Magic Arrow

Creates a magical arrow or bolt that does extra damage.

Magic Arrow is the first skill of the Amazon's Bow and Crossbow tree (level 1, no prerequisite; it unlocks Multiple Shot). It fires one ordinary-speed missile that does full weapon damage plus a small flat bonus, and turns a share of the physical damage into magic damage. Two numbers decide it: the conversion, 5% at level 1 and +2 a level, and the mana cost, which falls to zero at level 13.

The numbers

• Damage is +1 a level: MinDam and MaxDam are 1, and every bracket column (MinLevDam1–5, MaxLevDam1–5) is 1 too, so the bonus never changes pace. It is a flat addition to both ends of the weapon's range.
• Attack Rating is ToHit 10 plus LevToHit 9 a level: +181% at level 20.
• Conversion is the tooltip's own calc, 5+(lvl-1)*2. The Basin's page gives the current game's formula as min(2 × slvl + 3, 100), which is the same line with a 100% ceiling reached at level 49.
• Mana starts at 1.5 (mana 12 in eighths, manashift 5) and drops 0.125 a level (lvlmana −1); the tooltip prints max(usmc, 0), so from level 13 the arrow is free.

Every line reads lvl, so +skills from items raise all four; no line reads hard points.

How it works

Magic Arrow is a missile (srvmissile magicarrow) that must pass the attack-rating check against the target's defense, see Chance to Hit; it can be blocked. It carries 100% of weapon damage (SrcDam 128) and fires at the normal attack's rate, see Attack Speed. The Basin's page adds two things the table does not show: the skill does not consume ammunition (a quiver need not even be equipped), and the flat +damage is added before +% Enhanced Damage, although the character screen adds it after.

The conversion is applied after +% damage and after a Deadly Strike or Critical Strike doubling, and before resistance: the converted part is Magic Damage, so a monster's physical resistance does not touch it, but its magic resistance does, see Resistances and Immunities. The Basin's page notes that in the 1.10–1.13 game the skill's own +% attack rating was never applied; the same page records it fixed in the current game, which is what the table's ToHit column describes.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Magic Arrow has no dsc3 line and no SymPerCalc column, and no other skill reads its points. Since every tooltip line reads lvl, item skill levels count in full. Some bows carry Fires Magic Arrows, which the Basin's page explains as the normal attack firing Magic Arrow at the item's fixed level.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player. The Basin's page says nothing more about this skill against players; the conversion and the flat bonus work as above on what remains.

Build notes

• At level 20 the arrow adds +20 damage and +181% attack rating, converts 43% of the hit to magic, and costs 0 mana.
• The conversion is the reason to level it: 43% of the hit ignores a physical immunity at level 20, and the share keeps growing with +skills, 63% at level 30.
• One hard point buys the prerequisite for the tree and a free attack from level 13; every number past that comes equally from hard points and +skills.