How do critical hits work?

Question

Occasionally, when I hurt mobs in Beta 1.8, there's a brief sparkle effect. Apparently, this indicates a critical hit.

How does one score a critical hit? What does a critical hit actually do?

Answer

There are two different types of critical hits: Critical melee hits, and critical arrows.

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Melee crits

These occur when the player strikes a mob while moving downwards. Jumping and being stuck in a cobweb count, but moving down a ladder or sinking in water do not. In single-player Creative mode, flying players can toggle between dealing critical and normal hits via the sneak/jump keys. In multiplayer Creative, flying players always deal critical melee hits — this might be a bug.

A critical hit has a sparkle effect, and does more damage than a regular one. The formula for the damage bonus seems to be floor(damage / 2) + 1 (50% more damage, plus half a heart).

For example, a normal hit with the Diamond Sword does 10 damage (5 hearts), while a critical hit does 16 damage (8 hearts). A critical hit with bare hands does 1 heart of damage.

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Critical arrows

The damage an arrow does ranges from ½ to 5 hearts, depending on how long it's been "charged up" by holding down the fire button. The critical hit effect on an arrow indicates that it was charged fully, and does not do any bonus damage in addition to the 5 hearts.

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