ESO Critical Damage - List of all Crit Damage Modifiers

Complete list of all ESO Critical Damage buffs. Everything you need to know about Critical Damage in ESO. Crit Damage can be found in: sets, skills, champion points, passives and ...

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Welcome to the ESO Critical Damage Guide. In this guide we are going to take a look at all the critical damage modifiers in the game. A lot of players confuse critical damage and critical chance (weapon and spell critical). Critical chance gives your abilities the possibility to crit. Critical damage is the modifier.

Critical Damage is a 50% boost to damage done at its base level when an ability crits. That means if a normal hit deals 1000 damage, a critical hit deals 1500 damage. However, you can increase the amount of critical damage via modifiers from sets, skills, champion points and passives. You can find a full list of all the possible modifiers below.

Update 32 Deadlands DLC introduced a critical damage hard cap of 125%. That means you won't be able to get above the 125%. This was done to reduce damage on very optimized raid groups. This hard cap won't affect many players except the top groups that managed to stack most of these buffs.

Critical Damage
Critical Damage


ESO Critical Damage Modifiers List

Below you can find two lists that showcase all the known critical damage modifiers. Of course you won't be able to get all of these at once, because some of the critical damage modifiers are class or race specific or require a very special set. Some buffs like Major Force won't have a 100% uptime, these are all things that you need to keep in mind.

Name % Gains
Base 50%
[Minor Force] 10%
[Major Force] 20%
[Minor Brittle] 10%
[Major Brittle]* 20%
[The Shadow] Mundus Stone 18%
Backstabber Perk 15%
Fighting Finesse Perk 10%
[Elemental Catalyst] Set 15%
[Harpooner's Wading Kilt] Set 10%
[Sul-Xan's Torment] Set 12%
[Dexterity] Medium Armor Passive 14%
[Twin Blade and Blunt] Dual Wield Passive 16%
[Heavy Weapons] Two Handed Passive 16%
[Feline Ambush] Khajiit Passive 12%
[Hemorrhage] Nightblade Pass 10%
[Piercing Spear] Templar Passive 10%
[Glacial Presence] Warden Passive 10%
[Malacath's Band of Brutality] Set** -50%

*Major Brittle is currently not available from any source.

**Malacath reduces your critical damage

Critical Damage Raid Example

To reach the 125% critical damage hard cap you could stack the following buffs. Lets take a look at a magicka based raid group example.

Name %Gains
Base 50%
[Minor Force] 10%
[Major Force] 20%
[Minor Brittle] 10%
Backstabber Perk 15%
Fighting Finesse Perk 10%
[Elemental Catalyst] Set 15%
Total 130%

Please remember if you bring classes or races with you into a raid that already have critical damage modifiers (Glacial Presence, Hemorrhage, Piercing Spear and Feline Ambush) you will have to adjust the critical damage modifiers. If you are already at the hard cap of 125% then these passives will be useless.

You also have to keep in mind that certain buffs might not have a 100% uptime, for example it is very hard to keep up Major Force all the time.

That also means that while you play in a 4 player dungeon group you don't really have to worry about the critical damage hard cap in ESO. The hard cap is mostly important for very optimized raid groups.

FAQ Critical Damage

Lets take a look at a few common questions about critical damage in ESO.

What is Critical Damage in ESO?

Critical Damage is a 50% boost to damage done at its base level when an ability crits. That means if a normal hit deals 1000 damage, a critical hit deals 1500 damage. However, you can increase the amount of critical damage via modifiers from sets, skills, champion points and passives.

How do you get high Crit Damage in ESO?

To get high crit damage in ESO you need to combine different modifers, please visit the ESO Critical Damage Guide to see a full list of all the modifiers.

How much damage does a Critical Hit do in ESO?

A critical hit deals 50% more damage than a normal hit. That means if a normal hit deals 1000 damage, a critical hit deals 1500 damage. However, you can increase the amount of critical damage via modifiers from sets, skills, champion points and passives.

Is Crit Chance better than Critical Damage in ESO?

Both critical chance and critical damage are important. Increasing critical chance is better in most cases because you can increase that number without much help from anyone else. Critical damage is usually also increased by buffs and debuffs from support characters.

Conclusion Critical Damage in ESO

Alcast

Alcast is a veteran gaming content creator with 15+ years of experience in MMORPGs, RPGs, and online games. Known for expert build creation, he’s a trusted voice in the MMO community—especially for his in-depth work on The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO).

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