What is Direct Damage in Diablo 4? – Answered

As you reach higher levels and world tiers in Diablo 4, optimizing your character build becomes more and more essential. The items you use, your Aspects, and your skills are all just a few things that influence your power, and as you enter tiers three and four, you’ll have to pay attention to your stats, including the types of damage you plan on strengthening.

Direct damage is one of the most widely used, and you’ll occasionally encounter Aspects and Enchantments that grant you various perks whenever you inflict or receive this damage type. If you are curious, continue reading to discover what direct damage is in Diablo 4.

Direct Damage in Diablo 4 – Explained

Direct damage is any attack that instantly inflicts damage on you or your enemy. This can range from a quick hit with a basic ability to an area-of-effect attack on numerous monsters. As long as it is instant, it counts as direct damage.

In other words, it is any damage that is not damage over time. Any burning, poison, bleeding, and other lingering effects do not count as direct damage and will not receive any buffs from perks that buff it. This applies to both your attacks and that of enemies.

Diablo 4 – Direct Damage vs Damage Over Time

Since direct damage applies to many attacks and abilities, it’s important to differentiate it from damage over time. Damage over time, or DoT, is a lingering effect that inflicts damage over several seconds. Common examples of this include burning, bleeding, and poison damage.

Related: How to Get More Paragon Boards in Diablo 4

When you mouse over an ability in your skill tree, you’ll occasionally see that they “deal X damage per second”. Some common examples include Sorcerer’s Incinerate, Barbarian’s Flay, and Necromancer’s Decompose, among other abilities. These types of skills do not count as direct damage!

Diablo 4 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. To learn more about the game, check out how to farm the Champion’s Demise dungeon in Diablo 4, or click the Diablo IV tag below to browse our entire content list!