Item scaling (Dragon Age II)

Item scaling (or item level scaling) is a gameplay mechanic responsible for adjusting item power to the character level.
In regard to scaling, items in Dragon Age II can be split into three distinct categories:
# Unique items usually have fixed (predefined) levels.
# All generic and some unique items are scaled to Hawke's level once – at the time when they are generated. They don't improve in quality afterwards. 
# Some unique weapons and accessories have the property. These items are re-scaled every time Hawke gains a level. Companion armor also falls into this category even though it is not explicitly marked as leveled in UI. 
== Scaling modifiers ==
=== Item level ===
Item level is a modifier similar to tiers in Dragon Age: Origins. Item level can be fixed, usually ranging from 1 to 25, or vary based on Hawke's level. In the latter case, the two levels are usually equal with the exception of The Hawke's Key (and possibly a few other unique items) which is set to Hawke's level + 2.
=== Power scale ===
Power scale is a scaling multiplier that defines a relative strength of item properties for different base item types. For example, chestpieces have a power scale of 1, helmets – 0.4. This means that the stats on helmets will be 2.5 times less powerful than on chestpieces.
This multiplier is used in most scaling formulas, with a notable exception of attribute requirements.
Item type 	Power scale
Chestpiece 	1
Helmet 	0.4
Gloves 	0.24
Boots 	0.36
Shield 	0.75
Companion armor	2
Amulet 	0.4
Ring 	0.3
Belt 	0.3
One-Handed 	0.8
Two-Handed 	1
Dual Wield 	0.6
Bow 	1
Staff 	1
=== Property power ===
Property power is another common multiplier. It is defined for each property on an item individually. Most of the time it equals 1.0, however, many unique items override the default value. For example, for an item with 3 rune slots, this property power is 3.0.
Items are categorized by the game engine into 7 ranks based on the total property power. These ranks affect item costs, icons, and attribute requirements.
 	Rank 	Powerrequired	Costmodifier	Requirementsscale	Icon
1	Junk 	-1 	1 	1 	Red
2	Normal 	0 	1 	1 	Red
3	Magic 	1 	2 	1.05 	Silver
4	Magic (2) 	2 	4 	1.05 	Silver
5	Rare 	3 	8 	1.05 	Gold
6	Epic 	4 	20 	1.1 	Purple
7	Aspirational	5 	73 	1.1 	Purple
== Scaling formulas ==
=== Armor, resistances, attack, defense ===
 PropertyValue = PropertyData(LVL) * PropertyScale * PowerScale * PropertyPower
PropertyScale is:
* 0.5 for heavy armor
* 0.4625 for medium armor
* 0.425 for light armor
* 2 for elemental resistances
* 0.5 for attack
* 0.25 for defense
PropertyData(LVL) is taken from property_data GDA file:
Integer	Armor	Resistance	Attack	Defense
1 	90 	90 	60 	60
2 	98 	98 	64 	64
3 	107 	107 	68 	68
4 	116 	116 	73 	73
5 	126 	126 	78 	78
6 	137 	137 	83 	83
7 	149 	149 	89 	89
8 	162 	162 	95 	95
9 	177 	177 	102 	102
10 	193 	193 	109 	109
11 	211 	211 	117 	117
12 	230 	230 	125 	125
13 	251 	251 	134 	134
14 	274 	274 	143 	143
15 	299 	299 	153 	153
16 	326 	326 	164 	164
17 	356 	356 	176 	176
18 	389 	389 	189 	189
19 	425 	425 	203 	203
20 	464 	464 	218 	218
21 	507 	507 	234 	234
22 	554 	554 	251 	251
23 	605 	605 	269 	269
24 	661 	661 	289 	289
25 	722 	722 	310 	310
26 	789 	789 	333 	333
27 	862 	862 	357 	357
28 	942 	942 	383 	383
29 	1029 	1029 	411 	411
30 	1124 	1124 	441 	441
31 	1228 	1228 	473 	473
32 	1342 	1342 	508 	508
33 	1467 	1467 	545 	545
34 	1603 	1603 	585 	585
35 	1752 	1752 	628 	628
36 	1915 	1915 	674 	674
37 	2093 	2093 	724 	724
38 	2288 	2288 	777 	777
39 	2501 	2501 	834 	834
40 	2734 	2734 	896 	896
41 	2988 	2988 	962 	962
42 	3266 	3266 	1033 	1033
43 	3570 	3570 	1110 	1110
44 	3902 	3902 	1192 	1192
45 	4265 	4265 	1280 	1280
46 	4662 	4662 	1375 	1375
47 	5096 	5096 	1477 	1477
48 	5571 	5571 	1587 	1587
49 	6090 	6090 	1705 	1705
50 	6657 	6657 	1832 	1832
=== Attribute requirements ===
Armor (strength, dexterity, magic):
 ArmorReq = (10 + (0.75 * ItemLevel)) * ReqScale
Armor (constitution, cunning, willpower):
 ArmorReq = (10 + (0.25 * ItemLevel)) * ReqScale
Weapons (strength, dexterity, magic):
 WeaponReq = (10 + ItemLevel) * ReqScale * 1.1
=== Bonus damage ===
 BonusDamage = Damage * BonusDamageScale * PowerScale * PropertyPower
Damage is (scaled) base weapon damage.
BonusDamageScale is:
* 0.2 for single-target damage
* 0.1 for AoE damage
* 0.3 for damage vs. enemy type (i.e. Humans, Qunari, or Demons/Undead)
=== Cost ===
 Cost in = RankModifier * BaseModifier * ItemLevel * SUM(PropertyPower * PropertyCost)
RankModifier is taken from item_ranks.gda, see #Property power for the table of values.
BaseModifier is taken from itm_base.gda and usually equals 1.0 with the exception of:
Base item 	Cost modifier
Warrior 1h 	0.65
Rogue Melee	0.65
Helm 	0.9
Gloves 	0.85
Boots 	0.875
Shield 	0.7
PropertyCost is taken from item_properties.gda.
Note that values listed in item infoboxes on the wiki are selling prices (i.e. prices that you get for selling an item to a merchant):
 SellingPrice = TRUNC(Cost / 10)
=== Damage ===
Damage increases linearly with weapon level. There are five basic weapon types that affect how damage is calculated.
 Damage = (BaseDamage + DamagePerLevel * Level) * DamageScale * PowerScale
Class 	Weapon type 	Damage(Damage per second) 	Property ID	Notable examples
Warrior	Warrior one-handed	1.243 + 1.342 * Level(2.338 + 2.523 * Level)	5000 	The Edge of NightFadeshearThe Mountain-Father's Haft
Warrior	Warrior two-handed	1.429 + 1.543 * Level(2.343 + 2.53 * Level) 	5100 	The Dogs of War
Rogue 	Rogue melee 	1.557 + 1.682 * Level(2.881 + 3.111 * Level)	5200 	Bard's HonorBeraht's RevengeFionaJarvia's Shank
Rogue 	Rogue ranged 	4.983 + 5.381 * Level(4.684 + 5.059 * Level)	5300 	BiancaHood's Message to the KingLongbow of the Avvars
Mage 	Staff 	1.714 + 1.851 * Level(2.331 + 2.518 * Level)	5400 	Freedom's PromiseMalcolm's Honor
=== Proc chance, regeneration rates ===
Proc chance and regeneration rate bonuses are fixed. They are only affected by the power scale.
For properties it means that Y (power value) is scaled, and X (proc chance) is not. -style properties are not scaled.
=== Other ===
 PropertyValue = (BaseValue + ValuePerLevel * Level) * PowerScale * PropertyPower
BaseValue and ValuePerLevel are specified in item_properties.gda file on a per-property basis:
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
== Appendices ==
=== Attribute requirements table ===
This table lists armor attribute requirements for item levels 1 through 25.
Level	Requirements scale	Requirements scale	Requirements scale
Level	1 	1.05 	1.1
1 	11 / 10 	11 / 11 	12 / 11
2 	12 / 11 	12 / 11 	13 / 12
3 	12 / 11 	13 / 11 	13 / 12
4 	13 / 11 	14 / 12 	14 / 12
5 	14 / 11 	14 / 12 	15 / 12
6 	15 / 12 	15 / 12 	16 / 13
7 	15 / 12 	16 / 12 	17 / 13
8 	16 / 12 	17 / 13 	18 / 13
9 	17 / 12 	18 / 13 	18 / 13
10 	18 / 13 	18 / 13 	19 / 14
11 	18 / 13 	19 / 13 	20 / 14
12 	19 / 13 	20 / 14 	21 / 14
13 	20 / 13 	21 / 14 	22 / 15
14 	21 / 14 	22 / 14 	23 / 15
15 	21 / 14 	22 / 14 	23 / 15
16 	22 / 14 	23 / 15 	24 / 15
17 	23 / 14 	24 / 15 	25 / 16
18 	24 / 15 	25 / 15 	26 / 16
19 	24 / 15 	25 / 15 	27 / 16
20 	25 / 15 	26 / 16 	28 / 17
21 	26 / 15 	27 / 16 	28 / 17
22 	27 / 16 	28 / 16 	29 / 17
23 	27 / 16 	29 / 17 	30 / 17
24 	28 / 16 	29 / 17 	31 / 18
25 	29 / 16 	30 / 17 	32 / 18
=== Damage table ===
This table lists weapon damage and DPS for item levels 1 through 30.
Level	One-Handed 	Two-Handed 	Dual Wield 	Bow 	Staff
1 	3 damage (6 per second) 	3 damage (5 per second) 	3 damage (6 per second) 	10 damage (9 per second) 	4 damage (5 per second)
2 	4 damage (8 per second) 	5 damage (8 per second) 	5 damage (9 per second) 	16 damage (15 per second) 	5 damage (7 per second)
3 	5 damage (9 per second) 	6 damage (10 per second) 	7 damage (13 per second) 	21 damage (20 per second) 	7 damage (10 per second)
4 	7 damage (13 per second) 	8 damage (13 per second) 	8 damage (15 per second) 	27 damage (25 per second) 	9 damage (12 per second)
5 	8 damage (15 per second) 	9 damage (15 per second) 	10 damage (19 per second)	32 damage (30 per second) 	11 damage (15 per second)
6 	9 damage (17 per second) 	11 damage (18 per second)	12 damage (22 per second)	37 damage (35 per second) 	13 damage (18 per second)
7 	11 damage (21 per second)	12 damage (20 per second)	13 damage (24 per second)	43 damage (40 per second) 	15 damage (20 per second)
8 	12 damage (23 per second)	14 damage (23 per second)	15 damage (28 per second)	48 damage (45 per second) 	17 damage (23 per second)
9 	13 damage (24 per second)	15 damage (25 per second)	17 damage (31 per second)	53 damage (50 per second) 	18 damage (24 per second)
10 	15 damage (28 per second)	17 damage (28 per second)	18 damage (33 per second)	59 damage (55 per second) 	20 damage (27 per second)
11 	16 damage (30 per second)	18 damage (30 per second)	20 damage (37 per second)	64 damage (60 per second) 	22 damage (30 per second)
12 	17 damage (32 per second)	20 damage (33 per second)	22 damage (41 per second)	70 damage (66 per second) 	24 damage (33 per second)
13 	19 damage (36 per second)	21 damage (34 per second)	23 damage (43 per second)	75 damage (70 per second) 	26 damage (35 per second)
14 	20 damage (38 per second)	23 damage (38 per second)	25 damage (46 per second)	80 damage (75 per second) 	28 damage (38 per second)
15 	21 damage (39 per second)	25 damage (41 per second)	27 damage (50 per second)	86 damage (81 per second) 	29 damage (39 per second)
16 	23 damage (43 per second)	26 damage (43 per second)	28 damage (52 per second)	91 damage (86 per second) 	31 damage (42 per second)
17 	24 damage (45 per second)	28 damage (46 per second)	30 damage (56 per second)	96 damage (90 per second) 	33 damage (45 per second)
18 	25 damage (47 per second)	29 damage (48 per second)	32 damage (59 per second)	102 damage (96 per second) 	35 damage (48 per second)
19 	27 damage (51 per second)	31 damage (51 per second)	34 damage (63 per second)	107 damage (101 per second)	37 damage (50 per second)
20 	28 damage (53 per second)	32 damage (52 per second)	35 damage (65 per second)	113 damage (106 per second)	39 damage (53 per second)
21 	29 damage (55 per second)	34 damage (56 per second)	37 damage (68 per second)	118 damage (111 per second)	41 damage (56 per second)
22 	31 damage (58 per second)	35 damage (57 per second)	39 damage (72 per second)	123 damage (116 per second)	42 damage (57 per second)
23 	32 damage (60 per second)	37 damage (61 per second)	40 damage (74 per second)	129 damage (121 per second)	44 damage (60 per second)
24 	33 damage (62 per second)	38 damage (62 per second)	42 damage (78 per second)	134 damage (126 per second)	46 damage (63 per second)
25 	35 damage (66 per second)	40 damage (66 per second)	44 damage (81 per second)	140 damage (132 per second)	48 damage (65 per second)
26 	36 damage (68 per second)	42 damage (69 per second)	45 damage (83 per second)	145 damage (136 per second)	50 damage (68 per second)
27 	37 damage (70 per second)	43 damage (71 per second)	47 damage (87 per second)	150 damage (141 per second)	52 damage (71 per second)
28 	39 damage (73 per second)	45 damage (74 per second)	49 damage (91 per second)	156 damage (147 per second)	54 damage (73 per second)
29 	40 damage (75 per second)	46 damage (75 per second)	50 damage (93 per second)	161 damage (151 per second)	55 damage (75 per second)
30 	42 damage (79 per second)	48 damage (79 per second)	52 damage (96 per second)	166 damage (156 per second)	57 damage (78 per second)
== See also ==
* Combat mechanics (Dragon Age II)
* Item properties (Dragon Age II)
Category:Dragon Age II gameplay