Aion 2 · Guides
Aion 2 combat stats explained: what each stat does and which matter
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TL;DR
- In PvE, build offense. Madsin's rule is that you only need to survive one hit, and healers and tank buffs cover the rest.
- The strongest damage stats are separate multipliers: Double Chance, Weapon Damage Boost, Critical Damage Boost and Front or Back Attack Damage Boost. Plain Damage Boost shares one pool with PvE and Boss Damage Boost, so each point is worth less.
- Accuracy decides whether a boss can block or parry your hits. Back attacks cannot be blocked, which is why Assassins care less about it.
- Combat Speed is always good. Cooldown reduction matters up to your class's threshold.
- Flat conditional stats such as PvE Attack and Back Attack are not raised by percentage increases, so they are weaker than they look.
Boosts and tolerances
Many stats come in pairs: Damage Boost and Damage Tolerance, Weapon Damage Boost and Weapon Damage Tolerance, Critical Hit and Critical Hit Resist. Grobs explains that the game subtracts the defender's stat from the attacker's.
Creator tip
And what the game is always doing here, it takes the difference between those two values. So for example, if you want to attack someone and you have 30% damage boost and your enemy has 20% damage tolerance, then the game will subtract from your 30% damage boost those 20% damage tolerance.
This is why later bosses feel harder even at the same gear: their tolerances rise, and your boosts have to climb with them.
Damage stats
| Stat | What it does |
|---|---|
| Attack | The base of every hit and every heal. Your weapon's Attack is a range from Min to Max Attack. |
| Weapon Damage Boost | Multiplies the Attack that comes from your equipment. Most of your Attack does, so it is one of the best stats. |
| Damage Boost | Multiplies your damage, but adds together with PvE, Boss and species Damage Boost into one pool. |
| Front and Back Attack Damage Boost | Separate multipliers that only apply when you hit from that side. |
| Critical Hit | Chance to land a critical hit, checked against the target's Critical Hit Resist. |
| Critical Damage Boost | Raises critical damage. Grobs gives a default critical multiplier of 1.5 in PvE and 1.25 in PvP. |
| Double Chance | Chance to double the hit in PvE. Grobs says it is 1.5 times in PvP. |
| Perfect Chance | Chance for a hit to use the top of your Attack range instead of a random roll. |
| Multi-hit Chance | Chance for extra small hits after the main hit. |
| Penetration | Lowers the target's Defense point for point. |
Which multipliers win
Grobs explains that every applicable damage boost is added into one pool before it multiplies your damage, while Front and Back Attack Damage Boost are separate multipliers. Separate multipliers are usually stronger per point, because you have less of them.
Madsin found the same in testing: Weapon Damage Boost is applied later in the formula than Damage Boost, so where a slot offers both, the Weapon, Critical or positional boost is worth more. Kanon's Handbook shows the full formula term by term and estimates what each stat is worth.
Double Chance doubles the whole hit, which is why Madsin calls it the stat you always take more of. Assassins are his exception, since their cooldown needs come first.
Perfect Chance and Multi-hit
Perfect Chance only matters as much as the gap between your Min and Max Attack. Grobs rates it decent but not great. Madsin notes that Spiritmaster's orbs have about twice the usual damage range, so Perfect Chance is worth more there.
Creators measure Multi-hit differently:
| Creator | Extra hits | Worth |
|---|---|---|
| Grobs | Up to four | A small fraction of the original |
| Madsin (measured) | Four | 10 to 15% of the original hit in total, and they seem to ignore boss defenses |
Madsin's finding makes Multi-hit better as bosses get tougher. Skills with Multi-hit built in gain less from the stat.
Multi-hit built in
Speed stats
| Stat | What it does | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Combat Speed | Shortens the animation and cast time of your skills | As much as you can, say Grobs and Madsin |
| Cooldown reduction | Keeps your class's one long buff up all the time | Just enough for that buff; past it, more does little |
Creator tip
They might need 33, 34, or 35% cooldown reduction. You need to find out what your class actually needs. You don't just want to stack as much cooldown speed as possible, because for a lot of classes, that simply isn't needed.
Madsin puts the threshold for most classes between 33 and 36%. Your class's build page has the exact goal.
Accuracy, block and evasion
Before damage is dealt, the game checks whether the target dodges or blocks. Grobs and Madsin describe the same rules:
| Check | Rule |
|---|---|
| Accuracy vs Evasion and Block | At or above both, the target cannot evade or block |
| Each 10 points the target is above you | About 1% chance to block |
| Monsters | Cannot evade, so against bosses only Block matters (Madsin) |
| Blocked or parried hit | Deals less damage |
| Back attacks | Skip the check entirely |
| Critical Hit vs Critical Hit Resist | 1% critical chance per 10 points above the target's resist (Madsin, measured) |
Creator tip
But here's important, you can completely bypass all the evasion if you hit someone from behind. All back attacks will always land.
TheWhelps makes Accuracy his second priority on Soul Binding lines, right after each slot's key stat, because ranged and front-facing classes cannot always reach the boss's back. Creators have quoted Accuracy targets from the Korean and Taiwanese servers, but those are not confirmed for global, so we leave them out.
Flat conditional stats
PvE Attack, Boss Attack, Back Attack, Front Attack and Critical Attack add flat damage only in their situation. They look generous, but both Grobs and Madsin point out that percentage increases such as Attack increase do not raise them.
Creator tip
All conditional stats are not impacted by percentage multipliers. That doesn't make them useless, but for sure a lot worse.
When a slot offers plain Attack or a conditional Attack, take plain Attack.
Defensive stats
| Stat | What it does |
|---|---|
| Defense | A flat reduction to each hit. Good against many small hits, weak against big ones. |
| Endurance | Chance to halve an incoming hit. Only Endurance Penetration counters it, not Accuracy. |
| Regeneration | Chance to heal back part of the damage taken. Grobs says 20% and Madsin 15%. |
| Damage Tolerance | Subtracts from the attacker's Damage Boost. |
| Status Effect Resist | Lowers the chance that control effects land on you. |
Grobs adds that however much Status Effect Resist a target has, a control skill keeps at least a 5% chance to land.
Creator tip
In PvE, offense is king regardless of class. The reason for that is quite simple. In PvE, only one thing matters when it comes to damage intake, not getting one shot.
Madsin adds that many deadly boss mechanics deal fixed damage that ignores defensive stats, which is another reason to put defense last in PvE.
Base stats and Empyrean Lord stats
The inner stats on your character sheet are percentage bonuses. Grobs and Madsin both divide the value by 10: 200 Might gives 20% Attack increase.
| Base stat | Raises |
|---|---|
| Might | Attack |
| Dexterity | Evasion, Block and Critical Hit Resist |
| Precision | Accuracy and Critical Hit |
| Willpower | Status Effect Resist |
| Intelligence | Status Effect Chance |
| Constitution | HP |
The outer ring holds the ten Empyrean Lord stats such as Destruction, Wisdom and Time. Each gives two effects, and Grobs and Madsin both work out the percentage as the value divided by 5, so 150 Destruction gives 30% Attack increase. They come from bracelets, Arcana and the Pantheon. Kanon's Handbook lists all ten and their effects.
Gear score and combat power
Gear score, also called item level, is the number dungeons check for entry. Combat power is the game's estimate of your actual strength. FRESHY's advice is to chase gear score until it opens the content you need, then switch to combat power, which is where the stats on this page come in.
Next steps
- Soul Binding guide: where most of these stats come from.
- Manastones guide: the damage boost lines on stones.
- Kanon's Handbook: how damage works: the formula and what each stat is worth.
Explore the encyclopedia
Sources
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