Dungeon Fighter Online Chain Rush Damage Multiplier Guide

Dungeon Fighter Online Chain Rush Damage Multiplier Guide by dfoplayer

I’ve been seeing a lot of complaints about how “weak” Elven Knight’s chain rush modifier is, as it currently maxes at +75% for at the 5-chain max. People seem to have been expecting damage modifiers on chain of 500-1000% more damage after seeing videos and hearing about how Elven Knight works. This is a mini-guide breaking down the main reasons why the “weak” chain rush multiplier is actually compounded into the insane damage that you see from endgame dnf videos, and why the effective damage modifier is much, MUCH larger.

First off: +75% is not the final chain modifier at level cap.

At the 85 cap with the chain TP passive, each stage of chain increases your damage by +26%, resulting in a final max multiplier of +130% at the final 5-chain combo. This means that at cap, the damage modifiers you get for your chain become:

It is most likely at this point that you begin to go “but wait! That’s still only +130% damage! That’s nothing compared to Dark Knight’s values!”. As this is the most common misconception I’ve seen, I will go into a lot more detail later on showing how exactly Chain Rush compares to Dark Knight’s combo modifier. However, for those who are unaware, here is a quick table of Dark Knight’s combo modifiers:

(Before you point out that Dark Knight’s max is at 400%, keep in mind that they’ve been nerfed on KR server and these are the current KR server values). As you may notice, the values are much higher! Why then, would you play Elven Knight over a Dark Knight when they have so much higher values, are easier to use, and have a wider skill selection? Let’s start getting into the actual damage comparison, and we’ll begin to see the reason

1) Chain Rush’s multiplier is permanent if you can keep the chain going.

A lot of people miss the very important point that as long as you can keep Chain Rush going, the 5-chain multiplier applies to every single move that you do. This means that even if the earlier chain values seem low, you can count on a constant +130% damage to all skills once you hit 5-chain. However, Dark Knight’s combo boost resets for every new combo, and the final +200% multiplier only applies to the final skill in the combo chain. If we actually calculate what the total skill damage is over multiple skill uses, we begin to see how this starts affecting the damage comparison:

Suddenly, the difference doesn’t seem to be that much bigger anymore! You’ll note that Elven begins to overtake Dark Knight after the 8th skill used, and Dark Knight doesn’t manage to catch back up until the final 12th skill (and even then, there’s only about a 1% difference in damage!).

But let’s step away from a simple Dark Knight comparison, and compare instead to other classes. How do these values stack up against classes with much stronger buffs and passive damage boosts? Well, the math here is far simpler; we can take an average of damage dealt over a certain amount of skills, and see how much Chain Rush has actually boosted our total skill damage by.

Naturally, the higher chain count you can reach, the higher average damage you’ll be getting out of your skills. Even assuming a minimum of 6 skills used to hit max chain, you’re getting the equivalent of a +65% damage buff. If you last long enough to go beyond 12 chain, you’re effectively receiving the same damage as a +100% damage buff. Keep in mind that these values are not including the additional damage you get from buffs like War Cry or damage boosts from TP passives, meaning the overall damage boost from proper chaining is IMMENSE.

Starting to feel a bit better about Chain Rush’s damage boost? Now let’s go into the actual reason that makes it strong:

2) Chain Rush allows instant and unlimited skill cancels.

This is pretty obvious and self-explanatory, as the ability to instantly cancel skills similar to Striker’s Muscle Shift buff is the main draw of Chain Rush. However, even though most people acknowledge the ability to cancel, they forget to actually factor the cancel ability when considering the damage boost. To those who have never seen proper Chain Rush cancelling, here are a few videos to illustrate the speed that you can do it at:

JP server – Chain Rush practice
KR server – Chain Rush OV3 run

As you can see, proper Chain Rush cancelling allows you to cancel skills multiple times per second, resulting in a skill usage speed that’s 2-3x faster than standard. Being able to use your skills 2x faster than another class means that your burst damage is twice as strong; this is a straight multiplier onto your previous damage boost, meaning the ability to cancel directly translations into a 2-3x final damage multiplier. If you compound this onto the average damage boost values from the previous section, this means that the actualdamage you’re doing compared to normal can range anywhere from a minimum of 330% damage to nearly 600% in the perfect scenario!

At this point, you can see that Chain Rush can multiply your damage by 5x or more when properly utilized, a boost that I believe very few people will shrug off as “weak”. However, it doesn’t end here…there’s still one more important factor to consider:

3) You can preserve your chain level between rooms

That’s right, it’s actually possible to keep your chain level between rooms. Now, whether this is a bug or a feature, I don’t know; nevertheless, this particular trick has been in the game since Knight release and is still active on DnF servers at this time. Of course, I’m not promising it’ll stay in the game forever, as it is totally possible that it’s considered a bug and will eventually be patched, but it exists for now and seeing as it’s still in DnF, I’m going to assume it’ll exist for a long while on our version.

To preserve your chain level, all you need to do is to use a buff while the chain meter is displayed over your head. You can see this occurring in the previous video of an OV3 run. Another more recent example can be found here at around the 55 second mark. After preserving, your chain level will be preserved, even between rooms, and will then automatically start at the same chain rank the next time you use a skill.

It’s super easy to do, as you don’t need a specific chain count, nor do you need to time the buff. All you have to do is use a buff when the bar is showing, and it’s done! An important note is that this does meanany buff; this includes ancient memory and leap, both of which are useful 1-point investments if you find yourself wanting to preserve it constantly.

As to the impact this has, what this bug/feature/trick is it allows you to go directly into the max-stage chain boost without needing to ramp up damage beforehand. Additionally, as it preserves your chain meter for as long as you need, you don’t need to waste 4 cooldowns during the rampup process and you can wait for them to come back up. This effectively starts your chain multiplier at 230% and keeps it there for as long as you need. In essence, it can be considered a permanent +130% damage boost for the entire duration of your chain, meaning the effective multiplier it gives is now around 460% to nearly 700%!

TL;DR:

Assuming you can keep Chain Rush up effectively and can reliably hit chains, it provides you with aneffective multiplier that boosts your damage by a minimum of 3-4x damage, and goes all the way up to 7x damage in best-case scenarios when properly used. These numbers only counts the chain rush mechanic itself, and does not factor in any other buffs or gear effects. Anyone claiming Chain Rush is “weak” and does not “significantly impact” Elven Knight’s damage needs to stop reading the numbers on paper and take into account exactly how it’s used and what it can accomplish.