Damage types

Damage is any means by which a unit's current health can be reduced. Heroes, creeps, ancients, Roshan and fountains are all capable of dealing damage.

Damage Sources

Damage can be dealt by attacks, abilities and items. Attack damage is the damage dealt per attack, and is displayed on the sword icon in the HUD. Heroes start off with a base damage (not listed on heroes pages, see official site) plus 1 extra damage per point of primary attribute. As heroes level up, they gain primary attributes and therefore gain damage. Items that grant increased "Damage" increase attack damage, and do not affect abilities and items. Abilities and items can also deal damage. These are generally fixed. However, some abilities can be upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, while others scale with hero stats, conditions or enemy hp etc.

Damage Types

All forms of damage in Dota 2 are classified by damage types. There are 3 primary damage types: Physical, Magical, and Pure. Physical Damage can be reduced by Physical Armor or Damage Block, Magical Damage can be reduced by Magical Damage Resistance, while Pure Damage cannot be reduced by either armor or magical damage resistance. All 3 primary damage types have some interaction with other damage-related game mechanics as noted in the table below. There are two additional damage types that can reduce a unit's current health: HP Removal and Negative Regeneration; however, these two types are unaffected by almost all other damage-related game mechanics.

Game Mechanic	Damage Type's Interaction with the Mechanic
	Physical, Attacks	Physical, Abilities	Magical	Pure	Other
Armor	reduced	reduced	normal	normal	normal
Damage Block	reduced	reduced	normal	normal	normal
Magical Damage Resistance	normal	normal	reduced	normal	normal
Ethereal	no effect	no effect	amplified	normal	normal
Evasion	may miss	normal	normal	normal	normal
Blind	may miss	normal	normal	normal	normal
Pseudo-Evasion	may miss	may miss	may miss	may miss	normal
Damage Amplification	depends*	depends*	depends*	depends*	normal
Damage Reduction	depends*	depends*	depends*	depends*	normal
Anti-Magic Shell	normal	normal	absorbed	normal	normal
Invulnerability	no effect	no effect	no effect	no effect	no effect
Spell Immunity	normal	depends**	depends**	depends**	normal

Template:* The source of amplification or reduction must affect the correct damage type. For example, Veil of Discord only amplifies magical damage; it has no effect on physical or pure damage. Pure damage can be amplified or reduced by items or abilities that affect all damage types, such as Orchid Malevolence, or (with upgraded aura from Aghanim's Scepter).

Template:*Template:* By itself, Spell Immunity does not interact with any damage type. All spells are rated as to whether or not they can pierce spell immunity independent of their damage type. Thus, spell immunity only governs if a spell will have any effect, not how much damage it will inflict. To receive no effects from a spell, the spell must not pierce Spell Immunity and the target would require both Spell Immunity and 100% damage reduction of the damage type the spell inflicts.

Physical

Physical Damage can be inflicted by regular attacks from all units (including structures), and by certain abilities. Physical damage is modified by both armor and damage block, is unaffected by magic resistance, and cannot affect ethereal units.

Physical damage is further divided into attack type categories that modify damage based on the target's armor type. All physical damage is affected by both armor and armor type. For example, piercing damage deals 150% damage to unarmored units (such as lane creeps) but only 50% damage to heroes. Such resistances are applied in addition to resistance from armor value. A full list of the attack types of creeps and summoned units can be found here. (Table of attack and armor types)

The only exception to this is damage from cleave, which is reduced by armor type and damage block but not by armor value. Practically speaking this means armor is worthless against cleave damage. Splash (from ranged attacks) is reduced as normal.

The abilities Guardian Angel and Cold Embrace make their targets completely immune to physical damage, although they can still be targeted by attacks and abilities.

Effective Physical Damage by Attack Type and Armor Type

Attack Type	Armor Type
	Unarmored	Light	Medium	Heavy	Fortified	Hero
Normal	100%	100%	150%	125%	70%	75%
Pierce	150%	200%	75%	75%	35%	50%
Siege	100%	100%	50%	125%	150%	75%
Chaos	100%	100%	100%	100%	40%	100%
Hero	100%	100%	100%	100%	50%	100%

Balance Changelog

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Physical Damage Abilities

Certain spells deal physical damage instead of magical. Physical damage from abilities are treated as Hero damage, and deals full damage to all units except for structures and siege creeps. Damage from abilities can be reduced by armor value and damage block, but will not trigger abilities that check for attacks such as Counter Helix. Such abilities cannot be evaded, except with Pseudo-Evasion. The following abilities deal physical damage:

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Template:* Damage cannot be reduced by damage block.

Template:*Template:* Half of damage dealt is physical.

Magical

Magical Damage is caused primarily by spells, although not all do magic damage. Magic damage is reduced by magic resistance, and deals higher damage against ethereal units. The majority of abilities in Dota 2 deal magical damage.

All abilities not explicitly listed under another damage type section inflict magical damage.

Pure

Pure Damage is a damage type that is not reduced by magic resistance or amplified by magical damage amplification like Veil of Discord or Ancient Seal. It also fully ignores armor and damage block. However, it can be reduced or amplified by skills which reduce/amplify every damage type, like Dispersion or . Pure damage affects spell immune units (since spell immunity doesn't block damage by itself), but that does not mean that a spell with pure damage can target spell immune units (eg Brain Sap deals pure damage, but cannot be cast on spell immune units). It does not affect invulnerable units. The following abilities deal pure damage:

Template:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:SkillTableLiteTemplate:Img table endTemplate:* Mist Coil deals pure damage to the caster, but magical damage to the target. Template:*Template:* Laguna Blade deals pure only when upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter, else it deals magical damage. Template:*Template:*Template:* When the Spirit Bear dies, Lone Druid takes 10% of his max hp as pure damage. Template:*Template:*Template:*Template:* Mystic Snake deals pure damage to units turned into stone by Stone Gaze, and magical damage to all others. Template:*Template:*Template:*Template:*Template:* Whirling Death deals pure damage if it cuts trees within its 300 radius on the same cast, else it deals magical damage.

Other Health Affecting Sources

HP Removal and Negative Regeneration are two other ways to lose health. However, they are not attributed as damages types and thus not interrupt Healing Salve or Blink Dagger. They also do not trigger on-damage effects such as Spiked Carapace.

HP Removal

Most sources of HP removal are not lethal, the only exception being False Promise. The following abilities use HP Removal:

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Template:* Culling Blade kills the target by dealing the threshold number in form of HP removal to the target. Unlike other spells which use HP removal, Culling Blade's killing blow is reflected by Blade Mail
Template:*Template:* The delayed damage is dealt in form of HP removal
Template:*Template:*Template:* Soul Rip takes health in form of HP removal from all units counted towards the damage/heal.

The following abilities cause HP Removal to the caster:

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Template:* Unholy Strength and Pocket Deny do not cause the user to lose health while invulnerable.

Negative Regeneration

Negative regeneration works identical to HP removal. The only differences are that it can kill a unit, which will give kill credit (experience and gold) to the unit who afflicted the target with the negative regeneration, that it is treated as damage by Borrowed Time, and is delayed by False Promise. Currently, only Heartstopper Aura uses this damage type.

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Deprecated Damage Types

The following damage types were removed in patch 6.82 to simplify the game mechanics.

Composite

Composite damage (also known as mixed damage) was a physical damage type that was reduced by both armor and magic resistance. It went through magic immunity and did not affect ethereal units. This damage type was used by Acid Spray, Wild Axes, Diabolic Edict, Summon Spirit Bear (the backlash damage), Land Mines and Suicide Squad, Attack!. All of them now deal physical damage, except for the backlash damage from the Spirit Bear, which is now pure damage.

Universal

Universal damage was a magical damage type that went through magic immunity, was reduced by magic resistance, and dealt higher damage to ethereal units. This damage type was previously used by: , Doom, Echo Slam (initial damage only), Midnight Pulse, Laguna Blade (when upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter), March of the Machines, and .

All of these abilities were reworked. These abilities: Doom, Midnight Pulse, , and Laguna Blade (when upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter) all now inflict pure damage that pierces Spell Immunity. And these abilities: , Echo Slam (initial damage), and March of the Machines all now inflict Magical Damage that does not pierce Spell Immunity.

External Links

• http://www.playdota.com/mechanics/damagearmor

Mechanics Main Heroes Unit Type (Heroes / Clones / Illusions) Complexity Attributes Table Buyback Level Roles Gold Experience Animations Stats Armor Attributes ( Strength / Agility / Intelligence) / Universal) Health & Mana (HP Regen & MP Regen) Magic Resistance Movement Speed / Slow Resistance Status Resistance Turn Rate Misc Creep Controling Death / Denying Vision Unit Size (Collision Size / Bound Radius / Selection Box / Model Size) Gib Type / Shades Adjectives Buildings Towers / Barracks / Ancient / Fountain Effigy Neutral Buildings (Outposts / Watchers / Twin Gates / Lotus Pools) Abilities Type Active / Passive / Autocast Aura Accuracy / Evasion Channeling Damage Barrier Damage Block Damage Manipulation Damage Over Time Talents Teleport Targeting Area No Target Point Unit Vector Combinations Casting Cast Range / Motion Buffer Cast Animation (Cast Point + Backswing) Cooldown Reduction (Flat / Current Flat / Percentage) Reset Charge-based Runes Bounty Rune Water Rune Wisdom Rune Power Runes ( Amplify Damage Rune / Arcane Rune / Haste Rune / Illusion Rune / Invisibility Rune / Regeneration Rune / Shield Rune) Misc Random Distribution Transformation Attack Damage Attack Damage Instant Attack Heroes Attack Classes Attack Range (Acquisition Range) Attack Speed (BAT / Interval) Damage Types (Physical / Magical / Pure / Instant Kill) Flags (HP Removal / No-reflection / No-Spell-Lifesteal / No-Spell-Amplification) Projectile Speed Spell Damage (Outgoing / Incoming) Modifiers Bash Cleave / Splash Corruption Critical Strike Lifesteal / Spell Lifesteal Mana Break On-hit Effects Misc Damage Instance Animation / Orb Walking Status Effects Disables Cyclone Disabling Orders Forced Movement (Knockback) / Upward Movement Fear (Hypnosis) Hide Hex Root Leash Stun Sleep Taunt Movement Move Speed Slow Flying Movement Phased / Tree Walk / Unobstructed Movement Other Attack Immune / Non-targetable Attack Speed Slow Debuff Immunity Spell Immunity Invulnerability Invisibility Blind Break Disarm Ethereal Silence Mute Trap Dispels Basic Strong Death Items Mechanics Courier Sharing / Selling Disassemble Recipes Neutral Item Drop