Combat Design: Hits-To-Kill

Hits-to-kill is a concept that should be at the forefront of your combat design when tweaking damage values and planning abilities.

Everyone who plays any type of combat game gets a huge rush of dopamine watching their damage numbers go up.

Whether you're an action-rpg fan dealing 40 damage per attack or an MMORPG fan dealing 20k damage+ per attack, there is one global truth: It's ultimately not about the raw damage you can deal, it's about progressively requiring less and less hits to kill your enemy.

Hits-to-kill is usually calculated by the player character's most consistent source of damage. If they are a warrior, it will be a melee weapon, if they are a mage, it will be a spell, if they are an archer, it will be an arrow.

1. Why Hits-To-Kill Is Important

Let's look at how Hit-To-Kill (HTK) correlates to investment/resources in this graph below:

Balanced HTK

Low investment or resource cost from the player, typically result in less damage, which means a higher number of hits-to-kill an enemy.

High Investment or resource cost from the player, typically results in more damage, which means a lower number of hits-to-kill and enemy.

Unbalanced HTK

An unbalanced HTK (i.e. low cost + low hits-to-kill), will make an attack/ability too overpowered which makes combat too easy, which can make combat stale.

On the flip side, high cost + high hits-to-kill will make a powerful attack or ability feel underwhelming and unrewarding

Investment/Resources

Investment/Resources can be a multitude of things such as:

• Mana Cost
• Stamina Cost
• HP Cost
• Item Scarcity
• Item Cost
• Upgrading Cost
• Skill Point Requirement
• Skill Tier
• Casting Time
• Loss of Mobility During an Action
• Risk
• Low/High % Chance of Success
• Complexity (to pull off an action successfully)
• etc.

2. Hits-To-Kill Progression

This is a player progression chart to explain how damage translates to lower hits-to-kills (HTK) as player investment increases.

In this chart we have three enemy tiers: Tier 1 with 100 HP, Tier 2 with 160 HP, and Tier 3 with 250 HP.

Beam Sword HTK

We can see that at Level 1, the Beam Sword deals 35 damage. For Tier 1 enemies, it's going to take 3 hits to kill an enemy. For Tier 2 enemies it'll take 6, and for Tier 3 enemies, it will take 8.

Let's say we upgrade our Beam Sword to Level 2. It's STILL going to take 3 hits to kill a Tier 1, but wait, it'll now take only 4 hits to kill a Tier 2, and only 6 hits to kill at Tier 3. That's progress!

Now we upgrade our Beam Sword to Level 3 We can now kill Tier 1 enemies in 2 hits, Tier 2 enemies in 4 hits, and Tier 3 enemies in 5 hits. That's a significant improvement in damage output! The player will 100% feel the effects of the upgrades.

Fireball Ability HTK

Under the Beam Sword we have a Fireball ability. I added this in here to show a comparison of a player action that takes no resource (Beam Sword) vs. a player action that uses resources (Fireball). The Fireball will be more powerful and have a lower HTK, but the resource cost will prevent the player from abusing it. This will allow the Beam Sword to stay relevant and consistent, while the Fireball can be strategically used for combat moments where you want a bit more firepower (no pun intended).

4. Hits-To-Kill & Difficulty Mode

Difficulty modes (easy, normal, hard, very hard) will affect the hits-to-kill of the entire game. I personally visualize this as a formula: HTK x Difficulty Mode:

HTK x 0.5 = Explorer Mode

HTK x 0.75 = Easy Mode

HTK x 1.0 = Normal Mode

HTK x 1.3 = Hard Mode

HTK x 1.6 = Very Hard Mode

HTK x 2.0 = Masochism Mode

Disclaimer: Do note, these numbers are not an industry standard, and every game has their own unique difficulty multiplier. These numbers were used for example purposes.

Higher difficulty, higher HTK. This is the reason enemies in higher difficulty modes often turn into bullet sponges.

(Ghost of Tsushima's Lethal Mode has been the most innovative difficulty mode to prevent bullet-spongeyness while maintaining a high level of challenge)

Lower difficulty, lower HTK. Lower difficulty modes open the game up for individuals who don't want much of a challenge but would rather enjoy the story instead.

Incorporating HTK Into Your Project

Focus on an HTK that is fun for the player. Most games that I have played in the action-rpg genre have "starter" enemies with an HTK of 3-6. That's usually the sweet spot.

It's great to plan a short-term HTK progression graph (like above) for your basic attacks early on, and get more in-depth once you find a good HTK to continue with.

Once you find a suitable HTK for your starter enemies, you can start to experiment with the HTK for higher tier enemies.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that hits-to-kill is usually calculated by the player character's most consistent source of damage, and special abilities are a supplement action to lower HTK at the cost of resources.

Balanced HTK provides the player a rewarding experience while an Unbalanced HTK potentially makes the game dull or frustrating. The best way to find a great balance is to playtest playtest, playtest.

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Tyvic Stallworth