In JJS , “explosion” damage usually means damage from an attack or hitbox that is tagged as an explosion, rather than just any attack with a blast- looking effect. The most reliable way to tell is whether the move is categorized by the game or community as explosion/splash-style damage, not by the visual effect alone.

What it usually includes

  • Explosive projectiles or attacks that detonate on impact.
  • AoE damage centered on a point.
  • Attacks that the game treats as splash/explosion rather than melee or projectile-only damage.

What it usually does not include

  • Pure melee hits, even if they launch the target.
  • Regular projectile damage unless it detonates.
  • Visual explosion effects that are only cosmetic and do not use the explosion damage tag.

Practical rule

If a move in the skill builder or damage breakdown is labeled as explosion , assume it counts as explosion damage; if it is labeled as melee or projectile, it usually does not. A community discussion also suggests players commonly treat JJS damage as split into categories like melee, projectile, explosion, and domain, which is why the label matters more than the animation.

Quick note

The public results I found are mostly community references, so there is some room for game-version differences or builder-specific behavior. If you mean a specific JJS move, I can help classify that exact attack from its name.