GameBanshee Forums

What exactly does it do?

When a weapon is keen it has an increased chance of scoring critical hits. If you read the weapons description you would see something like this: 19-20x2 this means if you roll a 19-20 you make a critical hit and x2 means you do double the damage. This is not true to all weapons though some have stuff like 18-20x2, 19-20x3 or even 17-20. Here is an example of a keen weapon with 19-20x2. When keen is active it subtracts the critical threat range by 2 so that weapon would now be 17-20x2. An 18-20 would would become 16-20 and so on. Keen does not increase how much damage you do on a critical hit, it does not effect the x2 or x3 a weapon may have.

Keen means it is a particularily sharp weapon.

and you can't double keen...

a weapon has a threat range, like 19-20, and putting in both a keen lense, and a nextor crystal will not increase the threat range beyond 17-20.

on a dice roll of 17,18,19,20, the weapon will do a critical hit...

one chance in five, statistically...

btw, the feat critical strike and sniper shot quadruples the threat range, so a 16-20 weapon will ALWAYS hit for a critical strike..

this is why atton with a disrupter upgraded with a pinpoint scope is obscenely deadly...

if a upgrade like the mandalorian chamber III has massive criticals, like 1-22, then in the case of a critical hit, you add the criticals bonus damage...

when you get a critical hit, any constant bonus damage is multiplied, but not the variables...

for example, a 2-16 fire damage crystal is NOT doubled in a critical strike, but a +5 bonus damage is doubled...

things that are doubled/tripled (when you get a critical hit using power attack power blast, you triple the critical hit bonuses...) base damage of the weapon, weapon specialization, increase melee damage feat, precise shot feat, strength bonus, and any constant damage weapon upgrades/crystals...

through knowledge of keen/critical strike/threat range is necessary to make the most uber munchkin powerful weapons in the game...