So take this example of this arena battle I just lost.

My ego is 38.3k, his is 36.3k. I'm level 77, he is 82. First number are stats (HC, Charm, Know-How), then the damage in parentheses.

Me:

1,723 (1,318 - 2,629)
1,659 (1,286 - 2,597)
4,778 (6,488 - 7,800)

Him:

4,687 (6,315 - 7,384)
2,255 (1,443 - 2,512)
2,261 (1,682 - 2,751)

Pretty even matchup, right? Sure, he does a bit more damage in the nonprimary stats, while I do a bit more on the primary one (my Know-How vs his Hardcore). So it should be a close match, decided by who can crit more, right?

I start the battle and I deal 4,800 damage (non-crit) while he deals 6,200 (non-crit). Like, what? We have about the same stats but he deals 30% more damage? How does that work? Makes no sense.