Damage Charts and Quirky Game Behaviors
As with any game, behind the game mechanics are hit point counters. You can think of player health as hit points, and think of shield and object health as durability... but the numbers are on the same scale. 1 hit point of damage removes 1 point of durability or 1 point of health. Thus, the following will simply be described as points.
You can examine the damage values of most attacks through Spar mode. In that mode, players are awarded points exactly matched to the damage they do to the other player. For example, a single blackjack knife primal does 1 point of damage to a player, shield, ember, or other target. Using these base values, you can then calculate the points of any other game mechanic, even those that only occur outside spar mode.
The following numbers and explanations are a best estimate by fans. They may be slightly inaccurate in places. You may wish to retest them in game yourself, which will also help you understand them better.
There are also a number of odd game behaviors noted throughout the descriptions. These describe non-intuitive details that do affect game play for certain classes or artifacts, and are helpful to be aware of.
Player Health
Player health is 100 hit points.
Primal Attacks
Every class has a primal attack and a hand shield. Primals can be checked directly in spar mode. Hand shields can only be checked by throwing primals against them, and durability values may be imprecise due to variability of aim. Shields were generally measured by throwing blackjack primal knives against their center.
Anarchist fireball, points by size: 3, 4, 8
Blackjack knives, points by count: 1, 2, 3; 9 with overcharge. Actual damage depends on number of knives hit.
Kineticist trash, points by size: 5 (small/medium), 13 (heavy). Durability 2 pts, ? pts. (retest)
Drifter primals, min-max: 2-15 (smooth variability as the ball grows)
Electromancer primals (3-24 points) have some complex behaviors and require more explanation.
The hand shows 4 bulbs which light up as it charges. After all four bulbs are lit, there's an additional "overcharge" phase where the bulbs turn yellow. The primals can be released tap-tap-tap-tap one at a time, each taking a bulb; or, the trigger can be held giving a "full hand" primal where the entire charge is released in one continuous shot from overcharge down to nothing left. The full hand does more damage than the total of the tap-tap shots that would occur from the same initial charge; that is, continuous shooting is more damaging than individual separate shots.
Additionally, electromancer's primal can be boosted by the presence of a power station pole generated from an ember shield. This is the only class whose ember ability includes boosting their hand primal.
A regular bulb, single tap, does 3 points of damage, for the 3 normal bulbs, for a total of 9 points of damage by tapping. The fourth bulb which also holds the overcharge does a total of 6 points of damage by tapping, making the hand primal 15 points total by tapping, provided it started fully (over)charged.
A continuous full-hand primal from overcharge through all bulbs does a total of 18 points of damage, equivalent to one additional bulb more than tapping would give.
A continuous full-hand primal with power station boost does a total of 24 points of damage. This is equivalent to 8 bulbs of charge, though as it's delivered, it hits the opponent ten times. A power station booster not only recharges the primal faster, it also delivers more total damage from a full charge; more even than the drifter's largest ball and on-par with some ember attacks.
In addition, the electromancer also has a hand shield which can store charge to be used as an attack, for up to 10 points of additional charge, giving the EM a grand total of 34 points of damage they can do in a single primals attack, provided a power station is present.
Hand Shields
Hand shields have durability in the sense that as they absorb or reflect primals, they will gradually take damage until they break completely. You can turn off the hand shield to give it a chance to heal/recharge. If you do not turn it off, it will not heal until it is completely broken, and then it must heal completely before it's usable again. It's to your advantage to let it heal before it's fully broken.
Center-blocking an attack deals the attack's damage to the shield and then reflects the (unchanged) primal back out, where it maintains its hit points.
For example, a single blackjack knife carries 1 point of attack power. It will deal 1 point of damage to a hand shield when center-blocked, and then reflect back towards the caster. If the caster center-blocks, their hand shield takes 1 point of damage, and it reflects again. It can reflect an unlimited number of times, and does not lose charge. When someone's hand shield fully breaks and the knife strikes a player, it will deal 1 point of damage to that player. Likewise, the overcharged triple knife, at 9 points of damage, would deal 9 points on each shield hit, and eventually deal 9 points of damage to a player. The attack values above are the same points regardless of whether it's a shield, player, or other target that is hit. One caveat: The blackjack triple-knife when reflected visually turns into a single knife, but it maintains the full 9 points of charge of the three knives combined; it's just the animation path that gets simplified.
The points of damage that each class's shield can absorb, center-blocked, before it's fully broken, are as follows (this could use a retest).
Anarchist hand shield: 12 points
Blackjack hand shield: 24 points
Kineticist hand shield: 18 points. Caution: Center-blocked primals that reflect back at the caster can travel faster your TK primals, ripping them to shreds from behind as they travel to your opponent. You may prefer to block primals with primals or not center-block, depending on your throw style.
Drifter hand shield: 14 points
Electromancer hand shield: 10 points. (This also means an EM hand shield can store 10 points of charge.)
Ember Attacks
Ember push attacks, volleys, and summons have a variety of interesting behaviors. However, their behavior is consistent: whether an attack is moving or not, it has a hit point pool which is used up by dealing damage or receiving damage. Details will be noted where they're not obvious.
When a skull passes through any shield and keeps going, the shield drains the damage value of the skull (by an amount equivalent to that shield's durability points), such that it deals lesser damage to the player after, although the skull is not visibly changed by it (but the shield is broken). For example, a full size skull (35 points) passes through a blackjack ember shield (15 points), breaking the ember shield, and deals 20 points of damage to the player on impact. If the skull had passed through two blackjack ember shields (30 points) it would deal 5 points of damage to the player on impact.
Anarchist
Fireworks - Minimum of 3 are summoned, max of total pillar count in the arena at the start of the round. If some pillars are already broken, some of the fireworks will double up on a single pillar for extra hits. Each firework deals 13 points of damage.
Skulls - Can summon medium size or full size. Medium deals 20 points of damage. Full size deals 35 points of damage. Full size can be split twice, producing 4 skulls at 9 points each, for a total of 36 points of damage.
Ember Shield - Quick shield 16 points, full shield greater than 35 points as it will stop a full size skull (could use a retest for more detail).
Blackjack
Blade - 20 points for quick push, 30 points for full charge. There is no in-between.
Cards - 3 points for each card. Minimum 5-card summon; 10 cards for a full summon (totally 30 points).
Ember Shield - 15 points each pillar. Quick shield only affects how many pillars are covered; they're always the same durability.
Kineticist
Debris Scatter - 15-26 points depending on charge and how many blades hit the target.
Cars - 25 points damage for each car. Charge affects number of cars, not damage. Durability of a car (hits to shatter it) is 12 points.
Ember Shield - Unlimited points / stops any number of projectiles. Time duration is either quick-charge or full-charge; there is no in-between. Any amount of charge less than 100% produces the short duration shield. Full charge produces the long-duration shield.
Drifter
Birds - 7 points per bird for up to 5 birds for a total of 35 points damage.
Bomb - 20-35 points depending on charge
Ember Shield - Unlimited points / stops any number of projectiles. Duration is either quick-shield (any level of charge below full produces the same duration) or full charge (producing full duration). The player must exit the shield before it expires, as all the projectiles will continue to move once the shield is gone, potentially hitting the player in the center of it.
Electromancer
Lightning Ball Overhead - Quick push, 15 points as one hit. Full charge, 19 points from two hits (possibly more for a slow-moving one or bad teleports back into its path).
Turret - Quick cast, 5 points per hit with a hit every 2 seconds. Full cast, 10 points per hit with a hit every 4 seconds.
Ember Shield - 15 points on the top surface. Sides and frame bars untested (needs follow-up).
Artifacts
Spear - 25 points damage to each item it passes through. Only a guardian and indestructible terrain will stop it. Shields do not reduce damage taken, but do destroy the shields.
Aerogramme (planes) - 18 points per airplane for a total of 36 points.
Burner - 5 hit points per primal thrown. Burner has 50 points of health. Weird behavior: When the burner teleports away from damage, he temporarily generates a shield around the pillar he's leaving, which may block some incoming attacks and allow the burner to teleport away without taking damage. This has been observed destroying skulls and yet leaving the burner unharmed.
Cthulu's Grasp - At most, produces 14 hits at 5 points each for a total of 70 points. Does not produce tendrils where the player is currently standing (although it will occasionally grab every pillar if the player was mid-teleport when the logic ran). Does not produce tendrils on the burner's pillar if he's out on the arena, guaranteeing a second clear pillar. The burner thus becomes a counter for cthulu's grasp.
Dispelling Censor - No damage normally. Deals 35 points damage against Arena Guardians within its cylinder of effect (a circle plus considerations for height).
Clockwork Imp - No damage, has a durability (untested).
Contract - Takes 20% of player's current health in exchange for granting 2 embers immediately. If used when embers are on the board, board embers will be erased to avoid producing in excess of 3 embers for the player (yes you can lose a potential ember this way). Best used when player is at low health already and not too close to ember spawn.
Guardians and Pillars
Guardian orbs start with approximately 43 points of health per side (a player casting quickly after it appears must do 33 points of damage provided the other player does none). Over time, the total health of the orb lessens, such that fewer points are required to take the orb. This also makes it tricky to test effectively.
Guardians are generated with a certain pool of hit points, which they use both for their own survival and to deal damage to terrain and players. For example, the garbage golem smashes pillars. Each pillar has 10 points of durability, which drain 10 hit points of health from the golem each time it smashes a pillar. If the golem has fewer than 10 points left, it will attempt to smash a pillar, fail, and die. Likewise, the electric beast expires hit points each time it uses its laser. By realizing this, you can sometimes outlast a guardian without necessarily attacking it directly, and it will still die.
Elmurst garbage golem - 91 points. Loses 10 points for each pillar smashed.
Pulaski Circle reaper - 70 points. Gets closer to you faster each time you teleport - hold still!
Burnham Station electric beast - Generators are 8 points each, for three generators (24 points of firepower). You must take out the generators for the beast to die quickly; otherwise it heals repeatedly from the generators. Dispelling censer does not affect the generators.
Without taking out the generators, the beast is approximately 80 hit points if you deal damage quickly and don't give it time to recharge. Once the generators are down, the beast will produce at most 7 more laser hits, at 15 points of damage each, and then die on its own. 15 points * 7 hits gives a potential total of 105 points of damage dealt. The later you attack the beast, the fewer hit points it has left, as it has used up the rest on lasers. Typically it will have 30-60 points left during the time you're most likely to try attacking it.
Astor Gardens plant - 100 points of health for the large central plant. It shoots seed pods at each pillar. The seed pod durability is 2 hit points. If a seed pod is shot before it lands on the pillar, the pillar will not generate an attacking arm; instead, the central plant will try again to send a seed pod over. The seed pod itself does not do damage. It only spawns the attacking arm. Typically a pillar will have 2 arms on it, each hitting for 5? points of damage (recheck this). The arm itself has 10 hit points of durability. Killing an arm does not impact the health of the main plant. The main plant will eventually die over time, but it has a very long life.
Lockport Bridge snow golem - 90 points of health. Getting caught in the ice deals 3 hit points of damage for up to 10 hits before the snow melts naturally, for a total of 30 points of damage each time you get trapped and do not break free. The ice can be attacked or dispelled to break free early. If you do not damage the snow golem, it will freeze a total of 21 pillars before it dies naturally (that takes a very very long time). The snow golem is only minimally affected by the effort required to freeze a pillar (perhaps 4 points per pillar frozen).
Jackson Digsite snakes - not yet tested.