Damage (EU2012)

For the original UFO: Enemy Unknown (1994) version, see Damage

Damage is a stat that determines the the amount of health points (HPs) that will be removed from a unit upon being hit by a shot from a weapon, an explosion or some specific abilities such as Mindfray or others.

Damage Types

There are essentially two different ways of calculating damage in the game:

Random damage, dealt by firearms and melee weapons (pistols, rifles, blades, claws, etc.), with the damage value being determined randomly (and specially when using Second Wave's Damage Roulette option) and the possibility of inflicting Critical Damage, or additional damage.
Static damage, inflicted by explosives (grenades, rockets, exploding objects, etc.) or other means such as poison or Psionic abilities, which is fixed and cannot inflict critical hits.

Regarding weapons/items, each has a defined damage stat but the game uses two types of damage when performing calculations to determine the total damage inflicted upon a target:

Base Damage, which has a fixed value but that can be either static or variable (random).
Critical Damage, which is always random.

Random Damage

Random Damage only applies to firearms (conventional, laser and plasma) and can vary between -1 and +1 of the weapon's fixed Base Damage value for non-critical hits.

As an example, the Plasma Rifle on the right has a fixed value of 7 for its Base Damage, but this value randomly can vary between 6 and 8 damage upon hitting a target.

Regarding critical hits, Critical Damage can vary according to the following formula [1]:

Base Damage (fixed value) is increased by +1
Result is multiplied by 1.5, any fractions are rounded down
Result is added by a random number between 0 and 2, then subtracted by -1

Damage Roulette

Damage Roulette is a Second Wave option that further increases the randomness of each weapon.

Base Damage can vary between between 1 and the weapons' Base Damage fixed value + 50% (rounded down)
Critical Damage adds the base damage fixed value to the previously calculated random damage.

As an example, a Plasma Rifle's Base Damage can vary between 1 and 10 (7 + 3.5, round down). Its Critical Damage can vary between 8 and 17 (1 to 10, plus 7).

Damage Values Display

On vanilla EU, the weapon info box will only display the Base Damage's fixed value and the lower value for Critical Damage. However, on the Enemy Within DLC, the box will display the range of possible values for both Base and Critical Damage.

During tactical combat, the game will also give information about the weapon's Base Damage when pressing fire. The number displayed will be the maximum Base Damage possible.

Damage Values Display
Info Box (EU)
Info Box (EW DLC)
Assault Rifle about to fire

Discrepancies

On the Enemy Within DLC, the information about the weapons that can be seem at the Barracks is clearly incorrect for some weapons regarding their actual Critical Damage values. Some examples are listed below:

Assault Rifle & Plasma Pistol: Critical Damage listed as between 5-7, actual values are 4-6.

Other differences are also being currently under investigation.

Damage Modifiers

Some class abilities or Foundry upgrades will increase/reduce the damage output of a unit or its weapon:

Headshot: +2/4/6 Damage to Sniper Rifle, depending on weapon tech value
Gunslinger: +2 Damage to pistols
Shredder: +33% Damage from all sources to the target
HEAT Ammo: +100% Damage against robotic enemies (has been lowered to 50% damage in Enemy Within)
Mayhem: +1 to +3 Damage, depending on the weapon tech level
Bring 'Em On: +1 to +5 bonus Critical Damage, depending on the number of enemies
Killer Instinct: +50% Critical Damage
There seems to be a Damage cap (at least for explosives) - Rocket Launchers will deal 16 max damage using HEAT Ammo and Mayhem (on vanilla EU), regardless of using Shredder rockets or not.
Reinforced Armor will reduce all incoming damage to a Sectopod by 50% (on Enemy Within DLC)

Damage Table

Weapon	Base Damage	Crit Damage
Pistol Pistol (III) Laser Pistol	1	2
Pistol Pistol (III) Assault Rifle Laser Pistol Laser Pistol (III) Plasma Pistol	2	3
Pistol (III) Assault Rifle LMG Sniper Rifle Shotgun Laser Pistol Laser Pistol (III) Plasma Pistol Plasma Pistol (III)	3	4
Assault Rifle LMG Sniper Rifle Shotgun Laser Pistol (III) Laser Rifle Plasma Pistol Plasma Pistol (III) Plasma Light Rifle	4	6
LMG Sniper Rifle Shotgun Laser Rifle Heavy Laser Laser Sniper Rifle Laser Scatter Plasma Pistol (III) Plasma Light Rifle	5	7
Laser Rifle Heavy Laser Laser Sniper Rifle Laser Scatter Plasma Light Rifle Plasma Rifle	6	9
Heavy Laser Laser Sniper Rifle Laser Scatter Plasma Rifle	7	10
Plasma Rifle Heavy Plasma Plasma Sniper Rifle Alloy Cannon	8	12
Heavy Plasma Plasma Sniper Rifle Alloy Cannon	9	13
Heavy Plasma Plasma Sniper Rifle Alloy Cannon	10	15

Damage can vary between -1 and +1 of the value listed on the Armory. Maximum damage is listed during missions.
The results for the other perks can be deduced from this table by calculating the corresponding additions, i.e. Gunslinger will add +2 to Pistol iDamage, Bring 'Em On will also add a variable number, while Shredder will add 33% to the end Damage value.
Headshot adds +2/4/6 damage to Sniper Rifle shots, depending on its tech level.

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