Greetings, Saviors!

We're continuing our Dossier series about the ‘Plans for Combat System Changes’ with part 3 today. In this post, we would like to lay out some details regarding the changes that are coming to skills and the way they deal damage.

1. How will the attack factor of skills affect damage?

We introduced this chart in our last Dossier post to explain how each factor affects skills before and after the combat system changes. Currently, the attack of a skill is calculated by adding the skill’s attack value to the level + stats + weapon. After the changes, however, this value is going to be calculated based on factors that increase the skill’s attack by a certain percentage.

[Bash (Swordsman) Lv. 10 offers a factor of 245%.]

The skill increase factor (highlighted below in red) contributes to the new damage calculation formula as such:

damage = (% increase factor) x attack x min {1, log10 ((attack / (defense + 1))^0.8 + 1)} + (+ increase)

Taking the Bash skill from the image above as an example, the damage provided would be the following (assuming a character of attack 1000, defense 800):

Now let’s look at a case of multi-hit damage.

[Multi Shot (Archer) Lv. 10 offers a factor of 81% over 10 hits.]

Here’s what the damage would look like with this skill (again, assuming a build with attack 1000, defense 800):

Multiple hit skills come with a lower attack factor compared to single-hit ones, but in a situation where every hit is accurate, the attack multiplying effect is higher. Boost that with some + additional damage and this type of skills can really prove themselves useful.

2. How will the attack factor vary from skill to skill?

There are many types of attack skills in Tree of Savior, each with a different setting. Some skills consist of short, fast-paced hits, while others hit slowly over a longer period. Below are some of the aspects we’re considering in regards to how the different factors will be applied depending on the type of attack skill.

The final factor is then determined based on the combination of the aspects above. The only exceptions that escape this rule would be tile skills, which are closely associated with their corresponding class, and skills which would end up nerfed excessively. In those cases, we adjusted the values a little so as to not make the changes too dramatic.

3. How will the attack factor apply in multi-hit skills?

For many skills in Tree of Savior, their cooldown (or number of hits) and attack factor will develop simultaneously as the skill level is increased. In those skills, upping the attack factor by basing the sum in the accumulated damage would produce massive degrees of damage by Lv. 15. On the other hand, calculating the skill’s factor on a percentage based in the accumulated damage value would add up to ridiculously low factors at earlier levels.

In order for these skills to develop at a more reasonable pace, we decided to either have a fixed cooldown (no. of hits or range) and let only the factor increase, or give them a set factor and allow for only the cooldown (no. of hits or range) to grow with the skill level. Multi Shot (Archer), Breaking Wheel (Inquisitor), Incineration (Plague Doctor) and Cyclone (Doppelsoeldner) are some of the skills that will be receiving this treatment, as well as any future class skills we consider worthy of it.

4. What will happen to skills with no cooldown?

We have some pretty major changes planned for no-cooldown skills. The original purpose of no-cooldown skills is to allow your character to have an SP-consuming attack that is more effective that your regular attack. This works fine if the skill only offers an attack factor that is slightly higher (no need for a cooldown), but many no-cooldown skills also include added effects (bleeding, ricochet, debuffs, etc.), which according to the new factor rules leaves them with a much lower attack factor. Now, we don’t think it would be right for these skills to have an attack factor that is lower than regular attacks (100%), nor do we want to increase their SP consumption.

To work around this problem, our plan is to give these skills a cooldown that is shorter than that of other 2-3 overheat attack skills, but a visibly higher attack factor than regular attacks. We believe that, in doing this, these low-cooldown skills can be used during the cooldown time of other major attack skills to create a better damage dealing cycle overall.

5. What other changes do you have planned for skills?

While testing the new changes, we didn’t individually analyze the effects of every skill in every class build; instead, we simply adjusted the skill factors necessary for the changes along with the buffs and debuffs that most heavily affect them.

This method, however, came with a few negative side effects. For example, having insufficient attack skills and skills where the attack/factor doesn’t match the character’s rank/circle continued to be a problem in magic attack Cleric classes (Krivis, Druid, Bokor, Sadhu, Taoist).

Because of this, we decided to reduce the general degree of damage magnification obtained from combining skills. In the current version of the game, it’s not uncommon to achieve 2 or 3 times the attack of a skill; with the changes applied, however, you’ll be getting a smaller % of increase that rarely exceeds 2 times. The same will happen in cases where the skill combination can be maintained for longer durations.

The main reason why we went for this approach is that, after the combat system changes, the amplification you get from the skill factors and item enhancement is much more noticeable than before. In order to maintain a more balanced environment in future updates and in the current PvP (including GvG) gameplay, we felt like we needed to be stricter about this aspect.