OK, this is worth double posting for. A user who goes by Delfigamer on another forum has uncovered quite a bit of information on Disgaea damage mechanics. I'll be sharing some of this info here (the parts I could understand anyways) along with some of my notes. I want to highlight that the bulk of the credit belongs to Delfigamer.
Source topic found here:
https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,19849.0.htmlDefense and Magic DefenseI'll go over this first because there are fewer variables and modifiers. Damage from attacks is reduced as follows.
Physical: DEF * 0.26
Gun physical or special: DEF * 0.19
Magical: RES * 0.18
Dark Cannon: DEF * 0.10
Way to be impotent RES. Also, while guns appear to pierce defense better, in practice there is minimal difference. I'll get to that when I cover offense.
DEF +50%/-50% do work but one will not likely notice much difference unless the values are already high and/or the defense stat is large relative to the incoming attack. Geo symbol modifiers affect both physical and magical attacks, of course. Combo counter also lowers defense for damage calculation by -10% times the number on the combo counter. Maximum net defense penalty is -100%.
Offense:Base damage before modifiers is as follows:
Most weapons: ATK * 0.5
Guns: HIT * 0.37
Bows: (ATK + HIT) * 0.25
Magic: INT * 0.33
Dark Cannon: ATK * 0.2
Given how slowly magic damage scales, RES appears less impotent than first glance.
Base damage is then further modified by General multiplier x skill level multiplier x elemental multiplier + random variance
Most modifiers are lumped with the general multiplier. This includes Geo Panel effects, the staff mastery bonuses, power multipliers of individual skills, and the combo bonus. They stack additively with a cap of 21. It starts at 1 and is adjusted by the following:
Each ATK +50% Geo panel: +0.5
Each Atk - 50% Geo panel: -0.5
Staff Mastery: +0.03 for each level of staff weapon mastery, max of +1 Requires equipping a staff and using a compatible skill
Combo bonus: +0.1 x displayed combo counter number
Skill multiplier: varies by skill used
Attacking target's front (regular attacks only) -0.25
Attacking target's rear (regular attacks only) +0.2
Bullseye! (aka critical): +0.15
Nick!: -0.5
Height modifier (regular attacks only):
Enemy Boost +50%: +0.5 for each
Enemy Boost x3: +x -1 where x equals displayed number (so combined Enemy Boost x6 adds 5 to the general multiplier)
I'm not at all certain of the regular attack specific modifers, these are placeholder estimates. Being at a higher or lower elevation supposedly affects damage as well but I don't have specific numbers. Regular attacks don't have a skill multiplier and will skip that part of damage calculation.
Like criticals, Nicks happen somewhat randomly based on attacker's HIT and target's SPD. If target is standing on a panel with the Evade Geo effect, regular attacks they don't outright dodge will always Nick.
Special techs always connect unless the target is a Ninja type.
Skill level multiplier ranges from 0.9 to 4 according to Delfigamer's data. While it is widely believed that each level in a tech adds 3% to damage, that actually only appears to apply until the skill reaches level 21. From skill level 21 to 91 only adds an additional 2% (+0.02 to multiplier) with the biggest gains coming from 90 to 99. It is rather unlikely to reach skill levels above 20 without intentional grinding so this isn't going to come into play normally.
Elemental multiplier, for attacks that have one, is applied to the attacking stat. Delfigamer states it ranges from 0.1 to 2 though since nothing in game has more than 50% weak to an element, the highest value used in-game is 1.5. Straightforward multiplier: 0% resist is 1, 50% resist is 0.5, 50% weak is 1.5, and so on.
Random variance is fairly wide. Testing with the Dark Cannon gives me some ideas on how it works. As far as I can gather, it's based on a percentage of base damage before multipliers and is added to (or subtracted from) final damage. It doesn't appear to be consistent across the board either. Here's my best guess on how random variance is determined.
If ATK > DEF then max RV is base * (-0.2 to 0.2)
If ATK < DEF but 2* ATK > DEF then RV is base * (-0.1 to 0.3)
If 2* ATK < DEF then RV is base * (0 to 0.4)
For magical attacks, replace with INT and RES, naturally.
Defend outright halves damage from anything other than Geo Panels, Geo chains, and thrown Prinnies. It even halves Poison damage. Team attacks for non-initiating characters appear to be a post damage halving though I wouldn't be shocked if it's just a -0.5 to the general multiplier.
Healing spells:
Think I understand this now. The formula goes something like:
Spell Power x INT Hmod x (Staff mastery factor + Geo Panel mod)
ATK altering Geo panels do affect healing abilities as does staff mastery. Skill level has no effect. Also, I made up INT Hmod because the game changes the displayed INT when determining how much healing to do.
If INT is 400 or less, INT Hmod = INT + 100
If INT is between 400 and 900: INT Hmod = (INT - 400)/2 + 500
If INT is greater than 900: INT Hmod = (INT - 900)/5 + 750
Did some testing and this formula appears to work perfectly. Haven't tested the effects of Geo panels though.
And for the spell powers of healing skills, I'll add the missing ones when I get around to them.
Heal: 0.25
Mega Heal: 1
Giga Heal: 3
Omega Heal: 10
Power of Love: 0.5
Holy Dust: 0.15
Evil Healing: 0.4
Angelic Gospel:
(also boss only so a pain to uncover)
Magic resistant enemies: Sometimes, the game will spawn a magic resistant unit. In game, their base RES is doubled and base DEF is halved. So if an enemy has high RES compared to other similar enemies, it's probably magic resistant. Magic resistance is a separate trait. Any attack magic that targets a resistant enemy will have its damage halved before the reduction from RES (which, given the use of an inflated value, will cause the damage to suck even more). Very noticeable if targetting 3 Lv 4 Brawlers with Star magic and one is magic resistant.
I've done some experimenting and observation with magic resistant enemies and have noticed the following
- Only generic units that can eventually be created at the Dark Assembly can be spawned resistant. Special characters and bosses will always have normal defense properties. Mini-bosses (doubled HP and increased EXP) CAN spawn magic resistant.
- Magic resistant enemies only appear in story maps and promotion exams. They never appear in the Dark Assembly or the Item World. Prinny Land never produces magic resistant enemies either; they're mechanically a different creature type to keep them from exploding if thrown.
- It appears to be about a 20% chance for an eligible enemy to spawn magic resistant. I didn't exhaustively test this though. It was one speedy reloading session until I had a sample size of 200.
- If you capture a magic resistant monster, that state won't carry over when it joins the party. On a side note, inflated HP from capturing a mini-boss monster does carry over though it will be lost upon transmigration.
