In Last Epoch, critical strike mechanics play a key role in maximizing damage output for many builds. Two crucial stats — Crit Chance and Melee Crit Chance — determine how often a character lands a critical hit, effectively dealing increased damage. But do you really understand how they interact, how they are calculated, and how best to use them? This is crucial for both new and experienced players who want to improve their gaming performance Last Epoch Gold.

Basic Definitions and Differences
Crit Chance refers to the percentage chance that any hit — unless otherwise specified — will be a critical strike. This stat is generally applicable to all types of hit-based attacks, including spells and throwing skills, unless an attack specifies a different calculation. Melee Crit Chance, meanwhile, specifically influences melee skills. Importantly, when executing a melee skill, the game will reference both your global Crit Chance and your Melee Crit Chance, using whichever value is higher; these values are not summed or averaged, but used independently depending on the skill type in question.

Calculation Formulas
The calculation for determining your critical strike chance incorporates several forms of modifiers. The primary formula is:
Total Crit Chance=(Base Crit Chance+Flat Added Crit)×(1+Increased Crit Chance+More Crit Chance)
Base crit chance is typically 5%, and additional flat crit may come from weapon affixes, passives, or skills. Increased crit chance modifiers stack additively, while “more” modifiers multiply the result, enabling sophisticated scaling for optimized builds. Notably, the game's mechanics ensure that Crit Chance is capped at 100% — you cannot exceed a guaranteed critical hit rate.

How Melee Crit Chance and Crit Chance Interact
When using a melee skill, the game will check both your global Crit Chance and your Melee Crit Chance. The higher of these two values is used to determine critical strikes for that skill. As such, stacking Melee Crit Chance is essential for melee-centric builds, while hybrid or spell-focused builds may rely more on global Crit Chance. These stats do not overlap or combine — only the most relevant value for the skill is applied.

Sources of Crit Chance and Melee Crit Chance
Crit Chance and Melee Crit Chance can be increased through multiple avenues:
1. Flat Crit: Many weapons and skill nodes provide flat increases to crit chance, raising your base value before multipliers are considered.
2. Increased Crit: Gear, passives, and certain unique items can grant increased percentage-based modifiers to crit chance.
3. "More" Crit: Some skill effects or buffs offer “more” crit chance, a powerful multiplicative boost after other additions and increases.
4. Critical Vulnerability: Certain debuffs applied to enemies (e.g., critical vulnerability) can temporarily increase your effective crit chance against those targets.
For melee attackers, it is especially beneficial to seek melee crit chance affixes on weapons and gear to maximize critical strike frequency.

Optimization and Build Considerations
The most effective builds usually seek a balance between crit chance and crit multiplier. Ensuring a high enough crit chance for reliable damage output is foundational before heavily investing in crit multiplier. For melee-focused classes, prioritizing melee crit chance on weapons and through passives should generally take precedence, because it is directly applied when using melee skills. Hybrid builds might value global crit chance if they frequently switch between melee, spell, or ranged abilities.

Conclusion
Understanding the mechanics of Crit Chance and Melee Crit Chance is critical for efficient character building and maximizing DPS in Last Epoch. The game’s system, where the highest applicable crit value is selected for each skill type, means that players must plan their gear, passives, and skill choices carefully to optimize their damage potential. Mastering these stats provides a significant advantage in endgame content and competitive play buy Last Epoch Gold.