Path of Idle Stats & Damage Scaling: How to Test a Build

Steam players repeatedly ask which weapon or attribute powers a skill and report that several effects are difficult to evaluate from the summary screen. The public developer notes clarify individual descriptions and fixes, but they do not publish a complete damage formula. This page therefore separates visible facts from inference. A tooltip line, requirement, patch note, or repeatable combat result can support a decision; an unexplained number on a community tier list cannot establish a universal rule.

Source: Steam review feed ↗

Write one sentence for the Godsworn: hold the front, clear groups, damage a single target, heal, shield, buff, debuff, or supply another specific utility. A stat is useful only when it improves that job. This prevents a common error: replacing a working defensive or support effect because another item has a larger Total value. If the team fails because the front collapses, personal damage on a backliner may not address the failure.

Continue with: choose a role using the classes guide

Check the required weapon first, then mana or resource cost, cooldown, attack range, effect description, tags, and every displayed scaling line. A requirement can invalidate an otherwise attractive item. Range can move a character into danger. Cost and cooldown affect how often the effect appears. Tags help connect the skill to compatible effects, but this guide does not claim a tag changes damage unless the current tooltip or official note says so. Capture the tooltip before following an older build video because launch patches have corrected several descriptions.

Source: Official update feed — description and skill fixes ↗

Compare base attributes, ordinary affixes, rare or legendary effects, sockets, granted skills, and set bonuses. A higher Total does not show whether the useful lines match the role. Conversely, a lower-level item is not automatically better because it has one attractive effect. List which lines are expected to matter, which are defensive insurance, and which appear unrelated. If the relationship cannot be proven from the tooltip or a controlled test, label it unknown rather than counting it as damage.

Use the same stage, team order, automation, and opponent. Record whether the run clears, the completion time shown by the game when available, who dies first, whether the failure is damage or survival, and the relevant combat-stat values. Change one item, Talent, skill, or team slot—not all four. Repeat enough times to avoid treating one unusually favorable attempt as proof. Patch 1.0.9 changed combat-stat number formatting to KMBT display; that is a presentation change, so compare like with like rather than assuming the underlying value changed.

Source: Official version 1.0.9 update ↗

Keep the change when it repeatedly improves the defined job without creating a more serious failure elsewhere. Reject it when the displayed Total rises but the line clears more slowly, dies earlier, or loses a required utility. Mark it inconclusive when results vary or two variables changed together. An inconclusive result is not a reason to invent an explanation; return to the baseline and design a narrower comparison.

The launch updates corrected Health Tenacity and Frost Damage descriptions, added missing Mastery Skill Speed text, improved equipment comparisons to show Affix changes, fixed some incorrect base Affixes and comparison displays, and fixed a Mythic equipment damage-stat display issue. These records show why screenshots and spreadsheets from earlier builds can disagree with the current client. Update first, then rebuild the baseline before diagnosing a supposed scaling problem.

Source: Official update feed — versions 1.0.2, 1.0.5 and 1.0.6.2 ↗

Public evidence reviewed for this page does not establish a complete dual-weapon formula, every additive and multiplicative damage bucket, hidden proc rates, or a permanent class stat priority. Those topics require current retail data or a controlled demonstration that exposes the relevant variables. Until then, the installed tooltip and repeatable stage test are safer than a precise-looking but unsupported formula.