Stats Explained

Neverwinter Stats Explained

Stats determine how hard you hit, how much damage you survive, how effective your healing is and how your character performs in combat. This guide explains what the numbers on your character sheet actually mean and how they work together.

Build Basics Gear & Artifacts Companions & Mounts Refinement & Enchantments

Why Stats Matter

Item Level tells you how much progression is built into your character, but Item Level alone does not tell you whether your build is balanced.

Two players with similar Item Level can perform very differently because their ratings, percentage bonuses, gear effects, companions, mount powers, Forte and party buffs are distributed differently.

A good build is not simply about making every number as high as possible. It is about putting the right stats into the role your character is expected to perform.

Rating and Percentage Are Not the Same Thing

The large number beside a stat is its Rating. Your character sheet converts that rating into part of the stat's total percentage. Gear bonuses, companions, Forte, consumables, party buffs and other effects can add additional percentages on top of the rating contribution.

Reading the Character Sheet

Rating

Rating is the numerical amount of a stat supplied by your equipment and other rating sources.

Rating Percentage

Your Rating is converted into a percentage based partly on your Total Item Level and the rules for that particular stat.

Other Contributions

Percentage bonuses can come from gear effects, companions, mount powers, boons, Forte, food, potions, party buffs and other sources.

Total Percentage

This is the number that matters most when determining how much benefit you are actually receiving from that stat.

Current Stat Caps

Not every Neverwinter stat has the same maximum. The current system contains two major groups of capped combat stats.

Expanded-Cap Stats

120%

These stats can reach a total of 120%.

  • Power
  • Combat Advantage
  • Critical Severity
  • Defense
  • Deflect Severity
  • Forte
  • Incoming Healing
  • Outgoing Healing

Their Rating contribution can reach up to 60%, with the rating cap reached approximately 10,000 Rating above your Total Item Level.

Standard-Cap Stats

90%

Several other primary combat stats remain capped at 90%.

  • Accuracy
  • Critical Strike
  • Awareness
  • Critical Avoidance
  • Deflect

Their Rating contribution normally caps at 50%, with additional percentage bonuses making up the rest of the possible total.

Important: Reaching a stat cap does not automatically mean your entire build is optimized. Once a stat reaches its useful maximum, additional points placed into that stat may be better spent elsewhere.

Offensive Stats

Power Increases the damage you deal and also contributes to healing output.
Accuracy Helps counter enemy Deflect and improves the consistency of your damage.
Combat Advantage Increases your damage when you have Combat Advantage against the target.
Critical Strike Increases the chance that an attack or eligible heal becomes a critical hit.
Critical Severity Determines how much extra effect your critical hits receive when they occur.
Forte Feeds specific stats according to your class and Paragon Path. Its value depends heavily on your role.

Combat Advantage: Position Matters

Combat Advantage is only useful when Combat Advantage is actually active. In group combat, this commonly happens when you and an ally are positioned on opposite sides of an enemy. Watch the combat indicator around the target and learn to position yourself rather than relying only on the number shown on your character sheet.

Defensive Stats

Defense Reduces the amount of incoming damage you take.
Awareness Helps reduce damage received when an enemy has Combat Advantage against you.
Critical Avoidance Reduces the impact of enemy critical attacks.
Deflect Determines your chance to deflect an incoming attack.
Deflect Severity Determines how much damage is reduced when you successfully deflect an attack.
Maximum Hit Points Determines how much damage your character can take before being defeated.

Healing & Utility Stats

Outgoing Healing Increases the amount of healing your character provides to others.
Incoming Healing Increases the amount of healing your character receives.
Control Bonus Improves the effectiveness of control effects that your powers apply.
Control Resistance Helps reduce the effect of control abilities used against you.
Recharge Speed Reduces the time you wait for powers to become available again.
Action Point Gain Helps you generate Action Points used to activate Daily powers.
Stamina Regeneration Helps restore the resource used for movement or defensive class mechanics such as dodging, sprinting or blocking.
Movement Speed Increases how quickly your character moves.

What Is Forte?

Forte is different from most other stats because it does not simply provide one universal effect.

Your class and Paragon Path determine which stats receive the benefit from Forte. A portion supports the primary function of the role, with the remaining benefit distributed into additional class-specific stats.

Damage Dealers

DPS Paragon Paths receive Power as the primary Forte contribution, with additional Forte benefits depending on the class and path.

Tanks

Tank Paragon Paths receive Defense as the primary Forte contribution, along with additional class-specific stats.

Healers

Healing Paragon Paths use Forte to support their healing resource regeneration along with additional class-specific stats.

Why this matters: Forte can be very valuable for one class and less important for another depending on which secondary stats that Paragon Path receives.

Ability Scores

Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma provide percentage-based bonuses separate from your normal gear ratings.

Strength — STR Supports Stamina Regeneration and Physical Damage.
Constitution — CON Supports Maximum Hit Points and Action Point Gain.
Dexterity — DEX Supports Critical Severity and Movement Speed.
Intelligence — INT Supports Control Bonus and Magical Damage.
Wisdom — WIS Supports Control Resistance and Outgoing Healing.
Charisma — CHA Supports Forte and Recharge Speed.

Which Ability Scores Should I Choose?

There is no single answer for every character. Your best ability scores depend on your class, Paragon Path, role and the type of damage or healing your powers use.

Physical Damage

Characters whose important powers deal Physical Damage often benefit from Strength.

Magical Damage

Characters whose important powers deal Magical Damage often benefit from Intelligence.

Healing

Wisdom is especially useful to healers because of its Outgoing Healing contribution.

Tanking

Constitution can be valuable for tanks because of Maximum Hit Points, while other choices depend on the specific tank and build.

Recharge & Forte

Charisma can be useful when Forte or faster power recharge supports the needs of the build.

Critical Severity

Dexterity can help builds that benefit from additional Critical Severity while also adding Movement Speed.

Build first, rule second: Do not choose ability scores only because another class guide says they are “best.” Check the powers, damage type and stat needs of your actual Paragon Path.

Where Your Stats Come From

Equipment Armor, weapons, rings, shirts, trousers, neck and waist items.
Enchantments Enchantments can provide ratings, combined ratings and special effects.
Companions Companion bonuses, enhancements and active companion choices can change a build significantly.
Mounts Mount powers, insignias and bonuses can provide additional stats and utility.
Boons Campaign, guild and master boons provide additional build bonuses.
Consumables Food, potions and event consumables can temporarily increase important percentages.
Gear Bonuses Many modern gear pieces provide percentage bonuses that activate only when certain conditions are met.
Party Buffs Companions, artifacts, mounts and class abilities used by party members may temporarily change your combat stats.
Forte Forte distributes additional percentages according to your class and Paragon Path.

Solo Stats vs. Group Stats

Your character sheet while standing alone does not always show the numbers you will have during an organized dungeon or trial.

Group buffs, companion bonuses, mount powers, artifacts and conditional gear effects can activate during combat. A character that looks slightly under a cap while standing in Protector's Enclave may reach or exceed that cap once the group is fighting.

Solo Build

Solo players generally need to provide more of their own stats, survivability and utility.

Group Build

Organized groups can use shared buffs and debuffs to cover gaps and allow individual players to optimize around the group's composition.

More Is Not Always Better

Once a stat reaches its effective cap, additional percentage in that stat does not continue providing the same benefit. When evaluating gear, always look at what your character actually gains and what other stats may be lost in the trade.

A Simple Way to Build Your Stats

Decide your role: Damage Dealer, Tank or Healer.
Identify which stats directly support that role.
Check the Rating and Total Percentage columns on your character sheet.
Account for gear effects and bonuses that activate only during combat.
Account for regular party buffs if the build is intended for organized group content.
Avoid wasting resources pushing a stat far beyond the amount you can actually use.
Adjust companions, mounts, insignias, enchantments, boons and equipment to fill the remaining gaps.
Test the build in actual combat rather than judging it only while standing outside of combat.

Stats Are Part of the Build — Not the Entire Build

Capped stats cannot fix poor power choices, missed mechanics, incorrect positioning or weak teamwork.

Likewise, a player does not need every stat perfectly capped to contribute successfully to most Neverwinter content.

Use the stat system as a tool. Understand what your character needs, build toward those goals, and then continue improving as better gear and resources become available.

Build Basics Gear & Artifacts Companions & Mounts