Critical hit

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The Katana dealing regular hits of around 18 damage, and a noticeable critical hit of 36 damage.

A critical hit occurs randomly when striking enemies. By default, each hit on an enemy has a 4% chance of being a critical hit, dealing approximately double the usual damage of the weapon in use with 40% more knockback. A small number of weapons have a base critical strike chance that is higher than the default 4%. In addition, certain modifiers, armor bonuses, accessories, and buffs can boost the player's effective critical strike chance.

Visually, critical hits are displayed as slightly exaggerated bold damage numbers that have a deeper color, travel slightly higher, and linger on-screen for a longer period than damage numbers from ordinary hits.

Weapons with non-standard base critical strike chance

Weapon Base crit chance
MusketMusket 11%
SunfurySunfury 11%
Poisoned KnifePoisoned Knife 8%
Ice BoomerangIce Boomerang 6% (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) / 4% (Old-gen console and 3DS versions)
KeybrandKeybrand 20%
MarrowMarrow 9%
Ice BladeIce Blade 6%
Sniper RifleSniper Rifle 29%
Staff of EarthStaff of Earth 24%
S.D.M.G.S.D.M.G. 14%
Candy Corn RifleCandy Corn Rifle 10%
Jack 'O Lantern LauncherJack 'O Lantern Launcher 10%
Stake LauncherStake Launcher 14%
Pulse BowPulse Bow 11%
RevolverRevolver 9%
KatanaKatana 19%
Obsidian SwordfishObsidian Swordfish 24%
Shadowflame BowShadowflame Bow 7%
Shadowflame Hex DollShadowflame Hex Doll 7%
Shadowflame KnifeShadowflame Knife 7%
Wand of SparkingWand of Sparking 14%
Slap HandSlap Hand 19%
KrakenKraken 14%
Paintball GunPaintball Gun 11%
TerrarianTerrarian 14%
Sky FractureSky Fracture 24%
Aerial BaneAerial Bane 7%
Stellar TuneStellar Tune 24%
First FractalFirst Fractal 14%
StarlightStarlight 14%
ZenithZenith 14%
Lucy the AxeLucy the Axe 14%
Wand of FrostingWand of Frosting 14%

Boost gear

Notes

Furthermore, unlike other critical strike chance sources, chances from these sources are not calculated additively. Instead, they are all treated as independent events.
  • The damage doubling of a critical hit is applied after the reduction from defense.
    • For example, consider a Face Monster which has 10 defense, meaning it reduces incoming damage by 5. A non-critical hit of 50 damage against the Face Monster results in it taking 45 net damage. If this hit was a critical hit, the Face Monster would take 90 net damage, not 95.
  • When held, weapon modifiers affect all outgoing critical hits from that class's projectiles. Weapon modifiers will cease affecting critical strike chance when not selected.
  • Ammunition items are unaffected by critical strike chance bonuses. The critical strike chance of a ranged attack depends entirely on the weapon.
  • Players attacking other players in PvP will never deal critical hits.

Tips

  • It is generally best to attempt to equalize critical strike chance and damage bonuses from accessories, armor, buffs, and modifiers, as this will maximize the overall DPS.
    • More specifically, critical strike chance bonuses are directly equivalent to damage bonuses in terms of average damage per second, so long as damage rounding is disregarded and the critical strike chance is below 100%. However, the critical hit damage being doubled after factoring in the enemy's defense has certain implications:
      • Against enemies with non-zero defense, damage bonuses are more effective than critical strike chance bonuses. The effectiveness increases linearly as the enemy's defense increases.
      • In scenarios where the enemy's defense is large enough to negate even the highest damage values (such as when fighting the Dungeon Guardian, who has 9999 defense), critical strike chance bonuses are always more effective than damage bonuses. All non-critical hits can only deal 1 damage and this damage cannot be increased. A higher critical strike chance means that the damage is doubled to 2 more frequently.
    That being said, having a mix of both bonuses will always be more effective than just having one, due to the fact that the average DPS bonuses stack multiplicatively between damage and critical strike chance bonuses.

Maximizing critical hits

Melee

The maximum critical strike chance is 167%, attained by combining the following:

  • Any accessory with the Lucky modifier can be equipped in the remaining 2 accessory slots.
  • Although the Psycho KnifePsycho Knife will increase critical strike chance by 30% in its stealth mode, it will set critical strike chance to 100% if the actual critical strike chance is higher than 100%.

Ranged

The maximum critical strike chance is 178%, attained by combining the following:

Magic

The maximum critical strike chance is 160%, attained by combining the following:

  • Any accessory with the Lucky modifier can be equipped in the remaining 2 accessory slots.
  • Any of these weapons can be used: Sky Fracture, Staff of Earth, or Stellar Tune.

History

  • Desktop 1.2.1.2: Critical strike chance bonuses from accessory modifiers have been doubled. Example: The Lucky modifier was boosted from 2% to 4%.