A bunch of tables displaying how much damage heroes in Arena of Valor (AoV) do with certain items, showing the effects of armor pierce, critical damage, and more.

Easy to Understand Damage Tables

It can sometimes be difficult to understand all the numbers being thrown at you when you’re playing Arena of Valor. One might think, for example, that an item with +100 armor will negate an item with +100 attack when this is hardly the case. We’ve gone over how to calculate damage in AoV before, but just a quick reminder:

Increasing your armor number increases your armor percentage

That armor percentage is multiplied by the opponent’s attack damage and subtracted from the total

Pierce reduces the armor number, not the armor percentage

Critical hits double the damage dealt unless you have Slikk’s Sting (250%) or specific Arcana equipped.

Calculating how much damage you’ll do based on every situation can be a pain in the neck, so we’ve created some handy tables for you to look over when you’re deciding whether to buy an item with pierce, critical %, or straight attack damage.

Armor Pierce

The table below displays how much damage you’ll inflict on an opponent given your attack value and their armor value. The numbers in the red background represent a character’s total attack damage, ie. their base attack plus the attack damage from any items. The numbers in the dark background represent the total armor and the armor percentage. Note that all damage in Arena of Valor is rounded down to the nearest 1.

Normal Attack Armor 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Armor% 0 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 200 200 150 120 100 85 75 66 400 400 300 240 200 171 150 133 600 600 450 360 300 257 225 200 800 800 600 480 400 342 300 266 1000 1000 750 600 500 428 375 333

Armor suffers from diminishing returns the more armor you accumulate (without getting into concepts like Effective HP). However, the extra armor can have a big impact if your opponent starts buying items with pierce. For example, a level 15 hero with Rankbreaker equipped can make a huge dent (armor starts at 200 in this case because armor can’t drop below 0 in Arena of Valor):

Rankbreaker Effect at Level 15 (+250 Pierce) Armor 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Armor% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 70% Reduced Armor 0 150 350 550 750 950 1150 Reduced Armor% 0% 20% 36.8% 47.8% 55.6% 61.3% 65.7% 200* 200 160 126 104 88 77 68 400 400 320 252 208 177 154 137 600 600 480 378 313 266 232 205 800 800 640 505 417 355 309 274 1000 1000 800 631 521 444 387 342

*The +100 attack of Rankbreaker is included in these numbers and not added after the fact (the same is true for any items listed from now on)

The value of Rankbreaker is pretty apparent here: a hero with 600 attack, Rankbreaker included, deals the same amount of damage to an opponent with 400 armor as a hero with 800 attack and no effects. However, the value of Rankbreaker’s pierce effect drops as the opponent’s armor increases. Therefore, Rankbreaker has the most value when your opponent has a lot of squishies or heroes who haven’t chosen any armor-increasing items.

But what about Muramasa, whose pierce effect is percentage-based? Well, let’s take a look:

Muramasa Effect (40% Pierce) Armor 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Armor% 0% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% Reduced Armor 0 120 240 360 480 600 720 Reduced Armor% 0% 16.7% 28.6% 37.5% 44.4% 50% 54.6% 200 200 166 142 125 111 100 90 400 400 333 285 250 222 200 181 600 600 500 428 375 333 300 272 800 800 666 571 500 444 400 363 1000 1000 833 714 625 555 500 454

First things first: Muramara’s effect doesn’t subtract 40% from the Armor% value. Instead, it subtracts 40% of the total armor number of the defender, making it much more effective against players who have accumulated a lot of armor. Still, Muramasa’s value as a tank-buster is clear: an opponent at 1200 armor will suffer a roughly 12% decrease in armor against Muramasa, versus just 5% against Rankbreaker. A bit of math will show that the cutoff point where the two pierce for the same amount is at (250 / 0.4) = 625 armor.

TL;DR: Buy Muramasa against opponents with high armor counts, and Rankbreaker against opponents with low armor counts.

Just for fun, let’s see what happens when we combine the two:

Rankbreaker Lvl 15 + Muramasa Effect (+250 + 40% Pierce) Armor 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Armor% 25.0% 40.0% 50.0% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 70.0% Reduced Armor 0 90 210 330 450 570 690 Reduced Armor% 0% 13.0% 25.9% 35.5% 42.9% 48.7% 53.5% 200 200 173.9 148 129 114 102 93 400 400 347.8 296 258 228 205 186 600 600 521.7 444 387 342 307 279 800 800 695.7 592 516 457 410 372 1000 1000 869.6 740 645 571 512 465

Unfortunately, the Rankbreaker effect is calculated first, followed by the Muramasa effect, because all percentages are calculated last in Arena of Valor. Something pretty interesting happens here: if you compare the Muramasa table to the “both” table, Rankbreaker’s 250 armor pierce drops to 150 across the board. Some simple math verifies this outcome: 60% x (armor amount – 250) = 60% x armor amount – 150. So you’re essentially losing out on 100 armor pierce if you combine the two, meaning you’re better off buying one and thinking of a better alternative for the other.

(Update: there are some cases where you’ll want Muramasa if you already have Rankbreaker, if the opposing team is really stacking armor. In that situation, we recommend buying Muramasa and pre-ordering Fenrir’s Tooth to replace Rankbreaker once you have enough gold)

Critical Damage

Let’s move on to critical damage, starting off with the darling of marksmen, Claves Sancti. The left red column is the player’s attack damage, while the right red column is the average damage dealt given 30% critical chance and 200% damage on critical hits:

Claves Sancti (30% Critical Chance) Armor 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Armor% 0% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 200 260 260 195 156 130 111 97 86 400 520 520 390 312 260 222 195 173 600 780 780 585 468 390 334 292 260 800 1040 1040 780 624 520 445 390 346 1000 1300 1300 975 780 650 557 487 433

Here we see the power of critical hits. Though the values above can never be achieved (you either get a critical hit or you don’t), these averages compare very well to that of Rankbreaker and Muramasa. Setting other effects aside, the 30% critical chance on a normal critical hit gives more average damage at higher armor counts than Rankbreaker, and more average damage at lower armor counts than Muramasa.

The biggest takeaway here (in my opinion), though, is the importance of effects like critical chance and armor pierce. Before even considering the extra stats of these items, their effects alone allow damage dealers to up their damage oftentimes by hundreds, depending on the armor counts. Once you start combining the effects (which we’ll do at the end of this article), it really starts to hurt.



Abilities

Let’s take a look at a couple abilities now, starting with Violet’s Tactical Fire. A level 6 Tactical Fire deals 475 damage plus 1.15 times Violet’s AD, meaning the damage of Tactical Fire ramps up greatly with damage-enhancing items and Arcana:

Violet – Tactical Fire Level 6 Armor 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Armor% 0% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 400 935 701 561 467 400 350 311 600 1165 873 699 582 499 436 388 800 1395 1046 837 697 597 523 465 1000 1625 1218 975 812 696 609 541

Keep in mind that this table excludes the second shot – which also has greater range – so the damage is a bit underestimated. Still, at an easily-achievable 600 AD, Violet deals 699 damage to an enemy with 400 armor, which is pretty painful.

Next, we’ll switch over to magic damage to see what Krixi can do with one hit on a level 6 Mischief, which deals 696 + 1.0 AP damage (numbers in red background are ability power):

Krixi – Mischief Level 6 Magic Defense 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Magic D% 0% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 0 696 522 417 348 298 261 232 200 896 672 537 448 384 366 298 400 1096 822 657 548 469 411 365 600 1296 972 777 648 555 486 432 800 1496 1122 897 748 641 561 498 1000 1696 1272 1017 848 726 636 565 1200 1896 1422 1137 948 812 711 632

Magic-based items deliver a lot more ability power than attack-based items provide attack damage (to make up for not affecting normal attacks or being able to crit, among other reasons). Therefore, the “1422” figure in the bottom left is a reasonable amount of damage you could deal to opposing squishies from 1200 units away.

For fun, let’s take a look at what kind of damage Krixi can do with every mage’s best friend, Hecate’s Diadem. The minimum amount of ability power you’ll possess with this delicious item is 270, because again, percentages are calculated at the end. Further, Hecate’s Diadem gives 75 pierce, which is why this table looks so convoluted. Initial ability power is the left red column, the new ability power (+35%) is the right red column, and the four dark columns show how the magic defense is reduced:

Hecate’s Diadem Effect (+35% AP, +75 Pierce) – Krixi Mischief Level 6 Magic Defense 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Magic D% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 70% Reduced Magic D 125 250 450 650 850 1050 1250 Reduced Magic D% 17.2% 29.4% 42.8% 52% 58.6% 63.6% 67.6% 200 270 749 587 482 409 356 314 282 400 540 972 762 626 532 462 408 366 600 810 1195 937 770 654 568 502 450 800 1080 1419 1112 914 776 674 596 534 1000 1350 1642 1287 1058 898 781 690 618 1200 1620 1866 1462 1202 1021 887 784 702

That 1422 from before is now 1866, roughly one third the HP of many marksmen and mages at level 15. Ouch.

Putting it Together (Tactical Fire Really Hurts)

Finally, let’s equip Violet with a few items at level 15 and see how much damage she can do with a single Tactical Fire plus the subsequent normal attack since she retains the same enhanced range. I’ve gone with the classic pairing of Claves Sancti and Slikk’s Sting, for that juicy 50% critical chance dealing 250% damage, then added Rankbreaker to clear some of that armor off. Total price: 6110 gold. With no Arcana, that puts Violet at 611 attack damage, displayed in the left red column. The first row displays the damage for 0 crits, the 2nd row 2 crits, and the third row the average damage dealt with two attacks.

(Remember that critical damage on a Tactical Fire-enhanced attack is calculated by multiplying critical damage% by Violet’s AD up to 1.0. So a critical hit on Tactical Fire in this case is 475 + 2.5 * AD + 0.15 * AD = 475 + 2.65AD. More information on how to calculate critical damage on specific heroes’ abilities.)

Violet Level 15 Tactical Fire + 2nd Attack with Rankbreaker, Claves Sancti, and Slikk’s Sting Armor 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Armor% 25% 40% 50% 57.1% 62.5% 66.7% 70% Reduced Armor 0 150 350 550 750 950 1150 Reduced Armor% 0% 20% 36.8% 47.8% 55.6% 61.3% 65.7% 611 No Crit 1788 1430 1129 933 795 692 613 611 2 Crit 3621 2897 2287 1889 1609 1401 1241 611 Avg 2705 2164 1708 1411 1202 1047 927

That’s an average of roughly 2200 damage on your average squishy target, all from 1100 units away on a 4.5 seconds-or-lower cooldown. Oof. No wonder she’s Tier S.

Conclusion

I’ve laid out these points throughout the article, but just to reiterate:

Rankbreaker is best until 625 armor, at which point Muramasa pierces more It’s not a good idea to buy both, as you’ll lose out on 100 armor pierce (though purchasing Muramasa when you already own Rankbreaker can sometimes be necessary. The opposite – buying Rankbreaker after you already have Muramasa – is almost never advised)

The 30% critical chance from Claves Sancti provides comparable damage to the armor pierce from Rankbreaker and Muramasa at all armor levels

Mages who build for ability power rather than survivability really hurt if you don’t have magic defense

Heroes with abilities that enhance basic attacks can choose both armor pierce and critical chance items to boost their abilities (and not just attack damage). Violet can abuse this more than most, as she can crit twice off a single Tactical Fire, but here are more examples of heroes with crazy crit possibilities: Crits on Wukong’s abilities multiplies the full damage, including the amount listed in God of War (330-540 depending on level) All the damage from Slimz‘ passive and 2nd ability is included in his crit damage, meaning that with Slikk’s Sting he can do 3.25 AD + 325 splash damage on third attacks after Leap of Vitality Valhein’s 3rd attacks deal magic damage, which means he crits off his AD for magic damage Every arrow from Yorn’s Burst Shot can crit (albeit at .7 AD)



This is likely just part 1 of our table-based teaching on Arena of Valor damage, so check back often for updates, or follow our Twitter or Facebook accounts!

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