Spell Damage vs Weapon damage.

puffy99 · July 2015

So is this just a multiplier added on to magika damage total or stamina damage total?

For staff users are weapon damage bonuses on a magika only build useless?

A bit confusing...

thanks

Lynx7386 · July 2015

I dont know if we've ever been privy to the actual formula used to calculate damage, but the simple take on it is:

(spellcast damage) = Magicka + Spellpower
(melee damage) = Stamina + Weapon Power

Obviously there's more to it than that, but both magicka and spell power combine to contribute to the damage dealt by your spells, while both stamina and weapon damage combine to contribute to the damage dealt by your physical attacks.

Abilities in the restoration staff and destruction staff skill lines, as well as light/heavy attacks from those weapon types, rely on a combination of max magicka and spell power to determine their damage.

DeanTheCat · July 2015

Power * (Max_Attribute_Value/19) * Skill_Coeff = Tooltip Damage

Power -> Spell/Weapon Damage
Max_Attribute_Value -> Max Magicka/Stam
Skill_Coeff -> Unique multiplier to each skill

Light/Heavy Attacks and abilities for Bows, Swords, Axes, Maces, Daggers scale off Weapon Damage and Maximum Stamina

Light/Heavy Attacks and abilities for Destruction and Restoration Staves scale off Spell Damage and Maximum Magicka

Also, the tooltip damage on your weapons is directly translated into spell and weapon damage. For example, if you were to equip a staff with 1000 Damage, you'll get 1000 Weapon Damage and 1000 Spell Damage just by equipping the staff in question.

In general, if an ability costs Stamina, it will scale off Weapon Damage and Maximum Stamina. If an ability costs Magicka, it will scale off Spell Damage and Maximum Magicka.

Jar_Ek · July 2015

What about ultimates and critical?
For example if you use overload but have a higher max stamina than magicka does it use weapon crit and weapon buffs or because it is a spell use spell critical and spell buffs?

DeanTheCat · July 2015

Jar_Ek wrote: »

What about ultimates and critical?
For example if you use overload but have a higher max stamina than magicka does it use weapon crit and weapon buffs or because it is a spell use spell critical and spell buffs?

Ultimates scale off the highest pools, so in this case, Weapon Damage and Weapon Critcal. This is why ultimates that are casted by a stamina build ignore Annulment's damage shield, as anything powered by Weapon Crit ignores Annulment.

Leandor · July 2015

DeanTheCat wrote: »

Jar_Ek wrote: »

What about ultimates and critical?
For example if you use overload but have a higher max stamina than magicka does it use weapon crit and weapon buffs or because it is a spell use spell critical and spell buffs?

Ultimates scale off the highest pools, so in this case, Weapon Damage and Weapon Critcal. This is why ultimates that are casted by a stamina build ignore Annulment's damage shield, as anything powered by Weapon Crit ignores Annulment.

In this context (while a completely irrelevant scenario), does the scaling happen individually? Meaning, if you for whatever strange reason have Magicka as your biggest pool, Weapon damage as your biggest base damage stat and Spell Crit as your biggest crit bonus, would Ultimate scaling than be based on this mixed-up combination (Max Magicka + Weapon Damage + Spell Crit)?

Just asking out of curiosity.

DeanTheCat · July 2015

Leandor wrote: »

DeanTheCat wrote: »

Jar_Ek wrote: »

What about ultimates and critical?
For example if you use overload but have a higher max stamina than magicka does it use weapon crit and weapon buffs or because it is a spell use spell critical and spell buffs?

Ultimates scale off the highest pools, so in this case, Weapon Damage and Weapon Critcal. This is why ultimates that are casted by a stamina build ignore Annulment's damage shield, as anything powered by Weapon Crit ignores Annulment.

In this context (while a completely irrelevant scenario), does the scaling happen individually? Meaning, if you for whatever strange reason have Magicka as your biggest pool, Weapon damage as your biggest base damage stat and Spell Crit as your biggest crit bonus, would Ultimate scaling than be based on this mixed-up combination (Max Magicka + Weapon Damage + Spell Crit)?

Just asking out of curiosity.

That mixed up combination would pretty much be what the ultimate will scale from, though that combination would be pretty much pointless (and unlikely). Synergies also scale in the same fashion.

puffy99 · July 2015

Excellent explanations and help. thanks!