This treatise was compiled to sum my research on the Stagger and Knockdown mechanics. For those of you who have seen me round the wiki, you may already know that I’m a bit of a numbers freak with an insatiable desire to quantify everything. Considering how surprisingly little is known about Stagger and Knockdown, I decided to put my skills to work solving the Dragon’s Dogma community’s biggest unsolved mystery, the result is this blog. I hope you find it a worthwhile read.
I’ll begin by saying that there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding this mechanic, and even a fair amount on this very wiki. So I ask of you. Forget everything you think you know and prepare to finally learn how to use this mechanic.
While the focus of this blog will be on the Stagger mechanic. Everything that has been worked out for stagger accumulation will likely also apply to knockdown accumulation, hence the need only to focus on one.
On enemy Stagger power[]
My very first foray into this topic was quite literally attracting a large group of Goblins and having them swarm me. While not great for measurements it did serve to highlight a point. If you, the Arisen, cannot inflict enough damage to bypass enemy defences with an attack, you also cannot stagger or knock down said enemy with that attack. This is not new information, what, however, is not mentioned is the fact that this rule applies to enemies as well. Despite being swarmed by Goblins, because none were capable of damaging me (outside the mandatory 1 hp of damage) 5000 hp later I was yet to be staggered even once. Hence we have our first finding.
Finding 1: If an enemy cannot damage you with an attack, it will be impossible for that enemy to inflict Stagger or Knockdown with that attack.
On Stagger/KnockDown resistance[]
So as of writing this, no-one from our community has ever found the formula responsible for stagger resistance. In fact this is a quote from the knockdown article at the time of writing.
(Speculation) It seems possible that Knockdown Resistance (a percentage) is multiplied by the character's defense to obtain the true knockdown resistance value. An equally or more likely option is that the knockdown percentage is multiplied by the creature or human's weight.
As you can see, there is speculation around what may contribute to such a formula. This begins the serious testing. I would like to introduce you to my first test subject, the Pastona Cavern Warrior. He will help me find out what factors, if any, contribute to stagger/knockdown Resistance.
Contributing Factors[]
Using a character with 767 Core Def, weighing in at 38.0Kg (and many pieces of armor) I methodically worked through the stagger resistance percentage to find the one at which point the warriors first hit of Hack would no longer stagger me. That was 51%. Switching now to another character of 387 Core Def, weighing in, again, at 38.0Kg, if found this number was again 51% stagger resistance.
Finding 2: Core Def has no bearing on your Stagger resistance.
Now for weight. Switching to a character with 767 Core Def, weighing in at 177.0Kg the stagger resistance required to resist stagger on the first hit of Hack was… 51%.
Finding 3: Character Weight has no bearing on your Stagger resistance.
Side Note: The fact that I have seen posted on many forums across the internet that weight is a factor, It is not. It is a lie, and it is this lie that I put the blame for having no formula on.
Continuing with our test subject over the course of my experimentation I found several things of note, listed here:
Finding 4: Sex doesn’t matter.
Finding 5: No stat matters.
Finding 6: Encumbrance doesn’t matter.
Finding 7: Hard Mode doesn’t matter.
Finding 8: Curse doesn’t affect it.
Finding 9: Periapts don’t affect it.
So, from this information we can glean that we are most likely looking for a number and that this number is not modified by Debilitations or Invigorations (Mostly).
So how do we find this number? How is it calculated? Enter my second test subject. This is a Corrupted Pawn Fighter from the Pilgrim’s Gauntlet. We will be looking at his Empale attack.
Working out the formula[]
First, we find the stagger resistance needed to resist stagger on his first Empale. This is 61%. Now we need two of them to Empale me at exactly the same time, over and over, so I can find the stagger resistance needed for two Empale attacks. This was a lot more frustrating than I make it out to be, RNG is not kind. But I digress, this number is 81%. But why get two of them to use Empale when one will follow up Empale with another Empale? The answer is decay. That is a topic we will cover soon.
My initial thoughts were to map out the two points on a graph and find the formula for this plot, and this is exactly what we should do. But without making sense of what kind of graph we will be drawing we won’t be able to draw one. So we let’s look at the following sets of data points. We have the Corrupted Pawns:
When x=61, y=z.
When x=81, y=2z.
And we have the Pastona Warriors:
When x=51, y=z.
When x=76, y=2z.
Hence we have the following linear equation:
SD=(100-x)P
Where SD = Stagger Damage taken. x = Stagger Resistance. P = Enemy Stagger Power.
This is the formula for Stagger/Knockdown Resistance. It is a simple linear equation. It functions exactly as elemental resistances do.
This does raise an issue though. It would mean that at 100% resistance, it would be impossible for enemies to stagger or knock you down without extra scripting to garuntee that this is the case. We know that even at 100% resistance it is still possible to be Staggered or Knocked down. Try withstanding a Drakes backhand to prove my point. So that means that at 100% resistance, if an attack Staggers, or Knocks you down, it is scripted to be garunteed. There is no way of avoiding it.
Decay[]
Now for something quite important. How do we put this all in to one picture? Remember earlier when I raised the matter of simply letting one Corrupted Pawn Empale me twice in a row? Well, I just so happened to do that as well. In order to resist both consecutive Empales I needed 79% stagger resistance. Compare that to the 81% for two simultaneous ones. Decay ladies and gentlemen.
This data is difficult to verify. However my calculations suggest up to 20 seconds to reset at a decay rate of approximately 2% of current build up per second. This makes for a decent approximation. It is exactly that, an approximation. The main focus of looking at decay is merely to prove its existence for Arisen and Pawn.
Finding 10: Accumulated Stagger, will decay to 0 over a short period of time.
Side Observation: Using Instant Reset between Empales, did not prevent stagger for resistances between 70-79%. Hence, Instant Reset does not reset your Stagger accumulation.
Decay Part 2[]
Now on to something rather important. Does the enemy stagger counter decay? Let’s introduce my third test subject. ThunderWyvern. I will use the Warrior’s jumping light attack on a flying ThunderWyvern to illustrate my points, on Hard Mode. Here is a table outlining how many hits to his tail it took with different weapons to drop my test subject from the sky for the first time.
| Weapon | Stagger | Knockdown | Number of Hits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitter End | 608 | 608 | 5 |
| Devils Nail | 653 | 653 | 5 |
| Dwells in light | 531 | 531 | 8 |
| Rusted Greatsword | 406 | 406 | 11 |
| Fiery Talon | 293 | 293 | 15 |
And here is another table with the same information for all subsequent times bringing him down.
| Weapon | Stagger | Knockdown | Number of Hits | Number with Barbed Nail | Number with barbed nail x2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitter End | 608 | 608 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Devils Nail | 653 | 653 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Dwells in light | 531 | 531 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Rusted Greatsword | 406 | 406 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Fiery Talon | 293 | 293 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Two Hander | 200 | 200 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
As you can see there is already something important to note. His Stagger/Knockdown resistance appears doubled prior to the first time knocking him down. This is only the case for Large enemies however. Looking at Wargs and Poisoned Undead, there is no initial doubling. This is likely a result of Capcom knowing that people would exploit skills like Soul Skewer if they were.
Finding 11: Large enemies will start battle with double Stagger/Knockdown resistance. Inflicting Stagger or knockdown will bring the enemy’s respective threshold to its true value for the rest of the engagement.
Amendment: A suspicion that the debilitating power of an attack may be tripled if it is the first strike to a foe came to my attention. It is hypothesised that this also applies to Stagger and Knockdown. Hence Finding 11 can be amended to accomodate for this.
Finding 11.1: The very first hit imparted to an enemy carries triple the Stagger and Knockdown Damage that it otherwise would do normally.
Finding 11.2: As a consequence of finding 11.1, Large enemy Stagger and Knockdown resistance is in fact Tripled at the beginning of an engagement.
Something else of equal importance is that enemy stagger/knockdown counters do not decay. See my note for further clarification as this statement isn't entirely correct without context. Using the bitter end and hitting his tail twice, then waiting for a whole minute before hitting it once more, dropped our friend from the sky. This was replicable with all the longswords in the tables above.
Finding 12: Enemy Stagger/Knockdown counters do not decay like those of the party.
Finding 13: Enemy Stagger/Knockdown counters are reset each time Stagger/Knockdown is inflicted.
Note. It is not entirely correct to say that enemy counters do not decay. They do. However they decay at a rate so slow that it is hardly noticable and has very little practical significance. For example, it took 120 seconds for 50% of the knockdown i had accumulated on a Poisoned Undead to decay. On a separate point.
Finding 14: Enemy Stagger/Knockdown resistance is tripled in Hard Mode.
This explains why, particularly in Hard Mode, enemies seem so difficult to knock down. At the beginning of the fight they have as much as a 6 or even 9 times multiplier for their resistances.
During my testing I also found the following…
Finding 15: Curse does not impede your ability to inflict Stagger or Knockdown, unless you can no longer break defences.
Finding 16: Using periapts and other strength boosters does not improve your ability to inflict Stagger or Knockdown.
Stances and Body Parts[]
Before we look into stance effects, we need to examine body part modifiers. Different body parts have differing levels of resistance to Stagger.
I ran some tests on a Cyclops using a GoldForged Darkening Storm (S 498, KD 498) and Mighty Bend. Take a look at the following table. All tests were done in the Cyclops “initial” state where it has yet to be knocked down or staggered. Empty cells denote inability (in this test) to obtain a value.
| Body Part | Hits to Stagger | Hits to Knockdown | Animation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg | 5 | 2 | On its knees. |
| Belly | 3 | Faceplant. | |
| Back | 3 | Sprawled backwards. | |
| Arm | 1 | Tripped away. | |
| Head | 1 | Jolted upwards in shock. |
Each individual body part has varying resistance to both stagger and knockdown. Some like the legs and torso were places that, when hit enough, resulted in knock down, but the arms and head, were not vulnerable to knockdown, but to stagger instead.
Finding 17: Different body parts on Large enemies have differing levels of succeptibility to Stagger and Knockdown.
Note the different knockdown animations the cyclops was forced into upon reaching the threshold on certain body parts. The legs would force it to it’s knees every time, the stomach forces it onto it’s face. Large enemies may have a selection of differing animations that they are forced into depending on where the threshold is breached.
Finding 18: The Stagger or Knockdown animation a large enemy is forced into upon breaching it's threshold is dependant on which body part whose threshold was breached.
To add further. Hitting each leg once, did not result in knockdown. Hitting each leg once and the belly 3 times, did result in knockdown. In this way, each individual body part of a large enemy has its own S/KD thresholds to breach. In this respect, Stagger and Knockdown damage is inflicted similarly to debilitations.
Finding 19: Each different and independant body part of a large enemy has its own thresholds for stagger and knockdown.
Further to this, when a cyclops is in a knocked down state applying enough knockdown damage to the respective body parts had no effect. However, achieving the stagger threshold still resulted in him being staggered in a knocked down state. From this information we can glean that the respective knockdown and stagger counters, may be zeroed at the end of their respective animations. Though an alternate hypothesis would be that additional damage beyond the thresholds whilst the enemy is still locked in this animation has no effect.
Either way, it is equivalent to the enemy receiving a 0% modifier to incoming knockdown damage, whilst in the knocked down animation. As it is impossible to tell whether the meter is zeroed at the start or end of the animation, I will opt for this option. For cyclops at least, there was no noticeable effect on stagger damage while it was knocked down.
Finding 20: It will not be possible to inflict stagger or knockdown on a large enemy again until the respective animation is finished.
Now on to stance modifiers. Certain enemies, when in performing certain animations, as I will term stances, will receive modifiers to the amount of stagger or knockdown damage that is inflicted on them. You receive a very large bonus, certainly to knockdown, against a charging Eliminator for example. Not all enemy animations will carry a stance modifier. Not all enemies have stance modifiers. These stance modifiers can vary greatly in their magnitude. The aforementioned Eliminator, when charging, grants a huge bonus modifier to incoming stagger/knockdown damage.
Finding 21: Certain enemy attacks may give it weakness or resistance to stagger and/or knockdown
What is interesting is that certain enemies can gain stance modifiers for specific body parts. For example, the supporting arm of a Casting Wyrm. Or the possessing arm of a Drake as he attempts to possess your pawn. These body parts specifically are unusually vulnerable only during these specific stances. Again, this phenomena varies from enemy to enemy.
Finding 22: Finding 21 can be applied to specific body parts.
The Full Picture[]
So let’s put this into one big picture. Here is what is the only logical way this mechanic works. For those of you familiar with Buildup in Dark Souls, it is eerily, but understandably, similar. Linked HERE.
For the Party:
Your Stagger/Knockdown Resistance is a number that determines how much Stagger/Knockdown damage you recieve. You also have a number called the Stagger/Knockdown Threshold, when this threshold is met, you are forced into the corresponding animation. As you receive hits, each hit with its own Stagger/Knockdown power, the accumulated Stagger/Knockdown is tallied up in a counter. Between hits, this counter decays by a fixed rate. If you are not hit again within 20 seconds, this counter reaches 0. Once this threshold is met or exceeded the character is forced into a Stagger/Knockdown animation. This resets the counter also.
During further testing I deemed highly unlikely, and probably impossible, to go beyond 100% resistance. That is to say, your resistance is capped.
For Enemies:
Each enemy’s Stagger/Knockdown threshold is predetermined. At the start of an engagement this threshold is doubled for Large enemies. Once the threshold has been reached once, it is brought back down to its true value for the rest of the engagement. As the party inflicts Stagger/Knockdown, the counters will tally up the current total amount. Unlike with the party, this decays over a long time, meaning that you need not stress about inflicting the threshold quickly. Once the counter meets or exceeds the threshold the enemy is forced into the respective animation. Its counter/s is reset. Stagger may or may not count as a stance effect on large enemies. You recieve a bonus multiplier to the amount of Stagger/Knockdown you inflict on an enemy by hitting different body parts. You recieve additional multipliers against Large enemies when they enter into certain Stances.
The key differences between knockdown and stagger is their respective thresholds and animations. Knockdown has several animations that are the result of certain skills reaching the knockdown threshold. For example, if I were to reach the knockdown threshold with Whirlwind Slash, the game will select the “Knocked-Up” animation to force you into. If, however I reach it with Corona Slash, the game will select the “prostrate” animation.
With this having been postulated I must stress that currently, the full picture is still unconfirmed, but the most probable option and the one that aligns with what is seen in game.
Unstoppability[]
As part of my testing i made the observation that using Jewel of Antilight, Spellscreen, Steel Will and Great Bracer Arrow appears to largely negate knockdown and stagger accumulation. Using Jewel of Antilight, while naked, against two Corrupted Pawn Fighters resulted in no stagger from any attack. Initially I speculated on the possibility that build up was entirely mitigated, but upon further testing I have come to the following conclusion. They give an invigoration that i will call unstoppability, and there are two types.
For those familiar with Warrior, you will know that Warrior gains unstoppability when attacking. A massive bonus to Stagger/Knockdown Resistance, immunity to wind buffets much like stability. And immunity to ground quakes such as those from a stomping cyclops. Steel Will also grants this exact bonus. I will call this Tier 1 Unstoppability. Jewel of Antilight, SpellScreen and Great Bracer Arrow provide the same boost to resistance, but without the added benefit of immunity to wind buffets and groundquakes. I will call this Tier 2 Unstoppability. The bonus to Stagger/Knockdown Resistance appears to be a granting of 100% Resistance while the invigoration is active.
ThatGrizzly’s Messages and Updates[]
If you made it this far, congratulations are due. I won’t deny it was a long read but I’m sure you’ll agree it was worth it.
If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, feedback or criticism please leave them in the comments section below.