Physical Damage
Physical damage is caused by all standard attacks from units and some spells. All types of physical damage are resisted by Armor. Damage Block reduces damage from standard attacks. Cleave is unaffected by armor value but is still affected by armor type and damage block. Physical damage does not affect Ethereal units. Evasion grants the chance to dodge standard attacks, but will not dodge physical damage caused by a spell.
Attack Types
Physical damage caused by standard attacks can have different attack types depending on the type of unit, and they are affected by different armor types as listed in the table below.
| Attack Type | Armor Type | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Armor | Fortified Armor | Hero Armor | ||||
| ₠ Basic Attack ₠ | 100% | 70% | 75% | |||
| Pierce Attack | 150% | 35% | 50% | |||
| ₠ Siege Attack ₠₠ | 100% | 250% | 85% | |||
| Hero Attack | 100% | 50% | 100% | |||
- For a comprehensive list, see the Table of Armor and Damage Types
Basic Attack
Basic attacks are used by most creeps and summons. It deals less damage to buildings, siege creeps, and heroes.
Pierce Attack
Pierce attacks are used by some creeps and summons. It deals very high damage to lane creeps and neutral creeps, but very weak damage to buildings, siege creeps, and heroes.
Siege Attack
Siege attacks are used by towers and siege creeps. It deals very high damage to buildings and siege creeps, but less damage to heroes.
Hero Attack
Hero attacks are used by all heroes, and a few special summons. It deals half damage to buildings and siege creeps.
Magical Damage
Magical damage is a very common damage type for spells. Magical damage deals bonus damage to Ethereal units and is affected by Magic Resistance.
Pure Damage
Pure damage is a damage type that is not affected by Armor or Magic Resistance. Pure damage can be reduced and amplified by a few specialized game mechanics.
| Hero Abilities | |
|---|---|
| Hero | Ability |
| Abaddon | Mist Coil (Self-Damage) |
| Axe | Counter Helix |
| Bane | Brain Sap |
| Nightmare | |
| Bloodseeker | Blood Rite |
| Rupture | |
| Chen | Test of Faith |
| Doom | Doom |
| Enchantress | Impetus |
| Enigma | Midnight Pulse |
| Black Hole | |
| Invoker | Sun Strike |
| Lina | Laguna Blade (Scepter) |
| Lone Druid | Summon Spirit Bear (Backlash) |
| Medusa | Mystic Snake (Stone Gaze) |
| Nyx Assassin | Spiked Carapace |
| Omniknight | Purification |
| Outworld Devourer | Arcane Orb |
| Pudge | Meat Hook |
| Queen of Pain | Sonic Wave |
| Silencer | Glaives of Wisdom |
| Spectre | Desolate |
| Templar Assassin | Psi Blades |
| Timbersaw | Whirling Death (Tree Cut) |
| Timber Chain | |
| Chakram | |
| Chakram (Scepter) | |
| Tinker | Laser |
| Item Abilities | |
| Item | Ability |
| Iron Talon | Piercing Blow |
| Urn of Shadows | Soul Release |
Non-Damage Types
The following mechanics remove hit points but do not trigger on-hit effects. The underlying mechanic is the damage source not causing a hit. This results in it being ignored by effects which only trigger on hit. A hit is defined as damage greater than 0 from a standard damage type (either physical, magical, or pure). Because the following mechanics do not cause a hit, they are considered Non-Damage Types and are in an entirely different category from standard Damage Types.
