Martial vs Tactical Damage: skills, bonuses & protection

Read the damage type on the skill

Martial Damage and Tactical Damage are labels on individual skill effects. Read the skill description rather than deciding from a hero’s weapon, faction or role. A support or tank can still have a damaging attack with its own damage type.

The type describes the damage being dealt. A skill can instead buff allies, reduce incoming damage or apply a debuff; those effects need to be read separately.

ATK scaling and damage type are different

Both Martial and Tactical attacks in the examples scale with ATK. Tactical Damage does not mean a separate Tactical ATK stat, and a skill dealing Martial Damage is not automatically limited to a basic attack.

Read the full description: damage coefficient, target selection, number of hits, cooldown and added effects can all change how a skill contributes in a fight. A higher coefficient by itself does not establish the better hero.

Match damage bonuses to the skill

A bonus explicitly labelled Martial Damage is relevant to Martial effects; a bonus explicitly labelled Tactical Damage is relevant to Tactical effects. Do not treat a type-specific bonus as a bonus to every skill.

• Boudica’s Unyielding Fury increases her Martial Damage.
• Mulan’s Master Archer increases her Tactical Damage; higher-star descriptions also include Crit Rate.
• Charles Martel’s Holy Wrath buffs allied ATK. That wording differs from a bonus restricted to one damage type.
• Faction bonuses and damage types are separate checks. Heroes in the same faction can have different skill effects.

Choose protection for the incoming damage

Ragnar’s Shieldwall provides Martial protection. Cleopatra’s Royal Bulwark provides general protection and, in the higher-star descriptions, additional Tactical protection for Ranger heroes. Their other skills and star variants must be checked separately.

Practical example: when the dangerous enemy skills deal Tactical Damage, do not count Martial-only protection as protection against those attacks. Check which allies receive an effect, how long it lasts and when it can be cast.

• “This Hero”, “front-row Heroes” and “all 5 Heroes” describe different recipients.
• “All damage” and a named damage type describe different scopes.
• A buff may change recipients or add an effect at higher stars. Use the variant you actually own.

Use this checklist before changing your squad

Start with the skill descriptions on each hero profile, then compare the opponent’s threats with your team’s damage and protection.

• Check the damage type of each damaging skill, including basic attacks.
• Match outgoing damage bonuses with the heroes and skills that receive them.
• Match protection with the incoming damage type and affected allies.
• Check target count, repeated hits, back-row targeting and cooldowns as well as damage type.
• Compare similar battle reports after one change at a time. A damage-type label alone does not predict the winner.

What the client descriptions establish

Examples on this page use the published hero skill descriptions from client 1.0.44, checked against the original bundled hero and skill tables with English localization. The descriptions establish damage labels, ATK scaling, recipients and stated effects.

The complete server damage formula, DEF interaction, the order in which bonuses combine and any damage caps have not been established by these descriptions. This guide does not assign an unverified multiplier or claim that Tactical Damage bypasses DEF.