Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Help/Tips/Tricks +X Magic Damage [on Items]

Hi,

I found an amulet with +8 to magic damage, and I noticed that my fireball went from 52 damage to 59 damage. While this oddly isn't +8, it's a nice boost. What I'm wondering though, is does this type of bonus work if it comes from other sources? If I have an axe that has a blue line saying "+7 to magic damage" will it boost my spells too? What about enchantments [such as +18 magical damage on a bow I have]?

Cheers,
The Sletch.

The simple answer is YES! ... If you're a mage, then all +Magic damage will add to your spells. If this is the case, then you're best off "dual wielding" with +magic damage on each weapon (+200 damage if you're willing to use a couple of malachite gems for level 10 enchants).

WOW! Thanks.

Hmmm... I'm wondering about it too when begin again playing Divinity II

Magic Damage

So, every boost on an item of "+ Magic Dam" give all your Spells more Magic Dam .
So, if a melee weapon (or bow) has also Magic Damage, then that weapon help you to increase your Damage using Spells !?
So, in fact, all weapons with Magic Damage on it ... does for itself NO extra magic damage by using that weapon ???

But the more a weapon has Magic Damage (and other equipment have boosts for this Magic Dam!), the more it strengthen all your Spells like Magic Blast, Fireball, etc ... ?
(but also ONLY the Mage skills, not magical skills like Healing or Stun Arrows or Rush Attack or ... ? )

Another thing:
are all "Armour Ratings" on equipment the same as "Resistance/Protection" ?
So, for example : Magic Armour Rating == Magic Resistance ?? )
But I'm totally not sure because Armour Rating is showed as a number and Resistance is showed as a number in % !
If both ar indeed the same, how do they correspond with eachother?
For example: 1 % in (Melee/Ranged/Magic) Resistance == X - amount (Melee/Ranged/Magic) Armour Rating

Hope someone know more about this? I examine it .. but can't find an answer ...

I'll see what I can answer:

+Magic Damage will affect both spell and weapon magic damage - so a bow with +100 magic damage enchant will add +100 magic damage to arrows fired, as well as to spell cast. A piece of jewellery with +magic damage will also boost weapon damage, not just spell damage (I just tested it).

What's more, dual wielding with two +magic damage weapons seems to 'cross charge' the weapons - each weapon gets BOTH magic damage bonuses. I just checked with my two magic damage maces (both similar in stats) and using one of them gave me +120 magic damage, using both of them boosted me to +620 magic damage! I don't know if dual-wielding +melee damage also 'cross charges' like this - I suspect it does, but I've only played as a caster.

So you will get bonuses to all special attacks that involve a weapon, such as rush attacks and exploding arrows, but I don't think this bonus will be any larger than if you just used the weapon normally. Spells that do not involve weapons or which do not cause magic damage (such as heal) don't seem to benefit from +magic damage though (but do benefit from +int bonuses).

As for your second question, the answer is basically 'yes'. For example, Magic Resistance is based on both your magic armour and your intelligence (and ranged on ranged armour and dexterity, etc.). I don't know the equation used off-hand, but it's not 1:1, e.g. one point of magic armour does not give you 1 point of magic resistance. Resistance is also capped (at around 75% if I remember right), after you reach the cap, further stat or armour bonuses will have no effect.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your answers Trippy

Now, in fact, after reading the Magic Dam influence also the damage on your weapon(s) (with bow or melee weapon) I'm only more confused ...
Confused about this:
1) it's clearly that normal damage does physical hitpoints damage, correct?
2) but WHAT exactly does the Magic Damage on a weapon? >> Mana points damage ??? So enemies using magic spells have less mana to do their spells working ? Or are some kind of enemies weaker against Magic damage than others (or vise versa!) ???

Second new question about the Resistances and Armour Rating (melee, ranged, magic) :
CAN it be that it's NOT the same value for having (for example) + 4 Armour Rating points on a Cuirass as for having + 4 Armour Rating points on a Belt ? I mean: a Cuirass is bigger than a Belt (more of the body is protected with a Cuirass vs Belt or amulet or ...) and so the Armour Rating of the Cuirass give a bigger % in Resistance ?

Thinking of Divine Divinity : each equipment item has his own % in protection! And in DD a Ring or Amulet give no % in Armour value. I known, in DD it is not the same thing, but hope I can clear up some things with write down it as a example for players who know DD

As far as I'm aware:

There are 3 types of damage: magic, physical and ranged. There are also three types of resistances: magic, plysical and ranged. Each weapon does one or more type(s) of damage, but the damage it causes is reduced by the target's resistance (to that particular type of damage).

So (in theory) if an opponent has high magic resistance, and low ranged resistance, then you should concentrate on ranged damage rather than magic damage. In practice, opponents rarely specalise in just one type of resistance (certainly not on average), so when it comes to your character's 'build', mixing your damage abilities isn't going to give you any real advantage. You're much better off specialising in one particular type of damage - you'll end up much more powerfull that way. The basic point is: 'Damage is good, regardless of what type it is, and the more you can cause, the better...'

Magic damage is generally considered to be the best specialisation, because:

- It increases all weapon damage, both physical and ranged, even if the weapon doesn't normally cause any magical damage. By comparison: physical specialisation only benefits physical weapons, and ranged specialisation only benefits ranged weapons.
- It also affects damage-based spells (unlike physical or ranged specialisations).

Anyway, as I said, this is only my own understanding, I'm happy to be corrected if anyone knows better!

Hmm ... ... if this is what You experienced so far I believe it's for sure nice advice

I remember now this:
most enemies that are Warrior types have the best Melee Armour Rating and less Ranged/magic Arm Rat.
most enemies that are Ranger types have the best Ranged Armour Rating and less ....
etc ...
But thinking of Healers, Summoners and other kind of enemies ... hmmm ... I go examine these types more closely in the future!

Thanks again !

You're most welcome

And good luck in your 'Nightmare' playthrough! I must admit my advice comes from mere 'normal' mode...

I find out each equipment item (Cuirass, Belt, Gauntlets, Leggings) give the same value in % resistance. So a Cuirass with Melee Armour Rating +1 give as many % resistance as Leggings (or a Belt or ...) with Melee Armour Rating +1 . But not sur if all kind of Resistances (Melee/Ranged/Magic) has the same values. Also the value of your stats (Strength/Dexerity and intelligence) influences the number in % of the Resistances. On this moment it still confused me

I think it's all about percentages. But how? I'm searching ....
(in Divine Divinity I've find formula's to use in an Excel file making my hero's stats & equipment & more ... . To know, I love mathematics !)