Mini guide with eveything I know or have written about regarding CSH!

[Halfshell]

Hyper is double damage, Desperation is +50% damage. Both together will triple damage as Hyper is doubling the Desperation effect as well. You can find when characters get Hyper in the equipment menu. Its listed on the left as "2nd turn and every 3rd turn afterwards" for main character, for example. Desperation will let your guys fall into negative HP if you have 50% Style or more (100% on Super Spy) and lets you do a Desperation attack. If you are below 0 HP by the end of your turn the character dies. Elemental weaknesses are also double effect. I think most modifiers mean double effect unless otherwise stated. Vulnerability and the Oil move are also double damage as far as I can tell.

Attacks scale off of Phys, Hack, Spark or Cunning.
Physique: Physical
Hackitude: Hack, Pierce
Sparke: Fire, Ice, Water, Elec, Earth, Wind, Gravity, Heal
Cunning: Status damage, Poison damage

Most unlisted durations have a duration, hard to test some like Fortification without knowing the damage formula.

Poison is affected by Hyper, double item affect (when applicable), Style, Cunning (and Cunning buffs) and I suspect other doubling effects. Poison damage will double when it triggers Vulnerablility, but will not increase tick damage if applied during Vulnerability. Theres also Poison up equipment. % seems to imply scaling

Defense seems to be a "flat" amount. This makes damage hard to calculate. Most enemies get +10% damage per turn (from Style), which ends up looking like more. For example, lets assume you have 70 defense and they have 100 attack. They will do 30 damage. But after 2 turns they will do 50 damage (100 * 120% = 120 - 70 = 50). Enemies usually gain 10% Style per move (stunning seems to prevent this, as they won't use a move) up to a cap (which is higher than your cap). You also gain Style per move, usually 25%. This affects damage up to 100% Style. Style caps at 300%, but more than 100% does nothing, except for Burst attacks which use all remaining Style for extra effect. I repeat Burst attacks drain all your style.

Similar buffs from equipment do not stack. Aqua Basher and Water Satchel will not stack, for example. In general nothing stacks, unless otherwise stated. Giving two Buffz or Inspires doesn't stack (duration seems to refresh). Hitting an enemy with another Stun while they're Stunned won't make it easier to hit a Stun later. Etcetera.

Status effects are triggered from status damage. Typically, 100% status damage will trigger a status effect. But they gain status resistence to that status. Now they require 200% total status damage, so two 100% status hits will work. For example, you stun and to stun again you have to hit them with it twice. But 1 disarm hit will still work. Status damage is affected by Hyper, Style and Cunning. I do not know if +% damage from Inspire increases it. For some reason, enemies have additional status resistance on Heroine (I suspect it takes 50% more), but not on Super Spy. So 100% Style makes a 100% stun move do 200% status damage. With Hyper thats 400%.

Drone's damage is determined by Style, % damage increase and % stats increase (Hyper doesn't work) when the ability is cast. Drones also aren't effected by any stat or damage boosts. Drones will continue to do the same damage until another Drone is cast. It will continue to do that much damage for the rest of the fight. Songs work in a similar way. Songs are not affected by + healing % but most other heals are. Regen is also not affected by + healing % .

You can find out how abilities scale in the abilities menu. Damage for bash is 100% of Phys, Laser 180% of Hack and Drown 150% of Sparke for main character. Enemies can apparently have elemental resistances that are not listed, this is known from an ability that removes elemental resistances.

Things like Inspire, Buffz or Absorb seem to not scale at all (using Inspire with Hyper on someone else seems to waste the Hyper).

I would appreciate it if anyone pointed out anything that is wrong here!
Updated a few things with information I missed and fixed up the wording in a few places.

Credit for some information goes to:
nvmvoidrays
Lumina
Hiroshi Mishima

[NewMoonShadow]

Probably the only part of the gameplay I dislike is that not only does the game not say what each stat does, but even when you do know, the moves aren't marked as to what type of attack they are (Physical, Magical, or Technological).

Like, if Hackitude makes programs stronger, does that include clearly magical attacks granted by Shields since they're technically Programs? Or are those still dictated by Sparke?

[Halfshell]

Alot of in-game knowledge is missing. Thats why I wrote this up, so that I can just link it, or quote it to people asking questions. Devs have stated that they want to make the in-game tutorial more accessable and/ or better. I can find the quote if you want.

As for Hack affecting shields, I think Hack is always the stat that affects shields as shields are used by hacking to begin with. You can't even use the attack without a high hack stat, so it would be counter productive to make it scale off of Sparke. (This is untested btw. Just my intuition.)

[BloodyPork]

Originally posted by Chaotic Corner Soul:

As for Hack affecting shields, I think Hack is always the stat that affects shields as shields are used by hacking to begin with. You can't even use the attack without a high hack stat, so it would be counter productive to make it scale off of Sparke. (This is untested btw. Just my intuition.)

It might scale off of sparke if it is a sparke attack (eg. elemental magic like drown). Otherwise technomancy shield makes less sense (it makes your sparke stat equal to your hackitude stat).

[nvmvoidrays]

also, a note: for Arete, when you active her drones, their damage is determined by her Style (Hyper doesn't work) when the ability is cast. so, if you cast it at the beginning, it does 0% extra damage. if you refresh it when she gets more, it'll expontentially increase the damage potential. i'm not sure if songs act the same way with Psybe or not, but, i'm guessing no.

drones also aren't effected by any stat or damage boosts.

[Halfshell]

Originally posted by BloodyPork:

Originally posted by Chaotic Corner Soul:

As for Hack affecting shields, I think Hack is always the stat that affects shields as shields are used by hacking to begin with. You can't even use the attack without a high hack stat, so it would be counter productive to make it scale off of Sparke. (This is untested btw. Just my intuition.)

It might scale off of sparke if it is a sparke attack (eg. elemental magic like drown). Otherwise technomancy shield makes less sense (it makes your sparke stat equal to your hackitude stat).

Thats a possibility. But impossible to test (as it makes your Sparke equal to your Hack).

Originally posted by nvmvoidrays:

also, a note: for Arete, when you active her drones, their damage is determined by her Style (Hyper doesn't work) when the ability is cast. so, if you cast it at the beginning, it does 0% extra damage. if you refresh it when she gets more, it'll expontentially increase the damage potential. i'm not sure if songs act the same way with Psybe or not, but, i'm guessing no.

drones also aren't effected by any stat or damage boosts.

Good to know. I'll add it in the Drones section.

Edit: I cut it down a bit. Just so the guide is more concise. I think they're affected by Arete's starting shield "double next move" effect, but I've never used Arete really so I couldn't say. Its surprising that Drone's don't scale with Hack. Do her other moves scale with Hack? Or Sparke?

Edit2: Wait this might mean that Buffz, which is supposed to increase stats by a %, isn't working correctly. Because it would be weird if Drones didn't scale up in damage later in the game. Unless it scales on something weird, like level? Or is Innate Hack different from buffed Hack? Like with Innate Phys affecting HP gain. This might be the case. Could be a hidden stat, Program effectiveness, thats only affected by Innate Hack. Drones could scale with Program effectiveness. I'll test this later as theres a shield that gives Program up.

Another thing I've noticed, is that using two Buffz on one character doesnt do anything (from using Hidden Resources, or whatever the move is that doesn't consume items). So effects really do not like stacking at all. Can't think of anything that stacks, besides Gunner's disarm move.

Edit3: So many edits.. anyways. I'm starting to question whether Desperation is double effect or 1.5x effect. I just had a Potion do 150 healing and I'm unsure as to how other than Desperation affecting it. But I clearly remember using a Potion before to heal for a 100 with a negative HP character. Maybe it was the Cunning buff from Enviromental Hacking? ..even though Cunning shouldn't affect it. Maybe the Enviromental Cunning buff included an Item up buff.

[Ricohead]

I would also point out that Burst attacks drain all your style.

It is never metioned anywhere as far as i've seen and it can screw you over if you are not carefull.

[FroBodine]

Thank you very much, Chaotic, for writing up all this! You should write the game manual, not the developers. It's unfortunate that all this explaining needs to be done, when the game should already have done all this. I am so frustrated with this game right now, but you have helped immensely.

[Stabbey]

Originally posted by nvmvoidrays:

also, a note: for Arete, when you active her drones, their damage is determined by her Style (Hyper doesn't work) when the ability is cast. so, if you cast it at the beginning, it does 0% extra damage. if you refresh it when she gets more, it'll expontentially increase the damage potential. i'm not sure if songs act the same way with Psybe or not, but, i'm guessing no.

drones also aren't effected by any stat or damage boosts.

Wow. I thought Arete was a really terrible character when I first played her, but now she actually seems worse.

[Lumina]

Just to clarify Songs and stats:

Songs determine their damage dealt on activation. Meaning if you buff Psybe (or Song Shield user) up before using them, they will deal the increased damage/healing until you use another Song. The highest I reached was about 7,000 per round with Pain Song, and I don't think I'd full-buffed them either... but the game's a cakewalk at that point anyway, what with you being able to kill every encounter bar bosses in two rounds, even on Super-Spy. An unbuffed Pain Song dealt around 1k+ in comparison.

Hyper does not affect Song/Drone damage, but your stats (Buffz) and any damage buffs (Style Bonus, Inspire, Cheat Code, Silver Bullets, Avatar) do.

As for stat scalings, the type of damage dealt essentially determines what stat is used. As far as I can tell:

Physique: Physical
Hackitude: Hack, Pierce
Sparke: Fire, Ice, Water, Elec, Earth, Wind, Gravity, Heal
Cunning: Ailment Damage

From my experience, EVERYTHING falls under this list, from Dave's Patch to everything in Chahn's Gunmancy. Items and Programs are also determined by this. It's rather counter-intuitive for offensive elemental Programs, but those Programs are meant for characters that have high Hackitude and Sparke, like Alyssa or Psybe. The only exception to this is the TechnoMage Shield, which allows anything that uses Sparke to use Hackitude instead.

As for Ailment Damage, the way the game seems to have an invisible HP counter for different ailments. These start low, after you inflict the ailment once, the threshold/resistance increases. I'm not sure if it stops rising after the first or second time you proc the ailment, but it seems to get harder and harder to inflict the ailment in question. Poison's damage is determined on application, and if reapplied uses the higher of the two amounts.

Hope this helps!

Edit: I'm actually not too sure about Arete's Drones, but Psybe's Songs 100% work as I described them. I do recall those Drones hitting for a fair amount, however, and I'm fairly sure Buffz increases their damage.

[Lumina]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

Wow. I thought Arete was a really terrible character when I first played her, but now she actually seems worse.

I don't know what difficulty you played the game on, but on Super-Spy, Arete is extremely useful for quite a length of the game. I'd say borderline broken in the mid-game, to be honest. Consistent 130% Pierce AoE regardless of what she does means she can act fully as a support character with the Insight shield (which she comes with) while killing enemies. And that's not even counting her biggest advantage: Alchemize and her Item Up accessory.

Alchemize basically makes her the best Item-user your team has, and for a very long time, the hardest hitter on your team. Alchemize doubles Bomb's effectiveness, making it hit for 300% Fire before Item Up's bonus (which is about 35% bonus, I think). It's the highest ratio you'll get for quite a while. Considering it's also affected by Prepare (2x Damage from Insight shield), Hyper Bonus, Style Bonus, Buffz, Oil Spill, and any damage buffs (Inspire, etc.), you can one-shot lots of bosses with it. As in, you'll be hitting about 20,000 while everyone else is doing 5,000 or so with the same degree of preparation.

Of course, once you reach the higher levels of the game, some other characters can do the same for less work, and Arete starts to become a glorified support with Alchemized Buffz once again. But at that point, you one-shot everything with your chosen character anyway, and doubling your attacker's stats gives more than linear returns.

P.S.: I'm not an Arete fanboy or anything. I find all the characters useful at different points of the game; they all bring something to the table. Their roles change dramatically with the items, weapons, accessories, and skills that they acquire and learn. The game is actually rather balanced in terms of character strength. You can bring any combination of characters into any fight and win.

[NewMoonShadow]

Originally posted by Ricohead:

I would also point out that Burst attacks drain all your style.

It is never metioned anywhere as far as i've seen and it can screw you over if you are not carefull.

I think the game actually mentions it when you get the Heroine Shield.

Which makes Unite attacks, which were part of the game's initial selling pitch, pretty much useless unless you're going for the final blow because they radically debuff the characters involved.

Though as this thread proves, putting a Glossary somewhere in the game of all the terminology used would go a long way towards making it more palatable.

[Apoc]

I don't remember where exactly in the game (If it is not the heroine shield.) but I was told about Burst using all style. What is missing is tips about when to really use it. If you have lower than 100% style it's a waste since you already have a damage bonus up to 100%.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Are we SURE that Technomage shield's programs are influenced by Hackitude? Cause I have that on Chahn and even without Hyper or de/buffs Lightning can do up to 3k damage.

In any case, a lot of this is stuff the game really doesn't explain to you. As much as I love this game, I actually found CSTW's combat to be more intuitive. Partly cause you could tell/see that the enemies were getting stronger. While I'm not exactly on super-ultra-mega hard like the rest of you all seem to be, I'd have expected at least some increase in enemy strength but I don't.

Also, do we know what effects Dave's Hack skill cause I've never had it succeed in working on robots even though it's got Robotic Bane. I know it's only 50% but you'd expect it to work at some point. I've had other ailments succeed on the first try that weren't 100%.

EDIT: Also, I know it mentions something about Team-ups using Heroine draining style, but I don't think it explicitely says that Burst is what causes it. I had just assumed that those particular abilities were the cause, not bursting.

[Lumina]

TechnoMage Shield uses the higher of the two stats to determine damage. Lightning is Sparke-based anyway.

Dave's Hack skill procs Rust. I've definitely had it work for me before. Make sure you're actually fighting robots and use it a few times if you really want to see it work.

[Halfshell]

Nice finds! I'll be sure to edit these in tomorrow as its Easter today. Thanks alot though!