What is “Overpower” in Diablo IV and how does it work?

Overpower damage Explained

Let’s talk about the Overpower mechanic in Diablo 4. At its base, when you cast a skill, it has a 3% chance to do more than the normal damage it deals, this is called overpower. The bonus damage dealt scales with the skill that overpowered. As far as we know prior to game launch, this 3% cannot be increased. So in most cases, it’s just a way to produce more damage. You will see this overpower damage as a blue or orange number. Blue is a regular overpower and orange is a critical overpower. While overpowering can be incredibly powerful, it’s important to understand its limitations. Damage over time effects, passive abilities, and channeled skills cannot overpower. So, keep this in mind when planning your build and selecting your skills.

Overpowers deal bonus damage based on the sum of your current life and fortify. Here’s the basic Overpower damage calculation = Base Damage of your skill + [(Life + Fortify)*Overpower damage multiplier]

How can you increase your overpower damage multiplier? In addition to Fortify and Life, which we’ve already mentioned, there are several avenues to boost your overpower potential. Increasing your Willpower stat, adding gems to your gear, utilizing powerful weapons, leveraging passive abilities, and strategizing with the Paragon board can all contribute to maximizing your overpower damage. 

So which classes utilize Overpower the best?

I told you that we cannot increase our 3% overpower chance, however, the necromancer, druid and barbarian can specialize in overpower by guaranteeing overpower damage under certain conditions. Let’s talk more about that.

Necromancer

The Necromancer has two skills, Blood Surge and Blood Lance that can guarantee an overpower. Necro’s passive, Rathma’s Vigor also guarantees an overpower after being healthy, which synergizes well with blood surge.

Once you have guaranteed ways to overpower, you can also increase your overpower damage multiplier with skill passives and nodes like Tides of Blood, skeletal mage sacrifice, and the legendary node Bloodbath. The Dominate paragon glyph also increases your overpower damage as well as all damage when you overpower. 

If you want to go all in with Overpower, there are also legendary aspects to look for like Rathma’s Chosen – Whenever your blood skills OVERPOWER you gain 20-50% attack speed. And Untimely Death – each percent of your max life you heal beyond 100% grants you 0.5% bonus overpower damage on your next attack. There are lots of ways to build overpower damage and guarantee this increased damage for a blood Necromancer so keep an eye out if you’re interested in that.

Druid and Barbarian also have overpower skills, passives, and aspects like the Necromancer. If you want to do your own research like I did for Necromancer, head over to D4Builds.gg and search their database for keywords.