I recently managed to pick up a damage tattoo for my monk, for blunt damage. I primarily prefer bashing with kata, so I thought blunt was the obvious first choice to go with.

Well, I didn't get a noticeable boost. I checked my tattoo to make sure it was the full 10 dmp for blunt that I requested, and it is.

Is 10 dmp not enough to notice anything, or is kata punch and kick NOT blunt damage afterall? Or maybe kata isn't affected by tattoos. I honestly didn't think I had to ask this kind of question!

Did you test damage against a beast or another player? I believe DamageBuff tats don't impact PVE, only PVP. Though... there was a bugfix on DamageBuff well after I conducted my initial tests. Would be worthwhile to collect data on both pre- and post-tat beast & again on player damage.

I tested it on denizens. I seem to be killing one thing faster, but, honestly, since it is such a low threat and it doesn't shield at all, I don't need to really focus, so it may be the same as before. I wish I could turn it off!

If it doesn't affect damage to denizens, does this mean I shouldn't bother getting the defensive tattoos then? I really hate mysteries.

Yeah. That method won't work as well.

1. Remove your tats.
   
2. Find a friend.
   
3. Kick and punch separately to record damage.
   
4. Re-tattoo.
   
5. Kick and punch separately to record damage.
   
6. Compare.
   

You may want to repeat using a beast with BEAST INFO to get the numbers. Then you can compare PVE versus PVP.

10 DMP works out to about a 10% damage boost, assuming you have nothing else boosting the damage with DMP points. This WILL apply to denizens. This may not be noticeable if you are still doing punch/punch/kick combos, since the 10% might not build enough over time if you are killing things in 3-4 forms, which you probably are if your skills are that low (and by extension, possibly your levels).

Damage boosts are nice, but not really all that great until the higher levels, especially in situations where you really need to kill more quickly to survive as opposed to tank things out. It feeds more into ensuring your high criticals have that much more oomph.

This is all true, but has anyone ever actually confirmed that unarmed attacks are indeed blunt?

Janalon:

Yeah. That method won't work as well.

1. Remove your tats.
   
2. Find a friend.
   
3. Kick and punch separately to record damage.
   
4. Re-tattoo.
   
5. Kick and punch separately to record damage.
   
6. Compare.
   

You may want to repeat using a beast with BEAST INFO to get the numbers. Then you can compare PVE versus PVP.

I'd do this, but I'm not that concerned, plus I don't really feel comfortable testing stuff like that with others AND I don't really have any "friends" so to speak. I tend to just play by myself! I'd still like to know the answer though just to have the correct information so I don't mislead new players.


10 DMP works out to about a 10% damage boost, assuming you have nothing else boosting the damage with DMP points. This WILL apply to denizens. This may not be noticeable if you are still doing punch/punch/kick combos, since the 10% might not build enough over time if you are killing things in 3-4 forms, which you probably are if your skills are that low (and by extension, possibly your levels).

Damage boosts are nice, but not really all that great until the higher levels, especially in situations where you really need to kill more quickly to survive as opposed to tank things out. It feeds more into ensuring your high criticals have that much more oomph.


I'm at mythical in my chosen offense skill, and can get as much as 19 dex. The only thing I notice a damage boost from are things like dragon (release kirigami which is only 5%), more dex, very little from strength, and a war shrine (possibly forgot something). Any one of these things shows a difference in how soon I kill things, and hasn't failed. If my kata punches and kicks are indeed blunt, then 10% from blunt on a tattoo would most certainly be something I'd notice if they did apply to denizens. As it is right now I can only assume kata is cutting or that tattoos don't apply to denizens.

Either way, I'm not too concerned about this. From a personal aspect, tattoos are cheap and I have plenty of weight just to hold both blunt and cutting to "make sure" I'm getting the bonus. Thanks for the replies!

I might just do this and repost. I'm always curious about such things, and love to look at the numbers. Actually, I wonder whether the damage from a tat damage buffed unarmed would exceed damage for a non-buffed weapon, weapon, kick combo.

EDIT: not sure what this this would prove, other than being an interesting tidbit of info.

Janalon:

This is all true, but has anyone ever actually confirmed that unarmed attacks are indeed blunt?

They're certainly not cutting, so if RoA blocks the damage, it'd be a safe assumption. Someone might like to doublecheck that it does get absorbed though