The photoacoustic and photothermal beam deflection techniques and microscopic inspection have been used to measure the laser damage threshold of mirrors with a stepwise reflectivity profile designed for KrF excimer lasers (248 nm). Laser damage resistance studies on the low and high reflectivity regions of the mirrors, as well as on the border between the high and low reflectivity regions, have been performed with a KrF laser delivering pulses of 25 ns duration. It is shown that the presence of a sharp step in the coating thickness, and consequently, in the mirror reflectivity profile does not significantly affect the damage threshold. Indeed, the damage threshold fluence of 1.8 J/cm(2) in the high reflectivity area reduces to 1.1 J/cm(2) in the low reflectivity region as it would for two independent high and low reflectivity coatings. The damage threshold in the border region is 1.4 J/cm(2).