Critical Hit

Critical Hits (会心の一撃 kaishin ichigeki) are a recurring feature of the Dragon Quest series.

Function

Every time any character makes an attack, they have a small chance of that attack being a "Critical Hit," (会心の一撃, Kaishin no ichigeki, lit. "satisfying blow/hit") which drastically increases the damage dealt on that particular turn. Since critical hits ignore defence, it makes them an instant kill on all metal monsters, provided the monster does not dodge the critical hit. Weapons that strike multiple times, such as the Falcon knife earrings, can strike critically, but weapons that strike multiple targets cannot (Flails, Whips, Boomerangs).

However, many monsters also can get critical hits, usually termed a terrific blow, brutal hit, or desperate attack (痛恨の一撃, tsūkon no ichigeki). For monsters, there are different variations of critical hits: the first of which simply ignores the target's defence, much like the critical hits landed by playable characters. The second variation lands an attack that simply deals 250% the amount of their normal attack. Some monsters and bosses also have a variation which deals a fixed amount of damage, as well.

Appearances

Dragon Quest & Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line

The critical hit rate is fixed at ¹⁄₆₄. Monsters gained the ability to land critical hits starting in the second game.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake

Critical hits use the same formula as Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Once the sun sigil is obtained, skills can also land critical hits, with multi-target skills suffering the same penalty as multi-target weapons (i.e., the critical hit rate for multi-target skills is half that of single-target abilities).

Each character has a unique set of hidden benchmark values and vocation (i.e., character-specific) crit rates relevant to the critical hit rate calculation. At character level 99, these benchmark values are 411 (Dragon Quest I Hero), 341 (Prince of Midenhall), 247 (Prince of Cannock), 277 (Princess of Moonbrooke), and 411 (Princess of Cannock), while the vocation crit rates are as follows:

Character	Crit Value	Level Range
Dragon Quest I Hero	4	1–4
	5	5–9
	6	10–19
	7	20–29
	8	30–39
	9	40–49
	10	50–99
Prince of Midenhall, Prince of Cannock, Princess of Moonbrooke	2	1–9
	2.5	10–20
	3	21–30
	3.5	31–40
	4	41–50
	4.5	51–60
	5	61–99
Princess of Cannock	4	1–4
	5	5–9
	6	10–14
	7	15–20
	8	21–25
	9	26–30
	10	31–35
	11	36–40
	12	41–45
	13	46–50
	14	51–55
	15	56–60
	16	61–65
	17	66–70
	18	71–75
	19	76–80
	20	81–99

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

Martial Artists have their rates based on their level, calculated as level/256 for a cap of 25% at level 64. All other characters have a 1/64 chance to land a critical hit.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Critical hits now involve the Luck stat instead of being fixed to a 1/64 chance or being based on the Martial Artists' levels. A character's chance to land a critical hit is calculated as vocation crit rate x min(Luck / hidden benchmark, 3) with a hard maximum of 50%; the hidden benchmark value for the character's level is given in the first table below, and the vocation crit rate is given in the second table below. For example, the critical hit chance for a Gadabout with 999 Luck at level 90 is calculated as 6 X min(999 / 310, 3), resulting in a crit chance of 18% (the "min" formula capping the multiplier to the lower value of 3 in this case). Note that for boomerangs and whips, the critical hit rate is half that of single-target weapons for balance purposes.

Hidden benchmark per level, universal

Lv	*0	*1	*2	*3	*4	*5	*6	*7	*8	*9
0	-	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	17	19
1	22	25	29	32	35	39	43	46	50	54
2	57	61	65	70	74	79	83	88	94	99
3	105	110	116	121	127	132	138	144	150	155
4	160	164	169	174	178	182	187	191	195	200
5	204	208	211	215	219	222	225	229	232	235
6	238	240	243	246	249	251	254	257	260	262
7	265	268	271	273	275	278	280	282	285	287
8	289	292	294	296	298	300	302	304	306	308
9	310	312	314	316	318	320	322	324	326	328

Vocation	Crit Value	Level Range
Gadabout	3	1–9
	4	10–20
	5	21–30
	6	31–99
Hero	2	1–5
	2.5	6–10
	3	11–15
	3.5	16–20
	4	21–25
	4.5	26–30
	5	31–35
	5.5	36–40
	6	41–45
	6.5	46–50
	7	51–55
	7.5	56–60
	8	61–65
	8.5	66–70
	9	71–75
	9.5	76–90
	10	81–99
Mage	3	1–99
Martial Artist	4	1–4
	5	5–9
	6	10–14
	7	15–20
	8	21–25
	9	26–30
	10	31–35
	11	36–40
	12	41–45
	13	46–50
	14	51–55
	15	56–60
	16	61–65
	17	66–70
	18	71–75
	19	76–80
	20	81-99
Merchant	2	1–99
Monster Wrangler	3	1–99
Priest	2	1–99
Sage	2	1–99
Thief	2	1–99
Warrior	2	1–99

Prior to the May 23rd, 2025 update patch the rates for the Hero and Martial Artists were:

Vocation	Crit Value	Level Range
Hero	2	1–9
	2.5	10–20
	3	21–30
	3.5	31–40
	4	41–50
	4.5	51–60
	5	61–99
Martial Artist	4	1–4
	5	5–10
	6	11–26
	7	27–33
	8	34–71
	9	72–80
	10	81–99

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

Tsarevna Alena's rate is based on the Martial Artists of Dragon Quest III, calculated as Level/256. The cap is level 64, with a rate of 25%.

In the Nintendo DS and Cell phone versions of Dragon Quest IV, Alena's critical hit rate was tweaked to (Level x 0.75)/256. In the Nintendo DS version, the effect still stops at level 64, making her critical rate cap at 18.75%; however, the Cell phone version raises the cap to level 89, granting her a rate of 26.07% - provided, of course, the player is willing to raise her that high.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

The critical hit rate returns to ¹⁄₆₄ and cannot be improved. Certain monsters and bosses will land desperate attacks that deal a fixed amount of damage, such as hammerhoods, urnexpecteds, King Korol and Nimzo in his second form.

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation & Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

Characters have the standard ¹⁄₆₄ rate unless they become Martial Artists at Alltrades Abbey. After taking up the art of the fist, the character's rank in the vocation will improve their chance to land a critical until they hit the cap of ¹⁄₈ at rank 8. This gives a party of Martial Artists a 50% chance to score a critical when using normal attacks and single-target skills that utilizes their strength stat.

• Paladins have a similar vocation trait, in that they have a chance to instantly slay a target based on rank. Though this will not work on boss monsters, it will still slay Metal slimes at a ¹⁄₈ rate when mastered.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

A character will double their critical hit rate to ¹⁄₃₂ after investing enough skill points in the appropriate section. Yangus can raise his rate to ¹⁄₈ by equipping the Megaton hammer.

Enemies that can perform a desperate attack include hammerhood, crème caraslime, brownie, dead bowdy, gorerilla, pink pongo, cherreevil blososm, metal slime knight, cyclops, gold golem, troll, golem, abominape, beelzebuzz, tyrantosaurus, red horn, stone golem, dark dullahan, dark sabrecat, box of Tricks, Gemon, boss troll, great troll, gigantes, mimic king, megalodon, Rhapthorne in his first form, heavy hood, hell's gatekeeper, pandora's box, coffer of death, Juggerwroth, the Lord of the Dragovians in his Vermillion, Silver, Golden, and Divine forms, Geyzer in Memoriam, Tortured Soul in Memoriam, Skeleton in Memoriam, Walking Corpse in Memoriam, Trap Box in Memoriam, Don Mole in Memoriam, Soul Mole in Memoriam, Great Argon Lizard in Memoriam, Darkbird in Memoriam, Dark Turkey in Memoriam, Sir Leopold in Memoriam, Dark Servant in Memoriam, Dancing Flame in Memoriam, Ruin in Memoriam, Shadow in Memoriam, Marcello in Memoriam, and Dhoulmagus in Memoriam.

Infamous Monsters who can perform a desperate attack include Arges, Brontes, Steropes, Brickman, Stoneman (Recruit), Goldman (Recruit), Digby (Infamous Monster), Dugan, Lonely Joe, Michael J., Mudison, Orrid, Pa Troll, Pierce, Ray Churls, Snap Case, and Spot (DQ8).

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Beginning in Dragon Quest IX and carrying forwards to X and Heroes, the frequency of critical hits became dependent on a character's deftness.

For IX, the algorithm is Deftness/100 + 3% (with weapon skill trait boost). Wearing the Critical Acclaim will add another 4%, and thus the maximum rate is (999/100) + 3% + 4% = 16.99% at 999 deftness, the critical hit up skill trait and the Critical Acclaim revocation medal.

As an example, if you have a character with 211 deftness and 22 skill points invested in their Sword Skill (and they don't have the Critical Claim revocation medal), when they attack with a sword they'll have a (211/100) + 3% = 5.11% chance to crit.

The natural, unbolstered rates for each vocation are:

Class	Base Deftness at Level 1	Chance to Crit	Base Deftness at Level 99	Chance to Crit
Ranger	30	0.3%	500	5%
Thief	18	0.18%	402	4%
Mage	14	0.14%	304	3%
Minstrel	12	0.12%	304	3%
Luminary	16	0.16%	259	2.6%
Gladiator	15	0.15%	256	2.6%
Martial Artist	11	0.11%	255	2.6%
Priest	9	0.09%	206	2.1%
Warrior	5	0.05%	111	1.1%
Armamentalist	7	0.07%	110	1.1%
Sage	3	0.03%	57	0.57%
Paladin	1	0.01%	9	0.09%

Dragon Quest X

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Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Every 200 points of Deftness increases the critical hit chance by 1%, leading to a natural cap of 5%. Skill panel, pep boosts and equipment bonuses can raise this chance even further. Also, for the first time in the series, Boomerangs are able to land critical hits.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Critical Hits are a unique trait to Hero's moveset in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His Smash Attacks have a 1/8 chance to result in a Critical Hit, which doubles both the damage and knockback. The Critical Hit sound effect from the Dragon Quest series plays when it occurs. His Hatchet Man command in his Down Special: Command Selection will always result in a Critical Hit should it connect.

Weapons

Certain weapons can guarantee the chances of a character getting a critical hit in exchange for low accuracy. The hela hammer has an accuracy of 3/8ths, the headsman's axe has a 3/4ths accuracy for normal attacks, a 1/8th chance to critical, and a 1/8th chance to miss outright. The megaton hammer has a 1/8th critical chance and no reduction to accuracy at all.

These weapons would lose these traits as the series adopted deftness-based calculations with the ninth entry, and would often simply be powerful members of their respective weapon families in subsequent games.

Skills

With the implementation of skills in V, certain abilities were designed with instant critical hit rates in mind. These skills would often have a paltry MP cost, but suffer the same low accuracy as the above mentioned weapons in older titles.

• Critical Claim
• Frenzy
• Hatchet Man
• Thunder Thrust
• Whopper Chop

Spells

Begining with Dragon Quest IX in 2009 spell have also gained the ability to land critical hits, referred to as "going haywire". For more details, see haywire spells.