- For combat mechanics in Dragon Age II, see Combat mechanics (Dragon Age II).
- For combat mechanics in Dragon Age: Inquisition, see Combat mechanics (Inquisition).
- See also: Combat, Spells (Origins), Talents (Origins), and Ability mechanics
Combat mechanics comprise the technical details relevant to combat in Dragon Age: Origins.
Armor
A numerical value that is commonly a property of armor and shields and serves as an integer reduction in physical damage sustained from a successful attack.
Armor Penetration
Armor penetration reduces your opponent's armor. It acts in direct opposition to the defender's armor. For example, if you have 3 armor penetration and your opponent has 10 armor, your attacks damage the opponent as if it had 7 armor. Note that excess Armor Penetration does not add to damage. With 12 ArmPen versus 8 armor, it is as if the opponent has 0 armor, not -4; the 4 points of extra ArmPen is not used in any way. Armor penetration is capped at 41 points.
Armor penetration can be enhanced with Telekinetic Weapons, two-handed strength, stone aura + renewed assault, pulverizing blows + quake, aim + master archer, equipment and Cunning. Each point of cunning adds approximately 0.14 armor penetration, the exact formula is:
AP = (Cunning - 10) / 7
Attack
A numerical value that is used to determine whether a physical attack succeeds in impacting, though not necessarily damaging, an enemy.
AttackValue = Base + 0.5 * {(Strength - 10) + (Dexterity - 10)} + AttackBonuses
Base attack depends on class. It is 50 for mages, 55 for rogues and 60 for warriors. Equipment, skills, spells and talents provide bonuses to Attack. Note under the influence of some spells and talents, such as Weakness and Powerful Swings, this bonus can become negative.
Attack Roll
| Example with 100 Attack | |
|---|---|
| Defense | Hit Probability in % |
| 50 | 100 |
| 75 | 79 |
| 100 | 54 |
| 125 | 29 |
| 150 | 4 |
| 154 | 0 |
| 200 | 0 |
For most attacks (including activated Talents), an attack roll against the target's defense is performed. If the attack roll is successful, the attack connects.
When the attacker's Attack value is the same as the defender's Defense value, the hit probability is 54%. Each point of attack increases this by one point (up to 100%), each point of defense decreases this probability by one point (at 0, attacks with attack rolls will always miss).
Attack Speed
Melee Attacks
The rate at which automatic attacks (not activated Talents) can be performed by a creature is determined by the Weapon Style used and the Weapon itself. It can be increased with spells: Haste, items: swift salve and talents: Momentum, blessing of the fade and blood thirst.
The duration of a normal attack (no activated Talent used) is calculated as follows:
AttackDuration = (BaseTiming + WeaponSpeedMod) * CharacterSpeedModifier
BaseTiming
- Dual-Weapons (each weapon is used in turn): 1.5s
- Weapon and Shield: 2.0s
- Two-handed: 2.5s
WeaponSpeedMod
This modifier is the Speed Modifier listed on the Weapons page.
CharacterSpeedModifier
This value is normally 1.0. It is modified by the following:
- Haste: -0.25
- Momentum: -0.3
- Precise Striking: +0.1
- Swift Salve: -0.2
- Blood Thirst: -0.2
- Blessing of the Fade: -0.2
- Momentum Rune: -0.05
Due to a bug in core_h.nss, the CharacterSpeedModifier resets to 1.0, if it is less than 0.5 (e.g. by having Haste and Momentum activated).
- BUG: Combining Blessing of the Fade and Momentum breaks the 0.5 cap for some people, but not for others.
Ranged Attacks
The duration of a ranged attack comprises base duration and aim delay.
Bows and Crossbows
- Base duration (draw duration) of attacks with bows and crossbows is determined by the type of chest armor on the character.
- For party members, base duration is 2.0s if the character is wearing heavy armor without Master Archer, or massive armor. It is 0.8s otherwise. For NPC's, these values are increased to 2.5s and 1.5s, respectively. This duration is not affected by any attack speed modifier.
- Aim delay (aim loop duration) is 0.2s for shortbows, 0.3s for longbows, and 0.8s for crossbows. This delay can only be reduced to 0. When using offensive talents from the Archery group, base aim delay is set to 1.5s.
- See also: Aim Speed Reference Sheet for details on items, talents and spells modifying Aim Time
Staves
- For staves, base duration is 0.3s, aim delay is 0.1s.
- On average, each staff attack takes about 1.5s.
Backstab
Backstab is a type of combat attack result achieved when certain prerequisites are met, as detailed below. All Rogues automatically have the ability to backstab.
A backstab is scored if all of the following are true:
- The attacker is a rogue.
- The attacker uses a melee weapon (including bare hand).
- The attack is a normal attack and not an activated ability (i.e. one cannot backstab with Deadly Strike), unless the ability is scripted to cause backstabs (e.g. Flicker).
- The attacker is humanoid.
- The target is not immune to critical hits.
- Dual Striking mode is not active.
- The attacker is flanking the target, or if the target is stunned/paralyzed and the attacker has Coup De Grace.
Backstabs are performed with both the offhand and main-hand weapons, but the animation shows only the main-hand attack. It seems, however, that any elemental damage runes equipped on the offhand weapon are not counted towards damage in a backstab. Only the main-hand weapons damage oriented runes seem to work correctly. Whether this is a bug or not is unconfirmed.[confirmation needed] Successive backstabs are possible. They are indicated by successive over-the-head/downward thrusts made by the main-hand weapon.
Backstabbing is how dual-wielding rogues do the most damage. In order to properly backstab, the rogue must be behind the target. What counts as "behind" is shown by the red circle around the feet of the target. A portion of that circle will be black/not filled in. That arc shows where a rogue can stand and get off a backstab.
Backstab versus critical hit
- In terms of damage calculation, both backstabs and critical hits use the same multiplier: 1.5 times normal damage by default. This multiplier is increased by the "+X% backstab/critical damage" effect from equipment.
- Backstab damage is further increased by Exploit Weakness, Shadow Striking, and can cause additional bleeding damage with Lacerate.
- Backstabs cannot shatter a frozen or petrified target like critical hits can, however, as shattering specifically requires critical hits.
Notes
- Backstab damage calculation is done separately for each weapon - main-hand and offhand - although the animation shows the character hit only with the main-hand weapon. This is noticeable if the character is equipped with a high damage main-hand weapon and a low damage offhand weapon. There will be a significant difference between damage values from two consecutive backstabs.
Stealth
Stealth is a talent available to Rogues. A rogue can always enter stealth outside of combat mode. In combat, they can enter stealth if there is no perceivable enemy within 30 meters, or if they have Combat Stealth and the perception rank of all creatures within 30 meters are lower than their stealth rank. In most cases, a successful attack out of stealth is an automatic critical hit.
Perception Rank
- Normal and weaker enemies: 1
- Lieutenants: 2
- Bosses: 3
- Elite Bosses: 4
Maintaining Stealth
Certain events will break stealth:
- Taking physical damage.
- Attacking an enemy.
- Activating or using any ability (including Stealing).
- If there is an enemy with a higher perception rank than the rogue's stealth rank within 30 meters.
- A number of status effects automatically break stealth if applied successfully: root (Pinning Shot), knockdown, damage over time, daze (Disorient), stun, heavy impact (Mighty Blow), sleep, charm, fear, confusion, grabbed, overwhelmed, petrified (Cone of Cold, Petrify), knockback.
Maintaining stealth:
- With Combat Stealth (rank 3), a rogue has a chance equal to their level to remain in stealth whenever they take non-physical damage. With Master Stealth (rank 4), this chance is doubled.
- With Stealthy Item Use (rank 2), there is a 90% chance a rogue will remain in stealth whenever they use an item (throwing bombs, setting traps, etc.).
- Interacting with objects (disarming traps, opening doors, firing ballistae, etc.) does not break stealth.
Threat
After a small delay, Threat is reset. Breaking stealth too quickly can prevent this.
Notes
- Cunning has no effect on entering or maintaining stealth.
- Theoretically, attacking out of stealth guarantees a critical hit, if the attack connects, and the target is not immune to critical hits. However, there is a peculiar rule when the rogue is under the effect of Dual Striking or Rapid Shot, due to the way this behavior is coded. Stealth forces the result to be critical only if the attack is not a natural critical hit. If the attack is a natural critical hit, then the no-crit effect from Dual Striking and Rapid Shot will force it to be a normal hit, ignoring any auto-crit effect.
- In many cases, a physical attack will be converted into a miss if the rogue enters stealth before the attack connects. The impact damage of this attack will be negated, but all secondary effects (knockdown, stun, bleeding, etc.) will still be applied.
- The perception check against a rogue attempting to enter stealth only includes enemies who are perceived by the rogue, and not the other way around. This means, if an enemy enters stealth, thus disappears from the rogue's perception list, the rogue will not have to check against this enemy's perception.
- Awakening adds another ability that applies stealth, which is Decoy. The only source of stealth in Origins is Stealth, so many stealth checks specifically check whether Stealth is active or not, rather than check for the stealth effect itself. This means Decoy's special stealth is excepted from these rules. More details on Decoy's page.
Damage
Weapon Damage
Damage caused by an attack with a Weapon is calculated as follows:
- Normal Hit:
Damage = BaseWeaponDmg + AttributeBasedDmg + CharacterDmgBonus + OnHitDamage - ArmorDmgReduction
- Backstab / Critical Hit:
Damage = CriticalDamageModifier * (BaseWeaponDmg + AttributeBasedDmg) +
CharacterDmgBonus + OnHitDmg - ArmorDmgReduction
BaseWeaponDmg
The base weapon damage is listed on the Weapons page. The damage range listed there is multiplied by (0.9 + 0.1 * WeaponRank).
AttributeBasedDmg
One or two character attributes are used to determine AttributeBasedDmg (listed on the Weapons page). Each weapon type has an Attribute Modifier (listed on the Weapons page as well), which influences the Damage Bonus based on attributes.
- One character attribute used:
AttributeBasedDmg = [Attribute Value - 10] *
[Weapon Attribute Modifier] * [Weapon Style Modifier]
- Two character attributes used:
AttributeBasedDmg = 0.5 * [Attribute Value1 + Value2 - 20] *
[Weapon Attribute Modifier] * [Weapon Style Modifier]
Weapon Style Modifier:
- Single Weapon / Sword and Shield / Two-Handed: range 50-75%, average 0.625
- Dual Wielding: range 25%-50%, average 0.375 main hand; 0.125 off hand (full 0.375 multiplier with Dual-Weapon Training)
CharacterDmgBonus
This damage bonus is based on a special character property (Property 39, DamageBonus), modified by the following:
- Level Damage Bonus: 0.1 for mages, 0.2 for rogues and 0.4 for warriors
- Specialization damage bonus: duelist and legionnaire scout
- Passive talent damage bonus: Aura of Might, Bravery
- Sustained talent damage bonus: Accuracy, Aim (increased by Master Archer), Berserk, Blood Frenzy, Combat Magic, Indomitable, Powerful Swings, Song of Courage, The Tainted Blade, Pulverizing Blows (increased by Slam and Killing Blow), and Stone Aura (with Supernatural Resilience).
- +X damage item property on weapons (if dual wielding, these will effectively apply to both weapons).
- This damage bonus is capped at +100 damage.
- +X% damage abilities debuffing enemies rather than buffing the character (e. g., Mark of Death and Weak Points,) are not affected by this cap.
Critical Hit / Backstab
BaseWeaponDmg and AttributeBasedDmg damage is multiplied by a CriticalDamageModifier, which is calculated by the following formula:
CriticalDamageModifier = COMBAT_CRITICAL_DAMAGE_MODIFIER + PROPERTY_ATTRIBUTE_CRITICAL_RANGE / 100.0
COMBAT_CRITICAL_DAMAGE_MODIFIER is always 1.5, which means all weapons do 150% damage on a critical hit. This modifier can be increased by equipment that has the effect "+X% critical/backstab damage", which modifies the property Critical Range of the character. All of these bonuses from equipment are added up into PROPERTY_ATTRIBUTE_CRITICAL_RANGE, which is capped at 200. This means the maximum total CriticalDamageModifier that can be achieved on a character is 350%: 150% base and +200% from gear. When this is achieved, every critical hit or backstab from the character will deal 350% of the normal attack damage. So "+X% critical/backstab damage" actually means adding X% of the normal attack damage.
On-Hit Effects
When a weapon hits, a number of on-hit effects can be triggered: Damage from Runes, Damage from Enchantment Spells (Flaming Weapons, Frost Weapons) and Poisons, armor penalty, etc. These on-hit properties are not triggered when activated talents are used. As of Patch 1.04, when a Dual-Wielder back-stabs, Runes and other on-hit properties for the off-hand weapon are properly registering for each off-hand strike and the main-hand on-hit properties are no longer triggered for hits from both weapons.
ArmorDmgReduction
Armor can reduce damage dealt by melee weapons and ranged weapons (except for staves, which have special handling in the game engine). Other physical damage (e.g. from an explosion of Walking Bomb) is not reduced.
An effective armor value is determined for each hit:
ArmorDmgReduction = (0.7 + 0.3 * [random value between 0 and 1]) * [Armor Value of Target]
- [Armor Penetration of Attacker]
If ArmorDmgReduction is less than 0, it is set to 0. Thus, Armor Penetration can at most reduce the damage reduction effect of armor to 0, it cannot result in a damage bonus.
Elemental Damage
Any kind of Elemental Damage (cold, electricity, fire, nature, spirit), e.g. from Spells, Runes, Poisons, Bombs, and Staves dealing Elemental Damage, is modified as follows:
Damage = BaseValue * AttackerDamageModifier * TargetResistanceModifier
AttackerDamageModifier
There is a separate modifier for each type of elemental damage. This modifier is normally 1.0. It can be increased up to a cap of 1.3 with items that have a +X% {cold/electricity/fire/nature/spirit} damage property, e.g. Spirit Hands and Elementalist's Grasp.
TargetResistanceModifier
The target can have up to 75% elemental resistance (this would correspond to a TargetResistanceMultiplier of 0.25). Elemental resistance can be negative as well (due to the target having an elemental damage weakness or spells that lower resistance: Vulnerability Hex, Affliction Hex), adding an additional amount of damage. Negative resistance is capped at -100%.
| Resistance % | TargetResistanceModifier |
|---|---|
| -100 | 2.0 |
| -50 | 1.5 |
| 0 | 1.0 |
| 25 | 0.75 |
| 50 | 0.5 |
| 75 | 0.25 |
Defense
A special creature attribute that influences the likelihood to successfully evade an attack. At very high levels, a creature can successfully evade almost all attacks.
DefenseValue = Base + (Dexterity - 10) + DefenseBonuses
Base defence depends on class. It is 40 for mages, 45 for warriors and 50 for rogues. Many items, spells and talents provide bonuses to defense.
Freezing
Certain spells, namely Winter's Grasp, Cone of Cold, Blizzard, and Hand of Winter can temporarily incapacitate a target if effective.
- Resistance check
- Freezing is resisted by a successful physical resistance check vs. the caster's spellpower.
- Duration
- Freeze duration is determined by the base freeze duration modified by target rank.
Elemental Immunity
Some monsters are completely immune to certain damage types. This immunity can not be bypassed with Vulnerability Hexes.
Elemental Resistance
Elemental resistance determines the character's ability to withstand various elemental effects, specifically primal magic (fire, ice, electricity, nature, spirit). A high elemental resistance (fire, ice, electricity, nature, spirit resistance) allows a character to limit the damage of the elemental attack.
- Examples include: Withstanding Flame Blast, Winter's Grasp, Stonefist, Shock, etc.
Health
Health is the amount of total damage a character/enemy can take before falling unconscious. The red meter outlining the left side of the character portrait tracks this statistic (percentage left vs. total). Health is increased by constitution, 5 health points per 1 level constitution.
Knockdown
A common combat effect that incapacitates a target for a short duration.
- Most standard talents and spells that cause knockdown allow a resistance check. Some special abilities used by monsters (High Dragon's Massive Attack, Ogre's Ram) do not.
- Indomitable, Beyond the Veil, One With Nature, and Shield Wall (with Shield Expertise) provide complete immunity against knockdown.
- Knockdown (together with stun, slip, and paralyze) can interrupt a Grab attack if applied successfully, regardless of whether the target is immune to knockdown or not.
Stun
A common combat effect that incapacitates a target for a short duration.
- Most sources of stun allow a resistance check against the caster's "attack attribute", which, in most cases, is strength (cunning for Riposte, willpower for Holy Smite). A few sources do not allow a resistance check, and cannot be resisted normally (Dirty Fighting, Scattershot, the Broodmother's Scream).
- Stun effect applies a temporary -1000 dexterity debuff (source: effect_stun_h.nss).
- Mind Blast is the only spell that stuns, and it does not allow a resistance check (though it can be resisted by spell resistance).
- Whenever a creature is stunned, all incoming stuns applied on this creature within the next 15 seconds have their duration reduced to 25%.
- An attacker who has Coup De Grace can score automatic backstabs on a stunned target, without need of flanking, provided all other conditions for backstabs hold true.
- Indomitable and Beyond the Veil provide complete immunity against stun.
- Stun (together with knockdown, slip, and paralyze) can interrupt a Grab attack if applied successfully, regardless of whether the target is immune to stun or not.
- All creatures categorized as "demons" (Fade creatures), except Abominations, are immune to stun.
Mental Resistance
Mental Resistance determines the character's ability to withstand various special effects, specifically combat (Bard songs) or magic effects which affect the mind of the character. A high mental resistance allows a character to either completely shrug off the effect, or take a limited negative buff instead. Mental Resistance is different from § Spell Resistance.
- Examples include: Withstanding Captivating Song, Blood Control, Horror, etc.
Missile Deflection
A property most often seen on shields that increases effective defence against missile attacks only.
Movement Speed
The speed at which a creature is able to move. Haste increases movement speed by 30%. Swift salve increases movement speed by 20%.
Physical Resistance
Physical Resistance determines the character's ability to withstand various special effects, specifically combat or magic effects which affect the body of the character. A high physical resistance allows a character to either completely shrug off the effect, or take a limited negative buff instead.
- Examples include: Withstanding Knockdown, Earthquake, Paralyze.
Regeneration
Stamina and mana regenerate at different rates depending on attributes and whether the creature is engaged in combat. Refer to Regeneration article for additional information.
Resistance Checks
- See also Resistances
Physical and mental combat effects have a chance to be resisted by a target as modified by various factors.
Pseudocode - Resistance Check
ResistanceChance = [Target Resistance Score] - ([Caster Attacking Attribute] - 10) +
(([Target level] - [Caster Level]) * 5) + [Target Rank Bonus]
If ResistanceChance >= [Target Maximum Resistance Chance]
ResistanceChance = [Target Maximum Resistance Chance]
CheckSuccess = (0.0 <= [Random Decimal Value] < 100.0) <= ResistanceChance
Creature Resistance Table
| Creature Rank | Resistance Bonus |
Maximum Resistance Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Player | 0 | 75% |
| Critter | 0 | 0% |
| Normal | 0 | 50% |
| Lieutenant | 10 | 75% |
| Boss | 20 | 100% |
| Elite Boss | 30 | 100% |
- Table is based on data from 2da "autoscale"
Shattering
When frozen or petrified by a spell, a target can possibly be shattered by a critical hit (or by the effect of specific other spells), effectively killing it instantly.
Pseudocode - Shatter Check
If [Target] is not a Boss or Plot Character and (not a Party Member unless (Difficulty >= Hard))
If [Target] is a Special Rank
If Difficulty = Easy
ShatterChance = 0.3
ElseIf Difficulty = Normal
ShatterChance = 0.2
ElseIf Difficulty = Hard
ShatterChance = 0.1
ElseIf Difficulty = Nightmare
ShatterChance = 0.05
Else
ShatterChance = 1.0
Effects Duration Scaling
The following table includes data for the durations of effects based on creature rank and game difficulty.
| Creature Rank | Easy | Normal | Hard | Nightmare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | 50% | 80% | 100% | 110% |
| Critter | 200% | 150% | 120% | 110% |
| Normal | 120% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Lieutenant | 100% | 75% | 75% | 60% |
| Boss | 80% | 60% | 40% | 35% |
| Elite Boss | 50% | 25% | 20% | 20% |
- Table is based on data from 2da "autoscale"
Spell Resistance
- See also Resistances
Spell Resistance determines the percentage chance to completely ignore a hostile magical spell attack. Non-spell elemental attacks ignore this attribute as they are not spells. Spells cast by party members (i.e. friendly fire) are not normally affected by Spell Resistance.
In nightmare mode, mobs have a base spell resistance of 5%. In easy mode, -10%.
Threat
- See also Threat
Threat determines how enemies attack your party, and it is critical to take this into account when determining combat strategy.