Overpower Damage is one of the main auxiliary damage types in Diablo 4, and though it’s outside the main damage elements, it can be almost as important a part of your build as Skill or elemental damage. Additionally, your ability to deal Overpower Damage is actually split across two stats, both of which you’ll want to build around at least a little bit of Overpower. Here’s how it works.
Explaining What Overpower Damage Is and How It Works in Diablo 4
Overpower is a different play on critical damage and based on your Overpower Chance, which is usually capped at 3%. By default, every Skill that applies direct, non-DoT damage used has a chance to deal 50% Overpower damage, a value based on the sum of your current Life and Fortify values. Equipment you find can increase that bonus well past 100%, meaning you can deal more than double the skill’s base damage.
In short, whenever Overpower activates in Diablo 4, you will deal some amount of additional damage on top of what you were already putting out.
Before I even reached the midgame, I was running near that 100% mark, and as I was playing an Ice Shard Sorcerer, every one of my five Shards per cast could activate Overpower. However, in the current meta, both Barbarian and Druid are the real go-tos when it comes to this damage type, with endgame builds able to easily top 140% for Barb and more than 200% for Druid.
Whether you build for Overpower ultimately depends on what class and build you want to use. My Sorcerer is better off spec-ing for Crit and Elemental damage, as much of my effectiveness comes from those as well as Vulnerable and status-activated damage.
Overpower, in other words, is core to “raw” damage builds or builds that don’t rely on gimmicks or much setup to work properly. As Whirlwind Barbarian (to grossly generalize), you shout and spin and everything dies. There’s no focus on damage over time, afflicting statuses, abusing cooldowns, managing a barrier — any of it. While you will want the gear to make your build function at its best, the strategy is straightforward.
As with anything in Diablo 4, how much or how little you invest into Overpower Damage depends on what you want out of your particular setup. Just because the meta relies on it doesn’t mean you have to.
