Damage Composition

Break Damage Into Layers First

In Torchlight: Infinite, a damage stat is not valuable just because the number is large. A hit usually starts from base damage, then passes through skill scaling, tag matching, inc damage, more damage, gain damage, skill levels, crit, and output frequency. If one layer is weak, later investment often feels much smaller than expected.

This page explains what each layer means and where it usually comes from. You do not need to calculate the full formula here. The goal is to know whether an affix improves the base, adds to the same percentage layer, opens a separate multiplier, or improves crit and hit frequency. For formulas and real gain calculations, use Damage Calculation Basics.

Base Damage

Base damage is the number that later damage modifiers amplify. If the base is too low, stacking percentage damage only makes a small starting number larger.

Attack and spell builds start from different places:

Type	Base source	First check
Attack skills	Weapon damage, weapon attack speed, weapon base crit rating	Check the weapon and the skill's `% weapon attack damage`
Spell skills	Skill base flat damage, skill damage multiplier, spell base crit rating	Check skill level, base flat damage, and multiplier
Added flat damage	Gear, support skills, affixes, special mechanics	Check whether the added damage enters this skill's damage calculation

Attack builds are often very sensitive to the weapon because weapon damage, base speed, and base crit rating all matter. Spell builds usually start with the skill itself: skill level, base flat damage, and damage multiplier decide how large the starting point is.

Skill And Weapon Scaling

Skill scaling turns flat damage or weapon damage into the base damage used by a skill.

For spells, the usual logic is:

The skill has its own base flat damage.
Gear or support skills may add spell flat damage.
The skill's damage multiplier scales those flat damage values.

For attacks, the usual logic is:

Start from the weapon used for this hit.
The skill's % weapon attack damage decides the scaling.
Added attack damage must be checked against the weapon hit it enters.

When judging flat damage, do not stop at the raw +50 value. First check whether it enters the current skill, whether it is scaled by the skill multiplier, and which base damage pool it joins.

Tag Matching

Before comparing numbers, confirm that the affix actually applies to the skill. If the tag does not match, the stat may do nothing.

Common tags to check include:

Attack / spell
Melee / projectile / area
Fire / cold / lightning / erosion / physical
Damage over time / hit damage
Channeling, minion, sentry, trigger, and other special mechanics

For example, a spell usually does not benefit from melee damage. A skill that only deals cold damage does not automatically gain value from fire damage. When reading a build, check the main skill's tags before judging gear, talents, support skills, or core talents.

inc Damage

inc damage means non-extra percentage damage. These stats usually add together in the same layer before multiplying base damage.

Common sources include:

% physical damage
% elemental damage
% fire / cold / lightning / erosion damage
% spell damage
% attack damage
General percentage damage from talents, memories, and gear

inc is common, easy to stack, and very visible early. The downside is that adding more to an already large inc layer has weaker real gain. Later in a build, a high inc number is not enough by itself; check whether that layer is already crowded.

more Damage

more damage is usually written as extra damage, such as +X% additional damage. It often acts as a stronger amplification layer because it can multiply damage already calculated by previous layers.

Common sources include:

Extra damage from skill levels above level 20.
Gear or support affixes explicitly marked as multiplicative.
Hero traits, core talents, and special mechanics.
Extra damage that depends on stacks, states, or conditions.

Not every more damage source is automatically independent. Stacks from the same mechanic or same condition usually add within their own layer first. Different sources or different conditions are more likely to work as separate multipliers. For same-bucket versus separate-bucket examples, use Damage Calculation Basics.

gain Damage

gain damage means adding a new damage portion based on existing damage. It is not the same as ordinary added flat damage.

Separate these two patterns:

Wording	Closer layer	How to read it
`Adds 50 cold damage`	Added flat damage	Joins base damage, then gets scaled by the skill
`Gain X% of physical damage as cold damage`	gain damage	Calculates after the earlier damage, then adds a new damage portion

gain commonly comes from gear, dream effects, ring bases, and special mechanics. Its value depends on how large the original damage portion is and whether the new damage type can benefit from relevant modifiers.

Skill Levels

Skill level is a stable damage source because it can improve skill base values and also provide extra damage at higher levels.

Use this as the basic rule:

Level range	Main change
1-20	Base damage and some affix values increase
21-30	Each level grants +10% additional damage
31+	Each level grants +8% additional damage

For spell builds, skill level often raises base flat damage directly. For attack builds, it may affect skill scaling, secondary values, or the extra damage gained after level 20. It is not always the only answer, but when a build has no clear damage direction, skill level is one of the first layers worth checking.

Crit

Crit is an average damage system. It is not only crit damage, and it is not only crit chance.

It has at least four parts:

Where the base crit rating comes from.
How flat crit rating and % crit rating form final crit rating.
How final crit rating converts into crit chance.
How crit chance and crit damage determine average damage.

Attack skills usually take base crit rating from the weapon. Spell skills usually take base crit rating from the skill. Gear, talents, skills, and special mechanics can then add flat crit rating, percentage crit rating, or crit damage.

For this page, the important point is simple: crit is not a single-line stat where more crit damage is always enough. If crit chance is low, crit damage is not used often enough. If crit damage is low, high crit chance only makes weak crits consistent. For conversion and target bands, read Critical Strike System.

Output Frequency

Output frequency decides how many effective damage instances you produce over time. It may not be written as a damage stat, but it strongly affects how the build feels.

Common sources include:

Attack speed and cast speed.
Skill cooldown and cooldown recovery.
Projectile count, split, chain, and area coverage.
Duration, trigger frequency, and channeling stacks.
Ailment uptime, blessing stacks, standing time, and boss damage windows.

Slow mapping and slow bossing are not always the same problem. Mapping can be limited by coverage, movement, cooldown, or clear frequency. Bossing is more often limited by single-target base damage, crit, more multipliers, or burst windows. When choosing gear and talents, first decide whether each hit is too weak or whether the build is simply not producing enough effective hits.

Source Checklist

Layer	Common sources	First question
Base damage	Weapon, skill base flat damage, added flat damage	Is my main skill's base large enough?
Skill scaling	Skill damage multiplier, weapon attack damage multiplier	Does this flat damage get scaled?
Tag matching	Skill tags, damage type, affix condition	Does this affix actually apply to the main skill?
inc	Gear, talents, memories, general percentage damage	Is this layer already overstacked?
more	Skill level, core talents, special gear, hero traits	Is this a new multiplier or same-mechanic stacking?
gain	Gain-as damage, dream effects, special affixes	Is this flat damage or a new damage portion?
Skill level	Gear, skill affixes, special mechanics	Does it improve base values or high-level extra damage?
Crit	Base crit rating, `% crit rating`, crit damage	Is crit chance or crit damage clearly behind?
Output frequency	Speed, cooldown, projectiles, triggers	Are hits too weak, or are there not enough effective hits?

Where To Go Next

For formulas between flat damage, inc, more, and gain, read Damage Calculation Basics.
For crit chance and crit damage balance, read Critical Strike System.
For common core talent effects and sources, use Core Talent Quick Reference.
If you are not sure which layer your build lacks, run Damage Check.