If you're tired of players guessing how much health an enemy has left, setting up a roblox damage indicator script is one of the easiest ways to polish your game and give it that professional feel. It's one of those small details that makes a massive difference in "game feel." Think about it—every major RPG or FPS has some kind of visual feedback when you land a hit. Without it, combat feels a bit hollow, like you're just clicking on bricks until they disappear.
Setting this up isn't as intimidating as it sounds. You don't need to be a Luau master to get a basic version running, though you can definitely go down a rabbit hole of customization once you get the hang of it. Let's break down how to get these floating numbers working, why they matter, and how to make them look actually good instead of just functional.
Why visual feedback changes everything
Let's be real for a second: combat in Roblox can sometimes feel a bit floaty. If a player swings a sword and the enemy's health bar just ticks down silently, it's fine, but it's not satisfying. When you add a damage indicator, you're giving the player immediate, tangible proof of their progress.
It also helps with balancing. If a player sees they're only doing 2 damage to a boss with 10,000 HP, they immediately know they need better gear. Without that script, they're just going to think your game is broken or that their weapon isn't working. It bridges the communication gap between your game's code and the person playing it.
The core components you'll need
Before you start typing away, you need to understand the three main pieces of the puzzle. You've got the BillboardGui, the RemoteEvent, and the Script itself.
The BillboardGui is the actual container that holds the text. Unlike a ScreenGui, which stays stuck to your monitor, a BillboardGui exists in the 3D world but always turns to face the player's camera. This is exactly what you want for damage numbers.
The RemoteEvent is the messenger. Usually, damage is handled on the server (to prevent cheating), but the UI needs to show up on the client's screen. You'll use a RemoteEvent to tell the player's computer: "Hey, show a '15' right over this zombie's head."
Setting up the BillboardGui
First things first, you need a template. I usually create a BillboardGui in the ReplicatedStorage so every script can access it easily. Inside that Gui, toss in a TextLabel.
Here's a tip: don't leave the TextLabel looking like the default white box. Set the BackgroundTransparency to 1. Pick a bold, punchy font like Luckiest Guy or GothamSSm. If you want it to be readable against any background, give it a nice TextStrokeTransparency of 0. This puts a black outline around your numbers, making them pop even if the player is standing in a snow biome or a bright desert.
Writing the logic
Now, for the actual roblox damage indicator script logic. You'll want a script in ServerScriptService that listens for whenever a humanoid takes damage. The most common way to do this is by using the Humanoid.HealthChanged event, but that can be a bit finicky because it fires for healing too.
A better way is to have your weapon script trigger the indicator. When your sword or gun hit-detection logic determines that damage should be dealt, that's the perfect moment to fire your RemoteEvent.
On the client side (in a LocalScript), you'll listen for that event. When it receives the signal, it clones the BillboardGui template from ReplicatedStorage, sets the text to the damage amount, and parents it to the enemy's head or torso.
Making it move with TweenService
If the numbers just appear and then vanish, it looks a bit robotic. You want them to "pop." This is where TweenService becomes your best friend. Instead of just setting the position, you want to animate it.
I usually make my damage numbers float upward and slightly to the side, while slowly fading out. It creates a "fountain" effect if the player is attacking rapidly. To do this, you define a goal for the Tween—maybe move the Gui up 3 studs and set the TextTransparency to 1 over the course of half a second.
It's a simple addition, but it makes the game feel much more "juicy." Players love juice. It's that extra layer of animation that makes actions feel rewarding.
Handling the "lag" problem
If you're making a game with tons of enemies—like a simulator or a wave-based survival game—you have to be careful. Spawning fifty BillboardGuis every second can start to tank the frame rate for players on low-end phones.
To keep things smooth, make sure you're using the Debris service. Instead of just waiting for the animation to finish and then calling :Destroy(), you can use Debris:AddItem(item, lifetime). This is a much cleaner way to handle object cleanup because it doesn't pause your script while waiting.
Also, try to keep the logic on the client side as much as possible. The server shouldn't be worried about how the numbers look or how they fade; the server only needs to tell the clients that damage happened. Let the player's own computer do the heavy lifting of animating the UI.
Customizing for "Critical Hits"
Once you have the basic roblox damage indicator script running, you can start getting fancy. One of the coolest things to add is color-coding.
- White: Standard damage.
- Yellow/Orange: Critical hits.
- Green: Healing (if you want to show that too).
- Red: Damage taken by the player.
You can simply pass an extra argument through your RemoteEvent that tells the client what "type" of damage it is. If the isCrit variable is true, you can make the text bigger, shake it a little bit using a random offset, and change the color to a bright yellow. It's a huge hit of dopamine for the player when they see that big, shaky "CRIT" number pop up.
Common pitfalls to avoid
I've seen a lot of people struggle with the positioning. If you parent the BillboardGui to the enemy's head, sometimes the numbers get stuck inside the geometry if the enemy is tall. Use the ExtentsOffset property in the BillboardGui to move the display up a few studs so it always clears the character's model.
Another thing is "clipping." By default, BillboardGuis might disappear if they go behind a wall. You can toggle the AlwaysOnTop property if you want players to see exactly how much damage they're doing even if the enemy ducks behind cover for a split second.
Wrapping things up
At the end of the day, a roblox damage indicator script isn't just about showing numbers; it's about communication. It's the game telling the player, "Yes, that hit counted, and here is exactly how much progress you made."
It might take an hour or two to get the tweening and the colors exactly how you want them, but it's time well spent. Your players will definitely notice the difference. It takes a game from feeling like a "starter project" to feeling like a real, polished experience. So, get into Studio, mess around with some BillboardGuis, and start making those hits feel impactful!