Based on the influence rule of the structural natural vibration period and the damping ratio on the seismic excitation of the structure, the calculation formula of displacement reduction rate and seismic shear reduction rate of SDOF system of the combined damping structure with BRB and VD are derived and the damping performance curve of combined energy dissipation structure under target displacement reduction rate and target shear reduction rate is established. In addition, the performance-based combined energy dissipation design method is proposed and the validity is verified with a practical engineering example. The simplified application mode of the combined energy dissipation design method in multi-degree-of-freedom system is proposed. The results show that there exists unique performance point under the case that the target displacement reduction rate and target shear reduction rate are determined, and the combined damping structure could achieve excellent displacement response and seismic shear reduction control effects if designed reasonably. The calculation example structure designed according to the design method achieves the expected damping target. The simplified application method based on the first-order mode can be used for the combined seismic design of multi degree of freedom system with uniformly distributed mass and stiffness along the height.