how do i know when an attack is direct hit or crit?

is there a reason why SMN in particular want direct hit over crit?

When you're fighting the text will look like:

Hit

DIRECT HIT

CRITICAL HIT!

DIRECT CRITICAL HIT!!!

I also don't know if or why a SMN might favor DH over Crit, but I'm not familiar with their mechanics. I know classes like MNK and BRD favor Crit more because they have mechanics that directly scale from crit rate.

wait so direct hit text isnt anything special then? no exclamation point?

https://i.imgur.com/aQQtMjU.png

Direct hits look bigger than regular hits.

No, it's just slightly larger than normal text so it can be hard to tell when you're landing them.

I also made a slight mistake: the highest hits are called Critical Direct Hits in the combat log and they only have two exclamation points on the floating text.

As I've heard it, DH scales better than Crit (at least that was the word shortly after 4.0), so I would imagine if a class has procs/mechanics tied to actual Crits, you want Crit. All other cases, take DH.

But the meta is still sorta newish, and I haven't looked much into any of it, so can't say I really know much very well. (plus as long as I'm not 70, it probably doesn't really matter anyway.)

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Originally Posted by ElHeggunte

No, it's just slightly larger than normal text so it can be hard to tell when you're landing them.

I also made a slight mistake: the highest hits are called Critical Direct Hits in the combat log and they only have two exclamation points on the floating text.

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Totally unrelated - god I want to understand your signature.

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Originally Posted by MoroMurasaki

Totally unrelated - god I want to understand your signature.

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Ha! The quote (and the "hat") are from a video series called Zero Punctuation narrated by a dude named Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. He reviews video games and that particular quote is from his video on Borderlands 2.

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Originally Posted by ElHeggunte

Ha! The quote (and the "hat") are from a video series called Zero Punctuation narrated by a dude named Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. He reviews video games and that particular quote is from his video on Borderlands 2.

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I think I understand now. Thanks for humoring me! :D

I've found this system to be confusing since the moment it was released. I struggle to remember what is what, and what is best of direct hit and critical hit. Not to mention that it's nearly impossible to tell which one you get from the flying text midfight. :/

For the numbers behind direct/crit hits, I haven't done actual number crunching but going over my own battle logs I've noticed that a direct hit is approximately 25% more than a normal hit, a critical hit is approximately 50% more than a normal hit, and a direct critical hit is approximately 75% more than a normal hit. I haven't done actual number crunching, but I do notice that a point in direct hit will result in a greater increase to direct hit chance than a point in critical hit does to critical hit chance, making them about even out in terms of overall dps despite crit hits doing a lot more raw damage than a direct hit. I feel that direct hit will result in a more stable increase to dps, especially in the short term like with quick pulls or fights, which tends to make it a more attractive option given the relatively short nature of dungeons and dungeon pulls. The exception being classes that have special mechanics that are tied to critical hit of, course.

All that said, I think any real difference between the two comes down to min/maxing at the highest levels of play to be honest, and isn't really going to make that much of a difference for most people in their day to day.

You are forgetting that getting more "critical hit" stat increases both critical hit rate and critical damage, the base multiplier of critical damage is 1.4x so 40% of a normal hit, your current critical hit stat is likely giving you 10% more critical damage, but you are correct that direct hit rate scales better per stat, it's around 40 DH per 1% rate. Note that the base 364 direct hit equals to 0% rate (hence why tanks and healers can't DH unless they meld materia) so if you have 1364 only the 1000 will count towards DHR.

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Originally Posted by alimdia

You are forgetting that getting more "critical hit" stat increases both critical hit rate and critical damage, the base multiplier of critical damage is 1.4x so 40% of a normal hit, your current critical hit stat is likely giving you 10% more critical damage, but you are correct that direct hit rate scales better per stat, it's around 40 DH per 1% rate. Note that the base 364 direct hit equals to 0% rate (hence why tanks and healers can't DH unless they meld materia) so if you have 1364 only the 1000 will count towards DHR.

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Slight correction: Direct hit rate starts off stronger than Critical hit, but it scales linearly. Critical hit scales exponentially due to the fact that it increasess both critical damage and rate, which means at higher values, it will bypass direct hit in damage increase per point.

Your chatlog will show it as a direct hit or a critical direct hit and the damage done, as long as you have your settings set to display damage you inflict. At the very bottom where I put the *, critical hits are different and displayed separately from critical direct hits.

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5:32 a.m.]You cast Ruin IV.
[5:32 a.m.]  Direct hit! The striking dummy takes 6186 damage.

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5:38 a.m.]You use Painflare.
[5:38 a.m.]  Critical direct hit! The striking dummy takes 8454 damage.

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5:39 a.m.]Ruby Carbuncle uses Aerial Blast.
[5:39 a.m.]  Direct hit! The striking dummy takes 8072 damage.

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5:43 a.m.]Demi-Bahamut casts Wyrmwave.
[5:43 a.m.]  Direct hit! The striking dummy takes 3889 damage.

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[5:43 a.m.]Demi-Bahamut uses Akh Morn.
*[5:43 a.m.]  Critical! The striking dummy takes 19043 damage.

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Book smacking the dummy in melee range does not always result in a "direct" hit, those hits are also separately recorded in the log.

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[6:05 a.m.]You hit the striking dummy for 126 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]Direct hit! You hit the striking dummy for 153 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]Direct hit! You hit the striking dummy for 153 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]Direct hit! You hit the striking dummy for 164 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]You hit the striking dummy for 132 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]Critical direct hit! You hit the striking dummy for 226 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]You hit the striking dummy for 126 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]You hit the striking dummy for 131 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]You hit the striking dummy for 132 damage.
[6:05 a.m.]You hit the striking dummy for 127 damage.

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One way to tell is if you have visual for amount of damage not just log. If you see the number as an example;

8967! with a normal size ! it is based on direct hit.

8967! with larger text is normally critical hit

8967!! can be both normal or large means both were activated

The other way is by checking your log. Practice on dummies and see the difference.

Correct me if I'm wrong, as for why SMN should prioritize Direct Hit over Crit is mainly because it not only scales better than Crit, but our dots are also affected meaning that every few ticks means a chance for a direct/Crit hit.

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Originally Posted by Kuzonoha

Correct me if I'm wrong, as for why SMN should prioritize Direct Hit over Crit is mainly because it not only scales better than Crit, but our dots are also affected meaning that every few ticks means a chance for a direct/Crit hit.

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Not 100% sure on that but I always prioritize on critical before direct hit. My cousin and I have been experimenting with it as sum and so far critical has paid off more. I could be wrong just our experience on it.

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Originally Posted by ManuelBravo

Not 100% sure on that but I always prioritize on critical before direct hit. My cousin and I have been experimenting with it as sum and so far critical has paid off more. I could be wrong just our experience on it.

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The reason SMNs take DH over Crit is because of the math. DH is mathematically better to take over Crit but SMN BiS is nearly even for Crit/DH.

DH>Crit>Det>SS is the optimal setup for SMN by the numbers.

As long as you've got a healthy amount of both Crit and DH you'll be fine either way.

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Originally Posted by dotsforlife

The reason SMNs take DH over Crit is because of the math. DH is mathematically better to take over Crit but SMN BiS is nearly even for Crit/DH.

DH>Crit>Det>SS is the optimal setup for SMN by the numbers.

As long as you've got a healthy amount of both Crit and DH you'll be fine either way.

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Thx will keep it in mind.

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Originally Posted by ManuelBravo

Thx will keep it in mind.

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I don't recall the exact values but BiS for SMN is around:
DH = 1750-1800ish
Crit = 1750-1800ish
Det = 1100-1150ish
SS = 825-850ish

Somewhere along those lines. Give or take a few.

You can train your eye to see the difference. I main Bard so I see crits very often, and the difference between a direct hit and critical hit is very noticeable. I think they did a great job making it both subtle and defining at the same time.

Another way to tell the difference is by playing Warrior. Trust me, you'll know when your Fell Cleaves land a crit, a direct hit, both... or neither. :(