legate Gladius, the weapon deals 16-48 damage in game. This means its Base is 16 and its Random is 48-16 = 32. You can see this information already in the table in the Rubicon Legate Gladius' info submission post. This obtains the first two components:
quote:
Average Normal Weapon Damage: 16 * (Armor Base) + 32 * (Armor Random) / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Armor Stat) / 2
The attack also gains bonus damage based on your stats. The stat used and bonus gained depends on the type of attack*:
quote:
Melee Weapon: STR/8
Ranged Weapon: DEX/8
Magic Weapon: INT*3/32
Melee Skill/Spell: STR/4
Ranged Skill/Spell: DEX/4
Magic Skill/Spell: INT/4
Pets & Guests: CHA/15
Source. However, in 2022, Ranged damage was modified from the formula quoted in the Master list to solely focus use DEX rather than a combination of STR and DEX
*Please note that it's a little more complicated than this in reality. Core stat damage also has 'Base' and 'Random' components. Thus, while average core stat damage is worth 'CoreStat'/2, minimum is worth 'CoreStat'/4, and maximum stat damage 'CoreStat'*3/4. the 'Random' component is twice as large as the 'Base' Component. .
As the Rubicon Gladius is a Melee weapon, the correct formula to use is STR/8. Assuming that our Level 150 player has 250 STR:
quote:
Stat Damage: 250 / 8 = 31.25
Average Normal Weapon Damage: 16 * (Armor Base) + 32 * (Armor Random) / 2 + 31.25 * (Armor Stat) / 2
The remaining components, 'Armour Base', 'Armour Random', and 'Armour Stat', are all values that can only be obtained from the item's encyclopedia / info submission entry. In the case of the Level 150 Rubicon legate armour, its base and random values are both 559% (see the 'BR%' row on its entry), while its stat value is 1109.8% (see its 'Stat' row). Please be on the lookout when searching for these values; their labels in the information table can vary.
In order for these values to be used, they need to be converted from percentages into multipliers (i.e., divide the above values by 100). They can then be added to the formula:
quote:
Armour Base/Random: 559 / 100 = 5.59
Armour Stat: 1109.8 / 100 = 11.098
Average Normal Weapon Damage: round(16 * 5.59 + 32 * 5.59 / 2 + 31.25 * 11.098 / 2) = 352 Damage
Thus, the normal weapon attack with these items can be expected to do 352 damage. Or, rather, this would be the case if not for other modifiers that affect this average damage output. See Section 3.7 for further details
[3.2] Lucky Strikes
Lucky Strikes typically occur 10% of the time and provide attacks with an additional LUK*3/8 stat damage. This means an average attack gains an additional LUK * 3/80 stat damage. Assuming that our hypothetical player has 250 LUK, and incorporating this into the formula:
quote:
LUK Stat Damage: 250 * 3 / 80 = 9.375
Expected Damage: round(16 * 5.59 + 32 * 5.59 / 2 + (31.25 + 9.375) * 11.098 / 2) = 404
For completeness, I also include the calculations below for stat damage assuming a Lucky Strike occurs. Please ensure that the value of *3/80 is used instead if you wish to account for the 10% chance of a Lucky Strike occuring. Please further note that Guests cannot Lucky Strike:
quote:
Melee Weapon: STR / 8 + LUK * 3 / 8
Ranged Weapon: DEX / 8 + LUK * 3 / 8
Magic Weapon: INT * 3 / 32 + LUK * 3 / 8
Melee Skill/Spell: STR / 4 + LUK * 3 / 8
Ranged Skill/Spell: DEX / 4 + LUK * 3 / 8
Magic Skill/Spell: INT / 4 + LUK * 3 / 8
Pets: CHA / 15 + LUK / 5
Modified from Source. However, in 2022, Ranged damage was modified from the formula quoted in the Master list to solely focus use DEX rather than a combination of STR and DEX
[3.3] Weapon Specials
Weapon specials are infrequent attacks attached to some weapons that deal higher amounts of damage than normal ones. The %Melee value of a weapon special depends on how frequently that attack is expected to occur:
quote:
%Melee Value: 100[*0.75 If Magic]*(1 + 0.1 / Proc)
Modified from Source.
In this formula, 'Proc' refers to the decimal chance of the special occurring. For example, a Melee weapon with a 20% chance of a special would have a 'Proc' of 0.2, and its weapon special would deal:
quote:
%Melee Value: 100*(1 + 0.1 / 0.2) = 150% Melee
A key difference between regular attacks and weapon specials is that, rather than taking stats from the armour worn by the player, they have unique ones instead. As such, the formula for weapon specials is similar to the one used for regular attacks, but replaces the armour-related components with unique ones related to the special:
quote:
Average Weapon Special Base: (Weapon Base) * (Special Base) + (Weapon Random) * (Special Random) / 2
Source.
You can find these components in these weapon's encyclopedia / info submission entry alongside the other required components. Fortunately, our example weapon, the Rubicon Legate Gladius, has a 20% chance for a weapon special to occur (i.e., it's a '20-proc' weapon). This means we can continue using it as an example here, filling in the component we already have from Section 3.1 (Base: 16, Random: 48 - 16 = 32):
quote:
Average Weapon Special Base: 16 * (Special Base) + 32 * (Special Random) / 2
The 'Special Base' and 'Special Random' can be found in the 'SBR' row in the column. In this case, both are 16.5. Please note that, as with the other variables, the names of these variables may change depending on the entry. Incorporating these values into the formula:
quote:
Average Weapon Special Base: 16 * 16.5 + 32 * 16.5 / 2 = 528
Thus, the weapon special of the Level 150 Rubicon Legate Gladius can be expected to deal 528 damage on average. As with regular weapon attacks though, this is subject to further modifications (see Section 3.7 below).
Weapon specials can also lucky strike. The formula for calculating that is displayed below:
quote:
Weapon Special Power = (Weapon Base) * (Special Base) + (Weapon Random) * (Special Random) / 2 + (Average Lucky Strike Stat) * (Special Lucky Strike) / 2
Source.
The 'Special Lucky Strike' value can be found in the 'SLS' row of the item entry. Included here is a handy table with standard weapon special values.
[3.4] Spells and Companion Attacks
Under AQ's balance system, normal Spells and Skills are worth 200% Melee, Pets are worth 40% Melee*, and Guests 45% Melee. Similar to weapon specials (see Section 3.3), spell and companion attacks don't take any values from armours and instead fully calculate their damage based on components unique to the item. The formulae these components are below:
quote:
Spell Damage: round(Base + Random / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Spell Stat) / 2)
Pet/Guest Damage: round(Base + Random / 2 + (Stat Damage) * (Companion Stat) / 2)
Modified from Source to exclude hit rate and monster resistance. These values modify the damage dealt, but are not required to calculate base damage.
The prerequisite values can be found on the item's encyclopedia / info submission entry. For example, the 4-Metre Seaside Skeleton Attack Spell has a 'Base' of 239, a 'Random' of 238, and a 'Spell Stat' of 1109.8% (see the 'Stat' row of the table. The only other important difference to note is that the 'Magic Skill/Spell' stat stat bonus should be used to calculate damage, rather than the the 'Magic Weapon' bonus. Assuming that the player has 250 INT:
quote:
Magic Skill/Spell: INT / 4 = 250 / 4 = 75
Source
This can be funnelled into the damage equation along with the other components:
quote:
Spell Damage: round(239 + 238 / 2 + 75 * 11.098 / 2) = 774 damage
Please be aware that, depending on the info submission, the values observed may reflect the damage dealt by a hit of the attack, rather than the entire attack (such as the example above).
A similar process is undertaken to calculate companion damage, substituting in the values from their database entries, as well as the appropriate stat bonus to damage (CHA/15). Spells and Pets are also able to lucky strike; the stat damage bonuses for those are displayed below. To reiterate, please note that Guests cannot lucky strike:
quote:
Magic Skill/Spell: INT/4 + LUK*3/8
Pets: CHA/15 + LUK/5
Modified from Source. Please ensure that the value of *3/80 is used instead if you wish to account for the 10% chance of a Lucky Strike occurring.
*NB: To reiterate, the player turn model does not assume that the player invests in a specific supporting stat. CHA, the stat which increases the damage of pets and guests, is one of these supporting stats. However, when it comes to calculating the true value of a Companion attack, we need to account for it. As with other attack types, stats provide about half the total damage of an attack. Thus, while Pets only contribute 20% to the player turn model, their actual attacks (with CHA) deal 40% Melee.
[3.5] Expected Player Damage
The game expects you to deal a certain amount of damage per turn based on your Level. This is calculated using the equation below:
quote:
Expected Player Damage: Expected Base + Expected Random / 2 + Expected Stat / 2
Source.
Expected Base and Random in this formula are calculated as follows:
quote:
Expected Base: round((5.25 + 0.5625 * PowLvl + 0.00375 * PowLvl ^ 2) / 2)
Expected Random: round(5.25 + 0.5625 * PowLvl + 0.00375 * PowLvl ^ 2)
Source.
The 'PowLvl' component in this formula is the same as when calculating total SP in Section 2:
quote:
PowLvl = Level + 3 (if Guardian)
please note that this equation has no official linked post
This means, for a Level 150 Guardian, expected base and random are:
quote:
PowLvl = 150 + 3 = 153
Expected Base: (5.25 + 0.5625 * 153 + 0.00375 * 153 ^ 2) / 2 = 89.55
Expected Random: 5.25 + 0.5625 * 153 + 0.00375 * 153 ^ 2 = 179.1
Feeding these into the expected damage formula:
quote:
Expected Player Damage: 90 + 179 / 2 + Expected Stat / 2
In order to calculate stat damage, rather than using your own stats, the game instead uses a set of assumed stats:
quote:
Expected Main: max(min(2 * PowLvl + 30, 5 * PowLvl, 250), 10)
Expected Secondary: min(4 * PowLvl + 32 - Expected Main, 5*PowLvl - Expected Main, 250)
Expected Tertiary: 5 * PowLvl - Expected Main - Expected Secondary
Expected Stat: (1 + 0.066 * PowLvl) * (Expected Main / 8 + Expected Tertiary * 3 / 80)
Source.
The expected stat calculations will be discussed in detail in the stats section. For the sake of brevity, at Level 150, the 'Expected Main', 'Expected Secondary', and 'Expected Tertiary' values would all be 250. Feeding these values into the Expected Stat and then Expected Player Damage:
quote:
Expected Stat: (1 + 0.066 * 153) * (250 / 8 + 250 * 3 / 80) = 450.86
Expected Player Damage: 89.55 + 179.1 / 2 + 450.86 / 2 = 404.53
This means the player is expected to deal approximately 404.5 damage per turn.
The eagle-eyed will have spotted that the assumptions used to calculate expected damage contradict the Player Turn Model (see Section 1). In that Section, it was noted that players do not invest in a specific tertiary stat. However, expected damage assumes not only that a supporting stat is invested, but that the stat invested is LUK. This was already demonstrated by adding LUK into the base weapon damage formula in Section 3.2:
quote:
LUK Stat Damage: 250 * 3 / 80 = 9.375
Expected Damage: round(16 * 5.59 + 32 * 5.59 / 2 + (31.25 + 9.375) * 11.098 / 2) = 404
As can be seen, once LUK is added into damage expectation, both Expected Damage and calculated damage are equal. Another important factor to notice is that expected player damage does not take into account weapon specials at all. In reality, even a typical weapon without a special will deal more damage than Expected Damage assumes.
[3.6] Status Damage
Status Damage (e.g., the damage from Poison and Burn) is calculated based on the level and power of the status, as well as Expected Damage (see Section 3.5):
quote:
Status Base: Expected Damage * 2 / 3 * Status Power Modifier
Rand damage: [Expected player damage] * 2 / 3 * Status Power Modifier
Stat damage: 0
BTH: (autohits)
Source.
It is important to note that the 'PowLvl' component of 'Expected Damage' refers to the status' power level when calculating status damage. The Status Power Modifier component above depends on the status:
quote:
Status Power Modifiers
Bleed: Power
Burn: Power / 10
Control: 0.1
Poison: Power / 10
Prismatic Burn: Power / 10
Regen: Power
Spiritual Seed: Power / 10
Source.
Thus, the average damage of a Power 2.5 PowLvl 153 Poison will deal:
quote:
Base: Expected Damage [404] * 2 / 3 * 2.5 / 10 = 67.33
Random: Expected Damage [404] * 2 / 3 * 2.5 / 10 = 67.33
Average Damage: round(67.33 + 67.33 / 2) = 101
As is shown, 101 damage is precisely one quarter of expected player damage, in line with the Status Power Modifier of Poison damage.
[3.7] Damage Modifiers
The above calculations detail the most basic aspects of damage calculation. However, AQ also provides myriad ways to further increase your damage. There are too many ways to increase your damage to list here in full. Instead, listed are common modifiers that increase damage output:
No-proc bonus: Weapons that do not have a true weapon special deal *1.08 damage.
100-proc weapons: These weapons, which include bows and wands, will always perform a weapon special rather than a standard weapon attack. They can also have 'true' weapon specials that happen infrequently, similar to other weapons. If these items do not have a 'true' special, they will deal *1.1 damage.
Armour Lean: Modern Armours almost always have a 'lean' attached to them, which changes the damage they deal with certain attack types and modifies the damage they take from monsters. To briefly summarise their impacts: the Fully Offensive, Mid-Offensive, Mid-Defensive, and Fully Defensive Armour Leans all modify regular weapon attack damage (but NOT spells/weapon specials), while the SpellCaster Armour Lean modifies spell damage (but NOT regular weapon damage/weapon specials). The Dire Armour Lean modifies status damage (but NOT regular weapon damage/spells/weapon specials).
Mastercraft Items: Mastercraft (MC) items are 5% more powerful than their non-MC equivalents. Although rarely employed today, in the past it was not uncommon for MCs to be used to directly increase damage. They have also been previously used to increase Lucky Strike and Weapon Special damage.
BtH Leans: Some Items have a Bonus-to-hit (BtH) lean that modifies both their accuracy and damage in tandem. This will be discussed further in Section 4.
Elemental Resistance: The monster's elemental resistance will further modify the amount of damage you deal. For example, against a 130% resistance, your attack will deal *1.3 damage.
Elemental Compensation: The player is normally assumed to attack with one element, while defending against its polar opposite. If the player is forced to deviate from this assumption, they can receive a compensatory damage boost. This will be discussed in greater detail in Section 7.
Full Set Bonus: Some items have an additional bonus for being used in combination with other specific items. These bonuses can include dealing additional damage.
Trigger Effects: Some items will deal additional damage if they are used against certain types of Monster. The most famous of these examples is the Dragon Blade, which deals additional damage to dragons. These items often also come with downtriggers (i.e. they deal less than normal damage against monsters they aren't specifically designed for).
Status Effects: There are status effects that can modify your damage, including Elemental Empowerment, Elemental Shield, and Elemental Vulnerability. Status effects will be discussed further in Section 5.
Damage Leans: Weapon/Spell 'Random' does not have to be twice as large as 'Base', as in the Rubicon Legate Gladius example. Items have a range of base and random leans, ranging from entirely Random (e.g., Dark Comedy) to entirely Base (e.g., Magnablade).
[3.8] Other Characteristics
There are several additional important pieces of information associated with damage.
The expected damage dealt by the player using default equipment is not equal to 100% Melee. Instead, it is worth 100 / 0.85 = 117.65% Melee. This is because the Player Turn Model (see Section 1) inherently assumes that Player/Companion attacks have an inherent 85% hit rate. This is unavoidable; if the calculations above reflected 100% Melee, the player would instead be expected to take 20 / 0.85 = 23.53 turns to kill two monsters. For obvious reasons, this would cause major problems for AQ's Balance System.
[4] Calculating Accuracy
The Player Turn Model (see Section 1) inherently assumes that the attacks of Players, their Companions (Pets and Guests), and the Monster they're fighting all have an accuracy rate of 85%. This means that the damage dealt by these entities mut be worth Assumed Value / 0.85% Melee damage, to counteract the effects of accuracy reduction. Otherwise, the Player Turn (a.k.a 20-turn) model would in reality last 20/0.85 turns, causing major problems for the other parts of the balance system (not least the resource calculations discussed in Section 2). This section of the guide will elaborate upon this basic assumption of an 85%, explaining how the accuracy of attacks is truly calculated. It will also demonstrate how easy it is for the player/monster to deviate from it.
The formulae for calculating the accuracy of player side attacks attacks are displayed here, and will be discussed in greater detail below:
quote:
Chance to hit: (100 + Attacker Accuracy – Monster Blocking ) / 100
quote:
where:
Attacker Accuracy [Weapon]: Weapon BtH + Armor BtH + Stat BtH
Attacker Accuracy [Weapon Special]: Weapon BtH + Weapon Special BtH
Attacker Accuracy [Spell]: Spell BtH + Stat BtH
Attacker Accuracy [Pet]: Pet BtH + Stat BtH
Attacker Accuracy [Guest]: Guest BtH + Stat BtH
quote:
and:
Monster Blocking: floor(Level / 4 + 55)
Source. The monster blocking formula has not been previously been noted, but was implemented in 2022 when DEX was removed from Melee/Magic accuracy formulae.
[4.1] Calculating Melee Weapon Attack Accuracy
Similar to damage (see Section 3), calculating the accuracy of an attack in AQ is not particularly difficult mathematically, but it is complicated by the number of prerequisite components. To simplify this process, this guide will again assume that the player is Level 150 and using a modern (at the time of writing) weapon and armour: The Rubicon Legate Gladius (a Melee weapon) and the Rubicon Legate armour.
To calculate the accuracy of this attack, we need to calculate the bonus to hit (BtH; essentially the accuracy bonus) of the weapon attack, as well as estimate the average blocking ability of the defending monster. Since this is a weapon attack, we'll need the weapon attack formula shown above:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy [Weapon]: Weapon BtH + Armor BtH + Stat BtH
Source
The 'Weapon BtH' variable refers to the amount of accuracy bonus provided by the weapon itself. This data can be found on the item's encyclopedia / info submission entry. In the case of the Level 150 Rubicon Legate Gladius, its BtH is 19 (see the 'BtH' row).
Similarly, 'Armour BtH' refers to the accuracy bonus provided by the armour the player wears. This can also be found on the item's encyclopedia / info submission entry. The Level 150 Rubicon Legate armour also provides a BtH value of 19 (again, see the 'BtH' row).
These values can be fed directly into the formula:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy [Weapon]: 19 + 19 + Stat BtH
Source
This just leaves stat BtH. Just like damage, each unique attack type in AQ has a stat BtH contribution. The stat used and bonus gained depends on the type of attack:
quote:
Melee: STR * 4 / 25
Ranged: DEX * 4 / 25
Magic: INT * 4 / 25
Pets + Guests: CHA * 4 / 50 + Max(STR, DEX, INT) * 4 / 50
Source, with an update here. Please note that the Master List is outdated and provides incorrect stat bonuses
Rubicon Legate Gladius is a Melee weapon. Assuming that the player's STR is 250:
quote:
Stat BtH: 250 * 4 / 25 = 40
Which can then be added to produce our final bonus to accuracy:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy: 19 + 19 + 40 = 78
Thus, the player's assumed bonus to accuracy in this setup is 78.
Calculating the monster's expected MRM is much easier, as this simply depends on Level. Assuming that the player is fighting against a Level 150 monster:
quote:
Monster Blocking: floor(150 / 4 + 55) = 92
Finally, Player accuracy and Monster Blocking can be brought together to calculate average accuracy?
quote:
Chance to hit: (100 + 78 – 92 ) / 100 = 0.86 or 86% chance of landing a hit
This, as can be seen, slightly deviates from the assumed accuracy value of 85%. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case. The Power Level of Rubicon Gladius being 153 rather than 150, which may afford a small extra amount of accuracy. Alternatively, the true monster blocking value at Level 150 is 92.5 (which would normally be rounded to 93), but is instead rounded down to 92.
[4.2] How does this work in practice?
In-game, in addition to the above variables of 'Attacker Accuracy' and 'Monster Blocking', a random number between 1 and 100 is rolled on each hit. If this random number, plus the attack bonus, exceeds the defending Block value, the hit will successfully land. However, if the combined value is below Monster Blocking, the attack will miss. This makes sense; before a random number is rolled, player accuracy is 78, while monster blocking is 92. The player needs to roll at least 14 in order for the attack to land:
quote:
Hit: Attacker Accuracy + Random[1,100] >= Monster Blocking
Miss: Attacker Accuracy + Random[1,100] < Monster Blocking
This formula has not previously been documented.
In addition, you and the monster always have at least a 5% chance of hitting regardless of the above formula. In practice, this is implemented as a 'direct hit' if your randomly roll a value of between 96 and 100.
In terms of AQ's balance system, each 1 BtH at Level 150 is worth 1/0.85% Melee for weapons, 2/0.85% Melee for Spells/Skills, 0.4/0.85% Melee for Pets, and 0.45/0.85% Melee for Guests due to assumed accuracy being 85%.
[4.3] Weapon Special Accuracy
Similar to when calculating damage, the key difference between normal weapon attacks and weapon specials is that the special has a unique BtH bonus, rather than taking stats from the armour worn by the player:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy [Weapon Special]: Weapon BtH + Weapon Special BtH
Source.
You can find this component on the weapon's encyclopedia / info submission entry. The Level 150 Rubicon Legate Gladius, has a 20% chance for a weapon special to occur (i.e., it's a '20-proc' weapon), meaning we can continue using it as an example. As was stated above, its weapon BtH is 19 (see the 'BtH' row), while its weapon special BtH is 63.25 (see the 'SBtH' row). Plugging these int the formula:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy [Weapon Special]: 19 + 63.25 = 82.25
This is slightly higher than its regular attack accuracy. Following this through as in Section 4.1:
quote:
Monster Blocking: floor(150 / 4 + 55) = 92
Chance to hit: (100 + 82.25 – 92 ) / 100 = 0.9025 or a 90.25% chance of landing a hit
[4.4] Spells and Companion Attack Accuracy
Spell, Skill, and Companion (Pet/Guest) attack accuracy follows a very similar calculation to weapon attacks in Section 4.1. Unlike when calculating damage (see Section 3), your attacks obtain the same amount of stat accuracy even if Spells/Skills are worth more than a standard Melee attack (200% Melee), while Pets and Guests are worth less (40 and 45% Melee respectively). All that matters is the attack type: Accuracy for Melee/Ranged/Magic attacks uses STR/DEX/INT respectively, while Pets and Guests use CHA:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy [Spell]: Spell BtH + Stat BtH
Attacker Accuracy [Pet]: Pet BtH + Stat BtH
Attacker Accuracy [Guest]: Guest BtH + Stat BtH
where:
Melee: STR * 4 / 25
Ranged: DEX * 4 / 25
Magic: INT * 4 / 25
Pets + Guests: CHA * 4 / 50 + Max(STR, DEX, INT) * 4 / 50
Source, with an update here. Please note that the Master List is outdated and provides incorrect stat bonuses
The prerequisite "Spell BtH", "Pet BtH" and "Guest BtH" values can be found on the item's encyclopedia / info submission entry. For example, the Level 150 Magic 4-Metre Seaside Skeleton Attack spell has a spell BtH of 38 (see the 'BtH' row). Assuming the player had 250 INT:
quote:
Attacker Accuracy [Spell]: 38 + 250 * 4 / 25 = 78
Following this through as in Section 4.1:
quote:
Monster Blocking: floor(150 / 4 + 55) = 92
Chance to hit: (100 + 78 – 92 ) / 100 = 0.86 or a 86% chance of landing a hit
Just as with our melee weapon attack, the spell has an 86% chance of landing against average monster blocking defences.
[4.5] BtH Leans, Berserk, and Autohit
The player turn model (see Section 1) assumes that the player's attacks land 85% of the time. However, AQ also provides myriad ways to further change your accuracy. Some of these will be briefly mentioned in Section 4.6, but three of the most important are BtH Leans, Berserk, and Autohit.
Some items are intentionally designed by the staff to be more or less accurate than normal, and deal more/less damage to compensate. These modifications are called BtH Leans. As a general rule, a BtH lean on an item provides:
quote:
Accuracy: +[x] BtH
Damage: * 85 / (85 + [x])
Source
For example, if the item has a +5 BtH lean, it will deal:
quote:
Damage: * 85 / (85 + 5) = *0.94444 damage
Meanwhile, a -5 BtH lean would deal:
quote:
Damage: * 85 / (85 + -5) = *1.0625 damage
Due to these modifications, the item will still deal the same overall amount of damage, it will just be more/less accurate while doing so.
The Berserk Status effect essentially acts as a BtH lean that applies to Player/Pet/Guest attacks while it is active. While active, it decreases the target's accuracy by a given amount, while simultaneously increasing its damage to compensate. Status effects will be discussed more broadly in Section 5.
There are also some items that bypass the step of accuracy calculation entirely; they will always hit*. These items, known as autohit items, typically have some form of drawback for always hitting, ranging from dealing less damage (e.g., Divine Kusanagi Blade) to costing additional resources (e.g., Vidrir's Judgement). Under the modern balance system, the cost of autohit is worth 15% of total damage. However, please note this cost was higher prior to 2022. This can be seen with Divine Kusagani blade, which pays 37.5% damage instead (reduced to 32.5% through Mastercraft Bonus).
*However, this can still be trumped by autododge mechanics such as those of Mighty Shadow Roc.
[4.6] Accuracy Modifiers
The above sections detail the most basic aspects of accuracy calculation. However, there are myriad ways to further modify your accuracy. Some of them are discussed in Section 4.5, but further examples are documented here:
Mastercraft Items: Mastercraft (MC) items are 5% more powerful than their non-MC equivalents. Although rarely employed today, in the past it was not uncommon for MCs to be used to directly increase your attacks accuracy by 4.25 BtH.
Trigger Effects: Although uncommon, it is possible for items to gain accuracy if they are used against certain types of monsters. These items also often come with downtriggers (i.e. they are less effective against monsters they aren't specifically designed for).
DEX's Style Bonus: In addition to having up to a base +4.25 BtH for attacks, the base behaviour of DEX also modifies the accuracy of its attacks according to the number of times you hit and miss. This will be discussed further in Section 6.
Status Effects: The BtH Boost, Defence Boost, and Defence Loss statuses can all affect the accuracy of your attacks. Status effects will be discussed further in Section 5.
[5] The Status System
Some player items/monsters will trade some of their power in exchange for attempting to inflict a Status effect. There are myriad status effects in AQ. This section will detail the Game Mechanics surrounding inflicting a status condition, as well as how individual status conditions are valued.
[5.1] Inflicting A Status
Normally, before a status is applied to monster/player, there is a Save Roll to determine whether it is successfully inflicted. The only time this doesn't happen is whether the Player/Monster is afflicting themselves with the condition. The formula for the Save roll is displayed below:
quote:
Level: (InflictLevel - ResistLevel)/2 (no cap)
Major: (MajorInflictStat - MajorResistStat)/5, minimum -20, maximum +20
Minor: (MinorInflictStat - MinorResistStat)/10, minimum -10, maximum +10
Additional Modifiers: (NetInflictModifiers - NetResistModifiers) (no cap)
Source. Please note that from 2022 Players and monsters* also gain an additional END/50 Status resistance.
This sytem can be thought of as starting as a 50/50 coin flip of successfully inflicting the status. This is then modified by the additional modifiers above:
'Level': This represents the Level of the inflicting entity/target. If an item is inflicting the status, 'InflictLevelStatistic' reflects the item's PowLvl. This was already discussed in Section 2, but this value is typically the same as the item's Level for Adventurers, or, Level + 3 for Guardians. However, one additional consideration should be made here: If the item is a Z-Token item, then its PowLvl is Level + 10 (the Guardian bonus is ignored). If this is confusing, do not worry, the item's 'PowLvl' is can usually be found on its encyclopedia / info submission entry. For example, the Level 150 Rubicon Legate Armour has a PowLvl of 153 (see the 'PLvl' row. Please note that this is often used as an abbreviation for PowLvl). If the monster is inflicting the status, then it instead uses the monster's Level.
Major: The Major inflict/resist represent two non-LUK stats used by the inflicting/target entity to inflict/resist the status. The stats chosen vary depending on the item and the status being inflicted, and can only be found on the item/monster's encyclopedia / info submission entry.
Minor: The Minor inflict/resist almost always represents the inflicting/target entity's LUK stat.
Additional Modifiers: This represents any additional modifier that either the target or inflicting entity has that might influence the roll. This can even be the roll itself - some status inflictions automatically have more/less than a 50% base chance by default (typically the base chances vary between 30 and 70%).
[5.2] A Worked Example
In order for this to make sense, here is a scenario to work through. Let us say we have a Level 147 Player that is using a Level 143 Guardian-only Token Weapon versus a Level 150 monster. The Player has 250 STR and 250 LUK, while the Monster has 250 END and 0 LUK. The weapon is attempting to inflict the monster with a Poison, and has a +20 (i.e. a 50 + 20 = 70%) base chance of successfully inflict the status. For its Major, it uses PlayerSTR versus MonsterEND. For its minor, it uses PlayerLUK versus MonsterLUK. What are the chances of infliction?
First, we must consider Level. The player is Level 147, but this is irrelevant to the status infliction because it is the weapon doing the inflicting. The weapon is a Guardian item, but this is also irrelevant because the fact the item costs Z-Tokens takes precedence. As a Level 143 Token item, it has a PowLvl of 143 + 10 = PowLvl 153. In contrast, the monster's Level is 150:
quote:
Level: (153 - 150)/2 = +1.5
For the Major, both the Player and the Monster have 250 of the required stat; the Player has 250 STR and the Monster has 250 END. This means the major modifier will be cancelled out:
quote:
Major: (250 - 250)/5 = 0
By contrast, the Minor modifier is very different. The Player has 250 LUK, but the monster has 0. This means it will get a significant bonus. However, the difference is bigger than the positive cap attached to the component, and so it will be restricted to +10:
quote:
Minor: (250 - 0)/10 = 25 -> 10
Finally, for the Additional Modifier component. The status itself already has a base +20 chance to inflict. However, since we are in 2025, the monster also gets a +END/50 bonus to status resistance:
quote:
Additional Modifiers: (20 - 250 / 50 = 15)
Adding these components together:
quote:
Total Chance to Inflict: 50 [Base] + 1.5 [Level] + 0 [Major] + 10 [Minor] + 15 = 76.5%
In practice, the resisting entity rolls a random number between 1 and 100. If this random number exceeds the calculated difficulty of the save roll, the status will be successfully resisted. Otherwise, the status will be inflicted*.
quote:
Resist: Random[1,100] >= TotalDifficulty
Infliction: Random[1,100] < TotalDifficulty
This formula has not previously been documented.
The long-format formula for calculating 'TotalDifficulty' would be:
quote:
TotalDifficulty: 50 + (InflictLevel - ResistLevel) / 2 + max(-20, min(20, (MajorInflictStat - MajorResistStat) / 5 ) ) + max(-10, min(10, (MinorInflictStat - MinorResistStat) / 10 ) ) + (NetInflictModifiers - NetResistModifiers)
This formula has not previously been documented.
*In-game, some additional bonus modifiers are also added to the Random roll value. For example, for every turn that a Bleed status is active, the afflicted party will gain +2 to the Save Roll.
The next series of subsections will discuss the more common status effects in greater detail. When considering the formulae below, please keep in mind the following values:
%Melee: This refers to the amount of %Melee (see Section 1 for more information) invested into the status. Please note that this is not the same as the %Melee value that the item provides. For example, a Magic weapon attack is worth 75% Melee, but it might only sacrifice a third of that (25% Melee) to pay for the status infliction.
Save: This refers to the chance of the status being successfully inflicted in decimal format. This includes any modifications to the Save roll on the item itself, but nothing else (so no Level/Major/Minor stat modifiications. See Section 5.1). So, for example, if an weapon inflicted Poison on the monster, with the roll gaining +20 to the save, the base chance of success would be 30%. In decimal format, this would be 0.3.
Duration: This refers to the number of turns that the status is active. For most statuses, this is fairly straightforward. However, for non-finite statuses like Bleed, a more complex calculation is necessary.
AccuracyMod: This refers to the BtH lean of the monster/item inflicting the status. This does not include any modifiers external to the item (e.g., if you have the BtH Boost status, it will not affect the status' potency).
[5.3] Damage over Time Statuses
Damage over time (a.k.a. 'DoT') statuses inflict damage to the target over an extended number of turns. This damage is dealt at the end of the target's turn. There are several different DoT statuses in AQ, differentiated by their duration and power.
[5.3.1] Burns and Poisons
Burns and Poisons are the most common form of DoT status. They deal damage to the target's HP for a fixed number of turns. The Power of the damage dealt is consistent over the status duration*. The 'Power' of the status determines how much damage it deals; a Power: 1 Burn/Poison deals 10% of an expected Melee attack (i.e., 10% Melee) per turn. The Power of a Burn/Poison status is calculated as follows:
quote:
Power: % Melee / Save / 10 * ( 85 / AccuracyMod) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
For example, a weapon with a +3 BtH lean that uses 50% Melee to inflict a 3-turn Poison at a -20 Save will have a Power of:
quote:
Power: 50 [%Melee invested] / 0.7 [70% base chance of infliction] / 10 [Status Power Modifier] * ( 85 / 88 [85 + 3 BtH Lean] ) / 3 [Duration] = 2.3
A Power 2.3 Burn will deal 23% Melee per turn. You may also notice the 'Status Power Modifier' variable, which simply converts the %Melee value of DoT status into Power. A full table of Status Power Modifiers is displayed in Section 3.6.
*However, you do gain a small turn delay bonus based on the duration of the status.
[5.3.2] Prismatic Burn
Prismatic Burns are very similar to Burns in Section 5.3.1. The primary difference is that a single Prismatic Burn consists of 8 distinct Burns, one for each of the standard elements (Fire/Water/Wind/Ice/Earth/Energy/Light/Darkness). Due to this, the Power of the status is divided by 8 (due to consisting of 8 Burns) and then multiplied by *132/108 (for being multi-elemental. See the Section 8.7 of this guide for further information):
quote:
Power: %Melee / Save * (132 / 108) / 8 / 10 * (85 / AccuracyMod) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
Thus, if the same example weapon in Section 5.3.1 were to inflict Prismatic Burn instead, it would have a power of:
quote:
Power: 50 [%Melee invested] / 0.7 [70% base chance of infliction] * (132 / 108) [Multi-element Bonus] / 8 [8 Burns] / 10 [Status Power Modifier] * (85 / 88 [85 + 3 BtH Lean]) / 3 [Duration] = 0.351
This means each of the 8 'Burns' in the Prismatic burn deals 3.51% Melee. To make things easier to track, these 8 Burns are concentrated into a single Neutral element (represented by a white question mark) hit. However, Please note that Prismatic Burn is a completely different status to Burn. This means that the effects of items that influence Burns might not necessarily work on Prismatic Burn.
[5.3.3] Regeneration
Regeneration works similarly to Burns and Poisons, dealing Heal element damage for a fixed duration of time (Heal element damage is just like any other element. The only difference is that the Player and Monster both typically have a Heal resistance of -100%, meaning that any damage taken is automatically inverted). However, there are three key differences with this status. First, the Status Power Modifier with Regeneration is 100, rather than the 10 of Burn and Poison. This means that a Power: 1 Regeneration is worth a standard melee attack (100% Melee). Second, since the target of this status is commonly also the one inflicting the status, there is often no Save Roll. Finally, third, the assumed accuracy for regeneration is 100% rather than 85%, meaning that there is no autohit penalty associated with this status. As such, the formulae to calculation Regeneration Power is normally:
quote:
Power: % Melee / Save / 100 * (100 / AccuracyMod) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
Following through with our previous example, if our weapon in Section 5.3.1 instead inflicted Regeneration on the player with no Save regardless of whether they hit the monster, the Power would be:
quote:
Power: 50 [%Melee invested] / 1 [There is no Save] / 100 [Status Power Modifier] * (100 / 100 [The attempt is always made regardless of whether the player hits]) / 3 [Duration]= 0.167
[5.3.4] Bleed
Bleed is another common DoT variant that deals consistent damage like Burn and Poison. The three key ways in which this status differs:
Unlike Poison and Burn, which can be any element, Bleed exclusively deals Harm element damage (typically, both the Player and Monster have a base Harm resistance of 100%).
Similar to regeneration, the Status Power Modifier of Bleed is 100.
Most notably, the status has no fixed Duration. Instead, before the status is first inflicted and then at the end of each turn, the target attempts to successfully clear the status. In practice, this works exactly like the status saves discussed in Sections 5.1 and 5.2. The only difference is that with each unsuccessful Save, the target gains a further +2 to the chances of it being successfully cleared. This also means that the power of the Status has to be calculated based on expected Duration rather than an exact fixed Duration.
Thus, the power of a Bleed is calculated as:
quote:
Power: %Melee / Duration / 100 * ( 85 / AccuracyMod)
where:
Duration: 1 / Save – 1
This formula has not previously been documented.
A crucial difference between this and other statuses is that the 'Save' here reflects the successful chance of clearing the infliction, where in the others it reflects the chances of successfully inflicting the status.
Following this through with our example in Section 5.3.1. If our weapon instead attempted to inflict a Bleed at a -20 Save, the duration would be:
quote:
Duration: 1 / 0.3 [30% chance to clear the status] - 1 = 2.33
Power: 50 [%Melee invested] / 2.33 [Expected Duration] / 100 [Status Power Modifier] * (85 / 88 [85 + 3 BtH Lean]) = 0.207
[5.3.4] Spore
Finally, the most recent (and complex) DoT status is Spore. This differentiates itself from the others in several ways:
The status is always permanent (i.e. it is assumed to last a full standard battle of 10 turns).
It increases in power over time to the tune of *1.15 up to a set cap. This modifier is sufficient to deal the equivalent of double the statuses original power over 10 turns.
Once the spore reaches its cap, the spore will instead begin to heal the player.
This means that when calculating the power of Spore, you must assume that it lasts for the entire battle and is worth twice its base power:
quote:
Power: %Melee / Save / 10 / 2 * (85 / AccuracyMod) / 10
This formula has not previously been documented.
Once again, using our example from Section 5.3.1, if the item instead attempted to inflict spore, its Power would be:
quote:
Power: 50 [%Melee invested] / 0.7 [70% base chance of infliction] / 10 [Status Power Modifier] / 2 [Growth Factor] * (85 / 88 [85 + 3 BtH Lean]) / 10 [Assumed to last for the entire battle] = 0.345
This Spore would begin by dealing 3.45% Melee on turn one, but would deal *1.15 this on turn two, *1.15^2 on turn three, so on and so forth.
[5.4] Disease
Disease is a mechanic that reduces the target's ability to heal HP/MP/SP. This works by absorbing points of 'damage' that would have otherwise gone to healing the resource. A disease can specifically target one of these resources, or all of them simultaneously. The calculation for Disease is:
quote:
HP/MP/SP Absorbed: %Melee / Save [/1.4 if target is Monster]
This formula has not previously been documented.
This calculation is made based on the HP/MP/SP costs used for skills at any given level. For example, 392 SP is worth 100% Melee at Level 150. As such, if a Level 150 item were to attempt a 100% Melee SP disease with a +0 Save Bonus (i.e. 50% chance of successful infliction) on a monster, the amount of disease would be:
quote:
SP Absorbed: 392 [100% Melee in SP at Level 150] / 0.5 [50% base chance of infliction] / 1.4 [the target is a monster] = 560 SP
There is a /1.4 modifier on a monster because the monster's turn is worth more than a player action. Disease has no set duration, and can only be cleared by fully healig the amount of HP/MP/SP the disease is worth. Per-turn SP regeneration counts towards the limit of an SP Disease.
[5.5] Inaction Statuses
Inaction statuses reduce the ability of the target to act (either partially or entirely). There are several of these statuses in AQ, differentiated by their duration and chances of inaction:
[5.5.1] Daze and Fear
Daze and Fear are fixed-duration inaction statuses that prevent the target from attacking a certain percentage of the time. This percentage is based on the following formula:
quote:
% Inaction: %Melee / Save / 0.85 / 1.4 * ( 85 / AccuracyMod ) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
The /0.85 in this formula exists because monsters are expected to hit only 85% of the time*, while the /1.4 exists because monster turns are assumed to be worth 140% Melee. Putting this into context with an example: suppose that a -2 BtH lean Melee weapon sacrificed half of its damage (50% Melee) to attempt to inflict a Daze for 2 turns at a +10 base Save Bonus. The % inaction chance of the Daze would be:
quote:
% Inaction: 50 [%Melee invested] / 0.4 [40% base chance of infliction] / 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] * (85 / 87 [85 - 2 BtH Lean]) / 2 [Duration] = 51.3%
In this scenario, for the next two turns, the monster has over a 50% chance of being unable to act.
*Eagle-eyed readers may note that the Player Turn Model should already assume that both players and monster attacks have an 85% hit rate. As such, this /0.85 bonus should not really exist!
[5.5.2] Paralysis
Paralysis is extremely similar to Daze and Fear (see Section 5.5.1), with one key difference. Rather than having a chance of being unable to act, the target is entirely unable to act for a fixed duration. Fortunately, this also makes the value easier to work out. The cost is based on the value of a monster turn (valued at 140% Melee):
quote:
Total %Melee Cost: 140 * Save * 0.85 / ( AccuracyMod / 85 ) * Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
For example, paralysis for 2 turns with a +10 Save using our example weapon from section 5.5.1:
quote:
Total %Melee Cost: 140 [Monster Turn Value] * 0.4 [40% base chance of infliction] * 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] / (83 [85 - 2 BtH Lean] / 85) * 2 [Duration] = 97.5% Melee
Very close, but just about possible for a Melee weapon (which provides 100% Melee!).
[5.5.3] Control
Control takes paralysis one stage further. In addition to ensuring the target is unable to act (based on the value of a monster turn at 140% melee), Control also deals a further 10% melee in harm damage to the target per turn:
quote:
Total %Melee Cost: (140 * 0.85 + 10) * Save / ( AccuracyMod / 85 ) * Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
As with other inaction statements, Control assumes the target has an 85% hit rate*. Continuing with our example weapon, assuming that it attempted to Control the monster for 1 turn with a +10 save:
quote:
Total %Melee Cost: (140 [Monster Turn Value] * 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] + 10) * 0.4 [40% Base Chance of Infliction] / ( 83 [85 - 2 BtH lean] / 85 ) * 1 [Duration] = 52.84% Melee
It should be noted that Control can also function like Daze and Fear, offering a percentage chance of inaction, as opposed to it being guaranteed.
*Yes, this means that the note in Section 5.5.1 applies to all inaction statuses with that assumption, not just Daze and Fear.
[5.5.4] Freeze and Freeze-like Statuses
Freeze and its elemental equivalents (Thermal Shock [Fire] / Drowned [Water] / Windswept [Wind] / Petrify [Earth] / Hypersalinated [Energy] / Spirit Rend [Light] / Eclipsed [Dark]) are similar to Control. However, instead of dealing a small amount of damage each turn, they increase the base resistance of 'OppositeElement' by 1.5*[BaseElement], where 'BaseElement' is the elemental alignment of the Freeze, and 'OppositeElement' is the base element's polar opposite. For example, supposing a monster that had -20% Light resistance and 140% Darkness resistance was Eclipsed, its new Light Resistance would be:
quote:
-20 + 140 * 1.5 = 190%
This affects base resistance, but you won't see it by hovering over the target's scroll. It is also important to know that base resistance is capped at 200%. This means the modified element cannot exceed 200% even if the calculation exceeds it.
The value calculation of Freeze replaces the 10% Melee component of Control with the cost of the increased vulnerability:
quote:
Total %Melee Cost: (( 140 * 7 / 13 * 0.85 ) + ( 140 * 0.85 )) * Save * (AccuracyMod / 85) * Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
The first part of this formula deals with the increased vulnerability, with the 7/13 ratio existing because monster base resistance is expected to be 70%, while its opposite (i.e., the weakest resistance) is expected to be 130%, modified by *0.85 to account for accuracy:
quote:
(( 140 * 7 / 13 * 0.85 )...
The latter component deals with inaction as normal. If our example weapon from Section 5.5 were to inflict Freeze for 1 turn at a +10 base Save Bonus, the cost would be:
quote:
Total %Melee Cost: (( 140 [Monster Turn Value] * 7 / 13 [Elemental Conversion] * 0.85 [Hit Rate]) + ( 140 [Monster Turn Value] * 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] )) * 0.4 [40% Base Chance of Infliction] * (83 [85 - 2 BtH Lean] / 85) * 1 = 71.51% Melee
This means that the cost would be manageable. One other important difference to note: Freeze and Freeze-like effects can only entirely prevent the target from acting. Unlike control, daze, and fear, they cannot prevent action for only a certain percentage of the time.
The total cost of guaranteed Freeze (i.e., no save) on a hit is 183% Melee.
[5.5.5] Sleep
Sleep is similar to Paralysis in entirely preventing the target from acting. The key difference is that Sleep has no fixed duration. Similar to Bleed, before the status is inflicted and then at the end of each turn, the target attempts to successfully clear the status. After each unsuccessful Save, the target gains a further +2 to the chances of it being successfully cleared. Sleep is calculated as follows:
quote:
%Melee Cost: 140 * 0.85 * Duration * (85 / AccuracyMod )
where:
Duration: 1 / save – 1
This formula has not previously been documented.
It is important to remember that 'Save' in non-fixed Duration statuses reflects the successful chance of clearing the infliction, unlike in the others where it reflects the chances of successfully infliction.
For example, if our example weapon attempted Sleep at a +20 base Save Bonus, the cost would be:
quote:
Duration: 1 / 0.7 [70% chance to clear the status] - 1 = 0.429
%Melee Cost: 140 * 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] * 0.429 [Duration] * (85 / 83 [85 - 2 BtH Lean]) = 52.28% Melee
Sleep is one of the most expensive statuses due to it having the potential to prevent the target from attacking for multiple consecutive turns.
[5.6] Attack Alteration Statuses
Instead of directly preventing the target from attacking, damage alteration statuses modify characteristics in the attack to make it more/less effective. Depending on the status, they modify attacks either performed or received by the target, and can influence its damage and accuracy.
[5.6.1] Choke
Choke reduces the damage of the attacks dealt by the target by the listed multiplier, regardless of its element, for a fixed duration. This multiplier is calculated as follows:
quote:
% Damage Reduction: %Melee / Save / 0.85 / 1.4 * ( 85 / AccuracyMod ) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
You may notice that this formula is exactly the same as the one for Daze and Fear (see Section 5.5.1). This is because, in principle, the three statuses have the same end goal of reducing the target's damage output. The only difference is the 'damage reduction' of Daze and fear manifests as a percentage chance of inaction, whereas Choke consistently reduces the damage of attacks instead.
Suppose that a weapon that automatically hits sacrifices 40% Melee to attempt a 2-turn Choke at a -10 base Save Bonus, the damage reduction would be:
quote:
% Damage Reduction: 40 [%Melee invested] / 0.6 [60% Base Chance of Infliction] / 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] * ( 85 / 100 [Autohit is treated as if it were hitting 100% of the time]) / 2 [Duration] = 23.81%, or 1 - 23.81 / 100 = *0.7619
As such, the target's damage would be reduced by approximately 24% for 2 turns.
[5.6.2] Panic
Panic is extremely similar to Choke, except that it has no fixed duration. Instead, before the status is inflicted and then at the end of each turn, the target attempts to successfully clear the status. This works exactly like it does with Bleed in Section 5.3.4; after each unsuccessful Save, the target gains a further +2 to the chances of it being successfully cleared. Panic is calculated as follows:
quote:
% Damage Reduction: %Melee / Duration / 1.4 / 0.85 * (85 / AccuracyMod )
where:
Duration: 1 / Save – 1
This formula has not previously been documented.
Remember, the 'Save' in non-fixed Duration statuses like Panic reflects the successful chance of clearing the infliction, unlike in the others where it reflects the chances of successfully infliction.
Continuing with our example from Section 5.6.1, if our weapon instead inflicted Panic, the potency would be:
quote:
Duration: = 1 / 0.4 [40% chance to clear the status] - 1 = 1.5
% Damage Reduction: 40 [%Melee invested] / 1.5 / 0.85 [Monster Hit Rate] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] * (85 / 100 [Autohit is treated as if it were hitting 100% of the time]) = 19.05%, or 1 - 19.05 / 100 = *0.8095 damage.
[5.6.4] Elemental Shield
Elemental Shield multiplies the damage dealt to the target by the listed amount (which is typically a number between 0 and 1). These shields can either defend against one element (e.g., Healing Light), or against multiple elements simultaneously (e.g., Zfinity Gauntlet: Space, which defends against all of them). The potency of an elemental shield is calculated as follows:
quote:
% Damage Reduction: %Melee / 1.4 / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
As with previous statuses, this effect takes a /1.4 modifier because monster attacks are worth 140% Melee. If our example weapon were to spend 40% Melee on a 1-turn elemental shield to fire attacks, the potency would be:
quote:
% Damage Reduction: 40 [%Melee invested] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] / 1 [Duration] = 28.57, or 1 - 28.57 / 100 = *0.7143
You may notice that there is no accuracy modifier associated with this status, unlike many others described above. This is because it is already accounted for, since the monster is assumed to hit only 85% of the time. However, please note that an elemental shield that defends against multiple elements will receive a penalty to its utility. This will be discussed further in Section 8.7. Additionally, no 'Save' value is included in the formula because the target of an elemental shield is typically also the one inflicting the status*.
*If, for whatever reason, these mechanics were relevant to a specific case, they would need to be included in the formula.
[5.6.4] Elemental Vulnerability and Elemental Empowerment
Elemental Vulnerability (often shortened by the community to 'Elevun') increases the damage taken by the target by the listed multiplier. This status can increase the damage taken from one element (e.g., D.A.S.H.E.R.), or multiple (e.g., Zfinity Gauntlet: Power, which increases all of them). The potency of elemental vulnerability is calculated as follows:
quote:
% Damage increase: %Melee / Save / 0.85 / 1.4 * (85 / AccuracyMod) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
This formula will be familiar to readers who have read the entire status section of this guide; yes, this is the same as the formula for Daze and Fear in Section 5.5.1. The constants also have similar sources: 1.4 reflects the value of a monster turn (though the 0.85 represents attacker accuracy in this instance). If our example weapon were to spend 40% Melee on a 3-turn elemental vulnerability to Darkness at a -5 base Save Bonus, the potency would be:
quote:
% Damage increase: 40 / 0.55 [55% Base Chance of Infliction] / 0.85 [Hit Rate] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] * (85 / 100 [Autohit is treated as if it were hitting 100% of the time]) / 3 [Duration] = 17.31%, or 1 + 17.31 / 100 = *1.173
Please note that elemental vulnerability to multiple elements will receive a penalty to its utility. This will be discussed further in Section 8.7.
Elemental Empowerment is very similar to vulnerability. The difference is the inflictor and the target are the same individual. This must be factored into the formula:
quote:
% Damage increase: %Melee / 1.4 / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
The infliction is typically guaranteed, removing both the save roll and BtH modifier (though this would be reintroduced if the effect only activated on a hit). The BtH modifier is replaced with a *0.85 (always hits), cancelling out the /0.85 Hit rate compensation.
[5.6.5] Defence and BtH Boost
Defence Boost increases the target's MRM defences for a fixed number of turns, its cost is:
quote:
MRM Gained: %Melee * 0.6 / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
Thus, investing 50% Melee into a Defence boost for 3 turns is worth:
quote:
MRM Gained: 50 [%Melee Invested] * 0.6 / 3 [Duration] = +10
BtH Boost is similar, only it increases the target's accuracy instead. It is calculated using the following formula:
quote:
BtH gained: %Melee * 0.85 / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
The 0.85 modifier accounts for expected accuracy. Thus, investing the same amount into a 3-turn BtH boost would provide:
quote:
BtH gained: 50 [%Melee Invested] * 0.85 / 3 [Duration] = +14.167
[5.6.6] Blind and Dazzled
Blind reduces the BtH of the target for a fixed number of turns. This is based on the following formula:
quote:
BtH lost: %Melee / Save / 1.4 * (85 / AccuracyMod) / Turns
This formula has not previously been documented.
As with other status conditions, the /1.4 modifier reflects the value of a monster turn. Thus, a Ranged weapon with a -3 BtH lean that spends half of its damage for a Blind at a -20 Save for 3 turns would reduce monster BtH by:
quote:
BtH lost: 50 [%Melee Invested] / 0.7 [70% Base Chance of Infliction] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] * (85 / 82 [85 - 3 BtH lean]) / 3 [Duration] = -17.6 BtH
Dazzled is very similar to BtH except that, similar to Bleed, it does not have a fixed duration. Instead, before the status is inflicted and then at the end of each turn, the target attempts to clear the status. This works like a typical Save roll, except the target gains a further +2 to the chances of Dazzled being successfully cleared with each successful Save. This also means that the power of the Status has to be calculated based on expected Duration rather than an exact fixed Duration.
quote:
BtH lost: %Melee / Duration / 1.4 * (85 / AccuracyMod)
Where:
Duration: 1 / Save - 1
This formula has not previously been documented.
Thus, the same weapon inflicting a Dazzled effect with the same parameters would produce a BtH loss of:
quote:
Duration: 1 / 0.3 [30% chance to clear the status] - 1 = 2.33
BtH Lost: 50 [%Melee Invested] / 2.33 [Expected Duration] / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value] * (85 / 82 [85 - 3 BtH Lean]) = 15.9 BtH
Please note that in this formula, 'Save' represents the chance of successfully clearing the status, rather than successfully inflicting it.
Please also note that The Cold works very similarly to this, except for a further / 2 modifier, as the value is split between BtH loss and MRM loss:
quote:
Bth/MRM Lost: %Melee / Turns / 1.4 / 2 * (85 / AccuracyMod)
Where:
Duration: 1 / Save - 1
This formula has not previously been documented.
[5.7] Stat Boost Statuses
[5.8] Instant Death
In extremely rare cases, items have the ability to instantly kill a monster. The most obvious example of this is the Blade of Awe, while a more recent example is Skullcrusher Barrage. In modern examples, an unsuccessful instant death also inflicts the monster with the 'Dying' status, which inflicts the effects of Powerword Die at the end of the target's turn.
The value of instant death is 1400% Melee, the same as 10 player turns in the Player Turn Model (see section 1). This is a huge amount; at level 150, it would cost at least 5096 SP and take your turn to guarantee instant death*. Fortunately, this can become considerably more reasonable by reducing the chances of an attempt; Skullcrusher Barrage does it by paying 200% melee from the spell itself, with the other 1200% coming from (i) 38% Melee in spell damage on non-instakill turns), (ii) 10% Melee in Mastercraft value (this will be discussed below), and (iv) the effect only activating 4% of the time:
quote:
200 + (38 + 10) / 0.04 = 1400% Melee
*Unfortunately, for readers wishing to access items with a guaranteed chance of instakill, Player SP is capped at 375% Melee for your given level, meaning you are not able to store enough SP (not to mention the chances of one being made are not exactly high!).
[5.9] Other Statuses
There are a number of other statuses not discussed above. Below are some of the important ones not discussed above:
Armour Lean: Modern Armours almost always have a 'lean' attached to them, which changes the damage they deal with certain attack types and modifies the damage they take from monsters. To briefly summarise their impacts: the Fully Offensive, Mid-Offensive, Mid-Defensive, and Fully Defensive Armour Leans all modify regular weapon attack damage (but NOT spells/weapon specials), while the SpellCaster Armour Lean modifies spell damage (but NOT regular weapon damage/weapon specials). The Dire Armour Lean modifies status damage (but NOT regular weapon damage/spells/weapon specials). There is also the 'Blocking' Lean, which increases the incoming damage you take in exchange for increasing your blocking defences (MRM).
Backlash: Backlash is a status that will deal a portion of incoming direct damage back to the attacker. This effect does not apply to any status damage incurred. The reflection is done on a per-hit basis, and each is subject to a save. The value of backlash is calculated as:
quote:
% Backlash: %Melee / Save / 1.4 [Monster Turn Value]
This formula has not previously been documented.
Barrier: This is a status that absorbs HP damage dealt to the player (similar to Disease, only from all element sources rather than just healing). In practice, this functions as a hit of healing damage to the player worth %Melee * 0.85 * 0.9 damage. This damage is recorded, zeroed, and converted into a Barrier.
Thus, investing 20% Melee into a Backlash at a +0 Save Bonus would be worth 20 / 0.5 [50% Base Chance of Infliction] / 1.4 [Monster Attack Value] = 28.57%.
Boss Boost: This is a monster-side status typically applied to bosses. While active, it provides the monster with an additional bonus against status saves.
Chi Shield: This is a status that converts a fixed quantity of HP damage into SP damage instead. In practice, a Chi shield will deal a hit of healing damage to the player worth %Melee * 0.85 * 0.9 damage. This damage is recorded, zeroed, and converted into a chi shield. The HP amount protected by the shield is the same as the recorded amount, while the SP cost is based on the %Melee invested by the player (subject to any additional cost modifiers).
Form Shift and Form Shift Immunity: Form shift refers to a group of statuses and effects that forcibly alter the target's core mechanics. Examples include assigning specific trigger tags (e.g., Dracomorgrify), scrambling their resistances (e.g., Prime Chaos Orb), and returning to a specific point in the battle (e.g., Purple Rain). Form Shift Immunity is a monster-side status typically applied to bosses that makes them immune to these types of effects.
Freedom: This is a monster-side status typically applied to bosses. While active, it makes the monster entirely immune to inaction statuses, as well as the damage reduction statuses 'Choke'/'Panic' and the BtH reduction statuses 'Blind'/'Dazzled'.
Imbues: Imbues are a group of statuses that are typically self-applied. While active, they alter characteristics of player weapon attacks. These include changing the attack's element, applying additional effects, or sometimes both. Please note that these alterations do not apply to spells and spell-type attacks.
Mana Shield: This is a status that converts a fixed quantity of HP damage into MP damage instead. In practice, a Mana shield will deal a hit of healing damage to the player worth %Melee * 0.85 * 0.9 damage. This damage is recorded, zeroed, and converted into a mana shield. The HP amount protected by the shield is the same as the recorded amount, while the MP cost is based on the %Melee invested by the player (subject to any additional cost modifiers).
Plot Armour: Another monster-side status commonly applied to bosses. This status effectively acts as a hard damage cap, preventing the total amount of damage from all incoming attacks from exceeding a set limit each turn.
Soft Damage Cap: Another monster-side status commonly applied to bosses. This reduces the damage dealt by incoming hits using the following formula:
quote:
New Hit Damage: sround( Cap * (Base Damage / Cap) ^ Clawback)
Source. However, Please note this source is incorrect and has an additional unnecessary closing bracket.
In this formula, the 'Cap' and 'Clawback' values can both be found on the status shown in-game. 'Sround' refers to 'stochastic rounding' (see disclaimer at the top of this guide). Please note that this modification occurs after the game's damage cap takes effect on base damage.
< Message edited by CH4OT1C! -- 9/6/2025 8:26:31 >
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