Sunbreak | How Does Attack Work?: Damage Formula Explanations

This is a guide to the attack stat in Monster Hunter Rise (MH Rise). Read on to know how the attack stat works, why all weapons have the same damage stats, and how does elemental attack work.

How Does Raw Attack Work

Raw Attack Stat Boosts Physical Damage

Attack is a fundamental game statistic inherent to all weapons and influenced by several factors such as the weapon's upgrade level and other skills. There are primarily three kinds of attack stat: Raw Attack, Elemental Attack, and Status Attack.

The Raw Attack stat is basically the weapon's raw physical damage potential. The higher it is, the more damage you can output from physical attacks.

Whenever you hit a monster, your weapon's computed attack value is shown (if enabled in the game settings by default). This serves as reference on whether you are doing enough damage or hitting the right monster part.

Raw Attack values can be increased through the Attack Boost Augment in Qurious Crafting. They can also be increased through Rampage Skills.

Ammo and Coatings for Ranged Weapons

Attack damage for melee or close-range weapons are straightforward. For ranged weapons such as bows and bowguns, they get the similar attack stat but damage can be delivered is more varied ways.

With the bow, you can make use of Close Range Coating, which increases damage at the expense of your weapon's effective range. For bowguns, you can deliver damage through different ways; make it using Piercing, Sticky, Cluster, or Spread.

What ammo or coating your weapon can use will depend on what ammo types your weapon can support. This can be viewed through Equipment Info under Compatible Coatings for bows and Capacity for bowguns.

Skills that Boost Raw Damage

Attack Damage
Attack Boost	Agitator
Adrenaline Rush	Burst
Bloodlust	Bludgeoner
Buildup Boost	Coalescence
Counterstrike	Critical Boost
Dereliction	Dragonheart
Element Exploit	Foray
Fortify	Frostcraft
Heroics	Mail of Hellfire
Punishing Draw	Resentment
Resuscitate	Spread Up
Sneak Attack	Pierce Up
Rapid Fire Up	Rapid/Normal Up

How Does Elemental Attack Work

Adds Damage to Your Attacks

Dragon is the game's 5th element stat. It is particularly effective against Elder Dragons.

Unlike physical damage, Elemental Attack value numbers from hits are not displayed in real time.

Instead, elemental damage is a separate value that is added onto the existing attack (this does not multiply your raw damage.) The damage increase is more apparent the more a monster is weak to a specific element.

Elemental weapons become more valuable as you approach the endgame since they mostly allow you to get pass the damage ceiling limited by pure raw. Take note of this when making builds!

Elemental Attack values can be increased through the Elemental Boost Augment in Qurious Crafting. They can also be increased through Rampage Skills.

Elemental Damage and Resistances Guide

Use Elemental Projectiles for Bowguns

In the case of Heavy and Light Bowguns, you can add elemental damage by making use of elemental ammunition.

Ammo and Phials

Skills that Boost Elemental Damage

Elemental Damage Skills
Burst	Charge Master
Dragon Conversion	Strife
Critical Element	Dragon Attack
Fire Attack	Ice Attack
Stormsoul	Thunder Attack
Water Attack	Teostra Blessing
Kushala Blessing	Mail of Hellfire
Bloodlust	Dereliction
Coalescence	Rapid Fire Up

How Does Status Attack Work

Builds Status Thresholds

Poison is a status attack that, when successfully applied on a monster, deals continuous damage to the monster for a period of time.

Status Attacks operate like Elemental Attacks, the difference being that the value in the equipment info displayed shows the status damage and how much a weapon can build towards a monster's status threshold instead of added elemental damage.

The higher the Status Attack value, the easier it is to inflict status upon a monster (and higher value damage from effects like continuous damge from Poison). However, the drawback is that it becomes harder to apply status the more status effects are applied on a monster.

It is also important to note that only around 1/3 of attacks apply status buildup!

Status Attack values can be increased through the Status Boost Augment in Qurious Crafting. They can also be increased through Rampage Skills.

Skills that Boost Status Buildup and Damage

Status Buildup and Damage Skills
Charge Master	Status Trigger
Blast Attack	Paralysis Attack
Poison Attack	Sleep Attack
Chameleos Blessing

How Damage Types Work

Three Main Damage Types

There are three notable damage types: Severing. Blunt, and Projectile. Weapons are capable of applying more of one over the other.

How much damage is dealt by this type is influenced by the a monster's physiology values which can be viewed in the Hunter's Notes.

Damage Types

Severing Damage Type

Primary Severing Type Weapons
Great Sword	Long Sword
Sword and Shield	Dual Blades
Lance	Gunlance
Switch Axe	Charge Blade
Insect Glaive

Severing weapon types are typically the most effective against cutting tails. To be sure, make sure to check a large monster's physiologoy to see which damage types deals most against a certain part!

Blunt Damage Type

Primary Blunt Type Weapons
Hammer	Hunting Horn

Blunt damage is typically the most effective against thick or flat body parts, such as the head.

The Hammer and Hunting Horn are primarily blunt weapon types, but some weapon such as the Sword and Shield can also apply blunt damage through shield-related attacks.

Projectile Damage Type

Primary Projectile Type Weapons
Bow	Light Bowgun
Heavy Bowgun

Projectile (also known as Shot or Ammo) damage is exclusive to ranged weapons. Like the rest of the damage types, their damage varies depending on the monster physiology.

Of the three, this damage type does the least part damage due to its low values in Physiology. However, this is well compensated by the opportunities and advantage a ranged weapon offers that melee does not.

The multiple coatings and ammo types available can also deal a lot of damage, which makes ranged weapons a force to be reckoned with.

Damage Formula Speculations

Physical Damage Formula

Damage Formula for Physical Attacks
Raw Attack Value x Sharpness Multiplier Value x Motion Value Multiplier x Monster Part Multiplier = Physical Damage

Damage works differently for ranged weapons since they do not have a sharpness gauge. You will also have to take into account the weapon's range and ammo used for an attack.

For example, you are using a Great Sword with a raw attack value of 160. With green sharpness the multiplier value is 1.05. The move Overhead Slash has been tested to have a motion value 0.46.

Doing this move to Kulu-Ya-Ku's head which, has 0.68 sever damage vulnerability, should output a physical damage of 52.55 or 53 to Kulu-Ya-Ku.

160 x 1.05 x 0.46 x 0.68 = 52.55 or 53 Physical Damage

Note: There is no official release from Capcom for Motion Values per weapon combos.

How Motion Values Work

The motion value refers to the attack value of each weapon's individual move. For example, the motion value of a Great Sword's Overhead Slash is found to be higher than that of a Dual Blade's Rising Slash.

There has been no official release of info regarding the exact motion values from the game developers. However, differences in damage can be observed when you test different weapons of the same rarity and tree.

Light weapons tend to have lower motion values than heavy, hard-hitting weapons. However, their attacks are significantly faster.

Elemental Damage Calculation

Damage Formula for Elemental Attacks
Element Attack Value x Sharpness Multiplier Value x Motion Value Multiplier x Monster Elemental Weakness (Physiology) = Elemental Damage
Final Damage Computation
Raw Damage + Elemental Damage

Elemental damage is calculated separately from raw, and has a different multiplier according to sharpness. During the final computation, it is added on raw damage.

Compared to raw damage, elemental damage modifiers from sharpness are significantly higher the greater the sharpness level. Green sharpness is found to have a 33% higher jump from yellow in elemental damage compared to raw, which was only a 5% increase.

Elemental Immunity and Dragonblight

Monsters immune to an element will nullify that weapon's elemental damage (so all that is left is raw). You can tell when a monster is immune from an element if the value of every part under an elemental weakness physiology is 0.

Being affected by Dragonblight will also nullify your weapon's ability to deal elemental damage. Look out for these effects and make sure to have a Nulberry on hand to cure them!

List of Abnormal Status Effects

How Affinity Comes In

Affinity is separate from any of the damage calculations, and is based on chance depending on how high your affinity percentage is. It can be described as the game's critical hit chance.

A successful critical hit nets either a 25% increase or decrease in damage, depending on whether your affinity rate is positive or negative. Chances for critical hits can be increased through affinity-boosting skills like Critical Eye.

Normally, affinity only involves raw damage. This, however, can involve Elemental Damage when the skill Critical Element is present.

Affinity Guide

Sharpness Modifier

Sharpness Modifier Table
Sharpness Level	Raw Damage	Elemental Damage	% Loss/Gain (Raw | Ele.)
Red	0.5	0.25	-50% | -67%
Orange	0.75	0.5	-25% | -33%
Yellow	1	0.75	0% | 0%
Green	1.05	1	+5% | +33%
Blue	1.2	1.063	+20% | +42%
White	1.32	1.15	+32% | +53%
Purple	1.39	1.27	+39% | +69%

Sharpness is a large deciding factor in how much a weapon's damage is multiplied. This only applies to melee weapons since ranged weapons do not have a sharpness gauge.

The higher your weapon's sharpness level, the more your damage is multiplied. As observed in the table, Elemental Damage has the highest benefit from increased sharpness levels based on the percentage loss and gain.

Always make sure that your weapon is sharpened during the hunt!

Sharpness Guide

Fixed Phial Damage

Phial-Related Skills
Artillery	Load Shells

Damage coming from phial explosions like those from the Gunlance's Wyvern Fire are calculated independently from physical and elemental damage. The Charge Blade's Impact Phial attacks, however, scale from raw attack while ignoring hitzone values.

Phial damage is useful for dealing damage against monsters with hard or tough parts, since it bypasses the monster part's physical toughness.

Is Attack or Elemental Attack More Important?

Pure Raw or Status for All-around

The advantage of running a pure raw or status build in Rise and Sunbreak is that it can serve as a general all-rounder for any hunt. It is also obviously a more economic choice than running an elemental set.

However, there will be bottlenecks in raw damage compared to Elemental Damage, which becomes more important for speeding up hunt clears the farther you progress in the game.

Elemental is Viable in the Endgame

In Sunbreak, there are more opportunities for increasing damage through elemental attack thanks to the multitude of skills increasing elemental damage like Dragon Conversion and Qurious Armor Crafting.

Going with elemental weapons, however, has much higher material investment compared to status or pure raw since you have to craft weapons catering to specific monsters.

Qurious Crafting Guide

Heavy Weapons Prefer Raw Attack Stat

We highly suggest focusing on raw attack stat for hard hitting weapons like Great Swords. Their normal attack can make use of all the damage you put on your character which makes those single strikes hit hard.

Weapons that Maximize Raw Attack Stat

Weapons that Maximize Attack
Great Sword	Long Sword
Hammer	Hunting Horn
Lance	Gunlance
Switch Axe	Charge Blade
Heavy Bowgun	-

Note that these are just standard build preferences and they can still be built to deal elemental damage, they just won't be able to capitalize on their effects as well as the other weapons.

Fast Weapons Typically Benefit from Elemental Attack

Elemental types on fast weapons like the Dual Blades are good since they can maximize the elemental damage's amplification.

They also work wonders with status attack weapons but since Large Monsters can build resistance to ailments, elemental weapons are often the way to go for the speedy tools.

Weapons that Maximize Elemental Attack

Sword and Shield	Dual Blades
Charge Blade	Light Bowgun
Insect Glaive	Bow
Hunting Horn	Heavy Bowgun

Note that these are just standard build preferences, and they can still be built to deal raw damage, their ability to maximize elemental damage just makes them deal more damage than standard raw affinity builds.

Monster Hunter Rise Related Guides

All Game Mechanics Guides

Sunbreak Guides
New Silkbind Attacks and Switch Skills	How to Switch Skill Swap
How to Get from MR 6 to MR 100 Fast	Anomaly Research Level: How to Get Max Level Fast
How to Bring Followers - List of Followers	Special Investigations: How to Unlock
Village Facility Guides
Room Guide: Things To Do Inside Your Room	Training Area Guide
Canteen and Food Skills	Gathering Hub Guide
Getting Started
Character Creation Guide	List of Controls
Palico Guide	Palamute Guide
Cohoot Guide	List of Settings
Can I Change My Name?	Can I Change Gender?
Hunter and Monster Stats
Explanation of Hunter Stats	Monster Stats Explained
Attack and Elemental Attack	Defense and Elemental Defense
Affinity and Negative Affinity	Monster Size and Effects
Abnormal Status and Elemental Blight Guide	Buff Duration: How Long Do Buffs Last?
Weapon and Armor-Related Guides
How to Rollback Weapons	How to Forge Weapons and Armor
Damage Types: Difference Between Sever, Blunt, Projectile Damage	How to Use Weapon and Armor Designs
How to Change Armor Pigment	How to Hide Armor Pieces
How to Upgrade Kinsects	How Does Sharpness Work?
Qurious Crafting: Armor Augments	Chaotic Gore Magala Weapons Explained
Gameplay Features
Wirebug Moves and Controls	Silkbind Attacks
How to Lock-On and Target Settings	Switch Skills Guide
Wyvern Riding Guide	Turf Wars
What is the Rampage?	Hunter Rank (HR) Guide
Unchangeable Appearance Features	How to Fast Travel
Fishing Guide	Quest Completion Rewards
How to Carry Eggs	Respawn Timers
Melding Pot Guide	Solo and Multiplayer Guide
Crafting List	How to Use Photo Mode
List of Lottery Prizes	How to Save the Game
Character Edit Vouchers
Online Play
Multiplayer and Co-op Guide	Hunter Connect and Like Function
How to use the Chat Feature	How to Use Gestures
Join Requests Guide	How Does Difficulty Scaling Work?