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The Sanctuary field manual

A field manual for surviving Sanctuary.

Reviewed against official wiki build 20261101.1 on 2026-11-02. Calculations are illustrative, not a reconstruction of a ranked build.

Keep the loot you need

Open Esc → Game Options → Loot Filter. KEEP overrides other rules; next come HIDDEN, SELL and PICK UP. Start by keeping charms and needed slots; consider selling unwanted magic and rare gear as you progress.

HIDDEN leaves an item on the ground. SELL triggers on contact, including a click. BETTER ONLY keeps a duplicate if at least one eligible property is higher; compare tradeoffs before replacing your stored item.

Official loot-filter rules ↗

Controls to remember

Key	Action
`WASD / ↑↓←→`	Move
`Esc / P`	Pause / menu
`C / I`	Character / inventory
`H`	Charms
`O`	Mercenary
`T`	Skill tree
`Q`	Quest log
`Tab`	Cycle automap
`1–4`	Belt potions during combat
`1–3 / R / X / B`	Level-up: choose / reroll / skip / banish
`Alt`	Hold to show ground-item names
`L`	Cycle DPS display
`Space`	Close panels

Official controls ↗

Attack and damage formulas

Attack Damage, damage per hit and DPS are different quantities. Start with the skill’s base damage at its effective level, then check synergies, damage type, weapon scaling and enemy resistance.

Physical damage structureBase damage × synergy multiplier × (1 + summed physical bonus/100) × weapon multiplier × resistance multiplier

The sum includes Strength, physical masteries and item/shrine damage bonuses; weapon blows also include Dexterity and relevant demon/undead bonuses. Weapon scaling applies to weapon skills. Ordinary spells, auras and summons omit it; Assassin blades and shadows have exceptions. This is a structural formula; skill-specific coefficients still apply.

Elemental / magic damage structureBase damage × synergy multiplier × attribute/mastery multiplier × item/shrine multiplier × resistance multiplierResistance multiplier = 1 − effective resistance/100 (immune at ≥100%; floor −100%)

Synergies use learned levels, excluding +skills. Reducing 50% resistance by a full 20 points changes damage from 50% to 70%, a 1.4× gain. Each reduction against immunity works at one fifth, rounded down. Item enemy-resistance reduction follows curses/auras and is still reduced if immunity remains. Calculate damage types separately.

Weapon Enhanced Damage 1% → +0.4% Attack Damage (separate from other bonuses and skill damage)Double-physical chance = 1 − (1 − critical chance) × (1 − deadly chance)Expected physical damage = non-critical physical damage × (1 + double chance)DPS ≈ expected damage per hit × hits per second

50% critical plus 50% deadly gives 75% double damage, not quadruple damage. Added elements are not simply doubled. Damage over time, projectiles, target count, recharge and uptime require separate DPS treatment.

Incoming damage order

Defense hit roll → skill avoidance → shield block. Pure elemental/magic missiles and auras have separate eligibility rules.
Physical: melee/missile reduction (cap 50%) → physical damage reduction (cap 50%).
Fire/cold/lightning/magic: flat magic reduction (2 per point) → resistance (except magic) → absorb. Treat poison separately as damage over time.
Finally apply Energy Shield, then Bone Armor for physical / Cyclone Armor for fire, cold and lightning.

Enemy hit chance = clamp to 5–95% [AR/(AR+your Defense) × 2×enemy level/(enemy level+your level)]Physical example = 1,000 × (1 − 20% melee reduction) × (1 − 30% physical reduction) = 560Fire example = max(0, 1,000 − 2 × 20 magic reduction) × (1 − 75% fire resist) = 240Shield block = min(75%, shield block value × (Dexterity − 15) ÷ (level × 2)); one third while moving

These examples assume a landed hit, no absorb, shields or curses. Resistances normally cap at 75%, up to 95% with maximum-resistance bonuses; penalties are −40 Nightmare and −100 Hell/Terror. Amplify Damage subtracts 100 points before the physical reduction cap: 50% reduction can become 1.5× damage. Defense changes hit chance, not the reduction percentage.

Official damage rules and exceptions ↗ · Official stat rules ↗

Crushing Blow or Deadly Strike?

Crushing Blow

Scales with remaining life: 1/4 normally, 1/8 for act bosses/super uniques; missiles halve it again. Useful against high remaining life; extra /players life does not increase its basis.

Deadly Strike

Chance to double physical damage. Existing critical chance reduces its marginal gain; it remains useful as enemy life falls.

Target Defense reduction

Here it adds weapon damage instead of accuracy: 50% reduction gives about +14%, halved against act bosses/super uniques. Ignore Target Defense (+27%) excludes uniques, super uniques and act bosses.

Average enemy life after one hit

Add one option at a time; shorter bars mean less remaining life. This teaching model applies Crushing Blow to pre-hit life first. Pure physical damage, zero resistance, /players 1, other multipliers held fixed.

Base hit

9,000 / 10,000

Add Crushing Blow

8,375 / 10,000

Add Deadly Strike

8,750 / 10,000

Add Target Defense reduction

8,865 / 10,000

A probability-weighted average of one-hit outcomes. Actual procs and kill times vary. Open Wounds bleeds for 8 seconds and refreshes rather than stacks; it is excluded from this instant-hit chart.