- For scaling in Dark Souls II, see Parameter Bonus (Dark Souls II).
- For scaling in Dark Souls III, see Parameter Bonus (Dark Souls III).
The Parameter Bonus rating, also known as Scaling, is a gameplay mechanic in Dark Souls. It indicates the level of bonus damage one can do with a weapon, based on the associated stats. This rating can be S, A, B, C, D or E (in order from most to least bonus for the associated skill).
Strength and Dexterity will increase the physical damage while Intelligence and Faith will increase the magic damage of weapons. Lightning and Fire weapons do not scale with any stat.
Chaos weapons will scale with Humanity. This will increase both its physical and fire damage.
Overview
Each weapon has:
- Four base damage values: physical, magic, lightning, and fire. These are the numbers shown as the weapon's stats.
- Five scaling values: strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, and humanity.
- The only weapons with humanity scaling are Chaos weapons, and their scaling is always 0.21.
Each character has:
- Five ratings: strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, and humanity. These are not equal to the stats in question, but are derived from them (see below).
With these all in mind, the formulas are laid out below.
Formulas
- TotalAttackRating = PhysicalRating + MagicRating + FireRating + LightningRating
- PhysicalRating = BasePhysical + BonusStrength + BonusDexterity + BonusChaosPhysical
- BonusStrength = BasePhysical × StrengthScaling × StrengthRating
- BonusDexterity = BasePhysical × DexterityScaling × DexterityRating
- BonusChaosPhysical = BasePhysical × HumanityScaling × HumanityRatingPhysical
- MagicRating = BaseMagic + BonusIntelligence + BonusFaith
- BonusIntelligence = BaseMagic × IntelligenceScaling × IntelligenceRating
- BonusFaith = BaseMagic × FaithScaling × FaithRating
- FireRating = BaseFire + BonusChaosFire
- BonusChaosFire = BaseFire × HumanityScaling × HumanityRatingFire
- LightningRating = BaseLightning
- PhysicalRating = BasePhysical + BonusStrength + BonusDexterity + BonusChaosPhysical
Scaling Values
| Letter | Scaling Range |
|---|---|
| S | 140%–200% |
| A | 100%–139% |
| B | 75%– 99% |
| C | 50%– 74% |
| D | 25%– 49% |
| E | 1%– 24% |
Scaling values, also known as "ParamBonus," are displayed as a letter ranging from "E" (lowest) to "S" (highest). Each letter represents a percentage of additional attack damage in relation to a particular stat (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Faith).
Each scaling value has a fairly wide percentage range, meaning two weapons with the same rating might provide different percentages of additional attack damage. Specific scaling values for individual items can be found here.
Humanity Scaling
Humanity scaling is a unique bonus attributed only to Chaos weapons. It affects both Physical ATK and Fire ATK by providing an additional 21% damage to each stat (equivalent to ParamBonus "E"). Humanity scaling is a hidden stat, meaning it is not actually displayed in-game.
Stat Rating
| Stat level | Rating | Rating/level |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 5% | 3.50% |
| 20 | 40% | 2.25% |
| 40 | 85% | 0.25% |
| 99 | 100% | — |
| Stat level | Rating | Rating/level |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 5% | 2.25% |
| 30 | 50% | 1.50% |
| 50 | 80% | 0.41% |
| 99 | 100% | — |
| Humanity | Phys Bonus | Fire Bonus | Phys Bonus this level |
Fire Bonus this level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0% | 0% | — | — |
| 1 | 24% | 24% | 24% | 24% |
| 2 | 36% | 36% | 12% | 12% |
| 3 | 48% | 48% | 12% | 12% |
| 4 | 56% | 56% | 8% | 8% |
| 5 | 62% | 62% | 6% | 6% |
| 6 | 70% | 70% | 8% | 8% |
| 7 | 76% | 78% | 6% | 8% |
| 8 | 84% | 86% | 8% | 8% |
| 9 | 92% | 94% | 8% | 8% |
| 10 | 100% | 100% | 8% | 6% |
The stats that improve damage aren't directly used in the calculations; instead, they are first converted to a rating, which increases very quickly at low stat levels but slows down after reaching certain "soft caps." Strength and Dexterity use the same conversion table, Intelligence and Faith use the same conversion table, and Humanity uses its own.
Between each of the data points in the conversion tables, scaling increases linearly. Levels below 10 are not taken into account here.
Unique to Strength is that, when using a weapon with two hands, your Strength is considered 50% greater (rounded down). For example, two-handing a weapon at 21 Strength (42.25%) increases your effective Strength to 31 (64.75%). As a result, if you are dedicated to two-handing weapons, your effective "soft cap" is not 40, but 27, because two-handing increases 27 to 40. At 40 Strength (85%), two-handing uses 60 Strength (90%), a weak improvement.
Humanity scaling is nearly identical for the physical and fire portions of Chaos weapons (only varying by 2% at 7, 8, and 9 Humanity). The growth is not linear, and not strictly equivalent for the physical and fire damage.
Intelligence for Catalysts
| Stat level | Bonus | Bonus/level |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 6.5% | 0.70% |
| 15 | 10% | 4.00% |
| 30 | 70% | 1.00% |
| 50 | 90% | 0.20% |
| 85 | 97% | 0.25% |
| 99 | 100% | — |
All catalysts have a base MagAdjust of 100, and the final value is calculated by using the same stat bonus formula (but the base value / bonus split is not shown in game as it is for ATK values). The scaling growth for calculating a catalyst's MagAdjust is different from the regular scaling. It spikes massively in the levels 15–30, then slowly grows to level 50, after which it all but stops (it takes 50 levels to get the final 10% increase).
There is an exception: Oolacile Ivory Catalyst ignores actual Intelligence and uses 99 in its calculations. With a parameter bonus of 80% that leads an eternally constant MagAdjust of 180.
Examples
+15 Club, 24 Strength, 2 hands.
- BasePhysical: 182
- StrengthScaling: 132% (A)
- StrengthRating: 76% (effectively 36 Strength because two-handing)
- BonusStrength = BasePhysical × StrengthScaling × StrengthRating
- BonusStrength = 183 × 132% × 76% ≈ 183
- PhysicalRating = BasePhysical + BonusStrength + BonusDexterity + BonusChaosPhysical
- PhysicalRating = 182 + 183 + 0 + 0 = 365
- TotalAttackRating = PhysicalRating + MagicRating + FireRating + LightningRating
- TotalAttackRating = 365 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 365
+10 Divine Dagger, 20 Strength, 40 Dexterity, 50 Faith, 1 hand.
- BasePhysical: 95
- BaseMagic: 115
- StrengthScaling: 6% (E)
- DexterityScaling: 39% (D)
- FaithScaling: 84% (B)
- StrengthRating: 40%
- DexterityRating: 85%
- FaithRating: 80%
- BonusStrength = BasePhysical × StrengthScaling × StrengthRating
- BonusStrength = 95 × 6% × 40% ≈ 2
- BonusDexterity = BasePhysical × DexterityScaling × DexterityRating
- BonusDexterity = 95 × 39% × 85% ≈ 31
- PhysicalRating = BasePhysical + BonusStrength + BonusDexterity + BonusChaosPhysical
- PhysicalRating = 95 + 2 + 31 + 0 = 128
- BonusFaith = BaseMagic × FaithScaling × FaithRating
- BonusFaith = 115 × 84% × 80% ≈ 78
- MagicRating = BaseMagic + BonusIntelligence + BonusFaith
- MagicRating = 115 + 0 + 78 = 193
- TotalAttackRating = PhysicalRating + MagicRating + FireRating + LightningRating
- TotalAttackRating = 128 + 193 + 0 + 0 = 321