Damage (Wasteland 3)

There are multiple **damage** types in *Wasteland 3*. Each one is stronger or weaker to different types of beings, and provide bonuses. Many of these Damages are affected differently by different Player Skills and Attributes.

Damage is also Impacted by what type of Weapon is used and if it's ranged or melee.

## Damage bonuses

### Weapon damage modifiers

Additive damage modifiers provided by modifications such as Alloy barrel or Arc weights. These damage modifiers are applied directly to the weapon's base damage. Damage bonus can also be applied only to minimum or maximum weapon damage like bonuses provided by modifications such as Cut-rifled barrel or Balancing weights.

### Melee/Ranged damage bonus

Melee and ranged damage bonuses vary by weapon type. They are mentioned as percentages and additive to each other, i.e. +5% **Ranged damage** bonus from one source and +10% **Ranged damage** from another will give +15% **Ranged damage** bonus in total. Total Melee/Ranged damage bonus is applied after weapon damage modifiers as a multiplier.

### Damage type bonus

Damage types are Physical, Fire, Cold, Energy and Explosive. However, there are no bonuses to the Physical damage type anywhere in the game, making it the weakest damage type in the late game. Only one type of damage and its bonuses can be applied to a weapon. All instances of damage type bonuses are mentioned as percentages and additive to each other per type, i.e. +5% Explosive **damage** bonus from one source and +10% Explosive **damage** from another will give +15% Explosive **damage** bonus in total. Total damage type bonus is applied as multiplier in damage calculation.

### Target type bonus

Damage bonus (or penalty) multiplier applied the moment the target is hit. Applied after all damage calculations, in this case this bonus has a very noticeable effect on the damage result. Depends on a target type (organic or mechanic) and type of "elemental" damage (Fire, Cold or Energy), which has bonuses or penalties to said target type. Physical and Explosive damage types are unaffected by target type.

## Damage types

Physical damage
Low to medium penetration, effectiveness does not depend on the enemy's type, only on their armor.
Fire damage
Scales with Weird Science, maximum armor penetration, effective against organic targets (+30% **Damage**), ineffective against non-organic targets (-30% **Damage**), often has a chance to apply Burning  (-15% CON per turn).
Cold damage
Scales with Weird Science, maximum armor penetration, effective against organic targets (+30% **Damage**), ineffective against non-organic targets (-30% **Damage**), often has a chance to apply Frozen  (-4 AP and -4 AP (max)).
Energy damage
Scales with Weird Science, maximum armor penetration, effective against non-organic targets (+30% **Damage**), ineffective against organic targets (-30% **Damage**), often has a chance to apply Shocked  (-10% CON per turn, -2 AP and -2 AP (max)).
Explosive damage
Scales with Explosives, maximum armor penetration, equally effective against any targets.
## Damage bonus formula

Weapon damage = (Base weapon damage + Weapon damage modifiers) \* Melee/Ranged damage bonus \* Damage type bonus \* Target type bonus

Fractions rounded down, i.e 150,9 damage will be rounded to 150.

Example

PDW-01 min damage = (38 Damage +28 **Damage** from modifications) \* 1.6 (+60% **Ranged damage** from skills, perks, etc) \* 1.95 (+95% Explosive **damage** from skills, perks, etc) \* 1.0 (Explosive damage equal for all target types) = 205,92 Damage which is rounded down to 205 Damage

### Damage from abilities

Damage values shown on abilities are absolute, meaning that if an ability indicates a -50% damage penalty, the damage will be halved after all calculations. However, this doesn't affect the damage bonuses/penalties for a specific damage type on a specific target (organic or mechanic), because these calculations are applied when the target is hit.

## Damage from status effects

Some status effects have unique relationships with different creature types and may be considered their own damage types. These are...

* Poison damage from Poisoned status effect
* Bleeding damage from Bleeding status effect
* Radiation damage from Radiation fields.