Gameplay

Critical Hit

A critical hit turns one swing into a burst of bonus damage — and four separate stats decide it: how often you crit, how hard you hit, and how well you shrug off enemy crits. Learn what Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Crit Defense and Crit Dodge do, and exactly which gems, pets and gear stack each one.

Overview

A critical hit is a lucky strike that deals far more damage than a normal one. Every class can crit, and once you start gearing up, a large share of your damage comes from crits — which is why critical stats are among the first things worth optimising. You can see all of your critical stats on your character sheet by pressing C.

Critical fighting actually revolves around four stats, not one — two offensive, two defensive.

The four critical stats

Crit Chance

How often your attacks crit. It starts low, so raising Crit Chance is one of the first goals for any damage dealer: more crits means more of your hits get the bonus multiplier.

Crit Damage

How hard a crit lands. Crit Damage is shown as a percentage of a normal hit — for example, at 371% Crit Damage a critical strike deals 371% of what that same attack would do without critting. The higher this number, the bigger every crit.

Crit Defense

A defensive stat that softens incoming crits. Crit Defense reduces the extra damage an enemy's critical hit deals to you — stack enough of it and an enemy's crit barely hits harder than a normal blow.

Crit Dodge (Crit Evasion)

The other defensive stat: it lowers the chance an enemy's hit crits you in the first place. Build Crit Dodge and enemies simply land far fewer crits against you — invaluable in PvP and against hard-hitting bosses.

Not every critical stat is shown directly on the character sheet — some skills, blessings and curses raise or lower these values for a time, on top of your base numbers.

How to raise your crit stats

Socket gems

Gems are the most reliable way to stack crit. Each crit gem family comes in five tiers (I–V) and slots straight into your equipment:

Gem	Stat it adds	I	II	III	IV	V
Goldspark	Crit Chance	+1%	+2%	+3%	+5%	+7%
Shattershard	Crit Damage	+5%	+8%	+12%	+20%	+25%
Crystalline	Crit Defense	+5%	+8%	+12%	+20%	+25%
Twilight	Crit Dodge	+1%	+2%	+3%	+5%	+7%

A full set of high-tier gems is a huge swing — five Shattershard V gems alone add +125% Crit Damage.

Pet skills

Your pet can buff you too. Deadliness is a learnable pet skill that raises its owner's Crit Chance for a time — a handy extra source for damage dealers who keep a pet active.

Equipment evaluation & fashion

Beyond gems, crit stats can roll onto gear through equipment evaluation (re-rolling an item's bonus lines), and they also turn up on fashion and PvP / arena gear. Evaluating the right pieces lets you pick up extra Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Crit Defense or Crit Dodge without spending a gem slot.

Faith

The Faith (belief) tree also offers passive crit bonuses, and for some classes reaching enough rune energy unlocks skills that boost a crit stat directly.

Offense or defense?

You can't max all four crit stats at once, so pick the two that fit your role:

Damage dealers prioritise Crit Chance + Crit Damage — crit more often, and hit much harder when you do.
Supports, tanks and PvP survivors (light priests, ice mages, front-line defenders) lean on Crit Defense + Crit Dodge to blunt enemy burst.

Choose your lane based on whether your job is to deal damage or to stay standing — it isn't feasible to maximise all four at once.

FAQ

Q: What's the difference between Crit Defense and Crit Dodge? A: Crit Dodge lowers the chance an enemy crits you; Crit Defense lowers the extra damage a crit deals once it lands. Dodge stops crits, Defense weakens them — front-line defenders often want both.

Q: Which crit gems should a damage dealer use? A: Goldspark (Crit Chance) and Shattershard (Crit Damage). A balance of both beats stacking only one — chance without damage (or damage without chance) wastes half the potential.

Q: How do I check my crit stats? A: Press C to open your character sheet — Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Crit Defense and Crit Dodge are all listed there.