Break damage, and when it is worth building around
A whole second damage formula that most accounts ignore, and the two teams where it wins.
Two damage formulas, not one
Direct damage scales off attack, critical rate and critical damage. Break damage scales off break efficiency and character level and ignores critical stats entirely. They are separate systems that happen to share a health bar.
That is why a break build looks broken on a damage sheet and clears anyway.
When break wins
- Against enemies with large stagger bars and long recovery windows.
- In modes scored on total clear rather than single-target burst.
- Whenever you own Cinder, who converts break into the primary source rather than a side effect.
When it does not
Against a single high-health target with a small stagger bar, break contributes a fraction of what a conventional carry does. Do not force it. The tier list ranks Cinder at S because the current rotation rewards her, not because break is universally better.
Building it
- Break efficiency to the threshold for the enemies you actually fight.
- Speed, as always.
- Attack last — it barely participates in the formula.
The most common mistake is a half-break build: enough break efficiency to lose critical stats, not enough to reach the threshold. Pick one formula and commit to it.