| Material required? | None |
| 80/100 giving extra checks? | No |
| Obtainable in game? | No |
| Wishable | Yes |
Boosts rate of critical hits.
Manual info[]
This skill increases your chance to score a critical hit when fighting monsters.
Basics[]
Without this skill or a slaying weapon, the chance of getting critical hits seems to be around 5%. With the skill at 100, it is about 24% with melee attacks and 12% with ranged attacks, with a seemingly linear increase. The final rate might be dependent on some factors such as class, luck, and weapon used.
The critical bonus for melee is 2x (3x if blessed weapon vs. demons and undead); for missiles, the multiplier is in the 2x-5x range (with blessed missiles against demons and undead within 3x-7.5x).
While the damage bonus of critical hits may be 2x, the final damage dealt is typically significantly higher than that of two normal hits. This is because most monsters have some degree of protection value (PV), which reduces damage from every hit by a flat amount, and in the event of a critical hit, is only subtracted once. For two normal hits, it is subtracted twice—once for each hit. For example, if you hit a monster with a PV of 18 two times for base damage of 20, the final damage is only 4 (20-18=2, 20-18=2). However, if you land a critical hit on the same monster for 40 damage, the final damage will be 22 (40-18=22), over 5 times the total of the two separate normal attacks. This obvious advantage of critical hits makes the skill highly desirable for anyone using melee or missile attacks.
Advanced uses[]
Some 25th level class powers increase critical rate—20% for Assassins and 10% for Fighters. These bonuses stack but not additively (e.g., a level 25 assassin with 100 find weakness has around 39% critical chance, not 45%).
Stacking:
- The damage from critical hits and a slaying weapon does not stack.
- The increased chances of getting a critical hit from skill, class powers and items does stack and can reach rather high values (>50%).
Obtaining[]
Classes: Assassin, Chaos Knight, Duelist, Fighter, Healer, Monk, Necromancer, Weaponsmith.
Races: Dark Elf and Orc.
Training[]
Scoring critical hits for whatever reason (using a slaying weapon trains the skill rather fast).