Damage Per Second (DPS) Calculator

What DPS means

DPS, short for damage per second, is the average amount of damage a weapon deals each second while it is being used. Games show damage per hit and fire rate as separate stats, which makes two weapons hard to compare at a glance. Multiplying them into one figure puts a slow, heavy weapon and a fast, light one on the same scale.

DPS is a rule of thumb, not a verdict. It says nothing about range, accuracy, ammo cost or how enemies react, but it is the first number most players check when choosing between two weapons.

The damage per second formula

The basic calculation multiplies damage per shot by the number of shots per second.

base DPS = damage per hit × attacks per second

Many weapons list a damage range, such as 80-100. The calculator carries the lower and upper numbers through separately, so every result is a range. The midpoint of that range is the average you can expect over many shots.

A critical hit is a chance-based bonus. Over many shots, a critical chance c with multiplier m raises damage by a fixed average factor:

crit factor = 1 + c × (m − 1)c is the critical chance as a fraction (20% = 0.2); m is the multiple of base damage (2 = double damage).

Elemental damage works the same way but adds to the base rather than multiplying it. With an elemental chance e and elemental damage range d:

elemental DPS = e × elemental damage × attacks per second

total DPS = base DPS × crit factor + elemental DPS

In this calculator elemental damage is not multiplied by the critical factor. If your game does scale elemental damage with crits, multiply the elemental line by the crit factor yourself.

DPS with reload versus pure DPS

Pure DPS assumes you can fire forever. A weapon with a magazine has to stop and reload, and the time spent reloading deals no damage. When you enter a magazine size, the calculator adds a second set of results that includes the pauses.

One full cycle is the time to empty the magazine plus the reload:

cycle time = magazine size ÷ attacks per second + reload time

Averages are taken over a fixed 30-second window. The calculator counts how many complete cycles fit in 30 seconds, then adds the shots fired in the part of a cycle that is left. Because a shot that has begun is counted, results are slightly generous for weapons that reload.

Example: a gun deals 20 damage, fires 4 shots per second, holds 12 rounds and takes 3 seconds to reload. Pure DPS is 20 × 4 = 80. Emptying the magazine takes 12 ÷ 4 = 3 seconds, so a cycle lasts 3 + 3 = 6 seconds and exactly five cycles fit in 30 seconds. That is 60 shots instead of the 120 an unlimited magazine would allow, so the 30-second average falls to 40 DPS.

The calculator reports both: the Single Mag. figures describe one magazine without the reload, and the 30 sec. avg. figures include it.

How to use the calculator

1. Enter the minimum base damage. If the weapon shows a single number, enter it here and leave the maximum empty.
2. Enter the attack speed in shots per second. If your game gives attacks per minute, divide by 60 first.
3. Optionally add an elemental chance with minimum and maximum elemental damage.
4. Optionally add a critical chance and a critical multiplier. Fill in both: a chance without a multiplier counts the multiplier as zero and lowers the result.
5. Optionally add a magazine size and a reload time to see averages that include reloading.

Leave the maximum base damage empty for a single damage figure. Elemental maximums are only used when a base maximum is given as well.

Worked example

A rifle shows damage 80-100 and fires 2.5 times per second. It has a 20% chance to crit for double damage, a 25% chance to add 10-30 elemental damage, a 30-round magazine and a 2.4 second reload.

Working through the minimum side: base DPS is 80 × 2.5 = 200. The crit factor is 1 + 0.2 × (2 − 1) = 1.2, giving 240. Elemental damage adds 0.25 × 10 × 2.5 = 6.25, so the total is 240 + 6.25 = 246.25. For the average, a cycle is 30 ÷ 2.5 + 2.4 = 14.4 seconds. Two cycles take 28.8 seconds, and the remaining 1.2 seconds allow 3 more shots, so 63 of the 75 possible shots are fired. That is 63 ÷ 75 = 0.84 of the single-magazine figure, and 246.25 × 0.84 = 206.85.

What DPS does not tell you

• Accuracy: misses, recoil and spread reduce the damage you actually deal.
• Burst versus sustained damage: a weapon with high single-magazine DPS but a long reload may lose to a steadier one in a long fight.
• Defenses: armor, resistances and damage falloff change the numbers per enemy.
• Randomness: averages hide streaks. To see how likely a number of crits is over a series of shots, use the binomial probability calculator.

Use DPS to rank candidates, then judge them in play. For chance-based mechanics in general, the dice probability calculator is a handy companion.