Damage
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Damage in Team Fortress 2 is any event that reduces the health of a player or entity. Damage can be caused by weapons, fire, falling, or other entities in the world.
Contents
Weapon Damage
Weapon damage is calculated in the following manner:
(Base Damage) * (Distance and Randomness Modifier) * (Splash Modifier) * (Self-damage Reduction)
While Critical hits are calculated as such:
(Base Damage) * (Splash Modifier) * (Critical Modifier)
Base Damage
The base damage of a weapon is a constant number that is fixed to a particular weapon. Damage does not depend on where on the target the attack hits, with the exception of weapons that Critical hit on certain regions of the target.
Distance and Randomness Modifier
The distance modifier is a number between 1.5 and 0.5 that sinusoidally decreases as the distance between the attacker and the target increases. At 1024 units is the trough of the wave, and all distances beyond 1024 are treated as 1024 for the purposes of damage calculation. In this formula, there is a random variation in the distance of ±102.4 units (shown in the graph around 512 units, as an example). This means that you may be treated as being up to 102.4 closer or farther than you actually are, for purposes of the formula. This is the 10% variation many players have heard of; it is not simply a 90%–110% multiplier on the final damage.
The base distance given to the formula is modified for Rocket Launchers, Stickybomb Launchers (when detonated within 5 seconds), and Syringe Guns. When the distance between attacker and target is less than 512 units, it is instead treated as being ~74% closer to 512 units; that is, you are considered to be farther away than you actually are. The result of this is that the maximum damage you can have before random variation is 120% (shown by the maroon offshoot in the graph). In short, these three weapons gain less extra damage from the distance modifier at close range, but still suffer from the same long-range damage penalty as the other weapons.
Melee weapons, Flame throwers, Flare Guns, Grenade Launchers, Sniper Rifles, and Bows are all treated as being at 512 units for this formula. Flamethrowers, however, are affected by their own separately calculated distance modifier.
Weapons that fire projectiles, like the Rocket Launcher and Direct Hit, apply the distance modifier to damage based on the distance between the attacker and the target at the moment the projectile hits a target. This means that the point from which the projectile was fired from is irrelevant when considering damage dealt by that projectile, only the final position of the attacker and the target matter.
Notes:
- The ±102.4-unit variation takes place after scaling for rocket launchers and other distance-modifying weapons.
- The final distance used in the formula (after random variation) cannot go above 1024 or below 0.
- On servers where random variation is disabled ("nodmgspread"), the effective distance used is 102.4 units less than the farthest possible random distance (that is, after being capped at 1024 units). This means that being farther than 921.6 units away is treated as being 921.6 units away; the normal cap is 1024, and 102.4 less than that is 921.6 units.
Splash Modifier
The splash modifier is a number used for explosive weapons that do not connect directly with the target. Valve has not released the official stats for the splash damage falloff yet.
Self-Damage Reduction
Explosive weapons deal fractional damage to oneself, depending on the situation. See the individual weapons' pages for more information.
Critical modifier
Critical hits and Mini-Crits have two effects each.
A Critical hit sets the distance and randomness modifier to 1 (effectively removing it). It then multiplies the final damage by 3.
A Mini-Crit checks to see if the base distance is greater than 512: if it is, then it is treated as 512 for the purposes of the formula (shown as a blue dashed line in the image above) and then the ±102.4 modifier is applied. Whether it capped the distance or not, it then multiplies the final damage by 1.35. The end result is that the weapon does not lose damage when the player is more than 512 units away; if the attack were not critted or Mini-critted, damage would continue to decrease out to 1024 units.
Note: A Backstab instantly kills rather than using a critical modifier.
