Statistics

A character in Dredgers gains power from several **statistics**. The base statistics are: Constitution (CON), Defense (DEF), Energy (ENG), Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Speed (SPD), Intelligence (INT), and Charm (CHM). Other statistics like health, damage, regeneration, and hidden statistics are derived from these values.

Players obtain stat points by gaining levels, by equipping items, and through racial traits and other effects.

## Base statistics

Each base statistic is listed below along with its effects.

* CON, or Constitution, increases max health and regeneration from EXP and foods.
	+ 1 CON provides **10** max health.
	+ Most races gain 1 additional point of constitution per level.
* DEF, or Defense, increases the amount that armor and shields can block and also defends against critical hits.
* ENG, or Energy, increases the amount of max energy and its regeneration, while also decreasing the rate of staff weapon misfires.
	+ 1 ENG provides **10** max energy.
	+ (Energy and max energy share the same namesake, unlike CON and health.)
* STR, or Strength, increases melee damage as well as ranged attack speed.
* DEX, or Dexterity, increases ranged damage as well as melee attack speed.
* SPD, or Speed, increases movement speed.
* INT, or Intelligence, increases incantation damage and lowers the chance of miscasts.
* CHM, or Charm, has several effects. It lowers shop prices, protects against charm damage, increases charm and light-based damage, and raises the success rate of some mind controlling abilities.

Note that the damage of certain abilities may scale with unconventional stats like CON or SPD.

### Negative values

Any base statistic may fall to a negative value, decreasing that aspect of the character. For example, negative STR lowers melee damage below the weapon's base value, while negative CHM increases shop prices.

* Negative DEF is treated as zero DEF for the purposes of blocking with armor and shields.
* At negative ENG, a staff will not fire, unless guaranteed by the Staff Expertise skill.
* At negative INT, incantations will not cast, unless guaranteed by the Incantations mastery.
* Negative SPD slows movement speed substantially and can even make traditional movement impossible.

### Items and effects

Items provide benefits based on a percentage of base stats. For example, a pair of Tough Boots increases DEF by +10% and movement speed (not SPD) by 20%. Certain armors or passives may convert one stat to another, such as Casting Armor raising INT by 100% DEF in exchange for providing no defense benefit.

## Resource gauges

### Health

Health is a character's life force. Dropping below zero health causes death. Each point of CON provides **10** max health, and certain racial traits and effects provide additional health.

### Armor

Armor (native: "armour") is a defense gauge that negates damage before health. Note that while armor can block both physical and magical damage, certain damage types bypass armor entirely. Max armor is determined by DEF and the equipped torso armor, which controls the armor multiplier and regeneration rate. For example, a metal chestplate builds up 1000% DEF armor points over 8 seconds. The Armor Multiplier, while normally hidden, can be shown by enabling Advanced Mode.

* Resting regenerates armor very quickly.
* Characters have 0 armor if they are naked, if their DEF equals 0, or if their torso item doesn't add armor.
* The Crabman race has no torso slot but instead has Natural Armor which provides an amount of armor equal to DEF.

See Items for more information on armor regeneration, DEF stacking, and shields.

### Hunger

Hunger represents a character's food stores. The player consumes food while resting to passively regenerate health and energy. One point of CON provides 10 max hunger, with a minimum of 100 hunger.

## Other statistics

### Attack speed

The attack speed of a weapon falls between **100%** and **400%** of the weapon's base speed modified by DEX / STR for melee weapons, and STR / (DEX+INT) for ranged weapons. Generally, increasing a weapon's damage stats lowers its attack speed, while the opposing stat raises attack speed. Ranged attack speed is lowered by both DEX and INT, since INT affects ranged critical rolls.

**Melee Attack Speed = max(100% + ( DEX / STR )%, 400%)**

**Ranged Attack Speed = max(100% + ( STR / (DEX+INT))%, 400%)**

* Swing speed animation also influences attack speed.
* Unarmed attack speed is not influenced by base stats.

#### Negative attack speed

Having negative DEX for melee, or negative STR for ranged, slows attack speed below base speed by 1% per negative point. For example, a DEX of -20 will lower melee attack speed to 80% base speed.

## Patch Notes

### Version 47

* Reworked attack speed to cap at 400% base speed, up from 200%.

(Unknown patch number)

* Items now give percent-based stat increases, instead of an increase per level capped by base stat.