Critical Strike

[shadowphoenix]

Critical Strike is a highly debated skill. It is very powerful when it hits and can sway the battle in your favor. Lets take a little closer look at how this skill works.

Critical Strike is a class skill for monks, sams, and ninja. Ninja having a 25% bonus to the skill.

This translates to about a 4% chance to crit for monks and sams with 5% for the ninja when the critical strike skill is maxed. (Doesn't seem like much does it?)

You can combine crit weapons like the coc, fang, sod, etc to have a combined critical strike chance as high as 20%. (Now we are getting somewhere)

With that in mind, there are 3 things that must happen in order to get a critical strike to work.

1. You must hit the enemy and penetrate to do at least 1 damage.
-This means that you need a good +to hit like any other melee or range class.
-This also means that your weapon skill must be high enough to penetrate.
-One exception. Ninja throwing will always penetrate. (but it still has to hit)

2. The character must make a successful critical strike attempt.
-This includes your chance to crit and the weapoon bonus to crit.

3. The monster has a chance to resist the effect or die.
-This is highly dependant on the level of the monster vs the level of the character.

Number 3 is the problem. If we look at level vs level we find that (depending on the monster) your critical strike will hardly ever hit. Example: a level 15 ninja vs a level 26 Nesse. You can successfully land the critical attack against Nesse, but the resist roll of Nesse with those comparative levels gives Nesse a 95% chance to shrug off the attack. In comparison, a level 25 ninja vs a level 26 Nesse would translate to about a 68% chance for Nesse to shrug off the attack. (Better...but still less than 50%)

Personal note: Has anyone waited that long to take on Nesse? My average team level (6man) is around 10-11 when I run accross that battle. This really puts a damper on the effectiveness of critical strikes. (IMHO)

Evaluating this further:

In a 6 man/woman team, the ninja will be lower level and therfore not able to land critical strikes as often. (Even with the coc) This is not to say that it will never happen....cause it will. This is to give you an idea why its so important that the ninja (monk or sam) have multiple attacks to give more chances at landing the crit.

Where the Critical Strike really shines is in smaller teams. Since the experience of all battles is split up based on the number of players in your party, the ninja will gain higher levels earlier. This will break the balance of the game and allow your ninja to land those beloved crits much more often. And its all because of number 3.

I hope this gives new players a better idea of how Critical Strike works and to not get frustrated with the way the game handles crits. It's a great skill that does shine later on as your ninja, monk, or sam levels. Just don't bet the bank on this one skill. (Unless you have a small team.)

[Count von Bunnyhopven]

Some creatures are also completely immune to critical hits according to the Cosmic Forge monster editor. These include Nessie, golems, ghosts and possibly other creatures.

[Saishi]

Originally posted by Count von Bunnyhopven:

Some creatures are also completely immune to critical hits according to the Cosmic Forge monster editor. These include Nessie, golems, ghosts and possibly other creatures.

I killed Nessie with Critical Strike 2 or 3 times so it works on her.

[Abscondrel]

i'm a big fan of the Ranger crit. i don't build melee crit parties, mostly. either way expecting to crit nessie is silly. but dropping a healthy mob or two during the many more mundane combats is very helpful. as for melee, i enjoy the K.O. its not dead, yet, but it's no longer a problem.
:)

[schudson1]

Can you post the relevant equations?

[mpnorman10]

For equations see Peddroelm's Guide. It is excellent and has the info you need.

[Horpner Sneed]

Critical Strike's effectiveness is poor enough that it is uncommon for the opportunity cost of investing in the skill itself to be an advantage. I'm skeptical you can even combine the ability with multiple users and see much benefit. But it'd be cool to be proved wrong.

[Northwest 76]

Kinda related… Just started a new party. As always I included a ranger. At level 3, I challenged the Gregor, fully prepared for a long drawn out fight. Top of the second round, my ranger crits the thing with a short bow and standard arrow. Boop, done!
Chalk one up for the ranger!

[mpnorman10]

Nice!

[Northwest 76]

It’s interesting. Every time (or at least as far as I remember) I start a new party, the ranger is the first to land a crit. I’ve ran ninjas, samurai and monks with them plenty of times.

[Shadowdweller]

AFAICT ranged weapons have a higher chance to hit at point blank range than melee weapons in the early game (something to do with the dispersion formula), so that's not entirely unexpected.

[Northwest 76]

Right, it’s just one of the many aspects of the game that I like. I “try” not to crunch the numbers or study the mechanics too deeply. I have a decent working knowledge of how the game operates though. And after 1,200+ hours logged, I still find things that “surprise” me or at least remind me of things I forgot about. All of which keeps the game fresh and enjoyable.

[AJAX]

I have many hours on the game, bought it in the early 2000s. The best thing that ever happened was when Crock sold me a stiletto every time I visited him. Each melee character now had a 10% instant kill in each hand. By the time I arrived on Ascension Peak each character was instant killing 1 person each round. Have never had that occur since.

[Northwest 76]

Were the stilettos in the offhands? If so, did you build your melee characters as dual wielders from early on, or just when you started getting them?

[AJAX]

Yes, they were dual wielders from the beginning using swords and daggers. Then they became daggers only.

[Northwest 76]

So, you had fighters (maybe) sporting stilettos in each hand?! That would neat to see in the late game.