Understanding True Damage (Discussing Base, Boosted, & True Damage) | Fire Emblem Heroes Guide

[@TheSacredSpear]

I would have loved to make a separate video about Legendary Eirika and Lunar Brace, but I couldn't get her so this is going to be the closest thing for now.

[@PrinceofNohr]

I have Eirika and she can reduce the Def from a Foe to 100% with Luna and this is really scary.

[@MineNAdventurer]

You should of mentioned that True damage effects specials like Blazing Light while also effecting your normal attacks so you can get +7 on special then +14 on dual attacks.

[@canaary12]

Question: what about when someone has 1 or 2 sources of true damage, and the special that procs them is Glimmer?

[@MineNAdventurer]

@@canaary12 they add together, weve known this due to Wo Dao and Bushido being able to stacking

[@alexv8385]

Do you know anyone whos made a full lunar brace explanation video? Im pretty sure i get it i just wanna make sure

[@aAmorously]

Welcome back to Math with Sacred Spear

[@VerkatosEnsei]

That was actually pretty informative and it helped me understand damage calculation. Nicely done.

[@tremainesadipe]

Thank you sooooo much for making this. I was pretty confused with true damage and base damage, especially on defensive tiles.

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

Probably one of your best videos an interesting topic and a clear explanation I hope it goes viral in the heroes fandom since it seems like you worked hard on this

[@thefreeburningspirit]

Very concise explanations that even a math hater like me can sit through and understand. Thank you for making this video!

[@adamholt5395]

Thank you so much for this video! Seeing all of the topics floating around reddit about this was enough to make you sick. I never understood what most of them were talking about, but I understand this one perfectly!

[@BHox01]

One of your best videos, great job going through and explaining everything and showing examples in-game

[@BragoGeno]

Great video. This certainly helped me understand the whole damage ordeal a bit better.

[@shadedhydra6674]

Hey thanks for clearing that up, I've had some understanding of true damage before but this was really helpful.

[@rajapolonio7795]

Thank you for discussing this, Sacred Spear. I got myself an LEirika, at first I really don't know what to do with her. And wow, Lunar brace does true damage. I admit, I underestimated Eirika before. But now, it's actually good that I got her. I'm just going for her default kit with Sol instead.

[@yuki9612]

I really like your clear and structured explanation, keep up the good work and effort you put in these kinds videos

[@lapplandkun9273]

Omg thank you. I was trying to figure out how damage calc worked and you explained it in a simple and easy way to understand. Tried going to gamepedia but the formula for it was way too confusing. Made me want to slam my head trying to understand it XD

[@aghadlarhen9397]

This is great Sacred! very informative especially for those who missed the notification where IS explained how Damage is calculated and changed the wording on the skills/specials to clarify. (Also in regards to Vassals blade/Giga Excalibur, I remember that any weapon/skill that states "Boost Damage by" is still affected by negative damage while those that state "Boost Damage dealt" forgoes normal calcs and are added at the end. I think it also applied to defensive specials where aegis/pavise don't affect true damage but deflect skills/crusaders ward/thani & brynhilldr refine as well as shield pulse can.)

[@NeoSwordsmanZ]

You earned a sub with this explanation! Edit: also didn't know about weapons like Light Brand and Shining Bow dealing "in combat" true damage.

[@ckkqwer2611]

Clean maths explanation, I now understand this game more, Thank you!

[@piplupEX]

Are you majoring in a maths-related degree in college or something? I find your explanations very clear.

[@Ocsttiac]

Studying mathematics at an advanced level only makes it harder to explain maths to other people. 3 years of maths at uni... and I swear I saw more Greek letters than numbers the entire time.

[@KingEndymionrose]

@@Ocsttiac especially for me because math is my worst subject r.i.p me XD.

[@joanaguayoplanell4912]

@@Ocsttiac indeed.

[@thechosenflutterbox]

This all seems to be middle school level math at most. Anyone good at explaining things should be able to explain this

[@alphathehedgehogx96]

I'd say a degree in education is more likely in that case as a Mathematics major, it only gets harder and harder to explain as you move along

[@justmightbegood]

You're good at explaining things. Thanks!

[@Robert256]

Thanks for making this video and clarifying all this!

[@vertika7767]

Take a shot to everytime Sacred says "Damage"

[@NovaSamuel26710]

Vadiarc V I don’t wish to die

[@vertika7767]

@@NovaSamuel26710 shit u right

[@jstn167]

That a lot of damage.

[@somefoolishfool]

Sorry, I can’t drink that fast.

[@linkdx7079]

ThAtS a LoT oF dAmAgE

[@KingEndymionrose]

A video about attack damage I'm going to like this because I'm all about that attack plus attack IV is my favorite.

[@lordtullus9942]

Very great explanation! Now I know how to build eirika. Sol=mini aether

[@thorhammer3993]

I thought numbers round up when you got decimals in feh. Its nice to know that it actually gets round down

[@m_miko6962]

mini aether eirika while using sol sepcial :D

[@nathancory7278]

It's pretty much a straight up better Radiant Aether, both on a 4 turn cooldown (because of the cooldown penalty on Lunar Brace) but Eirika is doing true damage

[@rajapolonio7795]

Thanks, I actually have no idea how the hecc should I build her.

[@thefreeburningspirit]

Would Noontime be better? My concern is that Eirika is not that tanky and could die before she even gets to heal through her special

[@nathancory7278]

@@thefreeburningspirit Nah, Sol's better 99% of the time. Issue is Noontime just doesn't heal for enough HP to be worth it, even if it does charge faster. And besides, Eirika can use her Storm Sieglinde to offset Sol's higher special cooldown anyway

[@m_miko6962]

And close def seal can help her to be more tanky since not many unit can double her

[@trainelviajero]

really interesting explain mister profesor sacred spear

[@losttallows]

Solitary Blade- even refined- doesn't deal true damage unless I'm missing something.

[@Salim-RS]

Dual Wrath LA!Hector with Ignis or Aether is pretty rad, the boost in damage plus the true +20 is very fun to use, may not be efficient, but I do love the build

[@derkuchenmacher1455]

Great video spear! However, I do think the description of vassals blade/giga excalibur is accurate. It says "boosts damage *dealt* ", which is different from the description of skills like bonfire. Their description says that the special only boosts your damage, not your damage dealt. So even if you deal -15 damage, the displayed damage is 0. Vassals blade will add +7 to the 0 displayed damage (if you have 10 speed more) and make it 7 damage. Another interesting interaction with true damage are the damage multiplying specials Glimmer and Astra. They do NOT affect true damage. This means that, if you deal for example 10 damage, and proc glimmer while in wrath range, you will do 25 damage total instead of the 30 that you would deal if Glimmer used the 20 damage ( base dmg + wrath proc ) to calculate the bonus damage. I tested this myself with Roy, who got attacked by a LA!Hector that dealt 0 damage. He activated Glimmer, and due to his berserk armads, he dealt 10 true damage, but that number didnt get increased to 15 from the Glimmer activation, due to the Glimmer bonus damage being calculated before the wrath damage gets added ( 0 x 1.5 + 10 = 10 )

[@michaelxie837]

Thanks for that explanation! I always wondered about the interaction between glimmer/astra and true damage. Is it the same for healing specials like noontime/sol, where the true damage is applied after your special calculations? i.e. if u hit for 0 dmg, sol will heal for 0 rather than 5 (assuming wrath or some similar effect is active)?

[@derkuchenmacher1455]

Michael Xie Sol does work, which is pretty strange. Maybe the healing is calculated after everything, and based off the number that pops up when you hit the enemy? That would be interesting, since that means that unlike other specials, healing specials are calculated after you hit the enemy.

[@michaelxie837]

@@derkuchenmacher1455 Huh, that's interesting. Thanks for the reply!

[@appi105]

You're saying that true damage is overhyped because it's only useful when you're fighting against the triangle and against really tanky units but forget that arena nowadays is just "babysitting, the mode" so being able to allow your bonus pleb Anna to still deal at least 10 dmg to zelgius with wrath she'll be able to land final blows. Don't forget this.

[@anyichibuogwu9086]

appi105 I think he’s just saying don’t use true dmg specials outside of trying to break the weapon triangle

[@benja637]

Amazing video!!

[@MakoEyesOfSapphire]

Ty for making a video about this.

[@draco2351]

Fantastic video, always was a little confused to how the math worked with more of these damage modifications. *looks at video title* Base Boosted songs in Heroes when IS? 😂

[@CorvodaPop]

Nothing feels better than when the enemy activates bonfire or iceberg and it still deals 0 damage

[@alphathehedgehogx96]

so this means Subaki is now dealing True Damage with his Golden Naginata refine

[@isarufriki]

Hi. Good vídeo. But, the true damage is add always? For exemple, if Sonya have his personal tome and blue flame (the Skill of Owain) she have +35 true damage with the special attack?

[@rcdt6653]

Awesome video, made me subscribe again

[@alphathehedgehogx96]

it's worth mentioning Light Brand and Shining Bow also have True Damage as long as Def ≥ Res +5

[@bluelion1995]

You said „damage“ 723 times...

[@falinestixiaolong9691]

That's exactly what makes me enjoy Fir so much despite her having one of the lowest Atk in the game. Nameless Blade + Wrath makes for 20 unavoidable dmg. And if you don't deal 0 base, well, few can survive an instant Iceberg from her under these conditions.

[@Larry5128]

Hey Spear. I managed to pull L!Eirika (on my first 5 orb pull, and I've been sniping for Maidgero this whole time) and with Luna, she's SCARY. She can kill H!Myrrh in one hit due to 100% def reduction... Too much for me to withstand :|

[@leptinainccm]

It's not wierd that it shows the 7x2. Its a computer reading down its code, its how they work. It most likely calculates dmg as usual, rounds it to 0 if its negative and then adds the +7.

[@Aftertaste_]

True absolute damage = Atk+ Laevatein with DB4, Astra, chill def/wrath and stat boosts.

[@KunoichiPeri]

So, going by that logic does that mean that poison dagger and savage blow are forms of True damage, just u know based outside combat??

[@lapplandkun9273]

Yes, because they ignore def and res. They do a certain amount regardless of the amount of def and res

[@seliphsnom2596]

I wonder what would happen if you give legendary erika aether with luanr brace

[@ricklawlieth4913]

Fucking máster piece dude thanks for the video

[@CrashAriMP5N2O]

True damage calculations become most relevant when using WTD bonus units in arena. Sharena comes to mind for F2P players and for her to go against a lot of Hectors is a tall order.

[@lancelot717]

I have seen a couple videos where you have done this. You know that Mt stands for 'weapon might' right? Anyway, good video. It annoys me to no end that wodaos w/ wrath and blade tomes dont stack with glimmer.

[@lordtullus9942]

I rhink they used to.

[@jeffgauthier725]

5:47 Isn’t Blue Flame a true damage special

[@shun1255]

Pirhana Plant for Smash, everyone is a hyped. Lunar Brace for Fire emblem Heroes... No one gives a crap...

[@mannp.1704]

I think it is because lunar brace slowsdown erika's special by +1, so she can't abuse her specials like Ayra and Zelgius. Not to mention, she is in a bloated color and movement type, so she does face some competition against other sword Cavalry

[@jules9424]

To me, it's mostly that Eirika is yet another hyper offensive sword unit. We've got tons of those already, she isn't special.

[@joanaguayoplanell4912]

@@mannp.1704 Well, if you combine this thing witha Slaying weapon, Heavy Blade, and Draconic Aura or Luna you get a near guaranteed OHKO.

[@mannp.1704]

@@joanaguayoplanell4912 even then she isn't going to abuse her specials since she will still have a three turn special.

[@joanaguayoplanell4912]

@@mannp.1704 3 turn She attacks and charges 2 Counter charges 1 She doubles and procs a special that will essentially completely ignore enemy defense and deal fixed damage equal to her (~50) attack +- a little depending on the damage calc on every single round of combat if she attacks someone capable of retaliating. TOOOOTALLY not worth it. Alternatively use Quickened Pulse and her base weapon.

[@bazinga99990]

I've been wondering about this for awhile but with adaptive damage does it target the lowest stat before or during combat so something like berkuts lance with 24 def and 23 res vs felica's plates would the res be targeted or def?

[@TheSacredSpear]

Adaptive Damage takes into account any effects that happen "during combat" as well. Since Berkut's Lance adds +7 Res the unit would have 24 Def and 30 Res during combat. Felicia's Plate would target the lower 24 Def. That's why Flora's new dagger adds +20 Def when fighting melee units including Dragons. Normally Flora has 18 Def and 38 Res. A dragon's Adaptive Damage counterattack would target that 18 Def stat. However, with the Hoarfrost Knife Flora adds +20 Def to end up with 38 Def & Res. This makes Flora less susceptible to Adaptive Damage at least if she is the one starting the fight.

[@bazinga99990]

Ahh thank you I was wondering about that for a while but didn't know how it worked or how to test it

[@JK-qo6nh]

Do the attack based boost damage take color advantage/disadvantage into consideration

[@TheSacredSpear]

I don’t believe they do. Draconic Aura and Dragon Fang will consider Atk Field buffs and in-combat buffs, but it won’t use the Atk stat after applying the Weapon Triangle multiplier.

[@ricardoludwig4787]

Where does might enter the equation?

[@CptCelestialCarnage]

So Moonbow does not affect Lunar Braces damage negatively. Good to know.

[@Goosaphone]

Doesn't blue flame do true damage?

[@lordtullus9942]

No.

[@chewyster3033]

How many items does he damage in this video?

[@audinothesweetswarlock4229]

Ares: Weapon: A: Heavy blade 3 B: Special spiral 3 C: Smoke atk 3 Seal: Smoke spd 3 Special: Miracle Outnumbered? He'll live if he gets this miracle

[@EduardoGarcia-tn5je]

I though that things like bonfire weren’t affected by the oponent defense

[@TheSacredSpear]

The only time you will notice it being affected is if you are doing negative base damage before you add Bonfire's boosted damage. It will have to make up the negative damage first, unlike True Damage.

[@honeybutter8257]

damn now im scared of next arena season with lerika as the bonus unit, seeing +10 copies of her everywhere how tf I will make all my bonus kills when she is practically a bk in a horse

[@juanarboleda95]

Holy frick, I thought Lunar Brace was ok but that amount of true damage is ... Disgusting.

[@ZaTrapu]

I see why Black Luna is so powerful I mean 80% res/def reduction aka ‘true damage’

[@kobyma2]

"True" damage also matters because it boosts damage of AoE specials, IIRC

[@TheSacredSpear]

Yep, I believe even weapons like Leif’s Light Brand adds that +7 to all enemies hit by his AoE Special. I think Lunar Brace even calculates its damage for each individual foe.

[@appi105]

Take a shot every time he says damage. Rest in peace bud.

[@MrCarlanimex]

My kind of math. Sweet.

[@GadalarZazargian]

So luna + lunar brace = ???

[@lordtullus9942]

0% defense +1

[@ast8177]

How do you get to negative DMG in a real game?

[@xeener1867]

THATS A LOTTA DAMAGE!!!!!!

[@CaTastrophy427]

For the "0 atk but 10 true damage" unit... I feel like there was some unit that's like that in their original game... can't remember who tho. (Well, I think they had like, an average of 9 atk at max level, but still) FSR, I think they were from PoR or RD. I'll look it up and edit this if I find who I'm thinking of EDIT: Well, in RD, Marcia has 30%/20% growth rates for Str/Mag, Ranulf is 30/15, and Reyson 5/30. Looking at average stats, which is more annoying to try to read/compare, Leanne and Rafiel, Reyson's siblings, have lower average str/mag at max level. Marcia comes with 16/6 at level 5 (tier 2/3), and upon promotion, gains 3/4. That means... well, her theoretical max is 32/20 due to class restrictions, but her average stats would be 29/17 at max. However... her HP/def/res would be 50/28/31, which is kinda low for the tank he was envisioning. Next, Ranulf: Uhh... Laguz are weird. Max level, he'd likely have 18/8 str/mag, and 65/15/11 HP/def/res. Lots of HP, nothing else. Well, he has spd (20 spd, to be exact)... Looks weak, right? He's not. See, the reason I said Laguz are weird is that Laguz have their stats double when transformed, save for a few (HP/luck don't, as well as stats that don't apply in battle) so he'd have 36/16 S/M, with 65/30/22 H/D/R. Reyson is also a Laguz. Untransformed, he'd average 4/13 S/M, with 46/11/22 H/D/R. Transformed, that's 8/26 and 46/22/44. Great res tank if he got renewal, but the thing is, he and his siblings can't actually fight. They would have to have a weapon with an effect like "unit's atk is 0 for attack damage calculation purposes. When unit attacks, deals 10 damage to foe" or something. Basically, it would replace your attack with the effect of Poison Strike, but it can kill. Give them Miracle and Renewal, and I'd love to see that. Actually, they are Dancers. I'll make a quick build. (New things are base kit, the rest is probably not going to be base kit) OK, what I'd like to see is something like this: (name of one of the three) weapon type: Heron (melee colorless? DC but can't initiate? That sounds good) Movement type: flying for Leanne/Reyson, infantry for Rafiel (insert appropriate stats, high HP/Res, low AF Atk, decent Spd/Def) (insert weapon name... maybe Heron's Grace or Oliver's Protection?) [Effect: Reduces Atk to 0 when calculating unit's damage, deals +10 damage. Can counterattack regardless of foe's range, unit cannot initiate combat] Galdrar (or Sing, if they don't want to put Galdrar in the game) [Effect: Grants another action to target ally, and removes negative status effects (Panic, Gravity, etc.) Cannot be used on a target with Sing, Dance, or Galdrar] (Maybe a special? Miracle, probably) Fortress Def/Res 3 from Kliff Renewal 3 Blessing (heals adjacent allies at start of turn. Not sure of the exact amount healed, maybe 10?) And I'd give a fortress seal, probably FortDef, spd/def +2, or HP/spd 2. Maybe HP/Def 2. Guidance or Flyer Formation could work too.

[@makemeasandwich1]

wait, isn't Blue Flame true damage?

[@carmenjimenezpadilla5879]

MY HEAD!!!!

[@beegyobby576]

You forgot Blue Flame.

[@zephyfoxy]

THAT'S A LOTTA DAMAGE!!

[@NixLeonis]

"to be honest I believe that True Damage is overhyped" This didn't age well, thanks L!Dimitri

[@flk2441]

take my 1000th like :)

[@idontcareifthisistheendill5653]

Is blue flame true?

[@dannthra]

No, it's boosted damage, not true.

[@TheSacredSpear]

No, Blue Flame is just Boosted Damage.

[@jamestopfaff]

Putting it on my L'Arachel, f2p ftw

[@ParryThisCasual]

Don't forget above 100 base damage

[@calamitoso0066]

6:21 the solution is 24, not 14

[@amanasd26]

no it's not

[@kevton1397]

Why does this have to involve math?

[@JaDX243]

Huh, so blue flame isn't true damage? Good to know

[@nrshocks6931]

"there is no special that does true damage" As Owain blasts into the meta with blue flame

[@hik319]

Blue Flame isn’t true damage

[@amanasd26]

Fire Emblem Maths

[@OmegaCKL]

Bass Boosted

[@bluggvg5934]

Blue Flame is true damage

[@TM25MD]

True damage? Is this league? 👀

[@1kouko]

damage

[@GamerLogan-ve1vm]

Hi

[@Leon-dl7hf]

There's blue flame for true dmg special skill

[@МихаилБойко-в6н]

Yeah, I wonder, why this special was not touched in the videos (apart from mentioning it in the table)

[@orb1611]

Apparently it's not true damage

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

Dank Leon it’s actually not true damage I think it get affected by the weapon triangle

[@vintagecombo877]

Blue Flame boosts damage by 10 or 25 instead of granting +10 or +25 damage, so it just behaves like other damage boosting specials.

[@TheSacredSpear]

Blue Flame does not use True Damage. Its a flat “boost” to damage just like Bonfire. You just don’t have to calculate anything since its either 10 damage when alone or 25 damage when next to an ally.

[@mud2294]

But Draconic Aura and Fang are true damage.....

[@NocriZle]

Sigh... that's a lot of damage

[@putz3268]

This is not a good video to listen to halfassedly in the background. I've gotten confused about something I never even had an issue understanding before.

[@angelswarz8995]

Fairly sure bonfire/Ignis and Regnal Astra deal true damage, I have never seen them be affected by negative damage when attacking bulky units.

[@zeferzon9371]

No, you can proc bonfire and deal 0 damage. So it's not true damage.