Originally posted by Asmosis:

There's also a multiplier based on your elevation vs the target. Something like 0.5x damage at the lowest point up to 1.5x at the highest point. This applies to things hitting you as well afaik, so take the high ground.

It's pretty easy to see vs something tanky like a Lox.

I have no idea if that also applies to bows, maybe ?!

I.. don't think that's actually a thing? I think you might be misinterpreting the multitarget multiplier as low vs high ground.

When you hit multiple targets, your damage is multiplied downward and then applied to all targets (EG: 2 targets = do 66% damage to each, 3 targets = do 44% damage to each, and so on)

Thing is, And I think this is the part you're mistaking, The ground itself counts as a target for that calculation- even though it can only be damaged with a pickaxe. In fact, basically everything in the game does- walls, trees, rocks, the ground.

So if you hit a target that is on higher ground, you may also hit one or two squares of ground tile which reduces your damage significantly. By contrast, from high ground you're much less likely to hit anything that would split the damage.


And, just fyi to anyone reading this, this can be used to your advantage as well, As the damage splitting effect applies to enemies too. Even bosses, iirc. If you have to take a hit from a dangerous enemy (Like a swamp Abomination), try to take it with a tree or something also in the swing range and you'll take much less damage yourself.

Originally posted by Asmosis:

There's also a multiplier based on your elevation vs the target. Something like 0.5x damage at the lowest point up to 1.5x at the highest point. This applies to things hitting you as well afaik, so take the high ground.

It's pretty easy to see vs something tanky like a Lox.

I have no idea if that also applies to bows, maybe ?!

i've never heard anything about elevation affecting damage other than causing you to whiff (miss).

best way to kill a troll quick is to parry it and give it a hit or two with the parry damage multiplier, then repeat the process. It is stunned for quite a while to eat a number of hits each time. Get the timing right, this game is super forgiving in it's parry window so just have your teammate maybe stay behind you and shoot arrows at it, or get back, so the troll doesn't switch targets and you parry his every hit and give it a huge chunk of damage. You slaughter it like a boss without even moving from your spot

Originally posted by Phantom:

bow shots in the head stunned them for a second or two, last time I fought a troll

This, I do believe there are seperate hit boxes, as I can hit a troll first shot anywhere besides the head and it is just normal damage. Headshot and he gets stunned and not only on the first shot but I can stun a troll multiple times with headshots.

Originally posted by Malarky:

Originally posted by Phantom:

bow shots in the head stunned them for a second or two, last time I fought a troll

This, I do believe there are seperate hit boxes, as I can hit a troll first shot anywhere besides the head and it is just normal damage. Headshot and he gets stunned and not only on the first shot but I can stun a troll multiple times with headshots.

Sounds like Malarky.

bow shots in the head stunned them for a second or two, last time I fought a troll

There's also a multiplier based on your elevation vs the target. Something like 0.5x damage at the lowest point up to 1.5x at the highest point. This applies to things hitting you as well afaik, so take the high ground.

It's pretty easy to see vs something tanky like a Lox.

I have no idea if that also applies to bows, maybe ?!

M'Hael & Shurenai are correct. Backstab occurs when an enemy is unaware or searching, staggered/parry have separate multipliers to that, but this isn't obvious, so it makes sense folks would think there's a separate back or head hitbox. The only hitbox to be concerned with is where you weapon hits during each animation as damage can be greatly reduced if hitting multiple targets at once as the damage divides amongst them. For example, if doing a wide sweep and you clip a tree/rock/shrub you're gonna be doing half to the enemy and wasting stamina and durability and with crowds of enemies, unless they're weak your less likely to hit for enough damage at once to get a stagger. This is a big reason why pickaxes suck for combat as the arc hits the ground unless you're on top of an enemy, so the ground takes half the possible damage. Final tidbit: Do aim for the head/chest on Wraiths as their hitbox ends before the bottom of their model.

Then there is a bug where they lose track of you and are vulnerable to BS even after having attacked you or been attacked by you. Which is not really game breaking, since only a few things meander mid combat and most of them are in the forest or meadows

Originally posted by jonnin:

Then there is a bug where they lose track of you and are vulnerable to BS even after having attacked you or been attacked by you. Which is not really game breaking, since only a few things meander mid combat and most of them are in the forest or meadows

Backstab can only be applied to a given target once every 300 seconds (5 minutes), even if you break combat and they go back to unaware/searching. That's the only thing that prevents them from taking the bonus damage if they're not aware of you. If you are really patient and don't get bored easily you can just continuously backstab and then break combat and wait until you can backstab again.

i'M looking for a definitive answer that doesn't have the word "feels" or "seems" in it

As far as I can tell, all enemy take extra damage when hit from behind. This is very notable early game when you have to hit things more than once usually but when it runs off like an idiot (looking at YOU, grey dwarves) and you can get that hit on its back it will go down in one hit instead of 3. Most other enemy only turn their backs if exploited by the terrain, so its hard to manage.
I don't have a for sure answer to your question, but it should be easy enough to test.

Back stab bonus is applied when attacking a creature that is unaware of you, you don't actually have to strike the back. There aren't any hitboxes with different damage multipliers, you either hit them or you don't.

Originally posted by M'Hael:

Back stab bonus is applied when attacking a creature that is unaware of you, you don't actually have to strike the back. There aren't any hitboxes with different damage multipliers, you either hit them or you don't.

This. To my understanding, There's no backstabbing, there's no headshots, there's no vulnerable hitbox locations on the enemy.

There is stealth attacks- Hitting an unaware enemy does more damage.
There is stagger damage- Hitting a staggering enemy does more damage.
There is resistance based damage- Hitting an enemy with the damage type it's weak to does more, with one it's strong to does less (EG: Pierce vs Skeletons does less, Blunt does more.)

And that's about it.

Headshots that are fully charged are good 35 HP damage but my weapon and armor ive been soloing them with a shield and mace.

Headshots and crotch shots seem to have a higher stagger chance.
Pretty sure they do more damage?!?