How damage works

Every hit deals physical damage and elemental damage separately, then adds them together. Skills improve one side or both.

Physical

Elemental

What this means

• Damage % skills boost both sides. A flat damage bonus is the most reliable upgrade.
• Element Up skills only boost the elemental side, but most hunters have a lot of element, so these are usually the biggest upgrades.
• Affinity is your crit chance. A crit starts at 1.25×, so each 1% affinity is worth about 0.25% damage. Negative affinity causes 0.75× hits.
• Weapon element should match your hunter's specialization. Off-element weapons lose heavily.

Where your stats come from

Your character screen adds up far more than your weapon. Armor changes less of this than you might expect.

• Weapon: Physical and element.
• Level and Keepsake: Physical and element.
• Sketches: Physical and element.
• Buddy: element and affinity, with no Physical. A strong Buddy can add nearly as much element as your weapon.
• Skills: many level 7 skills add +50 element attack.

Element percentages only multiply the element side, so a developed hunter often deals more element damage than physical damage.

Sharpness

Try any of this in the Damage Lab.