Blocking

Blocking is a mechanics that reduces the damage received from creature attacks while blocking with any weapons or shields.

Blocking

When the player is blocking:

1. Damage are reduced a first time by using only the blocking item (shield or weapon) armor and resistances (cf. detailed formula).
2. The block may fail (the player is staggered and the reduction of step 1 doesn't apply) if:
   1. Leftover physical and lightning damage are added to the player Stagger bar. If the stagger bar is filled (40% of player max health), the block fails.
   2. Blocking uses up to 10 stamina, reduced proportionally to the damage reduction of step 1. If there is not enough Stamina available, the block fails and uses all remaining Stamina.
3. Damage are reduced a second time by using the regular armor value and resistances.

Additional details:

• Blocking skill increases Block armor by 0.5% for each skill point, reaching 50% at level 100.
• Block armor from the skill is not rounded (except on the tooltip).
• Blocking skill indirectly reduces the Stamina usage by increasing the Block armor.
• Blocking reduces the amount of received knockback based on the used Block armor.
• Block force is the amount of knockback dealt to the attacker when blocking melee attacks. It scales from 50% to 100% based on the used Block armor.

Examples

Example A

Player A has a maximum health of 80, is carrying a tier 1 bronze buckler (block armor 16), and have a blocking skill of 20 and no resistances.

Player A takes a hit for 40 damage. The first step of damage versus Block determines if the block armor value is greater than half the damage, or equal or less. The player has a base block with the buckler of 16, and the blocking skill increases it by 0.05% per level. At level 20, that would be 10%. This is calculated as:

Block 16 + (20 x 0.05%) compared to 40/2, or Block 17.6 compared to 20 damage

The damage is more than double the block armor level, so according to base damage formula, the damage taken equals damage minus armor. 40 – 17.6 would be 22.4.

The damage reduced correspond to 22.4 / 40 = 56% of the initial damage, so the player loses 56% of 10 = 5.6 stamina.

The next step is to calculate if the remaining damage causes a stagger effect. Player A has a maximum 80 health. If the remaining physical damage (22.4) was equal to or greater than the players Stagger limit (40% of 80 health), they would be Staggered, the Block would fail, and the full amount of the damage would be applied to the character. Luckily for player A, 40% of 80 health is 32, and since that’s more than the remaining 22.4 damage, they are not Staggered and the Block succeeds.

The remaining 22.4 damage would then be compared to player A’s armor worn to calculate the full damage that the player takes.

Example B

Player B has a maximum 100 health, is carrying a tier 1 wooden shield (block armor 6), and have a blocking skill of 20 and no resistances.

Player B takes a hit for 50 damage. First, the check is made to see if the Block value is greater, or equal or less than, half the damage taken, calculated as:

Block 6 + (20 x 0.05%) compared to 50/2, or Block 6.6 compared to 25 damage

Just as with player A, the damage is more than double the Block armor value, so damage taken equals damage minus armor. This would be 50 – 6.6, or 43.4.

The damage reduced correspond to 43.4 / 50 = 86.6% of the initial damage, so the player loses 86.6% of 10 = 8.66 stamina.

Again, the system will calculate if the remaining damage causes a Stagger effect. In this case, the Stagger limit for player B is 40 (40% of 100 max health), and the damage taken is 43.4, so player B is Staggered and the Block fails. This means that not only is player B left with a Staggered status, but all of the 43.4 damage bypasses the Block and is compared to the player’s worn armor to determine final damage taken.

Example C

Player C has 60 health, is carrying a tier 3 bronze buckler (block armor 28), and have a blocking skill of 20 and no resistances.

Player C also takes a hit for 50 damage. Again, a check is made to see if the Block value is greater, or equal or less than, half the damage taken, calculated as:

Block 28 + (20 x 0.05%) compared to 50/2, or Block 32.8 compared to 25 damage

In this case, the Block value is greater than half the damage, so the calculation of damage taken is a little different. Because the Block armor is greater than half the damage, the calculation is (damage squared) divided by (four times armor value), or 2,500 (50 times 50) divided by 131.2 (32.8 times 4). The result is that player C would take 19.05 damage.

The damage reduced correspond to 19.05 / 50 = 38.1% of the initial damage, so the player loses 38.1% of 10 = 3.81 stamina.

This is again checked against player C’s Stagger limit. Damage is 19.05, and the Stagger limit is 24 (40% of 60 max health). The damage is below the Stagger limit, so the Block is successful and the remaining 19.05 damage is compared to player C’s worn armor to calculate actual damage taken.

Parrying

Parrying happens when the block is raised shortly (less than 0.25 second) before an attack lands, indicated by a red splash effect and a notable clanging sound and generally proceeded by a enemy being staggered

Parrying processed the same logical as blocking except:

• The blocking item armor is multiplied by the Parry Bonus of the weapon or shield (cf table below).
• Parrying always cost 20 stamina, but only 10 stamina is necessary for the parry not to fail.
• If the parry succeed the attacker will Stagger (doesn't move and take double damage for a brief period of time). Some creatures, like bosses, are immune to stagger.
• Parrying is not available as an option to some items like Tower Shields

Weapon Type	Parry bonus (multiplier to block armor)
Axes	2x
Bows	1.5x
Clubs	2x
Knives	4x
Flesh rippers	6x
Pickaxes	2x
Polearms	2x
Shields - Buckler	2.5x
Shields - Round	1.5x
Shields - Tower	NA
Spears	2x
Swords	2x
Tankard / Ooze Bomb	1.5x

Notes

• Parrying allows the player to block more damage than the static block in addition to staggering enemies, but it consumes more stamina.
• The Staff of Protection's shield offers the ability to parry without worrying about stagger.