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'''Critical hits''' are special types of hits dealt to monsters [[monster]]s (and other players in [[PVP]]). Critical hits can happen from any type of damage (weapon or spell), they deal bonus damage, and may trigger other special effects as well. Monsters that die from critical hits usually explode in an especially gruesome [[death animation]], adding visual fun to the killing bonuses.

Exactly how critical hits work and how much damage they deal isn't yet entirely understood. This is partially due to the fact that the game remains under development and that the features are in flux, but it's also due to critical hits doing a lot of different things in D3[[Diablo 3]]. In previous games in the series critical hits were simple; they doubled physical damage. In D3, the biggest change is that critical hits work on all types of damage. Not just physical, or [[melee]], but various types of spell damage as well, and apparently they can trigger from elemental damage on weapons as well.

The calculation of the bonuses is going to be interesting as well. In D1 and D2, critical hits were a huge bonus, since doubled the total physical damage dealt; a value that was often in the 1000s for a powerful combat character. In D3 critical hits will still (apparently) be that powerful for the [[Barbarian]], but critical hits on spell damage would seem to be far less potent, since spells generally deal their damage over time, rather than in huge chunks per hit. Occasionally adding 10% to the critical hit damage of a 1-6 damage spell isn't very impressive, even if the spell is hitting 20x a second. A wizard would seem better off boosting the % chance of scoring a critical hit.

Monsters [[Monster]]s that die to a critical hit get a special "critical death" animation, which is extra gory. A few examples can be seen in screenshots on this page. The monsters literally explode, leaving chunks of themselves scattered across the ground. These animations are customized for whatever type of damage killed them; the chunks have flames licking across them from fire damage, sparks and arcs from lightning, etc. Physical damage critical deaths tend to leave huge slicks of blood, and give a battlefield a lovely post-massacre patina.

These were demonstrated during a panel at Blizzcon [[BlizzCon 2008]], an excerpt from which [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41498.html can be seen here]. 

Critical hits are a major part of the game in [[Diablo III]], dealing double damage with every type of damage, inflicting bonus effects, boosting and being boosted by a wide variety of skills, and triggering special (extra gruesome) death animations.

The [[Barbarian ]] has a number of skills that increase the % damage of his critical hit, and a few interesting skills that boost other properties (such as fury generation rate and defense) when he scores critical hits. There aren't any known skills (yet) that increase his chances to score critical hits, though.

* [[Berserker_Skill_Tree#Savage|Savage]]: This passive skill "Increases [[Fury ]] generation 30% for 8 seconds after scoring a critical hit."

No critical hit bonuses from [[Witch Doctor]] skills are yet known. This isn't a sign that there aren't any, though. It's just due to the WD only having 11 skills on display at Blizzcon[[BlizzCon 2008]], while the [[Wizard ]] and [[Barbarian ]] had more than 50 each.

* [[Storm_Skill_Tree#Thunderstruck|Thunderstruck]]: Increases the critical hit chance of all lightning spells by X%. The bonuses listed on this passive skill as of Blizzcon BlizzCon (October 2008) started at 5% and increased 5% per skill rank. It's not known what the base bonus to critical hit is, for the [[Wizard]]. This skill might increase it from 0%, or Wizards might have an inherent bonus based on their [[Clvl]], or attributes, or there might be bonuses to be had from equipment.

* [[Storm_Skill_Tree#Lethal_Energy|Lethal Energy]]: Increases the chance to score critical hits with [[melee ]] and [[spell ]] attacks. Grants a 5% bonus at rank 1. This seems like a very powerful skill, if it indeed works for all spells, including those in other trees. It's a fairly high level skill though, and would require a substantial investment into the Storm skill tree to enable it, but it might still be worth it.

Critical hits in [[Diablo II ]] were a major factor in the game, but only worked with physical damage. Critical strike was called "[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Special_Modifiers#Deadly_Strike Deadly Strike]" on weapons, where it occurred on quite a few unique items, set items, and {{iw|Runewords runewords}}. (But not magical or rare.) A number of character skills boosted critical strike as well. All of the [[Barbarian]]'s [http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Barbarian_Combat_Masteries Barbarian's weapon masteries] conveyed critical strike bonuses, as did the [[Amazon]]'s [http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Amazon_Passive_and_Magic_Skills#Critical_Strike Amazon's Critical Strike], and the [[Assassin]]'s [http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Assassin_Shadow_Disciplines#Claw_Mastery Claw Mastery].

In [[Diablo I ]] critical hits are a hidden bonus for the [http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Warrior#Stats_and_Attributes Warrior] and [http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Barbarian_(Diablo_I)#Stats_and_Attributes Barbarian] characters. They gain a 1% chance to deal double damage with each Clvl they gain. At level 20 they deal double damage 20% of the time, at level 30 they do it 30% of the time, etc.