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Threat range

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Each weapon has a threat range for critical hits.

A critical threat is obtained when you roll a d20 to hit your opponent and the result (before applying any bonus or penalty) is within the threat range of your weapon (even if your modified attack roll wouldn't beat the opponent's AC).

A critical threat means you have a chance to score a critical hit. To do so, a confirmation roll is made, with the same to-hit bonus being applied (plus extra confirmation bonuses such as Seeker, Kensei enhancements, Fighter Critical Accuracy, etc.); in this roll, 1's do not automatically fail to hit. This roll must beat the target's AC in order to "confirm" the critical hit.

In DDO, a confirmation roll can still succeed on a roll of 1; it does not auto-miss on such a roll.

If that roll also results in a hit against the target's AC, the critical hit is confirmed, and the base damage is rolled once for every critical hit multiplier. If the confirmation roll is a miss, then the attack is not a critical hit and is rolled as a normal attack (IE, auto-success on natural 20 or test vs. AC for non-20).

All weapons create a critical threat on a roll of 20, but some have a larger threat range, extending down to 19-20 or even 18-20.

Common weapons' threat range/multiplier[edit]

18-20 19-20 20
x2
x3
x4

Ways to increase threat range[edit]

  • The Keen (slashing/piercing) or Impact (bludgeoning) weapon prefixes double the weapon's base threat range. A Kukri (base threat range 18-20) with Keen, for example, will have a threat range of 15-20. This does not stack with Improved Critical.
  • The Improved Critical feat doubles the base threat range for any equipped weapon in a specific category (slashing/piercing/bludgeoning/ranged/thrown). This does not stack with Keen/Impact.

Competence bonus[edit]

  • Competence bonus to critical hit multiplier can come from various sources. Bonuses to critical threat range are usually not doubled by Improved Critical, exceptions are marked otherwise. Multiple effects granting competence bonus don't stack.

Sources of Competence Bonus

Source Tier/Core Enhancement Name Bonus amount Compatible Weapons
Assassin enhancements T5 Knife Specialization +1 Dagger
Assassin enhancements T5 Knife Specialization +2 Dagger with Improved Critical: Piercing
Barbarian Ravager enhancements T5 Critical Rage +1/2 All Weapons
Battle Engineer enhancements Tier 5 Reconstructed Armaments: Arms +1 Light Hammer, Warhammer, Morningstar
Battle Engineer enhancements Tier 5 Reconstructed Armaments: Crossbows +1 Crossbows
Battle Engineer enhancements Tier 5 Reconstructed Armaments: Edges +1 Bastard Sword, Dwarven Axe
Dark Hunter enhancements T5 Blade Specialization (Threat) +1 All Weapons
Deep Gnome enhancements T4 Gnomish Weapon Training +1 Light Hammer, Light Mace, Light Pick, Shortsword, Light Crossbow, Light Repeating Crossbow
Deepwood Stalker enhancements Core 4 Advanced Sneak Attack +1 All Weapons
Dragon Disciple enhancements T5 Peace in Destruction +1 All Weapons while Centered
Fighter Ravager enhancements T5 Critical Rage +1/2 All Weapons
Gnome enhancements T4 Gnomish Weapon Training +1 Light Hammer, Light Mace, Light Pick, Shortsword, Light Crossbow, Light Repeating Crossbow
Halfling enhancements T4 Master Thrower +1 Throwing Weapons
Henshin Mystic enhancements T5 Mystic Honing +1 All Weapons while Centered
Horizon Walker enhancements T5 Feywild Attunement +1 Shortbow, Longbow
Inquisitive enhancements Core 4 True Seeing +1 Light Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow
Kensai enhancements Tier 5 Keen Edge +1 Focus Weapons
Ninja Spy enhancements T5 Deadly Striker +1 All Weapons while Centered
Ninja Spy enhancements T5 Deadly Striker +2 Kama, Shortsword, Shuriken
Occult Slayer enhancements T5 Occult Metalline +1 All Weapons
Paladin Spell Level 4 / Cleric War Domain Spell Holy Sword +1 All Weapons
Shintao enhancements T5 Empty Hand Mastery +1 All Weapons while Centered
Sorcerer Eldritch Knight enhancements T5 Force's Edge +1 All Weapons, for 12 seconds after casting an offensive spell
Swashbuckler enhancements Core 2 Swashbuckling +1 Dagger, Shortsword, Throwing Dagger, Light Pick
Swashbuckler enhancements Core 2 Swashbuckling +2 Dagger, Shortsword, Throwing Dagger, Light Pick with matching Improved Critical
Swashbuckler enhancements Core 2 Swashbuckling +2 Light Mace, Light Hammer, Kama, Sickle, Handaxe, Dart, Shuriken, Throwing Axe, Throwing Hammer
Swashbuckler enhancements Core 2 Swashbuckling +4 Light Mace, Light Hammer, Kama, Sickle, Handaxe, Dart, Shuriken, Throwing Axe, Throwing Hammer with matching Improved Critical
Thief-Acrobat enhancements Tier 5 Staff Specialization +1 Quarterstaff
Vanguard enhancements Core 5 Vicious Shield +1 Shields
Vile Chemist enhancements Tier 5 Fatal Poison +1 Simple Weapons in mainhand, with a simple weapon, orb, runearm or nothing in offhand
Vile Chemist enhancements Tier 5 Fatal Poison +2 Dart in mainhand, with a simple weapon, orb, runearm or nothing in offhand
Vistani Knife Fighter enhancements Core 4 Plays with Knives +1 Dagger, Kukri, Throwing Dagger
Warpriest enhancements Core 5 War Caster: Haste +1 Favored Weapon
War Soul enhancements Core 5 War Caster: Haste +1 Favored Weapon
Wizard Eldritch Knight enhancements T5 Force's Edge +1 All Weapons, for 12 seconds after casting an offensive spell

Insight bonus[edit]

Morale bonus[edit]

Untyped / unclear bonus type[edit]

Many active attacks, often coming from enhancements, feats, or epic destiny abilities, modify the critical threat and/or multiplier of a single attack or short duration. These effects usually stack with everything else. For example:

Weapon damage comparison[edit]

Note that this calculation does not include additional damage from strength modifier, weapon enhancement bonus, or the extra bonus to base damage dice that Legendary weapons get, resulting in x2 multiplier weapons looking better than they really are. This calculation also assumes a 100% critical confirmation roll, in this case resulting in lower threat weapons (which usually carry a better multiplier) looking better.
To understand the breaking point, besides the obvious critical effects, consider how often you hit an opponent. The harder it is to hit (attack roll vs AC), the better it is to have a higher threat range weapon as you always hit on a non-confirmed critical.


STR modifier example:
(on hit with vanilla weapons, does not consider glancing blows, feats or enhancements)

  • a strength 10 (+0) fighter
    • Bastard Sword: 5.5 base expected, 11 on crit → 6.1 avg
    • Khopesh: 4.5 base expected, 13.5 on crit → 5.4 avg
  • a strength 30 (+10) fighter
    • Bastard Sword: 15.5 base expected, 31 on crit → 17.05 avg
    • Khopesh: 14.5 base expected, 43.5 on crit → 17.4 avg
  • a strength 40 (+15) fighter
    • Bastard Sword: 20.5 base expected, 41 on crit → 22.55 avg
    • Khopesh: 19.5 base expected, 58.5 on crit → 23.4 avg
Weapon Type Base
Damage
Type
Base
Damage
Expected
Damage
Crit range Crit
multiplier
Avg Dmg Keen / Impact /
Improved Critical
Avg Dmg
Kensei III /
Paladin Exalted Smite II /
Deepwood Sniper I
with Impr. Crit
Paladin Exalted
Smite IV
with Impr. Crit
Shuriken Slashing 1d2 1.5 20 (5%) x2 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.8
Dagger Piercing 1d4 2.5 19-20 (10%) x2 2.8 3.0 3.1 3.3
Dart Piercing 1d4 2.5 20 (5%) x2 2.6 2.8 2.9 3.0
Throwing Dagger Piercing 1d4 2.5 20 (5%) x2 2.6 2.8 2.9 3.0
Throwing Hammer Bludgeon 1d4 2.5 20 (5%) x2 2.6 2.8 2.9 3.0
Light Hammer Bludgeon 1d4 2.5 20 (5%) x2 2.6 2.8 2.9 3.0
Kukri Slashing 1d4 2.5 18-20 (15%) x2 2.9 3.3 3.4 3.5
Light Pick Piercing 1d4 2.5 20 (5%) x4 2.9 3.3 3.6 4.0
Scepter (Club) Bludgeon 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x2 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.2
Light Mace Bludgeon 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x2 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.2
Quarterstaff Bludgeon 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x2 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.2
Sickle Slashing 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x2 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.2
Handaxe Slashing 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x3 3.9 4.2 4.6 4.9
Scimitar Slashing 1d6 3.5 18-20 (15%) x2 4.0 4.6 4.7 4.9
Shortsword Piercing 1d6 3.5 19-20 (10%) x2 3.9 4.2 4.4 4.6
Rapier Piercing 1d6 3.5 18-20 (15%) x2 4.0 4.6 4.7 4.9
Heavy Pick Piercing 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x4 4.0 4.6 5.1 5.6
Shortbow Piercing 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x3 3.9 4.2 4.6 4.9
Throwing Axe Slashing 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x3 3.9 4.2 4.6 4.9
Kama Slashing 1d6 3.5 20 (5%) x2 3.7 3.9 4.0 4.2
Heavy Mace Bludgeon 1d8 4.5 20 (5%) x2 4.7 5.0 5.2 5.4
Morningstar Bludgeon 1d8 4.5 20 (5%) x2 4.7 5.0 5.2 5.4
Light Crossbow Piercing 1d8 4.5 19-20 (10%) x2 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.9
Warhammer Bludgeon 1d8 4.5 20 (5%) x3 5.0 5.4 5.9 6.3
Battleaxe Slashing 1d8 4.5 20 (5%) x3 5.0 5.4 5.9 6.3
Longsword Slashing 1d8 4.5 19-20 (10%) x2 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.9
Longbow Piercing 1d8 4.5 20 (5%) x3 5.0 5.4 5.9 6.3
Khopesh Slashing 1d8 4.5 19-20 (10%) x3 5.4 6.3 6.8 7.2
Repeating Light Crossbow Piercing 1d8 4.5 19-20 (10%) x2 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.9
Falchion Slashing 2d4 5 18-20 (15%) x2 5.8 6.5 6.8 7.0
Heavy Crossbow Piercing 1d10 5.5 19-20 (10%) x2 6.1 6.6 6.9 7.2
Greatclub Bludgeon 1d10 5.5 20 (5%) x2 5.8 6.1 6.3 6.6
Maul Bludgeon 1d10 5.5 20 (5%) x3 6.1 6.6 7.2 7.7
Dwarven Axe Slashing 1d10 5.5 20 (5%) x3 6.1 6.6 7.2 7.7
Bastard Sword Slashing 1d10 5.5 19-20 (10%) x2 6.1 6.6 6.9 7.2
Repeating Heavy Crossbow Piercing 1d10 5.5 19-20 (10%) x2 6.1 6.6 6.9 7.2
Greataxe Slashing 1d12 6.5 20 (5%) x3 7.2 7.8 8.5 9.1
Greatsword Slashing 2d6 7 19-20 (10%) x2 7.7 8.4 8.8 9.1
Great Crossbow Piercing 2d8 9 18-20 (15%) x2 10.4 11.7 12.2 12.6