Damage
Damage in MapleStory Thief Edition depends on one number, the hero's ATT, adjusted by the skill used and, for a thrown star, by the star's own attack. Accuracy, critical hits and the target's level come in afterwards (accuracy, avoid and critical hits).
The hero's stats
The hero keeps six numbers that the fight rules read:
| Stat | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Level | 1 to 99 |
| ATT | the level's attack in the level table, plus equipment ATT, Weapon Mastery and Concentration |
| DEF | the level's defense, plus equipment DEF |
| AVOID | the level's avoidability, plus equipment AVOID and Nimble Body |
| ACC | the level's accuracy, plus equipment ACC, Nimble Body and Concentration |
| Critical rate | 2% before the first job advancement, 8% after, plus Critical Throw or Critical Stab |
Wearing an item adds all six of its stats (ATT, DEF, ACC, AVOID, HP and MP); taking it off removes them. HP and MP from equipment raise the maximums. STR, DEX, INT and LUK appear on the status tab and nothing else reads them: in this game they are for display only.
The level table's attack, defense, accuracy and avoidability columns are read by the code; what each column means was worked out from that code, so the level pages mark them probable.
Example: a level 10 hero (level table ATT 14) wears a dagger with 8 ATT and has nothing else. The hero's ATT is 22.
Attacks, targets and stars
The attack key starts the current skill. A new attack can start once the previous one has run for the weapon's interval: 2, 4 or 6 game ticks for weapon speed 1, 2 or 3, which is 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3 seconds at the default game speed.
| Skill | Hit area | Targets | Hits | Stars used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack (dagger swing or claw punch) | a box 60 by 24 pixels in front | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Throwing-Stars A (claw) | a star flying up to 160 pixels | 1 | 1 | 1, or 2 with Shadow Partner |
| Lucky Seven | two stars, four with Shadow Partner | 1 each | 1 each | 2 (4) |
| Double Step | a box 60 by 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Drain | one star | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Avenger | a large star that flies through monsters | the skill's value | 1 each | 3 |
| Shadow Web | a box 150 by 24 | up to 6 | none (it binds) | 0 |
| Savage Blow | a box 60 by 24 | 1 | the skill's value | 0 |
| Boomerang Stab | a box 150 by 24 | the skill's value | 2 each | 0 |
"The skill's value" is the per-level value the skill window shows for it (skills and buffs).
- Weapons. Star skills need a claw and Bandit skills need a dagger; the game refuses the skill otherwise. A dagger's basic attack picks one of two swing animations at random, and both hit the same way.
- The claw punch. With a claw, the basic attack punches instead of throwing when a monster is right next to the hero or the hero has no stars. A punch always does 1 damage.
- Stars. A star skill needs as many stars as it throws. They come from the first stack that holds enough, and that stack's star sets the damage bonus. An empty stack stays in the inventory with a count of 0, ready to be recharged at a shop.
- Shadow Web does no damage: each monster in its box is bound and cannot move for the skill's value in ticks.
Example: a claw Assassin with Shadow Partner on uses Lucky Seven. Four stars leave, four damage rolls are made against the one target, and four stars come off the first stack that has at least four.
The damage roll
One hit's damage, before evade, miss and critical, follows six steps. A is the hero's ATT.
- A claw punch does 1 damage; nothing else applies.
- If the hit is a thrown star (Subi Throwing-Stars to Hwabi Throwing-Stars), the star's attack is added to A.
- The base is x = A × (A / 30 + 3) / 5, with A / 30 rounded down first.
- The skill adjusts x, as in the table below. For an attack skill, p is its damage percentage at its level: the base value plus the per-level value times the skill level.
- If x is now below 0, it becomes 10.
- A roll r from minus x / 3 to x / 5 is added, and the result is multiplied by 110 / 100.
| Skill | x becomes |
|---|---|
| Attack with a dagger, and every skill not listed | x, unchanged |
| Throwing-Stars A | x minus a tenth of x (no p) |
| Lucky Seven | x + x × p / 100, minus 5 |
| Double Step | x + x × p / 100, minus 3 |
| Drain | x + x × p / 100, plus 2 |
| Avenger | x + x × p / 100, plus 4 |
| Savage Blow | x + x × p / 100, plus 2 |
| Boomerang Stab | x + x × p / 100, plus 3 |
So one hit lands anywhere from about 0.73 x to 1.32 x, every value equally likely.
Edge cases:
- Skills hit one level higher than the window shows. The damage uses the skill's full level, while the skill window's damage figure uses the level minus one. A level 5 skill hits with the percentage the window lists for level 6.
- The percentage is added on top. A skill whose window says 60% damage does 160% of the base, plus its constant.
- x of exactly 0 stays 0, and the hit then misses (its damage is below 1). Only a negative x is lifted to 10, which takes a flat penalty (Lucky Seven's 5, Double Step's 3) on a very small ATT.
- The star bonus counts for star hits only; a claw's own ATT is already part of A.
Example (made-up numbers): A is 40 and the hero swings a dagger. A / 30 is 1, so x = 40 × 4 / 5 = 32. The roll runs from minus 10 to 6, so the damage is from 22 × 110 / 100 = 24 to 38 × 110 / 100 = 41.
Example: the same hero throws a 4-attack star with a claw (the basic throw), so A is 44. x = 44 × 4 / 5 = 35, less a tenth (3) is 32: the same 24 to 41.
Example: a level 5 Double Step (p = 60 + 5 × 5 = 85) at A = 40. x = 32 + 32 × 85 / 100 minus 3 = 32 + 27 minus 3 = 56, so each of its two hits does (56 minus 18) × 110 / 100 = 41 to (56 + 11) × 110 / 100 = 73.
Calculator
The calculator applies the rules on this page and on accuracy, avoid and critical hits. Choosing a level fills in that level's ATT, ACC, DEF and AVOID from the level table, and choosing a weapon fills in its fixed ATT (the stat a bought or dropped weapon has); change any number to match a rolled or scrolled item. Other ATT is for the rest of the equipment and for Weapon Mastery and Concentration. The mean damage per attempt counts the monster's evade, the miss chance and critical hits.
Sources
CHero::RollDamage 0x64DA1 (the damage roll, called only by CMob::TakeHit 0x73715), CSkill::DamageValue 0x7D551 (the window's damage figure), CHero::onAttack 0x605FD and the interval table at 0x117140, CSkill::SpawnAttack 0x7D781 (hit areas), CSkill::setActiveSkill 0x7EFF1 (weapon checks), 0x7E9A1 (the two swings), CHero::isSpear 0x5FF3D and CHero::UseStars 0x67005 (stars), CSkill::ShadowWeb 0x7EB8D, CHero::AddEquipStats 0x5F89D and CHero::RemoveEquipStats 0x5F979 (equipment), the status tab 0x56321. The real-asset test play.mechanics checked every hit of a 60-kill hunt against these rules.