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Critical Hit

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Critical Damage

Critical hits, also known as crits for short, are otherwise normal weapon strikes that randomly deal increased damage on enemies. The likelihood that an attack will be a critical hit is based on the weapon's critical hit chance, and the additional damage dealt by a critical hit is determined by the weapon's critical damage multiplier. Each attack, or each pellet in the case of most shotguns and weapons with Multishot, rolls its own chance to critically hit.

When a weapon deals a critical hit, the damage is displayed as a yellow, orange or red number on the HUD instead of the usual white coloring. However, critical hits on shields are still blue, and attacks benefitting from the stealth damage bonus are always yellow even when they don't crit.

Critical Chance

Chance that any given attack will do bonus Critical Hit Damage.
Values over 100% have a chance to become Big Critical Hits (orange), and over 200% have a chance to become Super Critical Hits (red).
—In-game Description

Each weapon has a base chance to critically hit, which can be increased through mods and various buffs.

Relative Increases

Most increases to crit chance are relative to the base chance. Multiple of these stack additively with each other:

Total Crit Chance=Base Crit Chance×(1+Relative Bonus)
Where the Relative Bonus is the sum of all applicable bonuses.
Relative Bonus=Bonus1+Bonus2+Bonus3+⋯

As an example, a  Braton with  Point Strike and  Argon Scope has a crit chance of:

12% × (1 +  150% +  135%) = 46.2%

Absolute Increases

A few effects grant absolute amounts of crit chance which are applied after relative bonuses.

  •  Puncture's status effect "Weakened"
  •  Arcane Avenger
  •  Cat's Eye
  •  Ballistic Bullseye
  •  Shadow Haze
  •  Covenant
  •  Wrathful Advance
Total Crit Chance=Base Crit Chance×(1+Relative Bonus)+Absolute Bonus
Where the Absolute Bonus is the sum of all applicable bonuses.
Absolute Bonus=Bonus1+Bonus2+Bonus3+⋯

As an example, a Braton with  Point Strike (relative) and  Arcane Avenger (absolute) has a crit chance of:

12% × (1 +  150%) +  45% = 75%

Blood Rush

 Blood Rush and the Gladiator Set Bonus are unique in that they scale off of Melee Combo, stacking additively with other critical chance mods:

Total Crit Chance=Base Crit Chance×(1+Relative Bonus+Blood Rush Multi×(Combo Multi−1))+Absolute Bonus

As an example, a  Gram with maxed  True Steel and  Blood Rush, with a x7 combo multiplier :

15% × [1 +  120% +  40% × (7 - 1)] = 69%

Critical hit chance can surpass 100%, for further information read Crit Tiers.

Sources of Critical Chance % Bonus

  •  Point Strike{"Description":"+150% Critical Chance","UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_CHANCE"],"MaxRank":"5","Image":"PointStrikeMod.png","Introduced":"0","Icon":"PointStrike.png","Transmutable":true,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Common","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"2","Polarity":"Madurai","Name":"Point Strike","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/WeaponCritChanceMod","Link":"Point Strike","Incompatible":["Critical Delay"],"CodexSecret":false}

     Point Strike

  •  Primary Acuity{"Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Rare","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"6","MaxRank":"10","Conclave":false,"Description":"+350% Weak Point Damage\r\n+350% Weak Point Critical Chance.\r\nMultishot cannot be modified.","Image":"PrimaryAcuityMod.png","Name":"Primary Acuity","Introduced":"38","Link":"Primary Acuity","Polarity":"Naramon","Icon":"PrimaryAcuity.jpg","CodexSecret":false} (on Weak Points)

     Primary Acuity (on Weak Points)

  •  Critical Delay{"Description":"+200% Critical Chance\r\n-20% Fire Rate (x2 for Bows)","UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_CHANCE","WEAPON_FIRE_RATE"],"MaxRank":"5","Image":"CriticalDelayMod.png","Introduced":"10.3","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/DualStat/CorruptedCritRateFireRateRifle","Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Rare","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"4","Polarity":"Naramon","Name":"Critical Delay","Icon":"CriticalDelay.png","Link":"Critical Delay","Incompatible":["Point Strike"],"CodexSecret":false}

     Critical Delay

  •  Argon Scope{"Description":"On Headshot:\r\n+135% Critical Chance when Aiming for 9s","UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_CHANCE"],"MaxRank":"5","Image":"ArgonScopeMod.png","Introduced":"18.4.1","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/Event/CritChanceWhileAimingRifleMod","Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Rare","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"2","Polarity":"Madurai","Name":"Argon Scope","Icon":"ArgonScope.png","IncompatibilityTags":["POWER_WEAPON"],"Link":"Argon Scope","Incompatible":["Galvanized Scope"],"CodexSecret":false}

     Argon Scope

  •  Galvanized Scope{"Description":"On Headshot:\r\n+120% Critical Chance when Aiming for 12s\r\nOn Headshot Kill:\r\n+40% Critical Chance when Aiming for 12s. Stacks up to 5x.","IsFlawed":false,"UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_CHANCE"],"MaxRank":"10","Image":"GalvanizedScopeMod.png","Introduced":"30.5","Icon":"GalvanizedScope.png","Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Rare","Link":"Galvanized Scope","BaseDrain":"2","Polarity":"Madurai","Tradable":true,"Incompatible":["Argon Scope"],"IncompatibilityTags":["POWER_WEAPON"],"Name":"Galvanized Scope","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/Event/CritChanceWhileAimingRifleSPMod","IsExilus":false,"Conclave":false,"Class":"Galvanized","CodexSecret":false}

     Galvanized Scope

  •  Proton Jet{"Description":"During a Wall Latch gain +120% Status Chance and Critical Chance.","UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_PROC_CHANCE","WEAPON_CRIT_CHANCE"],"MaxRank":"3","Image":"ProtonJetMod.png","Introduced":"25","Icon":"ProtonJet.png","Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Uncommon","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"4","Polarity":"Naramon","Name":"Proton Jet","Set":"Proton Set","Link":"Proton Jet","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Sets/Spider/SpiderModB","CodexSecret":false}

     Proton Jet

Sources of Critical Chance Absolute/Flat Bonus

  •  Cat's Eye{"Transmutable":false,"Type":"Adarza Kavat","Rarity":"Rare","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"0","MaxRank":"3","Link":"Cat's Eye","InternalName":"/Lotus/Types/Friendly/Pets/CatbrowPetPrecepts/CatbrowCatsEyePrecept","Image":"Cat'sEyeMod.png","Name":"Cat's Eye","Introduced":"Specters of the Rail","Description":"Adarza Kavat grants 60% increased critical chance for 10s to allies within 25m every 20s.","Polarity":"Penjaga","Icon":"Cat'sEye.png","CodexSecret":false}

     Cat's Eye

  •  Ballistic Bullseye{"Transmutable":false,"Type":"Mesa","Rarity":"Rare","Tradable":true,"Link":"Ballistic Bullseye","BaseDrain":"6","IsAbilityAugment":true,"InternalName":"/Lotus/Powersuits/Cowgirl/BallisticBatteryAugmentCard","MaxRank":"3","Image":"BallisticBullseyeMod.png","Name":"Ballistic Bullseye","Introduced":"15.6","Description":"Ballistic Battery Augment: The shot gains a +50% Final Critical Chance bonus, based on the amount charged.","Polarity":"Zenurik","Icon":"BallisticBullseye.png","CodexSecret":false}

     Ballistic Bullseye

  •  Shadow Haze{"Transmutable":false,"Type":"Sevagoth","Rarity":"Rare","Tradable":true,"Link":"Shadow Haze","BaseDrain":"6","IsAbilityAugment":true,"Icon":"ShadowHaze.png","Description":"Reap Augment: Increase Critical Chance by 50% on enemies inflicted with Death Harvest. A new Shadow emerges from those enemies when they perish. Limit of 3 Shadows.","Image":"ShadowHazeMod.png","Name":"Shadow Haze","Introduced":"33.6","MaxRank":"3","Polarity":"Ability","InternalName":"/Lotus/Powersuits/Wraith/WraithReapAugmentCard","CodexSecret":false}

     Shadow Haze

  •  Arcane Avenger{"Rarity":"Rare","Type":"Warframe","Description":"21% chance for +45% Critical Chance for 12s","Link":"Arcane Avenger","Icon":"ArcaneAvenger64x.png","UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_CHANCE","GAMEPLAY_FREE_REVIVE_COUNT"],"MaxRank":"5","IncompatibilityTags":["OPERATOR_SUIT"],"Dissolution":"28","Image":"ArcaneAvenger.png","Name":"Arcane Avenger","Introduced":"16","IsRefreshable":true,"Criteria":"On Damaged","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/CosmeticEnhancers/Defensive/CritChanceOnDamage","CodexSecret":true}

     Arcane Avenger

  •  Secondary Enervate{"Type":"Secondary","Rarity":"Rare","Link":"Secondary Enervate","Description":"Increase Critical Chance by 10%. Resets after 6 Big Critical Hits.","MaxRank":"5","Icon":"SecondaryEnervate64x.png","Criteria":"On Hit","Image":"SecondaryEnervate.png","Name":"Secondary Enervate","Introduced":"38","IsRefreshable":true,"Dissolution":"24","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/CosmeticEnhancers/Offensive/SecondaryCritOnHit","CodexSecret":true}

     Secondary Enervate



4
100 		Covenant

Protect nearby allies with an energy force that absorbs all damage and converts it to a Critical Chance bonus for all those under the Covenant. Headshots are amplified even further.

Introduced in Update 21.0 (2017-06-29)

 Strength:5% (base critical chance)
1.50% (critical chance per 100 damage)
 Duration:3 / 4 / 5 / 6 s (invulnerability time)
6 / 8 / 10 / 12 s (critical chance time)
 Range:N/A

Misc: 4.0x (headshot multiplier to bonus critical chance)
50% (bodyshot critical chance cap)
200% (headshot critical chance cap)
50/250 m (affinity range/open-world affinity range)

Info

  • Harrow expends 100 energy to break free of his shackles in a whirlwind of impenetrable energy, imbuing himself and allies inside his Affinity Range with complete Invulnerability to damage and Status Effects for 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 seconds. While invulnerable, any enemy damage prevented by all affected players during this time accumulates into a total pool.
    • Affinity Range is not affected by  Ability Range but is affected by Fosfor and  Vazarin's  Mending Unity.
  • After the invulnerability phase, all affected players receive the Retaliation buff which provides an additive weapon Critical Chance bonus lasting for 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 seconds. Retaliation provides a 5% base critical chance, plus extra critical chance converted from total damage prevented at a rate of 1.50% per 100 damage points prevented. Additionally, the combined critical chance percentage is multiplied by 4 on headshot hits.
    • Critical chance bonus is capped at 50% on bodyshot hits and 200% on headshot hits.
    • The critical chance applied to the weapons is a flat value applied after mods.
      • Example: A weapon with 10% base critical chance which has a Rank 5  Point Strike equipped and is affected by a capped Retaliation buff will have
        10% × (1 +  150%) + 200% = 225% critical chance on headshot.
  • Protection and Retaliation buffs affect both players and their Companions.
  • Covenant cannot be recast while its buffs are active.
    • Multiple Harrows can cast Covenant independently of other players' active invulnerability and critical chance buffs.
  • Casting animation of 3 seconds is affected by Casting Speed. Casting Covenant is a full-body animation that stops Harrow's movement and actions.
  • During the invulnerability phase, the current total of damage prevented is displayed to the right of the aiming reticle, represented by a shield-like emblem.
    • After the invulnerability phase, the critical chance bonus and its headshot multiplied percentage are briefly displayed at the same position, represented by a bullet-like emblem.
    • An audible whispering sound plays when each buff's duration ends.
  • Covenant's buff icons for invulnerability and critical chance are displayed beside the shield and health indicators, with the critical chance bonus percentage located at the top-right of the icon and buff timers at the bottom.
  • Harrow and affected allies are visibly surrounded by a gust of energy while under Covenant's effects. This visual effect expands or contracts depending on the phases of the ability, and is affected by Harrow's chosen Warframe energy color.

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1
25 		Wrathful Advance

(TAP) Kullervo charges a Heavy Attack, then teleports to his target and strikes. His rage-filled focus temporarily increases his Melee Critical Chance.

(HOLD) Teleport to any marked location.

Introduced in Update 33.5 (2023-06-21)

 Strength:+ 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 % melee final critical chance
 Duration:7 / 8 / 9 / 10 s melee crit buff duration
 Range:20 / 22 / 23 / 25 m teleport distance

Misc: 1 s Cooldown
Invulnerable during wind up
Refresh Maneuvers on teleport

Subsumable to Helminth

Info

  • Kullervo expends 25 Energy to focus his vengeful wrath onto an enemy target on the reticle within a distance of 20 / 22 / 23 / 25 meters. Once cast, he swaps his current weapon to his equipped melee weapon and charges a Heavy Attack, becoming Invulnerable during its Wind Up time, then teleports to the target and strikes them simultaneously. The teleport heavy attack and subsequent melee attacks gain a +50% / +100% / +150% / +200% final Critical Chance bonus lasting for 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 seconds. After teleporting, Kullervo also refreshes his Maneuvers limited usage if previously performed already, such as Aim Glide, Double Jump, and Bullet Jump.
    • Has a 1 second cooldown after use.
    • Melee critical chance bonus begins countdown immediately on cast, before the heavy attack wind up.
    • The final critical chance applied to melee weapons is a flat value applied after mods (e.g. a melee weapon with 25% critical chance becomes 225% when a rank 3 Wrathful Advance is active).
    • If Kullervo does not have a melee weapon equipped, he will simply teleport to the target.
    • If the target dies before Kullervo finishes his heavy attack wind up, the teleport is aborted and he remains at his current position.
    • Invulnerability does not cleanse Status Effects.
  • Hold down the ability button (default 1 ) to center a teleport marker toward the location on the aiming reticle, then release the button to cast Wrathful Advance and teleport Kullervo for the modded distance. After hold-cast, melee critical chance buff becomes active for the modded duration and refreshes his maneuvers.
    • Hold down and release the button while the teleport marker is on an enemy to lock onto the target and perform a heavy attack teleport.
      • The teleport marker snaps to the nearest enemy on the reticle and plays a distinct sound to indicate its lock-on.
    • Teleport marker reaches up to the ability's modded distance and can be placed in any direction including toward the skybox to teleport Kullervo upward.
    • Kullervo does not become briefly invulnerable if teleporting by hold-cast.
  • Ability Synergy:
    • Kullervo's Passive increases Heavy Attack Efficiency by 75% and Heavy Attack Wind Up speed by 100% to amplify Wrathful Advance's heavy attack.
    •  Recompense,  Collective Curse, and  Storm of Ukko increase the Melee Combo Counter to amplify Wrathful Advance's heavy attack.
    • Wrathful Advance's heavy attack damage spreads through enemies under Collective Curse when striking a cursed target.
    • When  Wrath of Ukko is equipped, Wrathful Advance will reposition an active Storm of Ukko to the teleport location while also adding extra duration to the ability.
  • Can be recast to refresh active melee critical chance buff duration to full.
  • Wrathful Advance's melee critical bonus is dispelled by Kullervo entering an ability nullification zone or by falling out of bounds.
    • Kullervo can only teleport up to the border of a Nullifier Crewman's bubble. Hold-cast teleport marker is also obstructed by the bubble.
  • While active, whenever Kullervo performs a melee heavy attack on most melee weapon types, an aggressive growl can be heard on each swing.
  • Subsuming Kullervo to the Helminth will offer Wrathful Advance and its augments to be used by other Warframes.
    • However, Subsumed Wrathful Advance's range is reduced to 10 / 11 / 11.5 / 12.5 meters and melee critical chance bonus reduced to 25% / 50% / 75% / 100%
      • (only the targeting, the hold to teleport range is unchanged)
    • The bonus critical chance also applies to Exalted Weapons and pseudo-exalted abilities such as  Landslide,  Slash Dash,  Shattered Lash and  Whipclaw.

Expand/Collapse


Critical Damage (Critical Multiplier)

Critical Hit Damage is multiplied by this value.
The added Damage is doubled for Big Critical Hits (orange), and tripled for Super Critical Hits (red).
—In-game Description

When a critical hit occurs, that hit's damage is increased and the damage value's color is changed to yellow. The stat describing by how much a crit is strengthened is displayed in the arsenal as a multiplier.

Modded Crit Multi=Base Crit Multi×(1+Bonus1+Bonus2+Bonus3+⋯)


The base critical multiplier of a weapon is quantized.[1][2] This applies before mods, but after certain effects that are additive to the base value. The quantized base critical multiplier can be calculated as:

Quantized Base CM=Round(Base CM×409532)×324095

As an example, a  Braton with  Vital Sense excluding quantization for simplicity, has a crit multiplier of:

1.6 × (1 +  120%) = 3.52x


Another similar example, now including quantization, and now with the incarnon perk Critical Parallel yields a crit multiplier of:

(1.6 + 0.4) × 4095 / 32 = 256x
256 × (32 / 4095) × (1 +  120%) = 4.4011x

Sources of Critical Damage Bonus

  •  Vital Sense{"Transmutable":true,"Type":"Rifle","Description":"+120% Critical Damage","Tradable":true,"UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_DAMAGE"],"BaseDrain":"2","MaxRank":"5","Icon":"VitalSense.png","Link":"Vital Sense","Image":"VitalSenseMod.png","Name":"Vital Sense","Introduced":"0","Polarity":"Madurai","Rarity":"Rare","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/WeaponCritDamageMod","CodexSecret":false}

     Vital Sense

  •  Hammer Shot{"Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Description":"+60% Critical Damage\r\n+80% Status Chance","Tradable":true,"UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_DAMAGE","WEAPON_PROC_CHANCE"],"BaseDrain":"6","MaxRank":"3","Icon":"HammerShot.png","Link":"Hammer Shot","Image":"HammerShotMod.png","Name":"Hammer Shot","Introduced":"9","Polarity":"Vazarin","Rarity":"Rare","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/DualStat/HammerShotMod","CodexSecret":false}

     Hammer Shot

  •  Bladed Rounds{"IncompatibilityTags":["POWER_WEAPON"],"UpgradeTypes":["WEAPON_CRIT_DAMAGE"],"MaxRank":"5","Image":"BladedRoundsMod.png","Introduced":"18.4.1","InternalName":"/Lotus/Upgrades/Mods/Rifle/Event/CritDamageWhileAimingRifleMod","Transmutable":false,"Type":"Rifle","Rarity":"Uncommon","Tradable":true,"BaseDrain":"4","Polarity":"Madurai","Name":"Bladed Rounds","Icon":"BladedRounds.png","Description":"On Kill:\r\n+120% Critical Damage when Aiming for 9s","Link":"Bladed Rounds","CodexSecret":false}

     Bladed Rounds

  •  Mutalist Quanta{"Conclave":false,"_TooltipAttackDisplay":"1","Class":"Rifle","SellPrice":"7500","Image":"MutalistQuanta.png","Introduced":"13.8","Polarities":["D"],"InternalName":"/Lotus/Weapons/Infested/LongGuns/InfCrpShockSwarm/InfCrpShockSwarmRifle","Attacks":[{"CritMultiplier":"1.5","IsSilent":false,"CritChance":"0.025","Accuracy":"100","Trigger":"Auto","ShotType":"Projectile","MinSpread":"0","FireRate":"10","Multishot":"1","AttackName":"Normal Attack","MaxSpread":"0","ShotSpeed":"100","PunchThrough":"0","StatusChance":"0.15","AmmoCost":"1","Damage":{"Slash":"7.5","Puncture":"15","Impact":"2.5"}},{"IsSilent":false,"Falloff":{"EndRange":"2","Reduction":"0","StartRange":"0"},"Range":"2","EffectDuration":"9","Multishot":"1","AttackName":"Infested Orb","ShotType":"Projectile","CritMultiplier":"0","Trigger":"Semi","AmmoCost":"5","Damage":{"Radiation":"20"},"FireRate":"10","CritChance":"0","MinSpread":"2","PunchThrough":"0","StatusChance":"1","MaxSpread":"6","ShotSpeed":"5"},{"CritMultiplier":"1.5","CritChance":"0.05","IsSilent":false,"Accuracy":"25","ShotType":"AoE","Falloff":{"EndRange":"4.4","Reduction":"0.5","StartRange":"0"},"Range":"4.4","Reload":"3","Multishot":"1","MinSpread":"2","AttackName":"Orb Explosion","MaxSpread":"6","PunchThrough":"0","StatusChance":"0.39","FireRate":"10","Damage":{"Toxin":"100"}}],"AmmoType":"Primary","MaxRank":"30","Family":"Mutalist Quanta","Traits":["Infested"],"Trigger":"Auto / Semi","Magazine":"60","CompatibilityTags":["PROJECTILE","ASSAULT_AMMO"],"Reload":"3","AmmoPickup":"80","Link":"Mutalist Quanta","Name":"Mutalist Quanta","ExilusPolarity":"Madurai","Mastery":"2","AmmoMax":"540","Disposition":"1.5","Slot":"Primary"}'s alternative fire; shooting bullets through the Infested orb will boost the weapon's critical multiplier

     Mutalist Quanta's alternative fire; shooting bullets through the Infested orb will boost the weapon's critical multiplier

Crit Tiers

Modded
Crit Chance 		Crit Outcome Crit Tier &
Coloration
x ≤ 0% No hit can crit Tier 0
0% < x < 100% Chance for a yellow crit
Tier 1
x = 100% All hits yellow crit
100% < x < 200% Chance for an orange (Big) crit
Tier 2
x = 200% All hits Big crit
200% < x < 300% Chance for a red (Super) crit (tier 3)
Tier 3
x = 300% All hits Super crit (tier 3)
300% < x < 400% Chance for a red ! crit (tier 4)
Tier 4
x = 400% All hits red crit (tier 4)
400% < x < 500% Chance for a red !! crit (tier 5)
Tier 5
x = 500% All hits red crit (tier 5)
500% < x < 600% Chance for a red !!! crit (tier 6)
...
... ...
Three different color tiers of critical hits along with normal damage color

When a weapon achieves a crit chance higher than 100%, every attack will crit but it also gains a chance to deal an even stronger crit. As the critical hit chance increases, the tier of critical damage does so as well.

Although the coloration remains red after a certain point, crit tiers continue to increase. Every tier above 3 will produce an additional exclamation mark (!) up to three times.

As an example, a  Lenz with  Point Strike has a crit chance of:

50% × (1 +  150%) = 125%

This means it will have a 25% chance to trigger an orange crit, while all other hits (75%) will yield a yellow crit.

The critical damage multiplier for these can be calculated as follows:

Crit Tier Multi=1+Crit Tier×(Modded Crit Multi−1)

As an example, a  Lenz with  Point Strike and  Vital Sense will have an orange crit multiplier of:

1 + 2 × (2.0 × (1 +  120%) − 1) = 7.8x

In addition, each mod of the Vigilante Mod Set has a 5% chance to increase a Primary Weapon's critical hit's tier by 1. This effect stacks with other Vigilante Mods installed, up to a 30% chance with all six Vigilante Mods equipped.

Critical Headshots

This picture displays a headcrit dealing 4x (old : now, it would be 6x) regular headshot damage using an unmodded  Lex.

Certain body parts on enemies, most notably heads, will receive additional damage when struck. This location-based damage increase is usually a 3.0x multiplier, but if the strike is a critical hit, then it receives an additional damage bonus of 2.0x on top of the location multiplier and the crit multiplier:

Headshot Crit Tier Multi=Headshot Multi×(1+Crit Tier×(2×Modded Crit Multi−1))

As an example, a  Lanka with  Vital Sense, and a head shot multiplier of 3.0 will have an orange crit multiplier of:

3.0 × (1 + 2 × (2 × 2.0 × (1 +  120%) − 1)) = 49.8x

The Headshot Multiplier is 3.0x in almost all cases. The bonus damage from headshot crits is specific to heads and not generalized to all special body parts. The MOA, for example, has a "fanny pack" which normally receives 3.0x damage, but does not receive any additional multipliers from a critical hit. The Jordas Golem, however, has a 1.0x multiplier on his engines, but still receives increase damage if critically hit. Corpus humanoids do not receive headcrits, instead only taking the normal 3.0x headshot damage even after their helmets are removed.

Damage Calculation

For full damage calculation, see Damage/Calculation.

Average Damage

When comparing builds it can be helpful to calculate how much damage the weapon will deal on average, which is affected by how often critical hits occur and at what critical multiplier. The following equation accounts for critical hits that are not headshots:

Average Damage Multiplier=1+Total Crit Chance×(Total Crit Multi−1)
Average Damage on Hit=Modded Damage×Average Damage Multiplier

As an example, a  Paris has an average damage multiplier of:

1 + 30% × (2.0 - 1) = 1.3x

 Paris with  Point Strike and  Vital Sense has an average damage multiplier of:

1 + (30% × (1 +  150%)) × (2.0 × (1 +  120%) - 1) = 3.55x

So for a Paris without any critical mods, the damage is multiplied by 1.3 on average; yellow crits of 2x for 30% of the shots.
With the 2 basic critical mods, the damage is multiplied by 3.55 on average; yellow crits of 4.4x for 75% of the shots.

Notes

  • Most Warframe abilities cannot inflict critical hits. Exceptions include Exalted Weapons,  Voruna's  Ulfrun's Descent, and Gyre's Passive which grants critical chance per electric proc to all of her abilities.
    • Prior to Update 33.6 (2023-07-27), some abilities had 100% critical chance with a multiplier of 1x. This only served to provide visual feedback.
  • As of Hotfix 35.0.9 (2024-01-17), enemies cannot inflict critical hits.

Bugs

  • If critical damage multiplier goes past 255, the displayed damage number will be approximately negative 2.1 billions (blue colored like a shield hit). The actual damage dealt in such case is usually much lower than 2.1 billions needed to overflow the displayed damage number.

See also

  •  Hunter Munitions, a chance to apply  Slash on critical hit for primary weapons.

Patch History

Hotfix 35.0.9 (2024-01-17)

  • Removed the ability for enemies to deal critical hits to players, Defense targets, Extractors, Rescue targets, and all other friendly targets.
    • In most cases, enemies equipped with “player” weapons (Grineer Ballista using the Vulkar for example) could land critical hits due to those weapons using the same crit setup as their player counterpart. With a lack of feedback to inform players as to why or how sudden damage spikes were occurring, these enemies could easily jeopardize a mission. Additionally, while it makes sense to reward players for landing critical headshots, whether an enemy hits a head or not is outside of player control - which ultimately made countering it near impossible. So, in an effort to provide more consistent and predictable damage output from enemies, we have removed their ability to deal critical hits.

Update 34.0 (2023-10-18)
Missed Note From Abyss of Dagath:

  • Updated our Damage Number system to add an exclamation point (!) for every Crit Tier above Super Crits, up to 3 total. Now you'll really be able to tell when you're doing a lot of damage!!!

Hotfix 33.6.1 (2023-07-31)
Missed Notes:

  • With the new Ability Damage qualifier with the Enhanced Damage Numbers system, some players may think that certain Warframe abilities have had their Critical Chance nerfed. In truth, some Warframe abilities had a Critical Chance multiplier simply to add “oomph” to their damage numbers, without having an actual impact on Damage output. With this new Enhanced Damage System, that extra oomph is no longer needed, so those non-functional Critical Change values were removed, but the overall damage of these abilities are unchanged.

Hotfix 28.0.4 (2020-06-12)

  • Fixed Critical Hits not triggering for Glaive mid-air detonations.

Update 21.0 (2017-06-29)

  • With Harrow's enhancement to Criticals, we have slightly tweaked the colour gradient in which Critical hits are displayed. Introducing: Orange Crits! These now occur in between Yellow and Red Crits. Before, Crits became Red when 100% Crit Chance was achieved. Now Crits will be ORANGE in the 100.01-200% range, and Red will start at 200.01%+! This is solely a visual change.

Update 14.10 (2014-10-08)

  • Changed Critical Chance logic by allowing it to occur on Radial Explosions (both friendly and enemy where applicable). This fixes an issue with the Torid’s gas cloud not allowing for criticals.

Update 13.5 (2014-05-28)

Changes to Crit calculations:

We have made changes to the way Criticals work on weapons that have been modded to have a crit chance greater than 100%. You may recall the existence of ‘red crits’ from many updates ago, which occurred with no clear formula other than “Synapse!”. Here is some clarity into the new system:

The brief:

A weapon with a critical chance greater than 100% will receive 2 calculations:

1) a guaranteed critical damage value - this normally appears as a yellow value.

2) a secondary red crit chance based on the remaining percent- this will appear as a new RED crit if successful!

This means:

If your rate is 125% you get one guaranteed crit and a 25% chance of a red crit.

If this Second Crit occurs, you will see a deadly Red crit value!


Damage Mechanics Edit
Offense Attack Speed • Buff & Debuff • Critical Hit • Damage (Faction Damage Bonus, Positive Type Modifier, Quantization) • Damage Falloff • Damage Reflection • Enemy Body Parts • Fire Rate • Multishot • Punch Through • Status Effect
Defense Armor • Damage Attenuation • Damage Reduction • Health (Healing) • Invulnerability • Negative Damage Type Modifier • Overguard • Shield
Health Classes Tenno • Grineer (Kuva) • Corpus (Amalgam) • Infested (Deimos) • Orokin • Sentient • Narmer • Zariman • The Murmur • Techrot • Scaldra • Object
Damage Types
Physical (IPS)  Impact •  Puncture •  Slash
Elemental Primary (HCET)  Heat •  Cold •  Electricity •  Toxin
Secondary  Blast •  Corrosive •  Gas •  Magnetic •  Radiation •  Viral
Special  Tau •  True •  Void
Hidden/Internal Cinematic • Energy Drain • Shield Drain
Status Effects
Physical  Knockback •  Weakened •  Bleed
Elemental Primary  Ignite •  Freeze •  Tesla Chain •  Poison
Secondary  Detonate •  Corrosion •  Gas Cloud •  Disrupt •  Confusion •  Virus
Special  Status Vulnerability •  Bullet Attractor
Effect Only  Big Stagger •  Disarmed •  Impair (PvP only) •  Knockdown •  Lifted •  Microwave •  Parried •  Ragdoll •  Silence •  Sleep •  Slow •  Stagger •  Stun
Calculating Bonuses


Game System Mechanics Edit
Currencies  Credits •  Orokin Ducats •  Endo •  Platinum •  Aya •  Regal Aya •  Standing
General Basics Arsenal • Codex • Daily Tribute • Empyrean • Foundry • Market • Mastery Rank • Nightwave • Orbiter • Player Profile • Reset • Star Chart
Lore Alignment • Fragments • Leverian • Quest
Factions  Corpus •  Grineer •  Infested •  Orokin •  Sentient •  Narmer •  The Murmur •  Scaldra •  Techrot •  Duviri •  Wild •  Tenno
Social Chat • Clan • Clan Dojo • Leaderboards • Trading
Squad Host Migration • Inactivity Penalty • Matchmaking
Base of Operations Backroom • Clan Dojo • Dormizone • Drifter's Camp • Orbiter
Special 1999 Calendar • Kinemantik Instant Messaging
Gameplay Basics  Affinity • Buff & Debuff • Death • Hacking • Invisible • Maneuvers • One-Handed Action • Open World • Pickups • Radar • Stealth • Tile Sets • Void Relic • Waypoint
Damage Mechanics  Critical Hit •  Damage • Damage Redirection •  Damage Reduction • Damage Reflection • Damage Type Modifier • Damage Vulnerability •  Health • Self-Damage • Status Effect
Enemies Bosses • Death Mark • Enemy Behavior • Eximus (Overguard) • Lich System
Mission Arbitrations • Archon Hunt • Break Narmer • Empyrean • Invasion • Sortie • Tactical Alert • The Circuit • The Steel Path • Void Fissure
Activities Captura • Conservation • Fishing • K-Drive Race • Ludoplex • Mining
PvP Duel • Conclave (Lunaro) • Frame Fighter
Other Gravity • Threat Level
Equipment Modding and Arcanes Arcane Enhancements • Archon Shard • Fusion • Mods (Flawed, Riven) • Polarization • Transmutation • Valence Fusion
Warframe Attributes ( Armor,  Energy,  Health,  Shield, Sprint Speed) • Abilities (Augment, Casting Speed, Helminth System, Passives,  Duration,  Efficiency,  Range,  Strength)
Weapons  Accuracy • Alternate Fire • Ammo • Area of Effect • Attack Speed • Bounce •  Critical Hit • Damage Falloff • Exalted Weapon •  Fire Rate • Hitscan • Holster • Incarnon • Melee • Multishot • Noise • Projectile • Projectile Speed • Punch Through • Recoil • Reload • Ricochet • Trigger Type • Zoom
Operator Amp • Focus ( Madurai,  Vazarin,  Naramon,  Unairu,  Zenurik) • Lens
Drifter and Duviri Decrees • Drifter Combat • Drifter Intrinsics • Kaithe
Other Archwing • Companion • K-Drive • Necramech • Parazon • Railjack
Technical General AI Director • Drop Tables • HUD • Key Bindings • Material Structures • PBR • Rarity • RNG • Settings • String Interpolation • Text Icons • Upgrade
Software, Networking, and Services Cross Platform Play • Cross Platform Save • Dedicated Servers • EE.cfg • EE.log • File Directory • Fonts • Network Architecture • Public Export • Public Test Cluster • Stress Test • Warframe Arsenal Twitch Extension • World State
Audio Mandachord • Music • Shawzin • Somachord • Sound
Mathematical Calculating Bonuses (Additive Stacking, Multiplicative Stacking) • Condition Overload (Mechanic) • Enemy Level Scaling • Maximization • Multiplicative Crit (Mechanic) • User Research


Critical Hit Mods Edit
Rifle Chance  Point Strike •  Critical Delay •  Argon Scope ( Galvanized)
Damage  Vital Sense •  Hammer Shot •  Bladed Rounds
Shotgun Chance  Blunderbuss •  Critical Deceleration •  Laser Sight
Damage  Ravage ( Primed) •  Shrapnel Shot
Pistol Chance  Pistol Gambit ( Primed) •  Creeping Bullseye •  Hydraulic Crosshairs ( Galvanized)
Damage  Target Cracker ( Primed) •  Hollow Point •  Sharpened Bullets •  Magnetic Might •  Merciless Gunfight
Melee Chance  Blood Rush •  Maiming Strike •  True Steel ( Sacrificial)
Damage  Gladiator Might •  Organ Shatter ( Amalgam)
Arch-gun Chance  Critical Focus •  Parallax Scope
Damage  Critical Focus •  Hollowed Bullets
Arch-melee Chance  Critical Meltdown •  Tempered Blade
Damage  Bleeding Edge
Weapon Augment  Deadly Maneuvers •  Deadly Sequence •  Exposing Harpoon •  Hata-Satya •  Amalgam Ripkas True Steel
  1. ↑ BaeckerSkins (2022, January 15). Accurate eidolon damage and a convenient spreadsheet comparing weapon builds/rivens. Reddit. Archived from the original on 2023-12-03.
  2. ↑ Anon (2023, December 3). Critical multiplier quantization. Imgur. Archived from the original on 2023-12-03.
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