Damage calculation, split scaling, and stats explained - Elden Ring

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Sometimes, the underlying mechanics of a game can be confusing and difficult to learn. I know it's just a game, but if you love it and want the extra edge, I present to you the basic knowledge of damage calculation, an unseen but deadly weapon for your journey in the lands between.

The next video will be on the TRUTH about softcaps, and is a VERY IMPORTANT video. Don't miss it! It will change your entire theorycrafting and build optimization experience.

As usual, if you got any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below. there are SUBTITLES in english if it helps!
If you're interested on what the best catalyst at each given level of investment, here are the in-depth explanations:

0:00 Intro
0:59 Armor and Negation
3:55 Leveling, Stats, and Defense
6:41 Level 125/Level 150 additional stats
7:21 (IMPORTANT) How Negation and Defense ties together
8:10 (IMPORTANT) Split Scaling and Takeaways

[Chrightt]

Ok, I know the ds3 vets/math dudes are going to take a dump on me right now calling defense flat damage reduction! If you took a look carefully at the DS3 defense you will see that defense applies at breakpoints and is not a literal flat def reduction (In fact, it applies before damage negation)! This video is a simplification so the average joe gets a sense of what is going on. The takeaway here is the actual defense formula is more effective the lower the enemy's attack rating is like how a flat damage reduction works. Split scaling weapons suffers harder from this.
Example:
200 damage * 0.7 = 140 => 140 - 50 = 90
100 damage * 0.7 = 70 => 70 - 50 = 20


Oh! And Fire negation should be increased by 19% while lightning negation should be reduced by 21% Accidentally got them backwards (i.e think armor. Negation should be smaller than the sum of its parts when it comes to reducing incoming damage. It's the opposite for increasing damage taken).

[michaelbowman]

I've made a discovery that pertains to my build, and I thought I'd share it here.

If Elden Ring uses DS3's defense formula, then Split Damage isn't as bad as you'd think, but still kinda bad in most situations. Here's why and an example:

Executioner's Greataxe is a primarily Strength based weapon. With the Hero Starting Class, you'd normally put 80 Strength and use a Heavy Infusion, and two-handing the weapon would give you 798 AR. Using Flame, Grant Me Strength + Golden Vow would boost that number to 986.5275

Here's where the Defense Formula comes in.

- If DEF >8x ATK, deal damage equal to 0.10 * ATK
- If DEF >ATK, deal damage equal to (19.2/49 * (ATK/DEF-0.125)^ 2 +0.1) * ATK
- If DEF >0.4x ATK, deal damage equal to (-0.4/3 * (ATK/DEF-2.5)^ 2 +0.7) * ATK
- If DEF >0.125x ATK, deal damage equal to (-0.8/121 * (ATK/DEF-8)^ 2 +0.9) * ATK
- If DEF <0.125x ATK, deal damage equal to 0.90 * ATK

In short, multiply your Physical Attack by 8. If their defense is higher than your Attack x8, then you'd use the topmost formula. If not, then check if their defense is just slightly higher than your attack, then repeat this process until you find the formula that works for your AR rating. Let's do some math to figure out what formula we'd use for our Executioner's Greataxe, if we were using a two-handed R1 against a target with 165 Physical Defense, and 25% Physical Absorption.

986.5275 x 0.125 = 123.315938
986.5275 x 0.4 = 394.611

Our attack isn't high enough to use the bottom formula, and too high to use the middle formula, so for our purposes we'd use the second to last formula. Let's fill in the blanks:

(-0.8/121 * (986.5275/165-8)^ 2 +0.9) * 986.5275 = 861.232802

We'd then subtract that sum by out target's Absorption. 861.232802 - 25% = 645.924601


In this example, the Motion Value is 103, which translates to a multiplier of 1.03, so our final output is 645.924601 x 1.03 = 665.302339

In conclusion, we'd do ~665 Damage when attacking this specific target with a 2H R1 from a Heavy Executioner's Greataxe with 80 Strength + Flame, Grant Me Strength + Golden Vow.

If you instead used a Lightning Infusion, that would be considered "suboptimal" because you lose your fantastic A in Strength for a mediocre E in Strength and C in Dexterity. If you used a Larvel Tear to reallocate your stat points to get as much damage from your stats anyway, you'd put 34 into Strength and 55 into Dexterity, giving your 753 AR, split into 374 Physical and 378 Lightning. Since we are using Lightning, there are a couple things we can do to improve our damage. With Flame, Grant Me Strength + Golden Vow + Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear + Lightning Slash's passive Lightning AR buff, our damage reaches 929.66 AR, split between 462.3575 Physical and 467.3025 Lightning. Since Split Damage has to go through two defenses, this isn't as great as we'd think, right?

Let's do the math again to verify if this is true, we'll have to do it twice on the account that out weapon deals two different types of damage now. Lightning Defense doesn't scale with any stat and is only increased based on Rune Level and equipment, so let's assume the target is min-maxing for the meta summon range bracket and is Level 138, giving them 130 Lightning Defense, and that they also have 25% Lightning Absorption from their gear. They still have 165 Physical Defense and 25% Physical Absorption. Let's start with the Physical portion.

462.3575 x 0.125 = 57.7946875
462.3575 x 0.4 = 184.943

Again, our attack isn't high enough to use the bottom formula, but a little too high to use the middle formula, so we'd use the second the last formula.

(-0.8/121 * (462.3575/165-8)^ 2 +0.9) * 462.3575 = 333.531796

Then we subtract Absorption: 333.531796 - 25% = 250.148847

Multiplied by the Motion Value: 250.148847 x 1.03 = 257.653312

So far, we'd do ~257 Damage on the physical side. Let's do the Lightning portion now. Since we have Lightning Slash, that increases out Lightning Damage by a flat amount of 85 Lightning Damage while the buff is active, which is unaffected by scaling, but is still affected by defense calculations, so let's add that now: 467.3025 + 85= 552.3025

552.3025 x 0.125 = 69.0378125
552.3025 x 0.4 = 220.921

Once again, out attack is too little for the bottom formula, but too high for the middle formula, so we'd use the second the last formula once again.

(-0.8/121 * (552.3025/130-8)^ 2 +0.9) * 552.3025 = 445.680195

Then we'd subtract Absorption: 445.680195 - 25% = 334.260146

Multiplied by the Motion Value: 334.260146 x 1.03 = 344.28795

Then finally, we'd add the two sums together to get out damage dealt: 257.653312 + 344.28795 = 601.941262

In conclusion, we'd do ~601 damage to our target if we used a 2H R1 from a Lightning Infused Executioner's Greataxe with 34 Strength and 55 Dexterity + FGMS + Golden Vow + Lightning-Shrouding Cracked Tear + Lightning Slash.

So yes, it would be a bad idea to put Lighting on the Executioner's Greataxe in the vast majority of cases. However, you could probably make a case for the Lightning Infusion if you were fighting in an area with a lot of water, so unless you were planning on doing Invasions in Liurnia of the Lakes, it'd probably be best to use Heavy instead.

This is not true for every weapon, but rather this is just my experience with this weapon due to me wanting to replicate the Dragonslayer's Greataxe from DS3 in Elden Ring, only to find that the damage isn't all that spectacular in comparison to Heavy.

You can see that the difference in damage between Heavy and Lightning is _kind of_ bad, a ~60 damage difference is still pretty big, but it's not cripplingly bad, it's still "usable" and you might find the extra chip damage against shield turtles useful in _some_ situations. However, if you were actually using an infusion that actually scaled well with the Executioner's Greataxe, like Fire (which would actually receive the full boost from FGMS) + Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear + Flaming Strike (For 65 Flat Fire Damage + a good weapon art) you might get better results that are more comparable to the Heavy Infusion, although I'm not going to do the math here since this comment is already extremely long.

EDIT: spelling and grammar corrections.

[nafin]

Good to know how the defense works. Everyone always says split damage is worse but never says why.

[JDheroic]

These are the most underrated videos on Elden Ring. Chrightt gives you exactly what you need to know, stats and facts, two things you can’t bias with opinion. This kid is smart guys. Follow him.

[ManuMum]

Thank you, this is the only useful source I have found while searching for info on split damage scaling!

[guitarlover]

I have been waiting for a true science person to break down these stats for a while. Glad to see you rise to the occasion.

[GrimSkey]

Never understood the stats and just played the game but this explained it perfectly. Gives me a greater understanding of negation works. I've been running the sorseals too but now that I know I'll switch them out when reaching an appropriate level. Thanks!

[OverMongos]

I just watched 3 videos that didn’t answer my question prior to finding this one. This is exactly what I was looking for.

THANK YOU!

[leftovernoise]

Hands down best videos on elden ring stats on YouTube. Thank you!

[ZeRedSpy]

So this video also helps explain, at least in part, why electrical damage is so powerful. It’s the weakest defensive stat on most armors, water and rain can boost it, and you don’t even get any flat defense buffs against it from leveling up any stat.

[DarthMarik]

This is an absolutely fantastic video! My dumb ass was able to understand it flawlessly. You did well to explain everything and you did it simple as well. I will reference this video to all my Elden Ring friends who don't understand. We were all just going, "Unga bunga higher numbers better so just get high numbers for defense!" but it sure is nice to know what is actually happening with those stats now. Thank you so much for taking time out of your life to make this!!!

I just do want to point out one thing, split scaling on damage depends sure the single scaling stats will usually be better but if an enemy has a type weakness split scaling can really shine. It won't be small meager numbers either like 20 to 50 points more damage no. It will be by a few hundred or several thousand which in souls games can be the difference between *ENEMY/GREAT ENEMY FELLED* and *YOU DIED* . If you take the Deathbirds or Death Rite Birds for example they are extremely weak to holy damage while having high physical resistance. So if you take a maxed out single scaling weapon vs something like the Golden Halberd which does physical and holy damage, the Golden Halberd will out damage the single scaled weapon. This is the case with other enemies as well where the split scaling weapon will perform better based upon the damage type the enemy is weak to.

This is why its very important to carry various weapons with different damage types instead of running around with the biggest metal stick or the sharpest sword.

[imdefinitelynotjesus]

this was incredible informative thank you so much, ima look through your catalog of old videos wile I wait for the next to see what els I can learn.

[Gakusangi]

When it comes to "split-damage", damage that covers two different types on a weapon, the best course is to know what your enemies have less resistance against to capitalize on the extra damage value. For example, the miners seem particularly susceptible to Magic damage while being highly resistant to physical damage. So splitting between physical and magical can be more effective against them. But in most scenarios, a flat amount of a high damage in one type (usually physical) is the best course, because then you're not contending with multiple resistances. And as pointed out at the end of this vid, Fire damage is often less effective because a lot more enemies and players have resistance to it, while Lightning is far more rare. That's why I rush for Lightning Strike in the Altus Plateau over Flame Strike in Caelid.

[garrick]

This explains why when I go back to Limgrave late in the game and an enemy hits me they do almost no damage even if I do not have much armor. This is possibly also why people complain that end game enemies do too much damage. We do not know what level FromSoft expected you to be at end game. If they thought level 250, and everyone is level 125, then that partly explains why the damage seems too high. Also, I can see why a high vigor strength build can be strong in PvP, since you are getting extra defense. It might not seem like much on paper, but sometimes you take barely any damage due to the higher physical defense.

[combatking]

The explanation of both damage negation and damage scaling and how they are connected is perfect. Walking away from this video with alot more knowledge on the topic. Thank you chrightt for being the elden ring educator we all need

[johnnyryan]

Helpful. Thanks. I really like this game because a person like me, with average dodging, timing, figuring move sets, I just decided on a tank build pretty early. I kept leveling up offensive stats and here I am a beast offensively, and I couldn’t figure out why I am one shot in Farum Azula with lightning. This and other videos helped. The tankiest armor doesn’t…really…save me. Seeing the big jumps in levels at certain points helped, I will invest wisely. Damage negation is the tough one for me. I have to depend on incantations and phyzic, I’ll figure it out. The journey is fun. It takes my mind off work and other stress lol.

[wafflestomper]

Only video that explains flat defense thank you

[civilez]

Quality content, I've been subscribed since the 200s, I'm hoping to see your channel explode with subscribers soon.

[leftovernoise]

Hey so I have a question and I'll give it in a specific situation so the answer can be more specific. (can't remember the exact stats but I'll get them close enough for the example)

On my arcane faith build, with a slender sword, with the occult affinity my AR is around 450 physical dmg. with flame art affinity I'm up over 500ar.

Is the loss of roughly 50ar worth it to be doing pure physical damage instead of split flame and physical? I know split is worth less real damage overall depending on the enemies defense, but how much less on average?

at what point is it worth it to go for split instead of physical?

thank you so much for these videos

[uncleanriches]

Great video! This level of sweat is appreciated very much, very informative you deserve more views for sure.