User:LVL/Sandbox2Give feedback
Damage Amplification or Damage Amp is a stat that multiplies the damage caused by the player to affected enemies and NPCs.
Damage Reduction
Damage Reduction is a negative form of Damage Amplification, reducing the damage output of enemies or its user. Mechanically, standard Damage Reductions are treated as negative Additive Amps (see Calculation section).
Calculation
Contrary to what the percentages might suggest, multiple sources of damage amplification do not all stack in the same way. There are three distinct categories of Damage Amplification, each interacting with the damage formula differently:
- Additive Amps: These add together with each other (inculding additive Damage Reductions) into a single pool.
- Multiplicative Amps: These multiply the total damage one by one.
- Instance Amps: These are nearly identical to multiplicative amps, main exception being they create a new instance of damage.
The Damage Formula
Based on testing, the generalized formula for how these amps apply to weapon damage is as follows:
Example:
- A hero has a base bullet damage of 100 and 0 flat weapon damage for simplicity.
- The hero is affected by Inhibitor (an Additive Damage Reduction of -30%). Their damage drops to 70 (100 * 0.70 = 70).
- Ivy casts Air Drop on the hero (an Additive Amp of +20%). The additive pool is now -30% + 20% = -10%. The hero deals 90 damage (100 * 0.90 = 90).
- McGinnis inflicts the target with Spectral Wall (a Multiplicative Amp of +20%). This is applied after the additive pool. The hero now deals 97.75 damage (90 * 1.20 = 108).
Damage Reduction Stacking
Valve's May 22 patch notes state that Damage Reduction debuffs are intended to stack diminishingly (i.e., multiplicatively, in the same manner as Resistance)[1].
However, live testing confirms that standard Damage Reduction debuffs have not been fully migrated to this new system. Currently, Damage Reductions (such as Inhibitor or Fire Scarabs) simply act as negative Additive Amps. This means they add directly together with other additive amps (positive or negative) rather than multiplying against each other.
Bugs, Quirks, and Exceptions
- Additive Amps do not apply to many flat values, such as flat weapon damage bonuses, base damage for Melee abilities (Such as the bonus +60 damage from Calico's Leaping Slash T3 upgrade), Capacitor active, Backstabber, etc.
- Headhunter Interaction: Multiplicative non-instance amps are the only amps that work correctly with Headhunter damage.
- Return Fire / Reflection: Because Multiplicative Amps act as defensive stats on the target, if an attacker fires at a target with Return Fire while the attacker has an M-amp active against them, the attacker will take increased reflected damage.
- Barrier Interaction: Billy's bullet amp from Blasted is unique as it is a post-mitigation true damage amp. Because of this, it does not work at all against barriers.
- Silencer / Infernus Afterburn T2: Silencer and Infernus's Afterburn Tier 2 Spirit Damage Reduction are exceptions to the standard Damage Reduction rule. They stack additively with themselves, but multiplicatively with other additive amps.
- Celeste: Celeste's self Spirit damage amp works like a multiplicative amp but is affected by additive amp bugs.
Sources of Damage Amplification
Additive Amplifiers
| Hero | Ability | Tier | Stat change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calico | Ava | 3 | +18% Ramping Damage Amp |
| Ivy | Air Drop | 0 | +20% Damage Amp on Ivy and carried ally |
| Shiv | Killing Blow | 0 | +8% Damage Amp |
| 2 | +16% Damage Amp |
Multiplicative Amplifiers
| Hero | Ability | Tier | Stat change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infernus | Napalm | 0 | +16% Damage Amp |
| 3 | +17% Damage Amp | ||
| McGinnis | Spectral Wall | 1 | +20% Damage Amp |
| Mo & Krill | Scorn | 3 | +15% Damage Amp per Stack |
| Bebop | Hook | 0 | Damage Amp against hooked targets |
| All Heroes | Parry | 0 | +25% Damage Amp (Parried target takes 25% increased damage from all sources) |
Instance Amplifiers
| Hero / Item | Ability | Tier | Stat change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drifter | Bloodscent | 0 | +15% Damage Amp on Isolated Heroes |
| 3 | +11% Damage Amp on Isolated Heroes | ||
| Lady Geist | Malice | 0 | +7% Damage Amp per Stack |
| 3 | +8% Damage Amp per Stack | ||
| Paradox | Pulse Grenade | 0 | +4% Damage Amp per Stack |
| Barrage | 0 | +6% Damage Amp per Stack | |
| 3 | +4% Damage Amp per Stack | ||
| Sinclair | Rabbit Hex | 0 | +15% Damage Amp |
| 3 | +7% Damage Amp | ||
| Escalating Exposure | - | - | +4.5% Damage Amp per Stack |
Sources of Damage Reduction (Negative Additive Amps)
Weapon and Spirit Reduction
| Hero | Ability | Tier | Stat change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mirage | Fire Scarabs | 0 | -20% Damage Reduction |
| 3 | -15% Damage Reduction |
| Name | Category | Stat change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haunting Shot | Legendary | -40% Damage Reduction | |
| Cheat Death | 6,400 | -60% Damage Reduction | |
| Inhibitor | 6,400 | -30% Damage Reduction | |
| Golden Goose Egg | 800 | -10% Damage Reduction | |
| Cursed Relic | 6,400 | -25% Damage Reduction |
- Cheat Death, Golden Goose Egg and Cursed Relic reduce damage dealt by its user.
Spirit Reduction (need explanation here)
| Hero / Item | Ability | Tier | Stat change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infernus | Afterburn | 2 | -35% Spirit Damage Reduction (Note: Additive with itself, but multiplicative with other additive amps.) |
| Silencer | - | - | Spirit Damage Reduction (Note: Additive with itself, but multiplicative with other additive amps.) |