Damage Mechanics Explained

Table of Contents

I wasn’t able to find any source online talking about the game’s damage mechanics. Here are some of the lesser known ones for Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent.

  • Crit: 25% more damage. Only physical (weapon-type) attacks can crit. Elemental attacks cannot.
  • Buffs/debuffs: Any skills that apply buffs/debuff are not considered/do not activate until the next turn.
  • Weakness: 250% more damage outside of Arena. 500% more damage inside of Arena.
  • Break: 200% more damage when you break enemy shield counter.
  • Bleed/Poison: Deals minor damage for a specified number of turns. The damage is pretty negligible, but some units receive buffs when they attack enemies that have Bleed/Poison status. Bleed is Physical damage, and Poison is Elemental damage.
  • Counter: Unit attacks with their weapon or elemental attack. Can remove shield points.
  • Healing: Scales off of healer’s EATK and skill potency. See below.
  • Regen: Scales off of the max HP of the unit receiving the regen, and skill potency. See below.
  • Buffs/Debuffs of the same type stack additively, up to a limit of 30% and in turn duration.

The physical damage formula, taken from JP, seem to be the following:

Base P.Atk * (Base P.Atk + P.Atk from Equipment – Enemy P.Def) * Skill Potency * Grade Correction * buffs&debuffs

I wrote an ultimate guide to buffs/debuffs here.

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In this post, “Healing” refers to a one-time hp recovery skill. AKA burst healing.

“HP Regen” refers to recovering HP over a set number of turns. AKA automatic healing.

Properties Shared by Healing/HP Regen #

  • Scale linearly with skill potency. A 100 potency skill will recover twice as much HP as a 50 potency skill.

  • Is not affected by Weapon Grade.

  • Cannot crit.

  • Cannot miss.

Properties of Healing #

  • Healing amount is based on the caster’s total Elem. Atk stat. This includes base + equipment + influence + Elem. Atk buffs + passives + some % variance.

  • Affected multiplicatively by passives that boost healing, like Millard’s.

  • Using BP on a healing skill always increase it’s potency.

  • Not affected by the target’s max HP.

  • You can increase healing with the help of Lynette/Primrose/Lianna’s EATK Buff.

Properties of HP Regen #

  • Healing amount is based on the receiver’s max HP and the caster’s total displayed Elem Atk stat. This includes base + equipment + some % variance.

  • Not affected by EATK buffs (e.g not affected by Lynette/Primrose/Lianna’s skill).

  • When using multiple sources of active HP Regen, the skill with the highest regen amount remains active, and the duration stacks additively.

  • Multiple sources of passive HP regen stack additively.

  • Using BP on a regen skill always increase turn duration, and not potency. The exception to this rule is if the skill is hybrid: one that heals and gives hp regen. In this exception, only the healing potency increases with BP.

  • Duration can be boosted by passives that extend the duration of “augmenting effects”. E.g Alfyn, Ophilia, Molrusso’s passive.

  • Is not affected by passives that boost healing.

Strongest Pure Healers #

  • Millard with 205 potency Front Row Heal and 20% passive.

  • Eliza with 205 potency Front Row Heal.

  • Hasumi with 130 potency Front Row Heal and 20% passive.

  • Ophilia with 130 potency Front Row Heal + Pdef, Edef buff.

  • Lianna with 130 potency Front Row Heal + Eatk, Edef buff.

Strongest Pure HP Regen Users #

  • Theo and Alfyn with 150 potency Front Row Regen + elemental res.

  • Molrusso and Agnes (at max boost) with 140 potency Front Row Regen.

  • Ophilia with 110 potency Front Row Regen + stat debuff cleanse.

  • Lumis and Merrit give their paired ally a permanent 100 potency HP Regen.

  • Lucetta and Mabel can extend paired ally’s HP regen duration by 1 turn.