Table of Contents
Thank you to allenwfc for the original English translation and analysis. Thank you to Laif, Rai, Reed, and deliagwath for their contributions to the original English post. Original author of guide is austerityzero.
Updated January 10 and May 22, 2026 by lzzy. Credits to KosMiu for assistance + revision.
The Formula
Base Damage × Final ATK modifiers × Major Modifiers × Element Bonus Damage × Charge Damage × Damage Up × Damage Taken = Final Damage
Base Damage = (Base Attack × (1 + ATK%) + % Caster’s ATK) – (Enemy Base Defense × (1 + DEF%) + % caster’s DEF)
Final ATK modifiers = Final ATK damage of Attack/Skill × (1 + Final ATK modifiers)
Major Modifiers = 1 + Other Critical Damage Sources + 0.5 Base + Other Core Damage Sources* + Core Hit Bonus 1/1.5* [depends on Nikke] + Full Burst Bonus* 0.5 + Effective Range Bonus* 0.3
Element Bonus Damage = Base 1.1 + Other Elemental Damage Sources
Charge Damage* = 1 + Other Charge Damage Sources + 0.5/1.5/2.5 [depends on Nikke]
Damage Up = 1 + Attack Damage + Sustained Damage + True Damage + Pierce Damage* + Damage To Parts* + Damage to Interruption Parts* + Shield Damage* + Projectile Explosion Damage*
Damage Taken = 1 + Damage Taken + Distributed Damage
Multipliers without color cannot currently be modified by the player in any way. Modifiers with an asterisk (*) are exclusive to Normal Attacks only.
Glossary
The number that will be input into final ATK% of skills or normal attacks.
- Base Attack – The Attack stat seen on the Nikke’s summary screen.
- ATK% – Includes all standard ATK% modifiers, including reductions.
- % Caster’s ATK – Includes all flat, additive ATK buffs, including HP → ATK conversions seen on units like 2B or Cinderella.
- Enemy Base Defense – The defense stat of the opponent. Normally not visible.
- DEF% – Includes all DEF% modifiers, including reductions.
- % caster’s DEF – Includes all flat, additive DEF modifiers, including reductions. Only Mast has access to this currently.
Directly modifies the base multiplier of a skill or normal attack.
- Final ATK damage of Attack/Skill – The final damage of an attack or skill that will be input into the remainder of the formula, unless affected by a Final ATK modifier.
- Final ATK modifiers – Modifies the damage output of a skill after all Base Damage modifications. Incredibly rare damage bonus.
- Normal Attack Damage Multiplier* – A lesser version of this modifier that only affects the damage of normal attacks of the user.
Modifiers that can occur without secondary buffs.
- Critical Damage – Damage multiplier that occurs if the damage rolls a critical hit. Base Damage is 150%, stated as 0.5 in the formula. Base Critical Rate is 15%.
- Critical Damage Sources include buffs from the unit or allies.
- Core Damage – Bonus damage dealt if the normal attack hits an opponent’s core. Base varies, but most Nikkes have it at 200%, stated as 1 in the formula.
- Core Damage Sources include buffs from the unit or allies.
- Full Burst Bonus – Affects damage dealt within Full Burst Time. Base value is 50%.
- Effective Range Bonus – Increases normal attack damage when a Nikke’s weapon corresponds with the opponent’s distance. (Close, Mid or Long) Rocket Launchers cannot benefit from Effective Range bonus. Base value is 30%.
Bonus Damage dealt if and only if the attacker has an elemental advantage over the opponent, based on the following chart.
Base bonus damage is 10%, stated as 1.1 in the equation. Bonus Elemental Damage Sources include buffs from the unit or allies.
Damage bonus available to Charge weapons’ normal attacks, which only include Sniper Rifles and Rocket Launchers.
- Base Charge damage varies between Nikkes, but the majority have it at 250%, stated as 1.5 in the damage formula.
- Charge Damage Sources include buffs from the unit or allies.
Secondary buffs that boosts damage dealt, if it meets their respective criteria. Outside of Attack Damage, all of these are exclusive and will strictly buff what they specify.
- Attack Damage – A general damage up buff. Affects all damage dealt.
- Sustained Damage – Buff that only affects Sustained Damage, which applies a constant, damaging effect on the opponent for a specified duration.
- True Damage – Buff that only affects True Damage, which ignores enemy DEF.
- Pierce Damage* – Buff that only affects Pierce Damage, normal attacks with the property to attack anything in its path, depending on what the pellet intersects with.
- Damage To Parts* – Buff that only affects Parts; Certain enemies, the majority of them being bosses, have parts to destroy. Very effective when combined with Pierce or Projectile Explosion Damage.
- Damage to Interruption Parts* – Buff that only affects Damage against Interruption Parts. Only bosses will perform these moves that must be interrupted to continue its fight normally; Usually does not affect the boss itself. (See notes)
- Shield Damage* – Buff that exclusively affects Damage to Shields. Shields cannot be affected by Major Modifiers, Damage Taken debuffs nor Element Bonus Damage. They are also immune to debuffs and only take damage from Normal Attacks. Can be bypassed by Pierce.
- Projectile Explosion Damage* – Buff exclusive to the basic attack of Rocket Launchers, as well as certain weapons that aren’t traditional Rocket Launchers, but are buffed by it regardless.
Classified as a debuff; Directly modifies the damage received based on its value.
- Damage Taken – Includes all Damage Taken modifiers, including reductions.
- Distributed Damage – Even though it is a buff that goes on a Nikke, it equates into this part of the equation. Distributed Damage usually bases its damage on the lowest DEF target available, and evenly distributes the damage dealt based on the number of enemies in combat.
Notes
- Buffs and modifiers sharing the same category/color are effectively the same damage multiplier. (i.e. True Damage + Damage to Parts if a part is hit, Critical Damage + Full Burst Bonus)
- Core Damage only affects damage that hits the core directly. If a target lacks a core, it isn’t possible to get this damage bonus against them.
- A target’s defense value cannot drop below 0 through DEF% debuffs.
- If a Rocket hits multiple targets, only the primary target can be affected by Core Damage bonuses if the projectile hits their core. The remaining units will receive splash damage unaffected by the multiplier.
- Damage to Interruption Parts is conventionally only supposed to increase damage dealt to the red/grey circles that appear in a boss fight in order to Interrupt/Fail the gimmick, respectively. However, if a basic attack that hits an Interruption Part overlaps with a boss’ hitbox, the boss will take extra damage from that basic attack based on the Damage to Interruption Parts multiplier.
- Even though Damage Taken and Distributed Damage are effectively the same damage modifier for DPS, Distributed Damage debuff will only affect Distributed Damage sources against enemies with Damage Taken ▲ buffs.
- Damage Taken nor DEF% debuffs don’t do anything to enemies/projectiles that take a fixed amount of damage. (typically 1)
- Certain Nikkes have ways to modify the base final ATK of their skills. (i.e. Bready, EVE)
- SG and SMG Collection Items boost the Normal Attack Damage Multiplier of Nikkes that equip them.
- Helm’s Burst at max rank Treasure, RL and SR Collection Items boost Charge Damage by the Charge Damage Multiplier × Base Charge Damage. Additional Charge Damage sources aren’t considered for this equation.
- Rapi: Red Hood’s Attachable Projectile Explosions, and Anis: Star’s Stars from activating her Burst benefit from Projectile Explosion Damage.
Possible Unintended Error
Nikkes with weapons that transform into a different weapon type from their base weapon type do not make use of their equipped collection item’s unique stat modifier.
Negatively impacted units: Zwei, Nayuta, K, Snow White, E.H.
Unaffected units: Maxwell, Eunhwa: Tactical Upgrade, Moran, Red Hood
Technically unaffected units:
- Neon: Blue Ocean – Her weapon transforms into an infinite ammo RL, and doesn’t make use of the MG Collection Item’s Max Ammunition Capacity buff.
- Laplace – Her weapon transforms into a unique, non-charge weapon, and doesn’t make use of the RL Collection Item’s/Favorite Item’s Charge Damage Multiplier buff.
- Velvet – Her weapon transforms into a Machine Gun, which doesn’t make use of the SR Collection Item’s Charge Damage multiplier buff.
- Takina – Her weapon transforms into a shotgun, and doesn’t make use of the SR Collection Item’s Charge Damage Multiplier buff.
Does this also mean that crit buffs will be more valuable if enemy defense reaches high levels ?
I make this tool using your Referencees Genshin Impact Damage Calculator
I assume we’re not actually plugging in 0.1 for element bonus damage when calculating final damage, but rather 1.1 (and just 1.0 if no element bonus)?
this is the kind of content that’s useful, compared to the previous AI slop.