Damage Calculation Bloodborne Wiki » Game Mechanics » Damage Calculation

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Basic Information

Damage Types The damage type of your attack determines which enemy defense value is used to reduce its damage and which gems can increase it. There are five main types: physical, blood, arcane, fire, and bolt. For example, if you attack with only fire, just the enemy's fire defense will reduce it. All other defenses are ignored. Physical is a bit special in that it has two special subtypes: blunt and thrust. Each physical attack is either normal physical, blunt, or thrust. The enemy will use the appropriate defense type depending on your attack. In other words, the enemy really has seven defense types: physical, blunt, thrust, blood, arcane, fire, and bolt. Gems that increase physical attack, however, also increase blunt and thrust damage. On the other hand, a gem that increases thrust won't raise normal physical or blunt damage. "Physical ATK UP" raises the power of physical, blunt, and thrust attacks. "Thrust ATK UP" raises the power of thrust attacks only. "Blunt ATK UP" raises the power of blunt attacks only. The next important point to understand is that damage type is determined by your individual attack, not the weapon overall. Ludwig's Holy Blade does normal physical damage, but it also has separate blunt and thrust attacks. A "physical attack up" gem would raise the damage of all of the attacks, but a "thrust attack up" gem would only benefit the thrusts. Finally, know that attacks can have more than one type. For example, an attack can be physical and arcane. In this case, the physical portion of the attack will benefit from physical gems and be reduced by the enemy's physical defense, while the arcane portion will be increased by arcane gems and reduced by arcane defense. Remember that blunt and thrust are subtypes of physical damage. If you convert your weapon's physical damage into an element like fire, it no longer matters if an attack is thrust or blunt; the damage will be fire elemental. Attack Power So how do you know how strong your weapon is? Open your Inventory and scroll to the Right Hand Weapons section Select your weapon and press square to pull up the details pane. On the left side of the details pane, you'll see the attack values for your weapon. From top to bottom, you can see: physical attack, blunt attack, thrust attack, blood attack, arcane attack, fire attack, and bolt attack. The number on the left of each entry is the "base attack" of your weapon. The number on the right is the amount that the damage is increased by your stats; this is called "attack from scaling." "Physical ATK UP" benefits physical, thrust, and blunt damage types but "Thrust ATK UP" and "Blunt ATK UP" only benefit their own subtype. Attack Damage Multipliers In fact, each and every attack that you can do has a hidden "attack damage multiplier." The damage multipliers (marked as Dmg x in the tables) are applied to your total attack power for each type. Basic Formulas Base Attack + Attack from Scaling = Total Attack Total Attack x "Dmg x" = Total Damage Total Damage - Enemy Defense = Actual Damage Remember that this is calculated separately for each damage type and then added together.

Attacks versus Open Foes If your enemy is "open," it means they have missed an attack, rolled, performed a backstep, or otherwise left themselves open for an attack [Testing Data]. In this situation, you can perform a counter hit for extra damage! The amount of bonus damage is determined by how open the enemy is. For example, after it misses with a normal swing, you may hit a foe for an extra 20% damage. If the enemy misses a really big, slow attack, you might do an extra 40% damage. It doesn't stop there, either; it's pretty common to hit a cutlass-wielding Huntsman for a roughly 68% bonus. Timing is very critical in performing these counter hits. If you are too early or too late, you'll do less damage. You want to hit the enemy just after the attack ends but before it begins to recover. There is some margin for error; 40% bonus hits can become 20% bonus hits if your timing is only off by a little bit. If you miss the timing too much, though, you'll just hit for normal damage. Spacing is key if you want to use counter hits. You need to stand in a position that baits an enemy into using a big attack but still lets you step out of range. Then, as the enemy attempts to recover, you can attack for a counter hit. Another method is to roll or frontstep behind the enemy; you'll often pass through their attack with your invincibility frames and recover just in time to counter. A more advanced technique is to backstep to dodge the enemy attack and then counter with a backstep attack. If your normal backstep doesn't move far enough to dodge the attack or its attack doesn't reach the enemy. If an enemy misses an attack it will be "open." You can hit it for a big damage bonus. The Finestrike gem effect can increase the amount of damage you deal against open foes. This will further increase the damage bonus of counter hits. When fighting normally, you may want to rely on other effects, but if you use certain long-range weapons, such as the Rifle Spear or Hunter Axe, you may find this to be very useful indeed. The Rifle Spear in particular is extremely well-suited for attacking open foes. Lead Elixirs can be used to perform counter hits more easily. Light enemy attacks will rebound off of you while you are under the effects of a Lead Elixir, and you receive a bonus while the enemy is in the rebound state. Attacks that don't rebound won't stagger you unless they are very heavy, which means you can perform a counter normally. When combined with the Regain system and good defense, you can use this to deal a large amount of damage to the enemy while completely negating their attacks via Regain. Enemy Weak Points Many enemies have specific weak points that can be struck for bonus damage. For example, striking the Cleric Beast in his head will deal additional damage and can even temporarily stagger it. Hitting enemy weak points combines with other damage multipliers, so study each enemy and strike their vulnerable points. This system existed in previous Fromsoft titles, but it is greatly expanded in Bloodborne. It rewards you for understanding your enemy and knowing your weapon's moveset perfectly

Serrated Weapons and Righteous Weapons

Some enemies are weak against "serrated" weapons, and some are weak against "righteous" weapons. The bonus multipliers that they give stack with your attack damage multiplier, open foe bonus damage, gem effects, etc., leading to some very big damage hits. While enemies like the Cleric Beast and Scourge Beasts will be affected by both gems modifying beast damage and serration, other enemies such as the the Rabid Dog and Maneater Boar will be affected by gems modifying beast damage but will not take bonus damage from serrated weapons. Thus an informal distinction can be made between “true” beasts affected by both factors and “animal-type” beasts affected only by gem modifiers. Righteous weapons deal additional damage to unholy enemies, such as Bloodlickers and Lost Children of Antiquity. Generally, many of the enemies that fall under this category can be found in Forsaken Cainhurst Castle and occasionally in Chalice Dungeons. Note: If player equips the Beast's Embrace oath rune in order to take ghastly beast form, the serration bonus does not affect them.

Serrated Weapons Serrated weapons include the Saw Cleaver's normal mode, both modes of the Saw Spear, the transformed mode of the Threaded Cane, both modes of the Beast Cutter, the transformed mode of the Whirligig Saw. Attacks from those deal an additional 20% damage to specific enemies. Enemies Weak to Serrated Weapons Abhorrent Beast Beast-possessed Soul Bloodletting Beast Blood-starved Beast Cleric Beast Darkbeast Paarl Father Gascoigne (Beast) Laurence, the First Vicar Loran Darkbeast Loran Silverbeast Ludwig, the Accursed (first phase) Scourge Beast Vicar Amelia Watchdog of the Old Lords

Righteous Weapons Righteous weapons include the normal mode of the Kirkhammer (50% bonus), both modes of Ludwig's Holy Blade (50% bonus), both modes of Logarius' Wheel (30% bonus), the normal mode of the Threaded Cane (20% bonus), thrust attacks of the Church Pick (20% bonus), and both modes of the Holy Moonlight Sword (50% bonus). Enemies Weak to Righteous Weapons Bloodlicker Evil Labyrinth Spirit Forsaken Castle Spirit (Head) Forsaken Castle Spirit (Knife) Lost Child of Antiquity

Beasts and Kin

There are two types of "racial bonus" in Bloodborne - one versus beasts, and one versus kin. You can view your weapon's damage bonus (or penalty) by looking at your weapon info screen. This is tied directly to the Blood Gem system; specifically Beasthunter and Kinhunter gems. For more information visit the Beasts & Kin page.

Beast Damage | Percent of normal damage against beasts Kin Damage | Percent of normal damage against kin

A Hunter's Guide to Damage by Sel

Foreword This small write-up is the result of my research into player damage in Bloodborne. During my hours spent in the game and surrounding communities, I have often come upon the question, “How do I maximize my damage?” The answer, of course, is fairly nuanced, due to the diversity of weapons in the game and the wide variety of Blood Gems that can be freely equipped onto any weapon. In seeking to answer questions like this, I have attempted to gather as much information concerning damage potential in Bloodborne as I can. I have pulled from pre-existing sources, as well as done some in-game fieldwork of my own. And while I have strived to retrieve my information from trustworthy sources, in a situation such as this some concessions must be made. There is hardly a wide body of literature on the mechanics of one specific video game, understandably (Exception being certain fighting games!). As such, while I have pulled from a variety of sources, I have also attempted as much as possible to verify it for myself. For the sake of simplicity, for now this write-up will focus solely on PvE damage.

Table of Contents I. Basics A. Damage Types II. Attack Rating Calculations A. Base Damage B. Attribute Scaling C. Attribute Saturation D. Flat Damage E. Blood Gems F. Overall AR III. Damage Calculation A. Attack Modifiers B. Enemy Defenses C. Other Factors IV. Appendices Appendix A. Weapon Base Data Appendix B. Attribute Saturation Values

I. Basics

Each Trick Weapon has a standard one-handed mode. In this form, attacks can be performed using a combination of R1, R2, L1, and in the case of a jumping attack the control stick and Circle. Upon pressing L1, the weapon will be “tricked,” or transformed. Depending on the weapon, this can range from extending the weapon into a two-handed form to bathing it in your own blood to give it new properties. Damage in Bloodborne can be broadly separated into three different damage types: Physical, Blood, and Arcane. Physical damage can be further separated into three subcategories: Physical, Blunt, and Thrust. Arcane can be separated into three categories of its own as well: Arcane, Fire, and Bolt. Accordingly, every enemy in the game has a different set of weaknesses. For instance, some enemies are weak to Thrust damage, while others are weak to Fire damage. I-A. Damage Types Physical Damage Physical damage is dealt by the majority of right-hand Trick Weapons (as well as the left-hand weapon Fist of Gratia) in some capacity, with a small number of exceptions. The associated player stats affecting this damage type are strength and skill. Physical damage can be further separated into three subcategories: Physical, Blunt, and Thrust. As one might imagine, the moveset of each trick weapon is slightly different—doubly so in most cases as the tricked form generally has a different moveset than its default state. The same sequence of buttons on the PS4 controller will often result in a different string of attacks depending on your weapon. A series of R1 attacks using an untricked Saw Cleaver will result in a series of quick slashes, whereas a series of R1 attacks using an untricked Church Pick will result in a combination of thrusts and slashes. Thus, for a given weapon, each physical attack can deal some combination of plain physical damage, blunt damage, and thrust damage. To use the previous example, a four-hit chain of R1 attacks using the Saw Cleaver deals pure physical damage(1). Meanwhile, a four-hit chain of R1 attacks using the Church Pick deals thrust, physical, physical, and thrust damage in sequence(2). In contrast, all Beast Cutter attacks deal pure Blunt damage(3).

Blood Damage Blood damage is dealt by the majority of left-hand weapons (IE your firearms), as well as a selection of right-hand Trick Weapons (Namely, the tricked forms of the Chikage, Bloodletter, and Simon’s Bowblade). The associated player stat affecting this damage type is Bloodtinge. Arcane Damage Arcane damage is initially dealt by certain right-hand Trick Weapons as well as a selection of non-firearm left-hand weapons. The associated player stat affecting this damage type is Arcane. Arcane damage can be further divided into three subcategories: Arcane, Fire, and Bolt. For the purpose of this write-up, Arcane as a general category will be referred to as “arcane”, while Arcane as a specific subcategory of Arcane damage types will be referred to as “arc.” Take note of the use of the word “initially” above. This is in reference to weapons that will deal Arcane damage as a part of its base stats. For example, Burial Blade and Amygdalan Arm deal a small amount of arc damage in addition to the physical damage they inflict, while Tonitrus and Boom Hammer can be “buffed” using their L1 transformation to inflict added bolt and fire damage, respectively. Weapons that deal a combination of Physical and Arcane damage types by default will be referred to as “split damage weapons” in this guide. Kos Parasite is unique among Trick Weapons in that it deals exclusively arc damage. Pure physical weapons, such as the Saw Cleaver or Kirkhammer, can be “converted” to deal elemental damage through the use of Blood Gems. When this occurs, the physical base damage drops to 0 and the base damage is instead “converted” to the appropriate elemental type. The subject of elemental conversion will be covered more in-depth in Section II-C, Blood Gems.

II. Attack Rating Calculations

Attack Rating (AR) is the number that shows up in the summary of your weapon, as well as the number that shows up on your general stats screen from the menu. This number serves as a general indication of the attack power of your weapon. The general formula of AR for a given stat can be given by the formula(4): AR = [Base Damage + (Base Damage * Attribute Scaling * Attribute Saturation)] * Gem % + Flat Damage Each term will be elaborated in the following sections. How these partial ARs total together in the stats screens will be discussed in Section II-F. II-A. Base Damage Base damage is the intrinsic damage potential the weapon possesses, before any other multipliers or damage bonuses are applied. A +10 Saw Cleaver will have 160 base Physical damage, whereas a +10 Blade of Mercy will have 120 base physical damage and an additional 60 base arc damage. The base damage is solely dependent on the weapon in question and the upgrade level it is currently at (From +0 to +10). For the sake of simplicity, from this point forward it is assumed that examples are using fully upgraded +10 weapons. Base stats for all +10 weapons can be found in Appendix A. II-B. Attribute Scaling Attribute scaling is a measure of how much of a damage bonus a weapon receives from point investment in a given attribute. The higher the attribute scaling, the more AR will be gained per stat point invested compared to a weapon with lower attribute scaling. For example, a Hunter Axe has 0.35 Skill scaling while a Church Pick has 0.75 Skill scaling. Increasing Skill from 20 to 25 will result in a greater AR increase for Church Pick than Hunter Axe due to its higher scaling. Pure physical weapons also have a nonzero Arc scaling, despite having no native Arc base damage. This is because these weapons can be converted through the use of elemental gems. This converts the base damage to the corresponding element, and the weapon then scales its damage according to the Arc stat rather than Strength, Skill, or a combination of the two. Certain weapons also receive increased attribute scaling in certain circumstances. The L1 transformation of the Tonitrus increases Arcane scaling by 0.4, Threaded Cane receives an additional 0.15 Skill scaling when tricked, and the transformed Logarius’ Wheel receives an added 0.5 Arcane scaling(12). It is also important to note that in-game menus communicate scaling as letter grades, up to S scaling. These are merely for ease of understanding for players, and are not used in damage calculations. Base scaling stats for all +10 weapons can be found in Appendix A. II-C. Attribute Saturation Attribute saturation is effectively a proportion that indicates how much of that stat’s damage potential you have reached for that weapon. For example, an attribute, such as Strength, has a saturation of 1.0 at 99 Strength, indicating that it is at its highest potential. 50 Strength has a saturation of 0.85, while 25 Strength has a saturation of 0.5. It is for this reason that 25 and 50 are “softcaps” for levelling an attribute, as past each point the return per point investment becomes increasingly minimal. The exception to this is the damage of Hunter Tools. The damage of these tools hits a softcap at 50 Arcane, but continue to improve at a high rate per point invested in Arcane(5). In fact, a significant proportion of the tools (Choir Bell, Blacksky Eye, Augur of Ebrietas, Executioner’s Gloves, and Accursed Brew) see improved growth rates from 80-99 Arcane compared to their growth from 50-80 Arcane. Attribute saturation values can be found in Appendix B. II-D. Flat Damage Flat damage is added damage of a given damage type. Flat physical damage, for example, will add a fixed sum of physical damage at the end of your attack, while flat fire damage will similarly add a fixed sum of fire damage at the end of your attack. This addition takes place after factoring gems and the individual modifier of a given attack. This subject will be covered further in Section III-A. For the purpose of AR calculations, flat damage is simply added at the end of all other AR calculations. The primary sources of flat damage are Blood Gems and Fire Paper, Bolt Paper, and Empty Phantasm Shell. Some Blood Gems add flat damage as a primary or secondary effect. Fire Paper, Bolt Paper, and Empty Phantasm shell add 80 flat damage of Fire, Bolt, and Arc, respectively. II-E. Blood Gems Blood Gems are the main source of customization for weapons in Bloodborne, and indeed their effects are highly varied. For the purposes of this guide, focus will be placed primarily on the gem effects that modify AR. Blood Gem bonuses are multiplicative in nature. The use of three 27.2% Tempering Blood Gems, for example, will not improve Physical AR by 82% (1 + 0.272*3 = 1.816). Instead, Physical AR will improve by 106% (1.272^3 = 2.06). Types of Gems Tempering Blood Gems - Increase physical attack. Can be percent-based or flat damage bonus. Adept Blood Gems - Increase blunt/thrust attack. Nourishing Blood Gems - Increase overall attack. For example, a Nourishing gem on a Holy Moonlight Sword that has both Physical and Arcane attack types will result in the improvement of both Physical and Arcane damage. Bloodtinge Blood Gems - Increase blood attack. Can be percent-based or flat damage bonus. Arcane Blood Gems - Increase arcane attack. Can be percent-based or flat damage bonus. Fire Blood Gems - Increase fire attack. Can be percent-based or flat damage bonus.

Bolt Blood Gems - Increase bolt attack. Can be percent-based or flat damage bonus. Heavy Blood Gems - Improve Strength scaling. Adds a flat scaling bonus. (E.g., +65 scaling -> add 0.65 to attribute scaling during AR calculation). Sharp Blood Gems - Improve Skill scaling. Adds a flat scaling bonus. Warm Blood Gems - Improve Bloodtinge scaling. Adds a flat scaling bonus. Cold Blood Gems - Improve Arcane scaling. Adds a flat scaling bonus. Kinhunter/Beasthunter’s Blood Gems - Improve damage against kin / beast, respectively. Percent-based bonus. Can improve physical attack or overall attack. Fool’s / Poorman’s Blood Gems - Improve damage when at full health / near death, respectively. Percent-based bonus. Can improve physical attack or overall attack. Special Properties of Arcane Blood Gems The addition of blood gems that confer arc, fire, and/or bolt damage to split damage weapons and Blood weapons is relatively simple. These weapons cannot be converted. If the weapon has native arc, fire, and/or bolt damage, gems with the appropriate effects will benefit it accordingly. Consider two hypothetical Blood Gems: An Arcane Blood Gem that boasts +24.8% Arc ATK and +15 flat fire damage, and a Fire Blood Gem that adds +24.8% Fire ATK and +15 Arc damage. Adding the Arcane gem to a Burial Blade will confer a percent-based bonus to its native arc damage as well as a simple 15 AR in fire damage. However, replacing this with the Fire Blood Gem will result in no added Fire ATK (24.7% of 0 base damage is still 0) and an added 15 AR to Arc damage. The addition of blood gems that confer arc, fire, and/or bolt damage to pure physical weapons results in the conversion of the weapon to Arcane damage types. As previously mentioned, this converts the base damage to the corresponding elemental damage type, and weapon damage scales from the Arcane attribute instead of Strength and/or Skill. Converted weapons cannot be used with fire or bolt paper, and cannot be buffed by Empty Phantasm Shell. Beast Blood Pellets also do not affect elemental damage, as they affect only Physical damage. In the event of multiple elemental attributes being added to a weapon, such as the addition of an arc gem, fire gem, and bolt gem to a pure physical weapon, the weapon will be converted to the highest priority element. From highest to lowest priority, arc takes precedence over fire takes precedence over bolt conversion. Thus, putting both a fire and a bolt gem onto a Saw Cleaver would result in a fire-converted elemental Saw Cleaver, with no bolt damage. But what about gems with a mixture of elements? Consider two hypothetical gems: A Fire Blood Gem that gives +22.5% Fire ATK and 15 flat bolt damage, and a Bolt Blood Gem that gives +22.5% Bolt ATK and 15 flat fire damage—two different gems that add both fire and bolt damage. Adding the Fire Blood Gem to a Saw Cleaver will convert the base damage to fire and add a tangible 22.5% Fire ATK bonus to the new base damage, as well as an extra 15 AR in bolt damage. Replacing this Fire Gem with the Bolt Gem will also result in a fire-converted Saw Cleaver, as fire takes precedence over bolt. Thus, this Bolt-gemmed Saw Cleaver will have Fire base damage with an extra 15 Fire AR, and no added Bolt ATK (22.5% of 0 is still 0). II-F. Overall AR Now each term in the AR calculation has been explained. To reiterate, the general formula of AR for a given stat can be given by the formula: AR = [Base Damage + (Base Damage * Attribute Scaling * Attribute Saturation)] * Gem % + Flat Damage In the case of physical damage, this AR is governed by both the Strength and Skill attributes. But what does this mean for finding total listed AR? Consider a hypothetical character wielding a Burial Blade with 25 Strength, 50 Skill, and 6 Arcane. The Burial Blade is equipped with three 27.2% physical attack gems. This character has 25 Strength, 50 Skill, and 6 Arcane. Thus, their respective attribute saturation values are 0.5, 0.85, and 0.03. The Burial Blade has a base damage of 160 Physical and 60 Arc, 0.3 Strength scaling, 0.75 Skill scaling, and 0.69 Arcane scaling. Now the calculations can begin. AR(physical) = [160 + (160 * 0.3 * 0.5 + 160 * 0.75 * 0.85)] * 1.272 * 1.272 * 1.272 + 0 = 588 AR(arc) = [60 + (60 * 0.69 * 0.03)] = 61 Attacks with this weapon deal both Physical and Arc damage at the same time, so the total AR listed in the status screen is 649 AR (ARphysical + ARarc). In the case of Bloodtinge-based Trick Weapons (I.E. Chikage, Bloodletter, and Simon’s Bowblade), the overall AR listed in the status screen consists solely of the Physical AR of the weapon, as these weapons deal only Physical damage in their default forms and deal only Blood damage in their tricked forms. The total does not add the Blood AR for this purpose. Thus, the overall AR listed for Blood weapons can be deceptively low. The overall AR listed for left-hand weapons is much simpler to understand, in part due to the more limited scope of these weapons. Each left-hand weapon deals only one damage type, so the listed AR is simply the calculated AR of that given damage type. As a reminder, flat damage is added directly to the AR in the status screen, but is not differentiated from percentage-based bonuses. A Saw Spear with 550 AR using only percentage-based gems will deal different damage than a Saw Spear with 550 AR using a mixture of percentage-based gems and flat gems, as will be elaborated in Section III-A.

III. Damage Calculations

As has been mentioned previously, AR is merely a general estimate of power. AR does not account for attack modifiers, enemy defenses, and general moveset differences between weapons (swing speed, range, et al.). While the latter is quite subjective in which every player prefers something a little different, attack modifiers and enemy defenses are used to translate the weapon AR into tangible damage to enemy HP. III-A. Attack Modifiers While discussing the different damage types toward the beginning of this write-up, the point of weapons having differing movesets was brought up. A series of R1 attacks on one weapon may be completely different from a series of R1 attacks on a different weapon, as some weapons slash and thrust with finesse while others bludgeon and crush in a show of strength. Thus, each weapon has a different series of attacks that is unique to that weapon only. Each of these attacks also has its own unique damage modifier. For example, a series of five consecutive R1 attacks from an untricked Rakuyo will have damage multipliers of 1.00, 0.90, 1.00, 1.15, and 1.00 in sequence(6). Meanwhile, a fully charged R2 attack has a 1.70 multiplier. Intuitively, it would make sense that the AR of the weapon is modified by these multipliers. However, this is also a good opportunity to bring flat attack bonuses into the equation again. Flat attack bonuses, such as a gem that adds a flat 15 physical damage or Fire/Bolt Paper, are not factored in until the end of this stage of damage calculations. Consider a hypothetical Rakuyo with 550 AR, of which 535 AR comes from multiplicative calculations and 15 AR from a flat physical secondary gem effect. The aforementioned multipliers for the untricked R1 attacks will be based on the multiplicative 535 AR. 15 additional physical damage is then added to this total for the theoretical sum of damage that this weapon would deal. Thus, when taking advantage of attacks with high multipliers, such as the general moveset of Kos Parasite or the charged R2 of the Stake Driver, it is generally recommended to use percent-based gems, even if there may be a small decrease in listed AR compared to setups that incorporate flat damage. Conversely, flat damage bonuses are effective when using attacks with low multipliers. This means that when using attacks that deal rapid, consecutive hits with low damage multipliers, such as tricked Logarius’ Wheel R1 and Kos Parasite L2, it is generally better to equip gems maximizing flat damage bonuses. A comprehensive list of the attack multipliers associated with the moveset of each weapon can be found online(7). III-B. Enemy Defenses Up until now, these calculations have been purely theoretical. Consider a hypothetical Burial Blade with 649 AR and no flat damage bonuses. If one were to hit a basic Huntsman Central Yharnam with a basic R1 (The first untricked R1 attack has a 1.00 multiplier), the damage in reality would be lower than the theoretical 649 damage calculated. This is because of enemy defense. For an enemy defense ‘D’ and weapon AR ‘A’ the damage formula for a given damage type can be modeled as(8): If D > 8A Damage = 0.1*A; (1) If 8A > D > A Damage = (19.2/49*(A/D-0.125)^2+0.1)*A; (2) If A > D > 0.4A Damage = (-0.4/3*(A/D-2.5)^2+0.7)*A; (3) If 0.4A > D > 0.125A Damage = (-0.8/121*(A/D-8)^2+0.9)*A; (4) If D < 0.125A Damage = 0.9 * A; (5) Consider the previous hypothetical Burial Blade, used against an enemy with 70 Physical defense and 67 Arcane defense. This Burial Blade has 588.6 Physical ATK and 61.2 Arc ATK. Thus, for physical damage calculation (5) will be used, comparing 588.6 ATK to 70 Physical defense. For Arc damage (2) will be used, comparing 61 Arc AR to 67 Arcane defense. The attack multiplier of this untricked R1 is 1.00. Damage(Physical) = 0.9*588=529 damage Damage(Arc) = (19.2 / 49 * (61 / 67 - 0.125)^2 + 0.1) * 61 = 21 damage Damage(Total) = 529 * (1.00) + 21 * (1.00) = 550 damage Thus, 550 is the damage dealt by the first R1 of this untransformed Burial Blade against an enemy with these defenses. Note that flat damage is also affected by enemy defense calculations.

III-C. Other Factors Instability State and Open Foes Damage There are times when the Hunter will get hit in the middle of an action, such as rolling, dashing, and jumping. During these brief timeframes, if the Hunter is hit without invincibility frames, the Hunter will take approximately twice the damage that would have been dealt otherwise. This state is colloquially referred to as the Instability state. For non-PvP purposes, enemies will generally only enter the instability state during their stagger animation after being parried. During this brief window of time, damage taken by enemies will also be approximately twice the original value. This state is distinguishable from the Open Foe state. Enemies in the process of attacking will be in the Open Foe state for the duration of the attack animation. Essentially, the Open Foe state means the enemy takes increased counter-hit damage. The amount of bonus damage is dependent on the timing of the Hunter’s counter-hit, in the realm of 20-40% extra damage. Damage done to enemies in this state can be increased through the use of the Finestrike gem effect, which increases attack against Open Foes. Curiously, it has been observed that despite being in a neutral animation, Cainhurst Servants found cleaning the floor take 40% extra damage upon first hit, as if they are in the Open Foe state. Subsequent strikes do not receive this bonus. Beast and Kin Throughout the Hunter’s journey, the Hunter will encounter a wide variety of enemies. Among them include many types of Beasts, and later stages will lead the Hunter to encounter Kin. Beasts consist of animal-like creatures such as rabid dogs and carrion crows, as well as those transformed by the Scourge afflicting Yharnam, such as the Cleric Beast and the Beast Patients of Old Yharnam(9). All beasts are affected by Blood Gems that affect damage against beasts—both gems that increase damage against beasts as well as cursed gems that lower damage against beasts. Kin consist of alien-like creatures, often with a pale blue tint to their appearance. When injured, they bleed a pale yellow color. Examples of kin include Brainsuckers, the Celestial Emissary, and Garden of Eyes(10). All kin are affected by Blood Gems that affect damage against kin—both gems that increase damage against kin as well as cursed gems that lower damage against kin. Beasthood and Beast Blood Pellets Beasthood is a gauge that can be built up during combat, and will increase your Physical attack in exchange for reduced defenses(11). Beasthood can be increased through the use of the Beast Claws weapon, or through consuming a Beast Blood Pellet. The maximum beasthood the player character can achieve is dependent on the attire worn, as well as Insight. Higher Insight reduces the maximum beasthood that can be attained in combat. The thresholds for Beasthood damage bonuses and defense penalties are as follows: Beasthood Points Physical Attack Multiplier Defense Multiplier 1-24 1.2 0.8 25-49 1.3 0.7 50-99 1.4 0.6 100-199 1.5 0.5 200-299 1.6 0.4 300+ 1.7 0.2 Thus at 300+ beasthood, attacks will receive a 70% damage bonus to the physical component of their total damage, at the cost of player defenses being reduced by 80%. Serrated and Righteous Weapon Attributes Certain weapons deal bonus damage to certain enemy types. “Serrated” weapons deal additional damage to Beast-type enemies, such as Scourge Beasts, Cleric Beast, and the Blood-starved Beast. It must be noted that this subset of Beast enemies is more narrow than those mentioned previously. While enemies like the Cleric Beast and Scourge Beasts will be affected by both gems modifying beast damage and serration, other enemies such as the the Rabid Dog and Maneater Boar will be affected by gems modifying beast damage but will not take bonus damage from serrated weapons. Thus an informal distinction can be made between “true” beasts affected by both factors and “animal-type” beasts affected only by gem modifiers(9). Righteous weapons deal additional damage to unholy enemies, such as Bloodlickers and Lost Children of Antiquity(12). Generally, many of the enemies that fall under this category can be found in Forsaken Cainhurst Castle and occasionally in Chalice Dungeons. A summary of weapons with serration and righteous bonuses as well as the magnitude of these bonuses is available online(13). These effects are applied based on total damage, after all other damage calculations.

IV. Appendices

Appendix A. Weapon Base Data

Name	Phys	Blo	Arc	Str Scal	Skl Scal	Blt Scal	Arc Scal	Name	Phys	Blo	Arc	Str Scal	Skl Scal	Blt Scal	Arc Scal
Amygdalan Arm	160	0	80	0.9	0.25	0	0.625	Simon's Bowblade	160	160	0	0	1.1	1.1
Beast Claw	150	0	0	0.62	0.335	0	0.52	Stake Driver	170	0	0	0.6	0.55	0	0.625
Beast Claw (Beast)	150	0	0	0.62	0.335	0	0.52	Threaded Cane	156	0	0	0.29	0.9	0	0.655
Beast Cutter	184	0	0	0.6	0.3	0	0.495	Tonitrus	160	0	0	0.65	0.25	0	0.5
Beasthunter Saif	180	0	0	0.3	0.7	0	0.55	Whirligig Saw	190	0	0	1.1	0.3	0	0.77
Blade of Mercy	120	0	60	0	1.1	0	0.69	Cannon	0	600	0	0	0	0.4	0
Bloodletter	180	180	0	1	0	1.1		Church Cannon	0	480	0	0	0	0.5	0
Boom Hammer	180	0	0	0.9	0.25	0	0.625	Evelyn	0	140	0	0	0	1.35	0
Burial Blade	160	0	60	0.3	0.75	0	0.69	Fist of Gratia	130	0	0	1.0	0	0	0
Chikage	184	184	0	0.25	0.65	1.1		Flamesprayer	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.7
Church Pick	176	0	0	0.4	0.7	0	0.605	Gatling Gun	0	180	0	0	0	0.4	0
Holy Moonlight Sword	180	0	100	0.8	0.6	0	1.0	Hunter Blunderbuss	0	45	0	0	0	1.0	0
Hunter Axe	196	0	0	0.65	0.35	0	0.55	Hunter Pistol	0	160	0	0	0	0.85	0
Kirkhammer	210	0	0	1.0	0.29	0	0.695	Hunter's Torch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.6
Kos Parasite	60	0	60	0	0	0	1.6	Loch Shield	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Logarius's Wheel	200	0	50	1.1	0	0	0.56	Ludwig's Rifle	0	55	0	0	0	0.5	0
Ludwig's Holy Blade	200	0	0	0.8	0.8	0	0.88	Piercing Rifle	0	160	0	0	0	1.0	0
Rakuyo	164	0	0	0.0	1.0	0	0.55	Repeating Pistol	0	200	0	0	0	0.8	0
Reiterpallasch	150	150	0	0.2	1.0	0.4		Rosmarinus	0	0	80	0	0	0	1.21
Rifle Spear	170	170	0	0.3	0.7	0.65		Torch	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Saw Cleaver	180	0	0	0.6	0.4	0	0.55	Wooden Shield	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Saw Spear	170	0	0	0.5	0.63	0	0.622

Appendix B. Attribute Saturation Values

Value	Saturation	Value	Saturation	Value	Saturation	Value	Saturation	Value	Saturation	Value	Saturation	Value	Saturation
5	0.025	20	0.350	35	0.640	50	0.850	65	0.896	80	0.942	95	0.988
6	0.030	21	0.380	36	0.654	51	0.853	66	0.899	81	0.945	96	0.991
7	0.035	22	0.410	37	0.668	52	0.856	67	0.902	82	0.948	97	0.994
8	0.040	23	0.440	38	0.682	53	0.859	68	0.905	83	0.951	98	0.997
9	0.045	24	0.470	39	0.696	54	0.862	69	0.908	84	0.954	99	1.000
10	0.050	25	0.500	40	0.710	55	0.865	70	0.911	85	0.957
11	0.080	26	0.514	41	0.724	56	0.868	71	0.914	86	0.960
12	0.110	27	0.528	42	0.738	57	0.871	72	0.917	87	0.963
13	0.140	28	0.542	43	0.752	58	0.874	73	0.920	88	0.966
14	0.170	29	0.556	44	0.766	59	0.878	74	0.923	89	0.969
15	0.200	30	0.570	45	0.780	60	0.881	75	0.927	90	0.972
16	0.230	31	0.584	46	0.794	61	0.884	76	0.930	91	0.975
17	0.260	32	0.598	47	0.808	62	0.887	77	0.933	92	0.979
18	0.290	33	0.612	48	0.822	63	0.890	78	0.936	93	0.982
19	0.320	34	0.626	49	0.836	64	0.893	79	0.939	94	0.985

References

1.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2015/03/saw-cleaver.html
2.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2015/11/church-pick.html
3.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2015/11/beast-cutter.html
4.	https://pastebin.com/zGphv4fF
5.	https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XYzO2js7ggvPEg8125SIKDo6anvqirI2Dxj2JvYR0uM/edit
6.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2015/11/rakuyo.html
7.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/p/weapons.html
8.	https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t8uV055NX2-dUfJJlOX_eE1T8D349ZpFiYxrzSdxEQ4/edit#gid=942711689
9.	http://bloodborne.wikia.com/wiki/Beasts
10.	http://bloodborne.wikia.com/wiki/Kin
11.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2015/03/beasthood.html
12.	http://bloodborne.wikia.com/wiki/Righteous
13.	http://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2016/04/hidden-damage-rules-for-every-weapon.html

Counter Damage Research by Kanaris [archive]

There are three scenarios you might call a counterhit: 1. Open foe damage. This happens when a hit is delivered to a recipient who has just ended an attack and is recovering (unable to do other things). This applies to both the player and enemies. This can't be applied at any point before or during an attack, only after. That means you don't get counterhit while you're swinging your weapon, only after the attack has completed, or just as it completes and the hitbox disappears. Most sources I've seen quote this as a 1.20x to 1.40x damage multiplier depending on the enemy and attack countered, but it's much more varied than that. Even on just the one enemy I analysed this on, for countering some big slow attacks it was as much as 1.70x. I bet there are some huge multipliers out there for some of the bigger enemies or bosses, but this is the biggest I found in testing. 2. Visceral/Parry/Backstab state ("downed" enemy): After the recipient has been parried, backstabbed, or knocked down (in the case of some bosses), and you hear that glorious sound, the recipient takes approximately 2x damage from the next non-visceral hit. In my tests against this enemy it was 2.14x after both a backstab and a parry. Something I saw from another person's testing was that a Hunter's Pistol shot in visceral state at various levels and bloodgem loadouts deals (base+2)*2 damage, so it's slightly more complicated than just a multiplier. The visceral multiplier probably changes as well based on enemy defense or type, not certain.

3. Instability damage. When the player is at certain points of a roll, quickstep, backstep, leap, or sprint, they take approximately 1.4x damage. A small white flash similar to a Tekken hit effect appears somewhere near the player when an instability hit happens. It is NOT double damage as far as I can tell. However, when I went from wearing Hunter Set to wearing nothing, this consistent 1.40x multiplier turned into 1.48x. This is probably due to defense calculations and rounding. Or perhaps the added damage from instability is in a different damage type, to which some attire might be more or less resistant. All research data can be found in Bloodborne Counterdamage and Movement frame data spreadsheet. Note: I attempted to test everything in this spreadsheet as thoroughly as possible, but things could still be incorrect for one reason or another. It's not easy to test this stuff on a console. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, or criticisms, message Kanaris#7777 on Discord.