HSR Damage Types Explained: Follow-up (FUA), Added, True, DoT, Break, Blast & Bounce
30-second summary: HSR has several 'damage types' people mix up. Added DMG (付加) is tacked onto a hit and CAN crit — but some scales with your crit stats while some has crit locked at a fixed value (extra crit does nothing). Freeze and Entanglement applied by a SKILL are Added DMG so they crit; applied via Weakness Break they become Break DMG and do NOT crit. True DMG (確定) is a fixed number, never crits, ignores everything. DoT (持続) ticks on the enemy turn and never crits: skill-applied DoT wants ATK, break-applied DoT wants Super Break damage.">Break Effect. Break and Super Break DMG also never crit and scale with Break Effect. Follow-up (FUA), Blast and Bounce are attack SHAPES.
The most-confused types: Added vs True vs DoT vs Break
Beginners assume 'damage is damage', but HSR splits it into types with different formulas. The trickiest: Added DMG (Japanese 付加ダメージ), True DMG (確定ダメージ), DoT / damage-over-time (持続ダメージ) and Break DMG (撃破ダメージ). Rough shortcut: Added DMG usually CAN crit, DoT and Break DMG do NOT crit, and True DMG ignores everything. Why care? It decides which stats you farm on Relics (your looted gear, Japanese 遺物; don't confuse it with Traces, the skill tree). Roll the wrong Relic set and you lose nearly half your power without knowing why. But watch the exceptions: some Added DMG has crit locked at a fixed value, and DoT applied through Weakness Break scales with Break Effect, not ATK — so always read the skill text. When a word is new, check GameVika's Glossary (/hsr/thuat-ngu) before you build. Each section below stands alone, so you can drop in anywhere.
| Damage type | Can it crit? |
|---|---|
| Added DMG | Yes (usually) |
| True DMG | No |
| DoT | No |
| Break DMG | No |
Added DMG (付加): it can crit — beware the fixed-crit kind, and Freeze/Entanglement depend on how they land
Added DMG is damage 'tacked on' to a hit, created by a character skill, a buff, or a stage gimmick. Core fact: Added DMG CAN crit — but there are two kinds, and this is where builds go wrong. Kind one scales with your own crit stats: stack crit rate and crit DMG and this portion grows, like a normal hit. Kind two has crit locked at a fixed value (for example 100% crit rate, 150% crit DMG): it still 'crits', but adding more crit stats does NOT raise this part. Read the skill text to know which kind your unit uses. The surprise that trips people up: Freeze and Entanglement, when applied by a character SKILL, count as Added DMG, so they crit and are NOT DoT. But when they land through Weakness Break (breaking an Ice or Quantum weakness), they are Break DMG: no crit, scaling with Break Effect — see the dedicated section below. One more thing: Added DMG is NOT a follow-up (FUA), so FUA-boosting buffs do nothing for it. Don't slot a FUA buffer into an Added-DMG team and expect the numbers to jump.
True DMG (確定): a flat number nothing can bend
True DMG is the most stubborn damage in the game: it is property-less damage that ignores everything. Enemy DEF does not reduce it, DMG% or elemental DMG% buffs do not raise it, and enemy resistance or damage-reduction does not cut it. Crucially, it NEVER crits. In exchange, the number is perfectly stable, the same every time, no RNG. Because it bypasses DEF, True DMG shines against tanky bosses with high defense or damage-reduction shells, exactly where your normal hits get shrunk. How to spot it: the skill text explicitly says it deals True DMG (Japanese 確定ダメージ). Since it takes no buffs and cannot crit, you do not optimize stats specifically for the True DMG portion; it is usually a bonus on top rather than a team's main damage source.
DoT (持続): a slow burn each turn, no crit — skill-applied wants ATK, break-applied wants Break Effect
DoT is damage from a debuff stuck on the enemy, and it ticks on EVERY enemy turn, not when you attack. Four statuses count as real DoT: Bleed (Physical), Burn (Fire), Shock (Lightning) and Wind Shear (Wind). Shared trait: DoT does NOT crit, so skip crit stats. But which stat matters depends on HOW it's applied, and this trips people up. Way one, through a skill: usually on a chance, so it can miss — that is why Effect Hit Rate matters; and its power mostly scales with the applier's ATK (a few statuses read a different stat, so check the skill text). Way two, through Weakness Break: it always lands, but only applies the status of whoever landed the final Toughness hit, and its power scales with Break Effect (撃破特効) — NOT ATK. So a break-style DoT team (Super Break) stacks Break Effect, unlike a skill-style DoT team. The two sources stack. To see how much your DoT team really ticks per turn, run GameVika's Damage Calculator (/hsr/damage) to test each stat setup before you grind Relics.
BleedPhysical BurnFire 
ShockLightning 
Wind ShearWind 
Break DMG and Super Break (撃破 / 超撃破): no crit, scale with Break Effect
This one gets forgotten, but it is a real 'damage type', not just a way to apply DoT. First a clear definition: every enemy has a Toughness bar (Japanese 靭性, also called Toughness by the community — completely different from RES, the damage-resistance stat). Hitting the enemy's weakness element chips the Toughness bar; drain it and the enemy is Weakness Broken (弱点撃破), stunned, and immediately takes a chunk called Break DMG (撃破ダメージ). That chunk does NOT crit, and its size scales with Break Effect (撃破特効) plus the enemy's level and type — not ATK, not crit. Super Break DMG (超撃破ダメージ) is EXTRA break damage that fires while the enemy is already broken and you keep chipping its Toughness; it also never crits and also scales with Break Effect. Why give it its own bucket? Because people see 'no crit' and assume DoT, or see it ride a hit and assume Added DMG — both wrong. A break-payoff unit drops crit entirely, stacks Break Effect, and adds Speed and Effect Hit Rate depending on role. This is also exactly why Freeze and Entanglement applied through a break don't crit, as mentioned in the Added DMG section.
Follow-up / FUA (追加攻撃): not a 'damage type' but an extra hit that cuts in
People lump follow-ups in with Added DMG or DoT, but it is a different thing entirely: a Follow-up Attack (FUA; Japanese 追加攻撃) is a HIT that triggers when a condition is met, cutting in without waiting for the character's turn. How to be sure: the skill text literally says 'follow-up attack'. A neat detail few notice: because a FUA does not happen on the character's own turn, buffs currently on them do NOT lose turn-count when it fires — you get a free extra hit without burning buff duration. Counters also count as FUA. On the flip side, Added DMG and DoT are NOT follow-ups, so FUA-boosting buffs never touch them, which is a common team-building trap. What stats a FUA scales with depend on its element and skill text, but you usually still build crit like a normal attacker. To find units by playstyle, FUA, DoT or Added DMG, and build a team that actually synergizes, filter GameVika's Tier List (/hsr/tier-list) by archetype.
Blast and Bounce: attack shapes — spill sideways or scatter around
Blast and Bounce are not 'damage types' either; they describe how a hit lands across the enemy line, so they get their own bucket. A Blast hits the main target PLUS the two enemies directly beside it, up to three at once. Key tip: always aim at the enemy in the MIDDLE of the line, because targeting an edge enemy loses one adjacent target and shaves off damage. Blast is strong against multiple enemies or bosses that summon adds, but nearly useless against a lone boss since nobody stands beside it. Bounce instead strikes RANDOM targets multiple times. Counter-intuitively, Bounce is best against a single boss: with only one enemy, every bounce is guaranteed to land on it, chipping its Toughness bar very fast. Against a crowd, the bounces scatter, making it hard to break one target. Remember it simply: Blast loves packed crowds, Bounce loves a one-on-one with a boss.
| Aspect | Blast | Bounce |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Main target + 2 adjacent enemies | Multiple random hits |
| Best when | Many enemies packed together | One-on-one vs a lone boss |
| Aim at | The middle enemy | Random, can't pick |
FAQ
Are Freeze and Entanglement counted as DoT?
It depends how they are applied. If a character's SKILL applies Freeze or Entanglement, the game counts it as Added DMG, so it CAN crit and is not DoT — a unit leaning on them may want crit stats. But if they land through Weakness Break (breaking an Ice or Quantum weakness), that damage is Break DMG: it does NOT crit and scales with Break Effect. So before you build crit, check whether the damage comes from a skill or from a break.
Does True DMG get reduced by enemy DEF, or can it crit?
Neither. True DMG is property-less: it ignores DEF, resistance and all enemy damage-reduction, and no DMG% buff adds to it. It also never crits, so the number is always fixed. That is why it is great against high-defense bosses, but you never build stats specifically for it.
How is a Follow-up Attack different from Added DMG?
A follow-up is a HIT that cuts in when a condition is met, while Added DMG is just extra damage tacked onto an existing hit. Because they are different things, FUA-boosting buffs do NOT help Added DMG. Slot a FUA buffer into an Added-DMG team and the numbers will not rise the way you expect.
For a DoT unit, do I build crit, ATK or Break Effect on Relics?
Never crit — DoT cannot crit. The rest depends on HOW it is applied: skill-applied DoT wants ATK plus Effect Hit Rate so the debuff lands reliably; break-applied DoT (Super Break) wants Break Effect (撃破特効), not ATK. Both kinds still benefit from DMG% / elemental DMG% buffs. To be sure of the numbers, test each setup in the Damage Calculator (/hsr/damage) before grinding.
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