Overview
The Damage Tome increases your character's Base Damage, a universal stat that acts as a damage multiplier affecting all weapon types. Each level adds +0.08x (approximately 8%) to your damage multiplier, which then gets applied to your weapon's base damage in the final damage calculation.
According to community technical documentation from v1.0.7-v1.0.12 (September-October 2025), upgrades within the same Tome stack additively with each other. The final damage multiplier from all your Damage Tome levels is then multiplied with your weapon's base damage to calculate your actual damage output.
Version Note: Data based on community guides and player documentation from v1.0.7-v1.0.12 (September-October 2025). Official patch notes may supersede this information.
How Damage Scaling Works
The Damage Tome modifies a character-level damage multiplier that applies universally to all weapons. Understanding how it scales is important for build optimization:
- Additive Within Itself: Each Damage Tome level adds +0.08x to your total damage multiplier (e.g., 10 levels = +0.8x total)
- Multiplicative with Weapon Base: Your total damage multiplier then multiplies with your weapon's base damage
- Universal Application: Affects all weapon types equally - melee, ranged, and AoE
- Character Stat: Modifies a character-level stat, so it works with every weapon you use
Example Calculation: If you have 10 levels in Common Damage Tome (+0.8x multiplier) and a weapon with 50 base damage, your actual damage would be: 50 × (1 + 0.8) = 90 damage per hit.
Practical Synergies
🎯 Precision (Crit Chance)
Higher base damage amplifies critical hit outcomes. Critical strikes multiply your damage, so increasing your base damage makes each crit hit even harder - widely recommended in DPS builds.
⚡ Cooldown (Attack Speed)
More hits per second combined with higher damage per hit creates reliable DPS scaling. This is one of the most common and effective offensive combinations.
🔢 Quantity (Projectile Count)
Each additional projectile benefits from your damage multiplier. More projectiles × higher damage per projectile = exponential damage increase.
📏 Size (Attack Size)
Larger hitboxes make it easier to apply your amplified damage to more targets, especially valuable for AoE weapons and on-hit effects.
⏱️ Duration
Helps lingering damage effects (burn, damage fields, DoT) deal your multiplied damage for longer periods, increasing total damage output over time.
⚠️ Knockback (Unconfirmed)
Note: Whether knockback scales with damage is not confirmed by official sources. Treat knockback as build-dependent utility rather than a direct damage synergy.
Example Weapons (Universal Benefit)
Since Damage Tome affects all weapons universally, every weapon benefits from it. Here are some commonly discussed examples from community guides:
Sword
Revolver
Flamewalker
Lightning Staff
Sniper Rifle
Axe
Note: These are examples from community discussions, not a definitive "best weapons" ranking. All weapons benefit equally from the damage multiplier.
Strategy Guide
- High-value offensive investment - Consistently ranked in top tiers across community tier lists
- Early scaling advantage: Investing early allows damage to snowball throughout longer runs
- Balance with defensive Tomes if struggling with survivability - raw damage requires staying alive to be effective
- Works universally with every weapon type - rarely a wasted investment
- Multiplies well with other damage multipliers like critical hits and attack speed
- Common component of high-damage meta builds and leaderboard strategies
Community Tier Rankings
- Tier Placement Varies by Source: Damage Tome ranks between A-tier and S-tier depending on the guide and patch version
- Destructoid (Sept 28, 2025): Rated as A-tier
- AmiiboDoctor (Oct 7, 2025): Rated as S-tier
- GameRant (Oct 14, 2025): Listed among top-tier offensive Tomes
- Tier rankings are subjective and patch-dependent - always verify with current community consensus
Build Foundations & "Holy Trinity"
- The Actual "Holy Trinity": Community consensus identifies the core progression combo as XP + Luck + Cursed (Difficulty) - not Damage
- Damage as Fourth Slot: Damage Tome is commonly added as a fourth offensive slot in high-DPS builds, not part of the Trinity itself
- The Trinity focuses on faster progression and better rewards, while Damage focuses purely on combat power
- Luck Tome: Increases chances of higher rarity upgrades and rewards at level-ups, shrines, and chests - pairs well with offensive builds
- Build strategies vary by playstyle and patch - experiment to find what works for your approach
Source: ProGameGuides (v1.0.12, October 2025) and multiple Steam/Reddit community discussions confirm this Trinity definition.
Theoretical Maximum Potential
- Max Level Debate: Community sources report Tome caps ranging from Level 40 to Level 99 - official confirmation pending
- If 99 Levels (Theoretical): At +0.08x per level × 99 = +7.92x multiplier (approximately +792% damage increase)
- Important Caveat: These are mathematical projections based on community-documented values and assumed caps
- Version Dependency: Actual caps may vary by game version, patch, or demo vs. full release
- Verification Needed: Check your in-game pause menu and upgrade interface to confirm current version caps
Disclaimer: Maximum level and resulting calculations are theoretical. Official game documentation has not confirmed exact caps. Player reports suggest variation exists.
Pro Tips
- Prioritize Damage Tome early to maximize scaling benefits throughout your run
- Pair with Luck Tome to increase chances of legendary item drops that further boost damage
- Balance damage investment with survivability - high damage requires staying alive to be effective
- Each level provides approximately 8% more damage through additive stacking
- Consider as a strong fourth slot after establishing your core progression Trinity (XP + Luck + Cursed)
- Works excellently with characters that have damage-scaling abilities
