What's the difference between attack damage and attack physical damage?

The Slayer and Berserker updates have minor nodes that have these two stats: attack damage and attack physical damage.

Seemingly the same, how are they different?

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Ringcycle wrote:

The Slayer and Berserker updates have minor nodes that have these two stats: attack damage and attack physical damage.

Seemingly the same, how are they different?

one is physical, one is global.

so attack damage is any damage associated with an attack. this can include a skill like elemental hit, which doesn't purely elemental damage.
attack physical damage will not augment elemental hit's damage because it isn't physical.

so yes attack physical damage will only augment an attacks damage which deals physical.


now you can get into slightly more complicated stuff, talking about damage conversion. if you convert some physical damage to elemental (but it starts out as physical), then physical damage will still augment that. AKA molten strikes damage

The difference is in the name. Unlike some other games (stares in Final Fantasy), "physical" is not synonymous with "attack," nor is all attack damage physical damage in this game. Basically, there are two types/axis/dimensions:

Damage "Source Category" (for lack of a better word):
Attack
Spell
Secondary
Damage over Time

(Secondary damage is hits that are neither Attack Damage nor Spell Damage. Bear Trap is the prototypical example.)

Damage Type:
Physical
Fire
Cold
Lightning
Chaos

Each packet of damage has one typing from each category. So you can deal Fire Attack Damage, Cold Attack Damage, etc. "Physical attack damage" bonuses won't affect the damage you get from equipping a ring that says "Adds 5-10 cold damage," but "Attack Damage" bonuses will.

To further complicate things, when damage types are converted or "added as" (which uses the same game code as conversion), damage bonuses can "remember" all damage types the packet of damage has ever been. So if you have 100% physical damage converted to fire damage, then even though you deal zero physical damage, bonuses to "physical attack damage" will still benefit you.

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xMustard wrote:

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Ringcycle wrote:

The Slayer and Berserker updates have minor nodes that have these two stats: attack damage and attack physical damage.

Seemingly the same, how are they different?

so yes attack physical damage will only augment an attacks damage which deals physical.

From what I can see, elehit is the only attack that doesn't convert phys.

It's kind of funny to think that GGG made this exception only to bar Berserkers from using elehit.

Its not only ele hit.

There are weapons that do a majority/all of their attack damage as elemental.
Oros Sacrifice style
There are mods that add flat Elemental/chaos damage to attacks without ever being physical damage first.