Hello everybody!

Many people are unaware or unsure of some of the stats in Darksiders 2 and what they do, So this is going to be a short guide explaining all of the stat's in Darksiders 2 in the best detail and knowledge that I have.

Note: Everything you are about to read is 99% accurate, hours of testing and hard work has gone into making this a guide for Beginners and Advanced players. If you would like to add anything to what I have written or missed out, please write it in the comments and I will make the change.

1.0 Health - This determines how much Health Death has until he dies (Deaths maximum Health at Lv30 with no health modifiers is 3822). Deaths Max Health can be increased by finding armour and weapons that has the Health stat on it.


1.1 Health Potions – Using a Health Potion without any Health modifiers will regenerate 1900 Health over 7 seconds. More Health will be generated if you have higher health.

Here is a small example to show this:

No Modifiers 837/3822 – 2737/3822 = 1900 Health over 7 Seconds

+261 Health Modifier 561/4083 – 2467/4083 = 1951 Health over 7 Seconds


2.0 Health Regen – Your health regenerates by X amount every 60 seconds, Not many people know how this stat works but after some research I can say 100% this is how it works.


3.0 Health Steal – Health Steal is an extremely overpowered stat or “Enchantment” only found on primary and secondary weapons and is the most sought after in the Darksiders 2 universe. How Health Steal works is quite simple, you steal health depending on how much damage you deal and how much Health Steal % you have on your weapon.

Here are 3 attacks I did as a little test to show how Health Steal works:

10% Health steal - 1307 Hit = 130 Health gained

20% Health Steal - 2540 Crit = 508 Health gained

30% Health Steal - 2835 Crit = 850 Health gained

Note: If you have Health Steal on your primary weapon and not your secondary weapon you will only steal Health when using your primary weapon and vice versa.

4.0 Wrath – Wrath is your sort of “Energy/Mana” bar which can be spent to use various amount of talents learnt through-out your DS2 adventure. The more Wrath points you have the more times you can use your talent skills. Death can increase his maximum Wrath points by equipping armour and weapons with Wrath on them. (Deaths maximum Wrath without modifiers is 895)


4.1 How do I earn Wrath?

Wrath is earned in 2 ways, the most common way is by attacking your target with Weapons and by using Wrath potions. Attacking with your Primary, Secondary weapons and also your Pistol generates 7 Wrath regardless if you land a Crit or not, 7 is the fixed amount without modifiers.

Using a Wrath Potion will regenerate a total of 445 Wrath over 7 Seconds, more wrath will be generated with higher total Wrath


4.2 Talents/Skills that use Wrath

Teleport Slash – 200 Wrath, Heals you for 10% of Damage done (20% Talented)

Harvest – 200 Wrath, Deals massive AOE damage

Unstoppable – 300 Wrath, Increases Deaths maximum strength for 8 seconds (15 Seconds Talented)

Reaper Storm – 400 Wrath, Grants temporary immunity and deals Medium AOE damage

Exhume – 300 Wrath, Summons 2 Ghouls to help fight alongside Death (3 Talented)

Aegis Guard – 300 Wrath (240 Talented), Increases Deaths defence and resistance for 8 seconds (15 Seconds Talented)

Murder – 300 Wrath, Summon 1 (3 Talented) Flock of Crows to temporary fight alongside Death

Frenzy – 100 to 1000+ Wrath, Death channels his remaining Wrath to attack his enemies.


5.0 Wrath Regen - Like Health Regen, Wrath Regenerates X amount every 60 seconds

6.0 Wrath Cost - Through-out the game you will come across items that have “Wrath Cost -X%” on them, This lowers the cost of all Deaths abilities which cost Wrath. (Example: If you have -20% Wrath Cost in total, your Teleport Slash which normally costs 200 Wrath will now cost 160 Wrath)


7.0 Wrath Steal – Wrath Steal is considered more overpowered in most situations than Health Steal as you are able to fill your wrath bar within a few hits, Wrath Steal like Health Steal works exactly the same way, it is found only on Primary and Secondary weapons and generates Wrath with every hit.

Here are 3 attacks I did using a set of Possessed Scythes to show how Wrath Steal works:

10% Wrath Steal – 2615 Crit = 261 Wrath generated

20% Wrath Steal – 1716 Hit = 347 Wrath generated

30% Wrath Steal – 1726 Hit = 517 Wrath generated

8.0 Strength - Strength as everybody knows increases Deaths Melee damage, but the most frequently asked question is by how much, After about 2 hours of testing I decided to work out for myself just how much 1 Strength point increases Deaths damage by.

Note: These tests were done with a Level 30 Character against a Level 30 Training Dummy

So I headed out to the Training Dummy's in Tri Stone and unequipped every piece of gear and then equipped a set of CLEAN Possessed Scythes 186 – 216 Damage and a Possessed Hammer with 100 Strength which came to a total of 134 Strength (+34 Default Strength) and began testing, I took a recording of 10 Non Crit single attacks every 5 seconds with the Scythes and worked out the Range of the total damage.

10 None Crit Hits = A range of 453 – 485 Damage was recorded

How I worked out my findings was I took the Minimum Damage of the Scythes (186) and multiplied the amount of Strength by 2 which came to a total of 268, I then added the Minimum Damage and the Strength together giving me a total of 454 Minimum Damage which is roughly the Minimum Damage that was recorded. Same goes for the Maximum Damage, I took the Maximum Damage from the Scythes plus the amount of Strength x2 which came to a total of 484 Maximum Damage, again roughly the same number as the damage recorded.

I the did the same thing again but with a Possessed Hammer with 101 Strength making my Strength total 135 (+34 Default Strength) and this is the Range of 10 None Crit Hits

10 None Crit Hits = A range of 455 – 486 Damage was recorded

I did everything the same as I did with my previous test, Took the Minimum Damage of the scythes (186) and multiplied my total Strength by 2 (270), add the 2 together and you get a Minimum Damage of 456.

Do the same with the Maximum damage and you get 216+270=486, exactly the Maximum Damage that was recorded.


Conclusion: For ever 1 point of STRENGTH gives you ROUGHLY +2 Minimum and Maximum Damage

9.0 Arcane – Deaths Arcane stat increases the amount of damage Death is able to deal in his Reaper Form aswell as increasing the damage of his Necromancer Talents and Elemental weapon attributes such as Shock, Lightning, Fire, Inferno, Frost and Ice.


9.1 Necromancer Skills/Talents affected by Arcane

Reaper form damage
Summoned Ghouls attack power
Fiery Souls damage
Corpse Explosion's damage
Grounding's lightning damage
Murder damage
Ice Crows damage
Frenzy damage
Elemental Attributes (Shock, Lightning, Fire, Inferno, Frost, Ice) - Credit to CameronBarton for this information.


9.2 Necromancer Skills/Talents NOT affected by Arcane

Flash Reaper attacks (Scythe combo delayed attacks)
Undying (Ghoul's health)
Fiery Souls Aura (Fixed 88 fire damage)
Aegis Guard (Fixed Defence and Resistance)
Bless (Health per hit)
Heralds of Death (7 Reaper Energy per hit)

(I will be adding a section explaining how much damage 1 Arcane increases Ghoul, Crows, Frenzy, Grounding damage, Elemental Damage ect when I have time)

10.0 Elemental Attributes – Another great addition to Darksiders 2 is the use of 6 different elements + melee enhancer found on primary and secondary weapons throughout the game, each element has their own benefits, some more beneficial than others but act in different ways.

+ Elemental Damage is increased by your Arcane stat and shares 100% of your Arcane Critical Chance and Arcane Critical Damage.

+ Elemental Effects (Burn, Slow, Freeze, Paralysis) happen more often if you have a high Arcane Critical Chance, Critical Hits DO NOT guarentee Elemental Effects. Credit to P4NCH0theD0G

If you have +Fire damage on your Scythes and not on your secondary weapon, attacking with your secondary weapon will not show fire damage with any of your attacks and vice versa.

Please also note that having additional Fire damage on your weapons does not increase the Fire damage given to your Ghouls when specced into “Fiery Souls” and same goes with Ice damage if you are specced into “Ice Crows” in the Necromancer tree.


10.1 Types of Elemental Attributes:

Frost – Frost damage is shown separately with every successful hit Death lands on his targets, The additional Frost damage is shown in a blue “Icicle” font along with the damage Death dealt with his primary/secondary weapon. Death has a chance to slow his enemies by 20% for 5 seconds with every hit.

Ice – Ice damage deals more damage with every hit than Frost but you lose the chance to slow enemies with every hit, instead you have a small chance to put the enemy in a Ice cube for 3 seconds where the enemy is unable to attack. While the enemy is encased in Ice you are still able to deal any normal damage as you would to an enemy who is NOT encased in Ice.

Fire – Fire damage is shown separately with every successful hit Death lands on his targets, The additional Fire damage is shown in a red “Flaming” font along with the damage Death dealt with his primary/secondary weapon. Death has a chance with every hit to set his enemies ablaze leaving a 5 second DOT (damage over time) effect on the enemy dealing small fire damage.

Inferno – Inferno damage deals more damage than its predecessor Fire but does the exact same thing, Inferno damage is dealt every time Death lands a hit on his target and has a small chance to set the enemy ablaze causing higher DOT (damage over time) damage than Fire over 5 seconds to the target.

Note: Rumour has it Inferno damage spreads to nearby foes causing the same DOT damage to any enemy near to that target, with my consistent testing I find this to be untrue at this moment in time.

Shock - Shock damage is shown separately with every successful hit Death lands on his targets, the additional Shock damage is shown in a light blue “Electric” font along with the damage Death dealt with his primary/secondary weapon. Whenever Death deals Shock damage to an enemy he has a chance to leave a small 5 second DOT (damage over time) of Shock damage on the target and paralysing the target making the enemy jolt back constantly for that 5 seconds. When the enemy is jolting back from the effect Death can still deal damage to the enemy and the enemy cannot attack Death.

Lightning – Lightning damage deals more damage than its sibling Shock but does the exact same thing. Lightning damage is dealt every time Death lands a hit on his target and has a chance to leave a small 5 second DOT (damage over time) of Lightning damage on the target also making the enemy jolt back constantly for that 5 seconds. When the enemy is jolting back from the effect Death can still deal damage to the enemy and the enemy cannot attack Death.

Note: After testing Shock and Lightning damage extensively to the rest, a weapon with Shock has a higher chance of causing the paralysis effect on a target than Lightning.

Piercing (Melee Enhancer) – Piercing damage is the only damage enhancer in the game which has no visual appearance, instead Piercing damage is added directly to your Scythes/secondary weapon attacks with every hit you land on the target. How Piercing damage works is rather quite simple, the more armour your target has the higher your damage output will be. This is an exceptional stat to have when fighting against Undead General's (Big blue shield guys), Scarab Hulks and Stalkers who all have high armour.

If you have any evidence regarding the Notes I have left proving that Inferno damage and Lightning damage spreads then please write it in the comments, Thank you

11.0 Defence – Defence decreases the amount of Physical damage Death takes, but the question on everyones mind is just how much does it lower it by? Well with this simple bit of information you can know for certain how much 1 Defence lowers how much you take.

Note: The Information you are about to read has been tested against a Level 30 Enemy.

So like my Strength guide I took off all my armour but 1 piece which gave me 50 Defence making my total Defence level 90 (+40 Default), So I ventured out into Baneswood where the Lv 28 – 30 Corrupted Construct Warriors roam and let them lay some smack down into me, I let them hit me 10 times and recorded all the hits taken, the numbers came out like this: 512, 512, 512, 515, 512, 515, 515, 515, 512, 512. As you can see the constructs hit me for a fixed number of 512 and 515.

After getting my health back I switched my armor around and equipped 1 piece consisting of 60 Defence bringing my Defence level to 100 (+40 Default), I then found the same Lv 30 Construct and allowed him to beat me again, here are the numbers: 507, 510, 510, 510, 510, 507, 507, 507, 510, 507, this time the constructs numbers are fixed to 507 and 510.

If you havent already worked it out, by increasing my Defence by 10 points I was able to reduce the Constructs damage by a fixed 5 damage.

Making 1 Defence point reduce the damage you take by 0.5

12.0 Resistance – Resistance is a form of defence that protects Death against elemental/magic attacks such as the Skeletal Archers fire arrows or the Maelstrom's fireball attacks and various others, As there are not many enemy's in the game that deal elemental/magic damage I recorded this little test against a Level 30 Skeletal Archer in the Crucible hoping to give you a general idea on how much 1 Resistance point can reduce the amount of elemental/magic damage you receive.

As always before I began the test I took off every piece of Armour and weapons and equipped myself with an Amulet with 139 Resistance which brought my total Resistance up to 179 (+40 Default) and allowed the Archer to hit me 10 times, All the attacks he landed hit for 425 Fire Damage.

After I regained health I switched to another Amulet that gave me 149 Resistance making my total Resistance at 189 (+40 Default), and allowed the archer to fire 10 arrows straight at my chest, all of which hit me for 417 Fire Damage.

So by increasing my Resistance level by 10 I was able to reduce the Archers Fire damage by 8. Meaning 1 Resistance reduces the Elemental/Magic damage you receive by 0.8

13.0 Critical Chance & Critical Damage – This stat increases the % Chance that Death is able to land a critical hit on his target weather its with his Scythes, Secondary Weapons or any of the talents chosen within the Harbinger talent tree. When Death deals a critical strike the damage is multiplied by the amount shown on Critical Damage.

For example: Say you have 150% Critical Damage, your none critical attacks hit for 1000 so when you land a critical hit your damage will be 2500 instead because of your 150% Critical Damage bonus. (1000 x 150% of 1000 = 2500)

13.1 Skills, Weapons and Talents affected by Critical Chance and Critical Damage.

Any Scythe attack/Combo
Any Secondary attack/Combo
Redemption (Only Critical Chance)
Flash Reaper attacks
Teleport Slash
Harvest
Reaper Storm


14.0 Arcane Critical Chance & Arcane Critical Damage - This works exactly the same way as Critical Chance and Critical Damage but this time you're affecting all of Death's Reaper Form attacks and Necromancer talents instead of Deaths standard scythe attacks and Harbinger talents.

14.1 Skills and Talents affected by Arcane Critical Chance & Arcane Critical Damage

Reaper attacks
Ghouls
Firey Souls fire damage (Aura is not affected)
Corpse Explosion
Murder (Crows)
Ice Crows
Grounding
Frenzy


15.0 Execution Chance – Having a higher Execuction Chance is my personal favourite, this allows Death to perform Finishing moves on an Enemy which will instantly kill them when the Execution is being performed, You can only find Execution Chance on weapons and talismans and finding weapons and talismans with high execution chance can be quite difficult when exploring throughout your play-through so its probably best you keep a hold of any items that have this stat on as it allows you to quickly finish off enemy's. Not to mention the temporary immunity you get while the execution is being performed, this gives you a few seconds thinking time to plan your next move before the enemies get you first or just sit back and watch Death rip the enemy apart.

How it works is very simple, lets say you have 50% Execution Chance, the moment your enemy reaches 20% Health you have a 50% Chance for a button / key to appear above the enemies head allowing you to perform the execution, this is exceptionally helpful when fighting Stalkers, Scarab Hulks and the Blue Knights with the huge shields.

16.0 Final Notes

Thank you all for reading my short yet lengthy guide on Darksiders 2, the reason I made this guide is because Darksiders is by far the best franchise I have played and I just wanted to share my knowledge with everybody who might be wondering about some of the things mentioned and hopefully it will have answered it for them.

Like I said at the top, if you have ANY questions what so ever or have found a fault in any section of the guide please write it in the comments and I will credit you for it and change it willingly.

I will try and update the guide as much as I can with my own findings as I have some yet to fill out.

Thank you again

DS2Guru