How the stats actually work.
The rules every build on this site is derived from. data comes from the game files or datamined tables, tested from community measurement, inferred from reasoning you should verify in game.
Socketstested
Maximum a Witch can open: two-hander 5, bow 5, one-hander 3, shield 2, chest 3, gloves 2, boots 2, helm 1. Cloaks and accessories take none. The Kuku resistance chests are fixed at 0. Embedding and extracting are free; opening all five sockets on one item costs about 105 silver.
Local statstested
Attack and Crit on a weapon count only for that weapon. On gloves and boots they count only for punches and kicks, so Insight or Destruction in gloves is wasted for a sword build.
Global statstested
Necklace, rings and the Kuku Flame-Resistant chest give Crit and Attack to every weapon. Attack Speed from any armor piece or ring is global; on a weapon or shield it works only while that item is in hand. Defense and Movement Speed are global from everything, including a shield on your back.
Capsdata
Crit, Attack Speed and Movement Speed hard-cap at Lv15. The game's status table holds a 16-step curve per stat: Crit and Attack Speed share one diminishing curve, Movement Speed is linear to Lv6 then bends. Levels 1 to 5 deliver 47% of the cap's value, levels 11 to 15 only 22%.
Triggersdata
Gears bound to the same input fire together. Groundsurge, Greysoul Howling and Wound of Darkness ride Turning Slash (R1+R2). Shadow Claw, Crow's Pursuit, Crow Storm and Ator's Orb ride Heavy Attack (R2). Volcanic Eruption and Flames of Judgment fire on any Flame-imbued attack, including an imbued Turning Slash or Charged Shot.
Spirittested
Turning Slash costs 10 Spirit, 20 when imbued, and each skill gear on the input adds its own cost. Heavy Attack gears draw Stamina instead. Two Turning Slash gears are sustainable in practice; three drain the bar.
Refinementdata
+0 to +10 roughly triples weapon attack (12 → 35) and raises the innate Crit or Attack Speed line by one level at +10. Steps +5 to +10 cost one Abyss Artifact each; +10 also needs an Aeserion's Scale.
Crit multipliertested
A crit is a flat 2× hit. The status table has no curve for Critical Damage, consistent with a constant multiplier.
Stat curves from the status table
Critical Rate and Attack Speed share one curve. Movement Speed. Left axis is the raw table unit (0 to 64); the right axis estimates crit chance as base 5% + 0.53% per unit, which lands on the community measurements of 13-16% at Lv5, 24-25% at Lv10 and 33-35% at Lv15. The shape is game data; the percent scale is a fit.
Attack or crit?
A crit is 2×, so expected damage is Attack × (1 + crit chance). One more Attack point is worth 1/Attack. One more crit level is worth its slice of the curve divided by (1 + crit chance). At base crit the first steps are big, so a crit level beats an attack point once total attack passes about 50; that is the “53 attack” rule. Past Lv10 the curve flattens and the attack point wins again.
Practical rule: take crit from sources that cost no weapon socket (the weapon's own line, the Kuku chest, a Lv4 necklace), then fill weapon sockets with Destruction III. If enemy defense turns out to be a flat subtraction, attack is worth even more and the conclusion holds.
+1 Attack: +1.79% damage · +1 crit level: +1.22%
Destruction III: +5.4% · Insight III: +3.5% → Destruction III wins here.
At crit Lv 11, a crit level beats an attack point only while total attack is above about 82.
Skill gears and their triggers
| Gear | Fires on | Pool | Effect | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Groundsurge | Turning Slash | Spirit | Shatters the ground in a frontal cone of stone spikes. Hits on impact and again on burst, high stagger, no imbue needed. Roughly 2× Wound of Darkness in a side-by-side wiki test. | Extract from Melted Ambition (Myurdin, Chapter 6-7) at a Witch, or craft: Destruction I + Fortification I + Aegis I with the Gear Blueprint. |
 Greysoul Howling | Turning Slash | Spirit | Calls Goyen's phantom to repeat the slash as a wide sweep of shadow energy. Stacks with Momentum. | Ships in Fated Shadow (Goyen, Nest of Valor, Chapter 9). Craft: Destruction I + Swift I + Haste I + Insight I. |
 Shadow Claw | Heavy Attack / Forward Slash | Stamina | Three forward swipes, Black Fang's own move. Strong single-target damage. | Reward of the faction quest Legendary Wolf (Howls from the North Gate). To craft one instead you must first read Gear Blueprint: Shadow Claw (a 2% drop from Exploration Dispatch missions at the Timeworn Ruins or Kingshield Dig Site); the recipe then appears at any Witch's Altar under Craft Abyss Gear and consumes Destruction I + Swift I + Haste I + Vitality I. |
 Crow's Pursuit | Heavy Attack | Stamina | A murder of crows homes onto nearby enemies. Average damage, reliable stagger, extra reach. | Ships in the Tauria Curved Sword (Crowcaller, Chapter 5). Craft: Destruction I + Haste I + Ascent I + Fortitude I. |
 Crow Storm | Heavy Attack | Stamina | Upgraded Crow's Pursuit: ravens strike in three directions and return. | Dropped by Hexe Marie (Chapter 9). |
 Ator's Orb | Heavy Attack | Stamina | Tracking orbs that follow enemies and detonate after a short delay. Low damage, constant stagger. | Ships in Darkbringer. |
 Hound's Claws | Spinning Slash | Stamina | Sweeps the surrounding area with bloodstained claws. Wide reach, breaks guards. | Hemon Beindel, The Hellhounds side quest (Parish of Solomon). Craft: Destruction I + Vigor I + Fortitude I. |
 Wound of Darkness | Turning Slash | Spirit | Three blades of dark energy push enemies back. Strong stagger, high Spirit cost. | Back-alley merchant in Port Delesyia, 40 silver. |
 Frost Spike | Skill key | Spirit | A wave of frozen spikes in a frontal cone. Big burst with AoE reach. | Reward of the White Blizzard faction quest Wraith in the Frost (Beloth, the Darksworn). |
 Shattering Frost | Any Frost-imbued attack | Spirit | Delayed ice explosion at the target's position. Needs Frost Mantle Lv1 and Imbue Element. | Armor skill gear from the Frost chain; craftable at a Witch with its blueprint. |
 Spirit's Judgment | Evasive step (Sword Mastery Lv2) | Stamina | A spectral knight charges through enemies. | After Fortain (Chapter 8). Craft: Destruction I + Insight I + Vitality I. |
 Abyssal Rays | Repeated attack, dodge→attack, jump→attack | none | Rays of light that stun nearby enemies. Costs nothing. | Back Alley Shop in Demeniss, about 40 silver. |
 Volcanic Eruption | Any Flame-imbued attack | Spirit | Shatters a molten boulder for fire damage around the target. The comets in the videos. | Ships in Scorchflame Plate Gloves (Twilight Grotto / Flame Knights). Craft: Destruction I + Flameward I + Fortitude I + Aegis I + Vigor I. |
 Flames of Judgment | Any Flame-imbued attack | Spirit | Sends out homing sparks of flame for extra fire damage. The fireballs in the videos. | Ships in Eclipsed Solas Plate Gloves (Lucian Bastier, Chapter 8 Traitor). Craft: Flameward I + Destruction I + Vitality I + Swift I + Fortification I. |
 Momentum | Passive | none | +35% Turning Slash damage. One socket, the biggest single multiplier in the game. | Ships in the Leather Helm of the Fallen Kingdom (Sanctum of Benediction, Hernand). Craft: Destruction I + Swift I + Insight I + Fortitude I. |
 Infinite Arrows II | Passive | none | 40% chance not to consume an arrow. With III it reaches 100%. | Karanda, Pailune faction quest. |
 Infinite Arrows III | Passive | none | 60% chance not to consume an arrow. | Witch special synthesis (two Infinite Arrows II), or Greater Infinite Arrows (100% alone, limited durability) from the Bow Aimed at Fate V challenge. |