- For scaling in Dark Souls, see Parameter Bonus.
- For scaling in Dark Souls III, see Parameter Bonus (Dark Souls III).
Parameter Bonus (also known as Scaling) is a gameplay mechanic in Dark Souls II similar to the ones from the first game.
It is a rating ranging from "E" to "S" of how well a weapon synergizes with a specific stat. These stats include Strength, Dexterity, Magic (mainly Intelligence), Lightning (mainly Faith), Fire (mainly a combination of Intelligence and Faith) and Dark (lowest stat between Intelligence and Faith).
All the details are not completely known; in particular, how scaling works when there are multiple stats at once (such as for "quality" weapons).
Base damage[]
Unlike in Dark Souls, weapon scaling does not consider a weapon's base damage. The damage boost depends entirely on the stat and the parameter. This has some ramifications:
- Low damage weapons will benefit the most from scaling. In particular, weapons such as the Club will more than double its damage output. A Mundane Handmaid's Ladle can deal upward to 130 extra attack rating, when the weapon's base damage is only 10. On the other hand, weapons that deal high damage will benefit less from scaling. For example, a Giant Warrior Club will gain about +100 attack rating, when it's base attack rating is roughly 500~600.
- Weapons with low base damage but high scaling still benefit from reinforcement since scaling values also increase incrementally at each upgrade level.
Strength vs Dexterity[]
It has been observed that at equal rating, Strength scaling will give about twice as much benefit as Dexterity scaling; or, to see it another way, dexterity scaling is equivalent to a "2-tier" lower Strength scaling. For example, D scaling with 40 Strength will give as much benefit as a B scaling with 40 Dexterity.
Because of this, "quality" C/C weapons will gain more benefit from "40 STR / 20 DEX" than "20 STR / 40 DEX".
Soft caps[]
In terms of "return on investment" (for strength and scaling), unlike in Dark Souls, players get the "best" return on investment in the 30~40 range. The gains go something like this:
- 0~30 : 100%
- 30~40 : 150%
- 40~50 : 50%
- 50~60 : 25%
Where "100%" represents an arbitrary scale of what the player would get per point for a given rating.
In terms of scaling, it means the best gains are for "putting all your eggs in the same basket", with either "40/20" for Strength/quality or "20/40" for Dexterity, but never "30/30".