Understanding damage and armor in Kingdom Rush 6: Genesis is really important if you want to build the right towers and deal as much damage as possible. Not every attack works the same way, and an enemy’s armor or magic resistance can greatly reduce the damage your towers deal.
In this post, I’ll explain all the damage types, how armor and magic resistance work, and the exact damage formula used in the game. I’ll also go through some simple examples so you can see how much damage different attacks actually deal.
We’ll also look at explosive damage, Shrapnel, armor reduction, true damage, outright kills, and enemy abilities such as eating and dodging. Once you understand these mechanics, it becomes much easier to know which attacks work against heavily protected enemies.
Kingdom Rush 6 Genesis Damage and Armor Guide
Every hit in Kingdom Rush 6: Genesis has a specific damage type.
The main damage types are:
- Physical
- Magic
- Explosive
- True
- Electric
- Poison
Each type interacts with enemy defenses differently.
Physical damage is reduced by armor.
Magic damage is reduced by magic resistance.
Explosive and electric damage are reduced by half of the target’s armor in most cases.
True damage ignores armor and magic resistance completely.
Poison damage also ignores armor and magic resistance.
This means you should not simply look at the damage number of an attack. You also need to consider the enemy’s protection.
The Damage Formula
The basic damage formula is:
Damage Taken = Damage × (100% − Protection)
The result is then rounded down.
The protection used in the formula depends on the damage type:
| Damage Type | Protection Used |
|---|---|
| Physical | Target’s armor |
| Magic | Target’s magic resistance |
| Explosive | Half of target’s armor |
| Electric | Half of target’s armor |
| True | 0% |
| Poison | 0% |
For example, if an attack deals 100 physical damage and the enemy has 30% armor:
100 × 70% = 70 damage
So the enemy takes 70 damage.
If the enemy instead has 80% armor, the same 100 physical damage attack only deals:
100 × 20% = 20 damage
This is why heavily armored enemies can be extremely difficult to defeat with physical attacks.
Physical Damage
Physical damage is the most straightforward damage type.
It is reduced by the target’s armor.
For example, if an enemy has 50% armor and your tower deals 100 physical damage, the enemy takes:
100 × 50% = 50 damage
Armor does not affect magic damage, explosive damage in the same way, or true damage.
Magic Damage
Magic damage is reduced by magic resistance.
For example, an enemy with 60% magic resistance only takes 40% of incoming magic damage.
If your Mage deals 100 magic damage:
100 × 40% = 40 damage
This means magic towers are especially useful against enemies that have low magic resistance, while enemies with high magic resistance can greatly reduce their effectiveness.
Explosive Damage
Explosive damage works differently from physical and magic damage.
Normally, explosive damage only meets half of the target’s armor.
So if an enemy has 80% armor, explosive damage effectively treats the enemy as having:
40% armor
An attack dealing 100 explosive damage would therefore deal:
100 × 60% = 60 damage
Magic resistance does not reduce explosive damage.
There are a few special cases involving Shrapnel, which I’ll explain below.
True Damage
True damage completely ignores armor and magic resistance.
This makes it extremely useful against enemies with very high defenses.
For example, if an enemy has 98% armor and 98% magic resistance but you hit it with 2,000 true damage, it still takes the full:
2,000 damage
The defenses simply do not matter.
Electric Damage
Electric damage works similarly to explosive damage.
It is reduced by half of the target’s armor.
Electric damage is dealt by the Tesla X104 in Classic Rush.
The information bar displays electric damage using the physical damage icon, but its actual damage behavior is based on half the target’s armor.
Poison Damage
Poison damage is not reduced by either armor or magic resistance.
This means poison can continue dealing its full damage even against heavily armored enemies.
One example is the poison effect from the Rangers Hideout.
So if you are dealing with an enemy that has very high physical armor, poison effects can still be effective because armor does not reduce their damage.
How Armor and Magic Resistance Work
Armor and magic resistance are both represented as percentages.
Protection is always counted between 0% and 100%.
An enemy with 100% armor takes no physical damage.
For example:
- 0% armor = full physical damage
- 25% armor = 75% physical damage
- 50% armor = 50% physical damage
- 75% armor = 25% physical damage
- 100% armor = 0% physical damage
The same basic idea applies to magic resistance and magic damage.
However, remember that armor does nothing against magic damage, while magic resistance does nothing against physical damage.
Armor Does Not Protect Against Everything
One common mistake is assuming that armor reduces every type of damage.
It doesn’t.
If an enemy has extremely high armor, you can still damage it normally with magic, depending on its magic resistance.
Likewise, an enemy with high magic resistance can still take full physical damage if it has no armor.
True and poison damage completely ignore both defenses.
Explosive and electric damage use half the target’s armor instead.
Damage Against Units
Soldiers and heroes use the same armor and magic resistance system, but there is an important difference in how rounding works.
For enemies, the damage taken is rounded down.
For units such as soldiers and heroes, the blocked damage is rounded down instead.
Because of this, a unit can sometimes lose 1 more health than an enemy would from the same attack.
For example, imagine an attack deals 21 physical damage against a target with 30% armor.
For an enemy:
21 × 70% = 14.7
The damage taken is rounded down to:
14 damage
For a unit, 30% of 21 damage is blocked:
21 × 30% = 6.3
The blocked damage rounds down to 6, meaning the unit loses:
21 − 6 = 15 health
So the enemy loses 14 health while the unit loses 15.
Physical Damage Example
Let’s look at a real example using an Archer Garrison IV against a Troll Champion.
The arrow deals between 16 and 26 physical damage.
The Troll Champion has 30% armor.
If the arrow rolls 21 damage:
21 × 70% = 14.7
The result is rounded down, so the Troll Champion loses:
14 health
This shows how even a relatively small amount of armor can reduce the final damage.
Magic Damage Example
Now let’s use a Scholar Mage IV against a Necromancer.
The Mage’s bolt deals between 36 and 66 magic damage.
The Necromancer has 60% magic resistance.
If the bolt rolls 51 damage:
51 × 40% = 20.4
After rounding down, the Necromancer loses:
20 health
So even though the attack originally rolled 51 magic damage, the high magic resistance reduces the actual damage to 20.
Explosive Damage Example
Next, let’s look at a Royal Catapult IV attacking a Dark Knight.
The shell deals between 80 and 120 explosive damage.
The Dark Knight has 80% armor.
Because explosive damage normally uses half the target’s armor, the effective protection is:
80% ÷ 2 = 40%
If the shell rolls 88 damage:
88 × 60% = 52.8
After rounding down, the Dark Knight loses:
52 health
This is one reason explosive damage can be useful against heavily armored enemies.
Explosive Damage With Shrapnel
Shrapnel changes how much armor certain artillery attacks have to deal with.
Normally, explosive damage uses half of the target’s armor.
With Shrapnel, the following basic attacks and abilities instead meet 75% of the target’s armor:
- Royal Catapult basic attacks
- Dwarven Culverin basic attacks
- Ironbark Treant basic attacks
- Perfected Formula blast
The other artillery abilities and Ultimates still use half of the target’s armor.
The Powerball blast also continues to use half of the target’s armor.
The Alchemist Shack’s basic attack is different because it deals true damage. Since true damage ignores armor completely, Shrapnel does not change its damage.
Shrapnel Example
Let’s use the same Dark Knight example.
The Dark Knight has 80% armor, and the Royal Catapult rolls 88 explosive damage.
Without Shrapnel:
80% ÷ 2 = 40% protection
88 × 60% = 52.8
The Dark Knight takes:
52 damage
With Shrapnel, 75% of the target’s armor counts:
80% × 75% = 60% protection
Now the calculation becomes:
88 × 40% = 35.2
The Dark Knight takes:
35 damage
So despite the upgrade description saying that artillery attacks ignore 75% of enemies’ armor, the practical result is that the affected explosive attacks are reduced by more armor.
Against an enemy with no armor, Shrapnel does not change the damage.
High Armor Example
The difference becomes even clearer against enemies with extremely high armor.
A Dark Slayer has 100% armor.
A normal physical attack deals:
0 damage
because 100% of the damage is blocked.
But explosive damage only uses half of that armor.
So an attack dealing 100 explosive damage sees:
50% effective armor
The enemy therefore takes:
100 × 50% = 50 damage
This is why explosive attacks can still damage enemies that completely block physical attacks.
True Damage Against Moglok-Hai
Moglok-Hai provides a great example of why true damage is so useful.
When Moglok-Hai is carrying his shield, he has:
- 98% armor
- 98% magic resistance
A normal physical attack would be heavily reduced, and magic damage would also be heavily reduced.
But if the Fat Boy deals 2,000 true damage, the full 2,000 damage goes through.
His defenses do not reduce it.
Moglok-Hai therefore loses:
2,000 health
Ignoring Armor
Some attacks can ignore armor.
When an attack ignores armor, the target’s armor is treated as being lower by that amount for that particular hit.
The important thing is that the enemy’s actual armor does not change.
For example, Bolin can have the Sharpened Rounds talent, which makes his basic attacks ignore 25% of the enemy’s armor.
Against a Dark Knight with 80% armor:
80% − 25% = 55%
For that specific hit, the attack therefore treats the Dark Knight as having 55% armor.
The Dark Knight still actually has 80% armor. The reduction only applies to that attack.
Armor Reduction
Armor reduction is slightly different from armor penetration or ignoring armor.
An armor reduction actually lowers the target’s armor.
For example, suppose a Dark Knight has 80% armor and an effect reduces its armor by 5 percentage points.
The new armor is:
80% − 5% = 75%
It does not become 76%.
Armor reductions are measured in percentage points.
Multiple armor reductions can also add together, and armor cannot be reduced below 0%.
Magic resistance reductions work in the same way.
Armor Ignoring vs Armor Reduction
These two mechanics may sound similar, but they work differently.
Armor Ignoring
The attack temporarily treats the enemy as having less armor.
The enemy’s actual armor does not change.
Armor Reduction
The enemy’s actual armor is reduced by the specified percentage points.
This reduction can affect subsequent attacks while the effect is active.
Understanding this difference is important when you are combining several abilities that interact with enemy defenses.
Outright Kills
Some abilities do not technically deal damage in the normal way.
Instead, they kill the target outright.
An outright kill takes all of the target’s remaining health regardless of its armor or magic resistance.
So if an ability can instantly kill an enemy, having 90% or 100% armor does not save that enemy.
The Fat Boy, for example, can outright kill every enemy with less than 2,000 health.
Eating Units
Some enemies have abilities that eat units instead of dealing normal damage.
J.T. and Sarelgaz can eat units.
When a unit is eaten, it dies regardless of its health or armor.
So having a heavily armored soldier does not protect it from an eating ability.
This is another example of why armor cannot be treated as protection against every enemy ability.
Enemy Dodging
Some enemies can dodge melee attacks.
The enemies that have this ability include:
- Wulf
- Worg
- Tainted Wolf
- Demon Hound
Each of these enemies has a chance to dodge each melee attack.
When an attack is dodged, it deals no damage.
The exact dodge chance depends on the enemy.
There is one important exception: a stunned enemy does not dodge.
This means stunning a dodging enemy can be an effective way to make sure your melee attacks actually connect.
Final Thoughts
The damage system in Kingdom Rush 6: Genesis becomes much easier to understand once you know what each damage type does. Physical damage is reduced by armor, magic damage is reduced by magic resistance, explosive and electric damage use half of the target’s armor, while true and poison damage ignore these defenses.
The important thing I would remember is that the biggest damage number is not always the best attack. You need to look at the enemy’s defenses and choose a damage type that can actually get through them.
Armor ignoring, armor reduction, Shrapnel, true damage, outright kills, and dodging add even more depth to the system. Once you understand these mechanics, you can make much better decisions about which towers and abilities to use against different enemies.
If you are struggling against a heavily armored enemy, don’t just keep throwing physical attacks at it. Check its magic resistance, consider explosive or true damage, and look for abilities that ignore or reduce its defenses. That small change in how you approach the fight can make a huge difference.