How Bear Hunt damage works — a full guide
What kind of event is Bear Hunt?
Bear Hunt is an alliance event where you start the "bear trap" and everyone repeatedly rallies for 30 minutes, competing on total damage dealt to the bear. The bear doesn't counterattack, so no troops die — it's purely about dealing as much damage as possible. Rewards tie to both your personal damage and the alliance total, so raising per-rally efficiency directly raises rewards.
The official YouTube channel also has a Bear Hunt guide video — a good way to see the event flow first. This article then goes deeper into the damage math the video doesn't cover.
The big picture of what affects damage
Bear damage is thought to be the product of roughly five layers:
- Troop quantity & quality — troop count, troop Tier, army/per-type attack and lethality bonuses
- Rally leader's heroes — 3 heroes' expedition skills (up to 9), the heroes' own expedition stats, and exclusive-gear rally bonuses
- Joiner hero skills — each joiner's left hero first expedition skill, only the top 4 by skill level apply
- Event-specific bonus — trap upgrade level (anti-bear attack bonus)
- Point bonus — expert Cyrille's "Hunter's Heart" talent (up to +30% to your earned points)
How damage grows (what the community knows)
The exact Bear Hunt formula has never been published. Here are three widely known ideas from player testing that explain real damage trends well.
Attack and lethality work like a multiplication
Attack and lethality are believed to combine multiplicatively rather than additively, so a high value on only one side does not lift the total. That is why players say to raise both in balance.
More troops help, but less than proportionally
Adding troops raises damage, but by less than the share you added — something players observe all the time. Cramming everything into one troop type slows the gain, so leading with high-damage marksmen while mixing in lancers tends to give a higher total. Every ratio debate comes back to this.
On-screen numbers alone do not tell you strength
The troop attack and lethality shown in the training camp are reported not to be the values used internally. A small displayed number does not mean a weak troop, so compare troop types and heroes by actual damage.
They are not a reproduction of the official mechanics, and our simulator is an estimate too. For the most accurate result, enter your own measured points to calibrate it to your account.
Understanding the joiner "4 slots" correctly
This is the most misunderstood part. On the joiner side, only the "first expedition skill" of the hero placed at the far left (slot 1) becomes a buff candidate for the whole rally. Hero level and stars don't matter; only skill level is read. There are 4 slots, first-come by default, but a later joiner replaces a slot only if their skill level is higher than one already taken.
Another key point is how buffs combine. Same-type skills add; different types multiply. Four "+25% all-army DMG" sum to +100% (2.0x), but splitting into two "+25% DMG" and two "+25% ATK" gives 1.5x1.5 = 2.25x — about 12% more at the same skill level. Spreading DMG / ATK / Lethality / enemy-DMG-taken / proc types is the theoretical optimum.
How should you decide the troop ratio?
Since the bear doesn't counterattack, infantry (the tank role) seems unnecessary. But tests show "100% marksman" deals about 20% less than a balanced build, and mixing in a little infantry/lancer does better. The standard is Inf 10 : Lan 30 : Mks 60, and if you're short on marksman, leaning toward lancer is safe. Our simulator builds this measured tendency (the zero-troop penalty) into its model.
| Ratio (Inf:Lan:Mks) | Notes |
|---|---|
| 10:30:60 | The well-regarded standard. Default pick. |
| 10:10:80 | Marksman-focused; for heavy marksman buffs |
| 20:40:40 | Alternative when short on marksman |
| 0:0:100 | Not recommended; loses a lot to the penalty |
Don't forget Cyrille, trap upgrades and exclusive gear
Expert Cyrille's "Hunter's Heart" talent increases the damage points you earn in Bear Hunt (+2% at Lv1, +30% at Lv11). It boosts points, not combat power, so its value is very high — a priority if you care about Bear Hunt. The trap upgrade level applies to everyone as an anti-bear attack bonus (up to +25%). Also, heroes like Jeronimo and Mia have exclusive gear with bonuses such as "rally troop attack +5–15%", which is added on top when used as the leader.
So what should you upgrade first?
Priority depends on your account, so there's no single answer. That's exactly why our Bear Hunt damage simulator computes things like "ATK +10%", "Lethality +10%", "Tier up", "Cyrille +1 Lv" and "swap hero" from your current setup, and ranks how much each single move raises damage. Enter your stats and try it.
Third-party verification: what moves damage, and by how much
Separately from our model, Japanese strategy site Altema published an in-game test changing one factor at a time from the same baseline (the official WOS Japan X account featured the article). The per-factor gains are concrete and useful for prioritizing — open the panel below for the numbers.
View the data: measured damage gain per factor (Altema)
Baseline: Gen-4 SR heroes (Lv80, 0 stars) dealing 698,518 damage. Gains from changing one factor at a time:
| Factor changed | Measured gain |
|---|---|
| Heroes SR → SSR | ~+210% |
| Damage-buff skills equipped | ~+33% |
| Legendary gear upgraded | ~+16% |
| Hero levels raised | ~+15% |
| Troop buff items used | ~+10% |
| Chief gear upgraded | ~+3.7% |
| Pet skill active | ~+1% |
Combined, the upgrades reached ~+422% (8,716,271 damage). The pattern — hero quality (rarity & skills) largest, gear/levels mid-size, boosts on top — matches our model and this article's priority order well.
Source: Altema, "Bear Hunt damage verification" (JP). Values are as of the test and may shift with generations and updates.
FAQ
- Q. Do joiner hero level or gear affect damage?
- A. No. On the joiner side only the left hero's first expedition skill (its skill level) applies, and joiners' heroes themselves don't attack the bear (confirmed by testing). Troops do contribute, so sending high-Tier troops at full capacity matters.
- Q. Are the simulator's numbers accurate?
- A. The internal formula is undisclosed, so they are "constraint-based estimates". Using the calibration feature (enter one measured rally damage under the same conditions) absorbs your account's hidden factors (gear/pets/experts) and greatly improves accuracy.
- Q. Can a skill below level 5 still take a buff slot?
- A. Yes, but a later joiner with a higher skill level will take the slot. To lock slots in your alliance, send four Lv5 members in first.