Damage Scaling (MBAC)

General Formula for Damage Adjustments

The formula for calculating the actual damage from a move is (roughly) as follows (from ikusat):

damage_dealt = FLOOR(base_damage* life_rating * (1 - ( hitcount - 1 + life_bonus ) / 32 )) Where each variable is the following:

• base_damage is the base damage of the move (as seen in the move property).
• life_rating is the current life rating of the character being hit. These values can be found in the defense modifier listing.
• hit_count is the current number of hits in the combo (including the hit in question)
• life_bonus is 4 - ( CEILING( current_life / 2750 )).

The floor function basically takes any floating-point value and returns the integral value with all of the numbers after the decimal point lopped off. So a final of value of 2148.0354 will be 2148, 316.456546 will be 316, and so on.

Damage Scaling via Hitcount in a Combo

As the above formula shows, the number of hits in a combo effects the scaling of each move. As an alternative to that formula, this is the effective scaling of each hit in a combo (as given by Veteru on dustloop.com):

• 01 : 100.00% (32/32)
• 02 : 96.875% (31/32)
• 03 : 93.750% (30/32)
• 04 : 90.625% (29/32)
• 05 : 87.500% (28/32)
• 06 : 84.375% (27/32)
• 07 : 81.250% (26/32)
• 08 : 78.125% (25/32)
• 09 : 75.000% (24/32)
• 10 : 71.875% (23/32)
• 11 : 68.750% (22/32)
• 12 : 65.625% (21/32)
• 13 : 62.500% (20/32)
• 14 : 59.375% (19/32)
• 15 : 56.250% (18/32)
• 16 : 53.125% (17/32)
• 17 : 50.000% (16/32)
• 18 : 46.875% (15/32)
• 19 : 43.750% (14/32)
• 20 : 40.625% (13/32)
• 21 : 37.500% (12/32)
• 22 : 34.375% (11/32)
• 23 : 31.250% (10/32)
• 24 : 28.125% (09/32)
• 25 : 25.000% (08/32)
• 26 : 21.875% (07/32)
• 27 : 18.750% (06/32)
• 28 : 15.625% (05/32)
• 29 : 12.500% (04/32)
• 23 : 09.375% (03/32)
• 31 : 06.250% (02/32)
• 32 : 03.125% (01/32)
• 33 : 03.125% (01/32)
• 34 : 03.125% (01/32)
• ....
• 3268 : 3.125% (01/32)

This caps out at 32 hits -- each hit after 32 will do 3.125% of its normal damage.

Furthermore, there is a hidden increment of the combo counter depending on how much health a player has remaining. For every 25% of health a player has lost, the hit counter is incremented by one for every hit done in a combo -- even the first. This is not a linear progression -- at 75% health the first hit of a combo will do 100% damage, whereas at 74.99% damage the first hit of a combo will do 96.8% damage.

Reverse Beat Penatly

(Ripped straight from Veteru's post; this needs to be edited and reformatted])

As I'm sure anyone who has played MB:AC has noticed there is now compensation value added to your combo whenever you whiff cancel / reverse beat (cancel from a heavier attack into a lighter one). Official term for this in Act Cadenza is "Reverse Chain". By default, assuming your combo doesn't have any additional compensation value already, using Reverse Chain in your combo will cause the scaling to drop to 78%. Use it again and it will drop to 55%, while a third time will lower it to 45%. Luckily that's as low as it goes (by default).

There is a seperate invisible tracker for compensation value (damage proration) from Reverse Chain, in addition to the normal one that adjusts scaling based on which moves you use in your combo. To understand how they interact with each other, the easiest way to think of it is this:

The numbers are kept track of seperately, and will add their proration accordingly, but to put it simply: the proration from Reverse Chain, isn't scaled proration so they don't multiply each other by any means. If the compensation value that would be caused from Reverse Chain (78% for first time, 55% for second, 45% for third) is lower than the current compensation value, then it supersedes it and becomes the new compensation value.

In case anyone doesn't understand, here's an example, using these moves:

• Nanaya 2C (Compensation Value: 60%)
• Nanaya 5B: (Compensation Value: 100% (i.e. no prorate))
• Nanaya 5A: (Compensation Value: 75%)

Nanaya 2c has compensation value 60%, so if you start your combo with it, compensation value is set to 60%. Cancelling it into 5B (no compensation value normally) used to be a good call, it wouldn't lower your compensation value at all. In fact, it still won't (in this example), because it's your first reverse beat. 78% isn't lower than 60%, so nothing happens. From this point, if you were to continue the combo (2c, 5b) by canceling into 5A, the compensation value will drop from 60% (from the original sweep) to 55% (because it will have been your second reverse beat). 55% > 60%, so it becomes the new compensation value. From this point, if you do the standard 2009a air combo for nanaya (Jump cb, double jump cb, air throw), your compensation value will drop pretty quickly... but it won't be

It should be noted that, in addition to being kept track of seperately, the compensation value from reverse beat/whiff cancel operates on a timer. After you do either of the two, even if your combo ends, you still carry the proration from whiff chaining with you for a period of time. Any new combo you start WILL carry this proration, even if you start with a move that doesn't cause any scaling (Nanaya 5b for instance). To give another Nanaya example, let's say that you were to use this blockstring: dash up 2a, 5c, 2b, whiff 5a. That's a pretty basic blockstring which I sometimes used in 2009a. It's somewhat dangerous now due to the new scaling from reverse beat. At the point that this block string ends, let's say you were to dash up and throw the opponent. Nanaya's throw normally does two hits, one for 500 (500 red life) and the second for 1000 (300 red life) damage (1468/781 after scaling). However, because you have an invisible demon (aka reverse chain scaling) following you, suddenly his throw is only going to deal 807(429 red life) damage. Not bad for risking yourself for a 5000+ damage combo (opponent won't have any scaling if they hit you).

In any case, the reverse beat scaling is annoying, but I think many combos won't be affected greatly by it. In the combo I mentioned before (Nanaya 2c, 5b, 5a (not a commonly used combo btw)), scaling from Reverse Chain does take affect... for a whole 5% difference. It should be noted that the followup air combo won't be affected much by Reverse Chain at this point. If you were to do the standard 2009a air combo for Nanaya (obsolete in FT) of jump CB, double jump CB, air throw, your compensation value will drop pretty quickly... but it won't be from Reverse Chaining at all. Nanaya's air C causes 80% scaled proration, so the first jump C you do will lower the compensation value from 55% to 44%, so even though your next hit (air b, 984 damage, 100% compensation value) will be a Reverse Chain, your compensation value is already beyond the reach of Reverse Chain damage scaling.

Character-based Defense Modifiers

(These numbers were calculated by Taiwan's #1 (and only) MB player, ikusat)

These numbers are the scaling values applied to damage under the "player defense rating" value. Each column represents the percentage modifier for the given health range at the top of the column. For characters on the border (ie: when someone has exaclly 50% health left), the rating for the lower health bracket applies.

Name	100-75% life	75-50% life	50-25% life	25-0% life	Est.Life
Akiha	90%	85%	80%	80%	13165
Kouma	90%	85%	85%	80%	12964
Nero	90%	85%	85%	80%	12964
Arcueid	90%	90%	85%	80%	12784
Hisui	85%	90%	90%	90%	12402
Sion	90%	90%	90%	90%	12222
Satsuki	100%	100%	90%	80%	11993
Aoko	100%	90%	90%	85%	12095
Shiki	90%	92%	92%	90%	12089
Miyako	100%	90%	90%	90%	11917
M-Hisui	85%	90%	100%	100%	11791
Nanaya	100%	95%	90%	90%	11756
Sion (T)	100%	95%	90%	90%	11756
Warakia	110%	100%	90%	80%	11742
Ciel	90%	90%	100%	100%	11610
Kohaku	90%	90%	100%	100%	11610
Arcueid (R)	90%	100%	100%	100%	11305
Ren	110%	100%	100%	90%	11056
Akiha (V)	110%	110%	110%	100%	10250

These numbers were obtained with Original mode from PS2 MBAC, but preliminary testing seems to show that the numbers are the same as Arcade mode. Neco Arc will be added as soon as people start unlocking her.

Melty Blood: Act Cadenza