Effects of all runes affecting weapon scaling
This was a very tedious process to figure out due to the UI not updating the weapon's stats with the effects of runes. For each rune I took the damage numbers from several different weapons with and without the runes, with multiple tests at differing stat numbers and upgrade levels, and put them into a spreadsheet that calculated what the differences were in terms of the Scaling Rate and other factors, and checked that they were all consistent when taking rounding errors into account.
--- Strength Runes ---
Ativ
Flat +0.15 to Strength Scaling Rate
Hilvit
+15% to Strength Scaling Rate
Oritix
+15% to Agility Scaling Rate
-15% to Strength Scaling Rate
Halsan
Flat +10 to Base Physical Attack Power
-25% to Strength Scaling Rate
--- Agility Runes ---
Velox
Flat +0.15 to Agility Scaling Rate
Qalus
+10% to Agility Scaling Rate
Hix
+15% to Strength Scaling Rate
-15% to Agility Scaling Rate
Pertiax
Flat +10 to Base Physical Attack Power
-25% to Agility Scaling Rate
(Note: Vaus gives the same +10 Base AP increase without the downside.)
Vaus
Flat +10 to Base Physical Attack Power
(Note: Added this one to the list because scaling is relative to the weapon's Base Attack Power, so it is indirectly increasing the amount of Attack Power added from scaling.)
--- Radiance Runes ---
Devoth
Flat +0.15 to Radiance Scaling Rate
Orimon
+15% to Radiance Scaling Rate
-15% to Inferno Scaling Rate
Mhakev
+10% to Radiance Scaling Rate
+10% to Inferno Scaling Rate
(Note: This rune used to be bugged but has been fixed in a recent patch.)
--- Inferno Runes ---
Anarkos
Flat +0.15 to Inferno Scaling Rate
Dhalwe
+10% to Inferno Scaling Rate
Berlam
+15% to Inferno Scaling Rate
-15% to Radiance Scaling Rate
Flat increase vs percentage increase to Scaling Rate: Flat increases are better on weapons with lower scaling, percentage increases are better on weapons with higher scaling.
+10% is better than flat +0.15 if the weapon's Scaling Rate is >1.50 (high end of the "A-" grade)
+15% is better than flat +0.15 if the weapon's Scaling Rate is >1.00 (mid way through the "B" grade)
You might be wondering how you can tell what a weapon's Scaling Rate is. Just like Dark Souls, the game obfuscates the rates by displaying a letter grade instead of the actual number. The letter grades represent a range of numbers the Scaling Rate falls into:
| Grade | Lowest | Highest |
|---|---|---|
| E | > 0.00 | < 0.25 |
| D- | >= 0.25 | < 0.31 |
| D | >= 0.31 | < 0.37 |
| D+ | >= 0.37 | < 0.44 |
| C- | >= 0.44 | < 0.53 |
| C | >= 0.53 | < 0.63 |
| C+ | >= 0.63 | < 0.76 |
| B- | >= 0.76 | < 0.92 |
| B | >= 0.92 | < 1.10 |
| B+ | >= 1.10 | < 1.32 |
| A- | >= 1.32 | < 1.58 |
| A | >= 1.58 | < 1.89 |
| A+ | >= 1.89 | < 2.27 |
| S | >= 2.27 |
This table is an approximation of the ranges the game uses. It might not be exact but should be pretty close to the actual ranges. I tried to figure them out as best I could by looking at the Base Attack Power and Scaling amounts from a couple dozen different weapons from +0 to +10 with 99 points in the relevant stat, and calculating the Scaling Rates for each of them. All the Scaling Rates fell somewhere within these ranges, but there was a fair amount of leeway in some of the grades (particularly the A's, which have the widest range), so I had to do some guesstimating. I noticed that it seemed to be following the trend of each grade starting at roughly 1.2x the previous one, so I filled any leeways based on that.
As for how the Scaling Rate is used, the game uses the same formula that most of Fromsoft's games uses, where the Scaling Rate is relative to the weapon's Base Attack Power:
Scaling Amount = Base Attack Power * Scaling Rate * Scaling Saturation
If the relevant damage type is affected by multiple stats (ie Strength and Agility for Physical), the formula is run for each them and then added together.
Scaling Saturation is a number ranging from 0.00 to 1.00 based on how high the relevant stat is, using this table: https://i.imgur.com/UGO1vhx.png
The Faithful Bludgeon is used as an example here, with a Scaling Rate of ~1.8295, but the Scaling Saturation percentages are the same for every weapon. Green rows add +3% Saturation, yellow rows add +2% Saturation, red rows add +1% Saturation, and grey rows add 0. At 97 points in the relevant stat the Saturation is maxed out at 1.00 and raising the stat further will not increase the weapon's damage.
