Neverwinter Wiki
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Combat in Neverwinter is based on a version of fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons rules modified to be more action-oriented and faster-paced than either the pencil-and-paper roleplaying game on which it is based or even most other MMORPGs. Battles in the game are similar in some ways to the combat in third-person shooters, especially with the unique key and mouse bindings for the action bar and active targeting based on moving a reticule in the middle of the screen over foes.

Action Bar[]

The action bar is divided in sections for the following types of actions:

  • One slot for a defensive or evasive Utility power bound to the Shift key.
  • Two slots for passive Class Features.
  • Three slots for Encounter powers that can be used at any time, but which have varying cooldowns (typically around 10 seconds). These are bound to the "Q", "E" and "R" keys.
  • Two slots for Daily powers that can only be used after charging the Action Points meter.
    • Each class charges the meter through performing role-specific actions. For example, Tanks blocking damage or DPS dealing damage.
  • Two slots for At-will powers that can be used at any time, having little or no cooldown, bound to the left and right mouse buttons.
  • One slot for the active Artifacts power.
  • Three slots for consumable items.
  • And one slot for the active Mount Combat Powers.


Damage Floaters[]

The combat events can be shown on the screen with floating combat text. The type and nature of the action is indicated with colors and icons.

  • Green = Healing.
  • Yellow = Damage dealt.
  • Orange = Critical damage dealt.
  • Red = Damage taken.
  • White = Damage taken (companion).
  • Blue = Reflected damage


  • Sword = Combat Advantage. (Combat Advantage damage is only dealt when part of the ring around the enemy's base is blue)
  • Lightning = Critical Hit.
  • Bent Arrow = Deflected attack.
  • Note that landing a Critical Hit is dependent on the percentage shown in the character stats. The amount of damage done in a critical hit is dependent also on the amount of Critical Severity listed in your characters stats.
  • Also note that Combat Advantage damage is dependent on the percentage shown in the character sheet.

Character Stat Rundown[]

Basic rundown of how the primary stats in Neverwinter function. Unless otherwise noted, all Stat Totals listed in the formulae are the player's.

Offensive Stats[]

Power Damage and Heal Multiplier = Base Damage or Heal * ( 1 + Power Total / 100 )
Power works as a direct multiplier for damage dealt and healing. If you have 50% Power Total, you will deal 1.5x your Base Damage.


Accuracy Damage Multiplier on a Deflected Attack = Base Damage / ( 1 + ( Enemy Deflect Severity Total - Accuracy Total ) / 100 )
Average Damage Multiplier = Base Damage / ( 1 + Enemy Deflect Total ( Enemy Deflect Severity Total - Accuracy Total ) / 100 )
Accuracy reduces damage reduction when an enemy deflects the players attack. In all PvE content, enemies have a 50% Deflect Total, and have a 90% Deflect Severity Total. This means that PvE enemies have a 50% chance to reduce each attack's damage by up to ~47% (based on 1 / ( 1 + 90% ) ).
Accuracy directly reduces the target's Deflect Severity. If you are in PvE content and have a 50% Accuracy Total, your target will still deflect 50% of your attacks, but your deflected attack's damage will only be reduced by ~29% (number gotten from 1 - ( 1 / ( 1 + 90% - 50% ) ) ).


  • Combat Advantage
    Combat Advantage Example Narwhalprime 2

    1) blue ring, 2) opposite ally, 3) Combat Advantage damage floater

Combat Advantage Multiplier = Base Damage * ( 1 + ( Combat Advantage Total - Enemy Awareness Total ) / 100 )
Combat Advantage works as a direct damage multiplier whenever you have combat advantage against your target. The easiest way to maintain combat advantage is to stand on opposite sides of an enemy with an ally or companion.
You can visually tell if you have combat advantage by looking for a ring at the base of your enemy. If it has a blue section closer to your position, you currently have combat advantage. If your attacks are dealing combat advantage damage, your damage floaters will also have a small sword to their right.


Damage Multiplier on a critical hit = Base Damage * ( 1 + ( Critical Severity Total - Enemy Critical Avoidance Total ) / 100 )
Average Critical Damage Multiplier = Base Damage * ( 1 + ( ( Critical Strike Total ) * ( Critical Severity Total - Enemy Critical Avoidance Total ) ) / 100 )
Critical Strike directly tells you how likely you are to critically hit or heal your target. If you have a 50% Critical Strike Total, you will critically hit or heal half of the time.
Critical Severity gives a multiplier to damage whenever you critically hit. If you have a 50% Critical Severity Total, you will deal 1.5x your Base Damage when you critically hit or heal. For a calculation of average damage or heal multiplier: If you have a 50% Critical Strike Total and 50% Critical Severity Total, you on average heal or deal 1.25x more damage.
It is best practice to increase your Critical Strike and Critical Severity Totals at the same rate, as they are directly complementary statistics.
Note that PvE enemies do not have a Critical Avoidance rating. In PvP, the damage of your critical hits is reduced by your target's Critical Avoidance Total. If you have a 50% Critical Severity Total and your target has a 25% Critical Avoidance Total, you will deal 1.25x your Base Damage on a critical hit.


Defensive Stats[]

Defense Damage Reduction = Incoming Base Damage / ( 1 + Defense Total / 100 )
Defense is a damage reduction statistic. If you have a 50% Defense Total, you will take 33% less base damage (based on 1 / (1 + 50% ) ). This means 33% less damage before accounting for the enemy's combat advantage and critical strike.


Awareness Damage Reduction when enemy has combat advantage = Incoming Damage * ( 1 + ( Enemy Combat Advantage Total - Awareness Total ) / 100 )
Awareness is a defensive stat which reduces the additional damage enemies deal with Combat Advantage. PvE bosses always deal combat advantage damage, and normal PvE enemies deal combat advantage damage when they are on opposing sides of the player. All PvE enemies have a Combat Advantage Total of 90%. If the player has 50% Awareness Total in PvE content, they will take ~26% less damage from enemies' attacks with {[encounter|combat advantage}}.


Critical Avoidance Reduction when critically struck = Incoming Damage * ( 1 + ( Enemy Critical Severity Total - Critical Avoidance Total ) / 100 )
Average Critical Avoidance Reduction = Incoming Damage * ( 1 + Enemy Critical Strike Total ( Enemy Critical Severity Total - Critical Avoidance Total ) / 100 )
Critical Avoidance is a defensive stat which reduces the additional damage enemies deal upon a {[golden|critical hit}}. PvE enemies always have a 50% Critical Chance Total and a 90% Critical Severity Total. If a player has 50% Critical Avoidance in PvE content, they will take ~26% less damage from enemies' critical hits. However, since enemies only critically hit half of the time, this averages to a 13% reduction in damage taken.


Deflect Damage Reduction on a successful deflect = Incoming Damage / ( 1 + ( Deflect Severity Total - Enemy Accuracy Total ) / 100 )
Average Deflect Damage Reduction = Incoming Damage / ( 1 + Deflect Total ( Deflect Severity Total - Enemy Accuracy Total ) / 100 )
Deflect is a stat which determines how likely you are to deflect an attack. Deflect Total gives you the percentage chance to deflect.
Deflect Severity is the stat which determines how much damage is reduced upon a successful deflect. If you have a 50% Deflect Severity Total, you will reduce damage taken by ~33% upon a successful deflect (from 1 / ( 1 + 50% ) ). For a calculation of average reduction: If you have a 50% Deflect Total and 50% Deflect Severity Total, you take on average ~17% less damage from enemy attacks (from 1 / ( 50% * ( 1 + 50% ) ) ).
It is best practice to increase your Deflect and Deflect Severity Totals at the same rate, as they are directly complementary statistics.
Note that PvE enemies do not have an Accuracy rating. In PvP, your Deflect Severity Total is reduced by your target's Accuracy Total. If you have a 50% Deflect Severity Total and your target has a 25% Accuracy Total, you will take 20% less damage on a successful deflect and 10% less damage on average (from 1 / (1 + 50% - 25% ) ).


Utility Stats[]

Control Bonus is a stat which increases the length of time that certain combat control effects (for example: daze, root, stun) last. In PvE, enemies do not have a Control Resistance stat, meaning that the Control Bonus Total serves as a direct multiplier to effect durations. However, most bosses and certain normal enemies are immune to combat control effects, making Control Bonus largely useless.


Control Resistance is a stat which decreases the length of time that certain combat control effects (for example: daze, root, stun) last. Control Resistance Total gives a direct indication of the combat control effect time reduction. However, many combat control effects in PvE, especially those from bosses, are not affected by Control Resistance. This renders Control Resistance largely unimportant.


Incoming Healing Multiplier = Base Healing * ( 1 + Incoming Healing Total / 100 )
Incoming Healing is a stat which directly increases the healing received by a player. If a player has 50% Incoming Healing Total, most incoming healing abilities and effects will heal 1.5x as much.


Outgoing Healing Multiplier = Base Healing * ( 1 + Outgoing Healing Total / 100 )
Outgoing Healing is a stat which directly increases the healing of a player's spells and abilities. If a player has 50% Outgoing Healing Total, most of their healing abilities and effects will heal 1.5x as much.
Note: For healers, Outgoing Healing and Power have the exact same effect. This means that it is best practice to raise them at the same rate.

Combat Log[]

All Cryptic games include an option to log your combat statistics. Many online games have combat logs, although it is practically impossible to read these logs without a parser. The same is true with Cryptic combat logs.
To view a raw combat log;

  1. In chat type /combatlog 1 then press the Return/Enter key. This will seem to have no effect but it is now logging combat to a text file.
  2. Go start a fight with something.
  3. After the battle is over look for a new text file found in ...Neverwinter\Live\logs\GameClient\Combatlog_<current date and time>.Log


The combat log is coded to save space as this text file can consume a few megabytes in just a few battles. To make sense of the data given it is necessary to download and run a parser. The parser will only interact with this text file and nothing else within the game.

Parsers[]

Combat Parser

Parsers take input data and builds structure, giving a clear representation of the input, checking for correct syntax in the process. Advanced Combat Tracker (ACT) is a generic game parser that requires a translation script for each game. You will need someone to either; A) help you make such a script, or B) hope that someone has already made the script. The most current version of this script can be found here in the Neverwinter forums.

Sourceforge has CombatLogParser specifically geared to operate for Cryptic's games. Since this program is written in Java, it is a cross platform tool. Here in this screen shot it is working in real time as the user plays the game in Linux OS. The issue is the source code hasn't been update in years (2011) and new skills change often.

Both parsers mentioned above can analyze your combat log in real time (while you play) or after you are finished and have even logged out of the game. The data they provide allows one to track damage per second (DPS) among other aspects of all entities within gaming area. This gives the player a clear picture into what aspects of their character needs to be developed.

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