New respect for Orc chains

[Ninth Hour]

I never take Steel Brow on my frontline characters. Around 260 days into my current campaign, none of my men died once from hits to their helmet, until a recent battle in an Orcish sea of tents.

A Berserker armed with a chain landed a lucky blow against one of my Battleforged brothers with a 320 durability helmet. He inflicted 83 points of damage to the helmet and instantly pulped the head of the brother, who had until then been at full health (and the helmet was at full durability too).

I wasn't expecting that. While the victim's HP was somewhat low for a frontline fighter- just 81 HP, he had survived many battles by virtue of a good MDef (37 at level 11 without a shield) and heavy armor.

How does damage from headshots work? I thought that some damage reduction still applied if your helm had durability, but evidently my brother took 100% of the hit.

To add insult to injury, all I got from the battle was a bunch of named orc shields. Even the Warlord did not have a named weapon. Totally not worth it.

[UnluckyNoob]

Berserk chain deal up to 72(60%) penetration damage with basic attack headshot. Lategame berserkers have 30% damage bonus so they can deal 93 head penetration damage.

Your helmet reduced incoming damage by 23, so max head damage possible was (93-23) * 1.5 = 105. Which means that blow wasn't so lucky.

[Glorious Comrade]

or you can take nine lives for the bros you really like. insurance against those surprise one shot.

but I had a bro with nine live died to nomad outlaw's 3 head flail, as it attacks 3 time per swing. so the bro proced nine live and still died. because he got hit twice in that 1 swing.

[A5G_Reaper]

That's the casino weapon. The damage it deals range from a minor bruise to an instantly pulped head. We all eventually learn not to let berserkers (especially the 2h) get anywhere near a bro