Some bonuses in Dungeon Settlers keep growing; others hit a wall. This page collects every effect with a hard cap - reflect, the Gold Mine, Capital Punishment, the missing-HP inscriptions, damage-over-time, Shell blocks and the temporary buffs - and gives the exact formula, a worked example and the maximum value each cap allows. Every number is read live from the DS_B.0.3.26 game tables.
Every capped effect at a glance
| Effect | Source | What scales it | Maximum (cap) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inscription of Reflection | Inscription (rolled on level-up) | Fixed fraction of every hit | 100% of post-defense damage (no per-hit cap) |
| Monster thorns (Spike / Crystal Turtle) | Monster trait | Fixed fraction of melee / magic hits | ~50% reflected |
| Inscription of the Gold Mine | Inscription | 10 gold per critical hit | 2000 gold, then +10% Crit |
| Capital Punishment | Inscription | Target's combined HP fraction | Executes at ≤ 20% HP (non-boss) |
| Inscription of Death Throes | Inscription | Your missing HP | +20% Damage Dealt at 0 HP |
| Devrick Pendant | Equipment (accessory) | Your missing HP | Heal 30% of damage dealt at 0 HP |
| Sinking Inscription | Inscription | Target's missing HP (every 3rd basic) | +120% damage at 0 HP |
| Inscription of the Storm | Inscription | Crit basic attack splash | Hits up to 5 enemies (30% dmg, 2-sq) |
| Bleeding | DoT status | 5 physical per stack / sec | 99 stacks = 495/sec |
| Burning | DoT status | 3 magic per stack / sec | 50 stacks = 150/sec |
| Poison | DoT status | 1% Max HP / sec | Cannot stack (single instance) |
| Sprouting Shell / Shell | Inscription | 1 Shell per 60 Energy recovered | 20 Shells (each blocks one hit to 1 dmg) |
| Executioner | Execution-tree skill | +10% Crit per kill | +30% Crit (3 stacks) |
| Sharp Edge | Warrior-tree skill | Physical Attack per skill use | 6 stacks (see note) |
| Art of Defence | Monster trait | +10 Phys & Magic Resist per hit | 15 stacks = +150 each |
Reflect and thorns
The Inscription of Reflection bounces 100%
of every type of damage you take straight back at the attacker
(AFFECTER_ReflectionInscription, FloatValue 100). It does not reduce the hit you
take - you eat the full damage and the attacker eats an equal copy.
Calculation order matters. The game reads the post-defense damage number - after the attacker's attack power is checked against your resistance - and reflects it before your own barrier or guard soaks the hit. So a Barrier bubble or a successful guard that absorbs the damage to your health still reflects the full pre-soak amount. Only lowering the attacker's raw damage (your resistance) lowers what bounces back.
Worked example. A monster hits you for 200 after resistance. With the Inscription of Reflection:
- Reflected damage = 200 × 100% = 200 back to the attacker.
- You still lose 200 HP (minus any barrier / guard). The reflect is a bonus, not a shield.
- The maximum is simply 100% of whatever the hit was - there is no absolute or per-hit ceiling in the data.
Monster thorns. The Spike Turtle (Spiny Carapace) reflects melee physical damage and the Crystal Turtle (Crystal Shell) reflects magic damage. The reflect fraction sits at 50% in the melee/range reflect rows.
100, while the ReflectMelee / ReflectRange rows they point to carry
50. The two disagree, so the exact monster reflect percentage (50% vs 100%) cannot be pinned from the
tables alone - the player-facing Inscription of Reflection (100%) is unambiguous.Gold Mine inscription
The Inscription of the Gold Mine pays 10 gold
every time you land a critical hit, up to a lifetime cap of 2000 gold
(AFFECTER_GoldmineInscription, FloatValues [10, 2000,
10]). Once you hit the cap the gold stops, and the inscription permanently converts into
+10% Critical Chance for the rest of the expedition.
Worked example.
- Gold per crit = 10; cap = 2000.
- Crits needed to cap = 2000 ÷ 10 = 200 critical hits.
- After the 2000-gold maximum: no more gold, but a standing +10% Crit - which makes future crits (and other crit-payout effects) come faster.
Only critical hits count, so the inscription is strongest on a high-crit build; a low-crit unit may never reach the cap in a single run.
Capital Punishment (execute)
Capital Punishment instantly kills any non-boss enemy the moment it takes damage while at
20% of its combined HP or below
(AFFECTER_CapitalInscription, FloatValue 20). No damage roll is compared - crossing
the threshold and then being touched is a guaranteed kill.
The check is total HP: HealthTotal ÷ MaxHealthTotal ≤ 0.20, i.e. the head bar and
the body bar added together, not either one on its own. Barrier is not counted. Boss monsters are exempt.
Worked example. An enemy with 600 combined Max HP:
- Execute threshold = 20% × 600 = 120 HP.
- At 120 HP or less, the next damaging hit - even 1 damage, a Bleed tick, or a reflect - kills it outright.
- The maximum HP a target can have and still be executed is 20% of its own Max HP; bigger enemies get a proportionally larger execute window.
Missing-HP scaling effects
Three effects grow linearly as HP drains, each with its own ceiling. All three are 0 at full HP and
reach their cap at 0 HP; the value at any point is cap × (missing HP / max HP).
| Effect | Reads | Formula | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inscription of Death Throes | Your missing HP | Damage Dealt +20% × missing% | +20% |
| Devrick Pendant accessory | Your missing HP | Heal 30% × missing% of damage dealt | 30% of damage |
| Sinking Inscription | Target's missing HP | Every 3rd basic: +120% × target-missing% | +120% |
Worked example at 50% missing HP (half health):
- Death Throes: 20% × 0.5 = +10% Damage Dealt.
- Devrick Pendant on a 300-damage hit: 30% × 0.5 = 15% of 300 = 45 HP healed.
- Sinking (target at 50% missing): 120% × 0.5 = +60% on that 3rd basic attack.
Damage-over-time stack caps
Bleeding and Burning deal a flat amount per stack, per second, and each has a hard stack cap. The damage ignores defense and shields and does not scale with attack power - only the number of stacks (set by the applying skill) matters.
| Effect | Per stack / sec | Max stacks | Damage at cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bleeding (physical) | 5 | 99 | 495 / sec |
| Burning (magic) | 3 | 50 | 150 / sec |
| Poison (magic) | 1% of Max HP | Cannot stack | 1 instance only |
Worked example. Bleeding at its 99-stack cap = 99 × 5 = 495 physical damage per second, straight through armor. Poison is the odd one out: it is percent-of-Max-HP and cannot stack, so its cap is a single running instance rather than a stack ceiling.
Shell block charges
The Inscription of the Sprouting Shell grants 1 Shell for every
60 Energy you recover, up to 20 Shell
stacks (AFFECTER_SproutingShellInscription, FloatValues [60,
1, 20]). Each Shell is consumed by one incoming hit to
reduce that hit's damage to 1 - and this takes precedence over guard.
Worked example.
- Recover 600 Energy over a fight: 600 ÷ 60 = 10 Shells (below the cap).
- At the maximum of 20 Shells you are carrying 20 one-hit blocks; the underlying Shell status itself can technically hold up to 99, but this inscription stops feeding it at 20.
Temporary-buff stack caps
Several skills stack a buff that fades over time; each caps at a fixed number of stacks, so the buff has a clear maximum.
| Buff | Source | Per stack | Max stacks | At cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executioner | Execution tree | +10% Crit on kill (10s) | 3 | +30% Crit |
| Sharp Edge | Warrior tree | +6% Phys Atk on skill use (8s) | 6 | +36% |
| Art of Defence | Monster trait | +10 Phys & Magic Resist on hit | 15 | +150 each |
| Storm splash | Inscription of the Storm | 30% dmg in 2 squares on crit basic | - | Up to 5 enemies |
Executioner worked example. Three kills in quick succession stack 3 × 10% = +30% Critical Chance; a fourth kill only refreshes the timer, it does not push past the cap.
PhysicalAttackPowerPerModifier_{0}) instead indexes FloatValue[0] = 8, which
would make it +8% per stack (+48% at cap) - a likely placeholder-index bug in the data.
The true per-stack value (6% vs 8%) could not be confirmed without an in-game
test; the stack cap of 6 is certain either way.Life Steal and vampirism
Life Steal heals you for a percentage of the damage you deal. The three inscription grades add a
flat amount and are not individually capped: Low-grade +5%, Mid-grade
+7%, High-grade +10% (LifeSteal_5 / _7 / _10). The
Vampire Potion adds a large temporary +35% and the Goddess' Blessing +3% for an expedition - these simply add
to the stat.
The two capped lifesteal-style effects are the missing-HP ones covered above: the Devrick Pendant absorbs up to 30% of damage dealt (scaled by your own missing HP), which is the ceiling on that particular heal-on-hit.
Effects that are NOT capped
For contrast, a few commonly-assumed "caps" have no ceiling in the game data:
- Encirclement gives +10% hit and +5% crit per surrounding ally, counting from the first, with no stack cap - it is limited only by how many units can physically flank one enemy (up to the 8 adjacent tiles).
- Guard is a flat 50% damage reduction, and Critical Damage a flat ×1.5 multiplier - fixed values, not caps you build toward.
- Critical Chance, Dodge, Guard chance and Life Steal have no maximum defined in the tables (see the note above).