Damage types

Info

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 basic damage plus 1 extra damage per point of primary attribute For a list of heroes sorted by attributes, see Table of hero attributes.   Attributes   Old Abilities     Attributes are the main statistics of all heroes that independently determine most scaling statistics. These . 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. Be that as it may, some abilities can be upgraded with Aghanim`s Scepter   Item   Upgraded Abilities   Old Abilities   Lore   Changelogs     Aghanim s Scepter The scepter of a wizard with demigod-like powers. Cost4200 Bought FromCaster Passive Ultimate Upgrade Bonus +10 Strength+10 Agility+10 Intelligence+175 , while others scale with hero stats, conditions or enemy health etc.

Videos

Attack damage

Attack damage is dealt by regular physical attacks. It is influenced by a couple of factors such as the value of the attack damage Attack damage is the amount of damage a unit is dealing with an unmodified basic attack; the base values are different for every hero. The total attack damage of a unit is the sum of itself, the according attack damage types Attack damage is the amount of damage a unit is dealing with an unmodified basic attack; the base values are different for every hero. The total attack damage of a unit is the sum of , armor Armor is an attribute shared by all units. Armor is used to determine the amount of damage reduction (or amplification if an armor value is negative) a unit takes from physical damage sources. Higher armor and the armor types Armor is an attribute shared by all units. Armor is used to determine the amount of damage reduction (or amplification if an armor value is negative) a unit takes from physical damage sources. Higher armor , damage block Damage Block is a passive ability that gives the wielding unit a chance to block some physical damage from an attack. Contents 1 Mechanics 2 Stacking 3 Sources of Damage Block 4 Version history 5 and others.

Spell damage

See more: Spell damage   Spell damage   Spell damage sources     Spell damage is all damage which is not dealt by physical attacks. This includes all spells which deal magical, physical or pure damage. Even the damage

Spell damage is all damage which is not dealt by physical attacks. This includes all spells which deal magical, physical or pure damage. Even the damage dealt by attack modifiers Attack modifiers are modifiers which apply an effect to a unit s basic attacks. These effects can widely vary, from healing, to damaging or even disabling effects. Most of these modifiers have their own rules. For counts as spell damage, as long as the effect deals its damage in a separate instance from the attack damage.

For heroes, spell damage is amplified based on their intelligence Intelligence is the attribute that grants mana, mana regeneration and spell damage amplification. For each point of intelligence a hero gets: 11 Mana 0.04 Mana regeneration 0.07% Spell damage Additionally, intelligence heroes also get 1 , gaining 1% of amplification per 14 intelligence points (which is 0.07% per intelligence). Besides intelligence, spells can also be amplified with Aether Lens   Item   Interactions   Changelogs     Aether Lens Polished with the incantation of his final breath, the gift of a dying mage to his sickly son. Cost2350 (600) Bought FromCaster Passive Spell Range . The damage amplification sources stack all additively. The amplification does not only affect spell damage dealt against enemies, it also causes damage afflicted to allies or the own unit to get amplified.

Another effect making exclusive use of spell damage is Octarine Core   Item   Changelogs     Octarine CoreS At the core of spellcraft are spectrums only the very gifted can sense. Cost5900 Bought FromCaster Passive Cooldown Reduction, Spell Lifesteal Bonus +25 Intelligence+425 Health+425 Mana Disassemble? `s Spell Lifesteal Spell Lifesteal only comes into effect when using a spell that deals damage, healing for a certain percentage of the damage dealt by the spell. Contents 1 Sources of Spell Lifesteal 2 Working 3 Not .

Damage classification

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. Damage may also have the @@@#@@@HP(hp.com)###@### Removal flag, causing the damage to ignore some mechanics which would manipulate it otherwise.

Game Mechanic	Damage Type`s Interaction with the Mechanic
	Physical Attacks	Physical Abilities	Magical	Pure
Armor	reduced	reduced	normal	normal
Damage Block Damage Block is a passive ability that gives the wielding unit a chance to block some physical damage from an attack. Contents 1 Mechanics 2 Stacking 3 Sources of Damage Block 4 Version history 5	reduced	normal1	normal	normal
Magic resistance	normal	normal	reduced	normal
Ethereal	no effect	no effect	amplified	normal
Evasion	may miss	normal	normal	normal
Damage amplification There are several ways to affect the final value of a damage instance. Damage can be manipulated on both ends, from the dealing unit (outgoing damage) and the receiving unit (incoming damage). Armor and magic 2	amplified	amplified	amplified	amplified
Damage reduction There are several ways to affect the final value of a damage instance. Damage can be manipulated on both ends, from the dealing unit (outgoing damage) and the receiving unit (incoming damage). Armor and magic 2	reduced	reduced	reduced	reduced
Damage negation There are several ways to affect the final value of a damage instance. Damage can be manipulated on both ends, from the dealing unit (outgoing damage) and the receiving unit (incoming damage). Armor and magic 2	no effect	no effect	no effect	no effect
Magical damage barrier Magic resistance is an attribute of heroes, similar to armor. Instead of reducing physical damage, it reduces magical damage. All heroes, except for Meepo and Visage, possess 25% magic resistance from their armor type. This	normal	normal	no effect	normal
Invulnerability Default buff iconPlay Error soundInvulnerability is a status effect that renders the target completely immune to all status effects and damage, except for most damage flagged as HPTechnology company Removal. Most friendly effects, such as healing	no effect	no effect	no effect	no effect
Spell immunity   Spell Immunity   Ally Interactions   Enemy Interactions     Default buff iconPlay Error sound “ Play Magic shall not prevail! Click to listen— Anti-Mage ” Spell immunity (formerly known as magic immunity) is a modifier	normal	depends3	depends3	depends3

¹ The only exceptions are Moon Glaive and The Swarm, whose damage is blocked.

² These categories only count ability effects which directly manipulate damage, reducing, amplifying or completely blocking them, such as Bloodrage, Bristleback and Refraction. They do not include abilities which amplify or reduce damage by increasing/reducing magic resistance/armor of units, such as Veil of Discord   Item   Changelogs     Veil of DiscordB The headwear of corrupt magi. Cost2240 (400) Bought FromCaster Active Magic Weakness Bonus +6 Strength+6 Agility+12 Intelligence+6 Health regeneration+6 Armor+6 Attack damage Disassemble? No Alert allies? , Spell Shield, Corrosive Haze and Warcry.

³ 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 has any effect, not how much damage it inflicts. 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. All sources of spell immunity also provide 100% magic resistance to the unit (similar to Fate`s Edict), so a magical damage spell which pierces spell immunity, although technically still fully applying its damage, deals 0 damage to spell immune units, due to the 100% magic resistance it gains from spell immunity. A 0 damage instance is still registered and may proc on-damage effects. If a spell does not pierce spell immunity, then it does not attempt to damage the target in the first place, so that no 0 damage instance occurs.

Physical attack damage

Physical damage can be inflicted by regular attacks from all units (including structures), and by certain abilities. Physical damage is modified by both armor Armor is an attribute shared by all units. Armor is used to determine the amount of damage reduction (or amplification if an armor value is negative) a unit takes from physical damage sources. Higher armor and Damage Block Damage Block is a passive ability that gives the wielding unit a chance to block some physical damage from an attack. Contents 1 Mechanics 2 Stacking 3 Sources of Damage Block 4 Version history 5 , is unaffected by magic resistance Magic resistance is an attribute of heroes, similar to armor. Instead of reducing physical damage, it reduces magical damage. All heroes, except for Meepo and Visage, possess 25% magic resistance from their armor type. This , and cannot affect ethereal Ethereal, sometimes referred to as ghost form, is a type of status effect that makes a target immune to all physical damage, while also disarming them. It also reduces their magic resistance, causing them to units. 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.

Physical spell damage

Physical damage from abilities (and theoretically items) is usually unaffected by armor type, as they are not considered to be attacks. There are some exceptions to this. Be that as it may, if a physical damage ability adds its damage directly to the hero`s attack damage, then it is treated like hero attack damage and thus affected by armor types. The hero attack damage type deals 50% to structure armor type (used by all buildings and siege creeps), and 100% to all other types. They are all affected by armor value, but none by evasion Relationship Between Effective HPTechnology company % and Evasion Evasion is a passive ability that gives the unit a chance to dodge an incoming physical attack. When evaded, the attack gets completely nullified, acting as if it and Damage Block Damage Block is a passive ability that gives the wielding unit a chance to block some physical damage from an attack. Contents 1 Mechanics 2 Stacking 3 Sources of Damage Block 4 Version history 5 (except for Moon Glaive and The Swarm, which are affected by Damage Block).

The following abilities deal physical damage ( summoned units This page is about in-game units. For cosmetic pets, see Summoned Unit. Summons are a type of units that are created with spells. Players do not encounter them, unless they play as, with or against , including wards This page is about in-game units. For cosmetic pets, see Summoned Unit. Summons are a type of units that are created with spells. Players do not encounter them, unless they play as, with or against , are not listed):

¹ Damage is directly added to the unit`s attack damage.

² Damage from these abilities is affected by armor type as well.

³ Half of damage dealt is physical, the other half magical.

⁴ Damage is blocked by Damage Block Damage Block is a passive ability that gives the wielding unit a chance to block some physical damage from an attack. Contents 1 Mechanics 2 Stacking 3 Sources of Damage Block 4 Version history 5 .

Magical

Magical Damage is caused primarily by spells, although not all do magic damage. Magic damage is reduced by magic resistance Magic resistance is an attribute of heroes, similar to armor. Instead of reducing physical damage, it reduces magical damage. All heroes, except for Meepo and Visage, possess 25% magic resistance from their armor type. This , and deals higher damage against ethereal Ethereal, sometimes referred to as ghost form, is a type of status effect that makes a target immune to all physical damage, while also disarming them. It also reduces their magic resistance, causing them to 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 Magic resistance is an attribute of heroes, similar to armor. Instead of reducing physical damage, it reduces magical damage. All heroes, except for Meepo and Visage, possess 25% magic resistance from their armor type. This nor amplified by magical damage amplification like Veil of Discord   Item   Changelogs     Veil of DiscordB The headwear of corrupt magi. Cost2240 (400) Bought FromCaster Active Magic Weakness Bonus +6 Strength+6 Agility+12 Intelligence+6 Health regeneration+6 Armor+6 Attack damage Disassemble? No Alert allies? or Ancient Seal. It also fully ignores armor Armor is an attribute shared by all units. Armor is used to determine the amount of damage reduction (or amplification if an armor value is negative) a unit takes from physical damage sources. Higher armor and Damage Block Damage Block is a passive ability that gives the wielding unit a chance to block some physical damage from an attack. Contents 1 Mechanics 2 Stacking 3 Sources of Damage Block 4 Version history 5 . Be that as it may, it can be reduced or amplified by skills which reduce/amplify every damage type, like Dispersion or Soul Catcher. Pure damage affects spell immune units (since spell immunity does not block damage by itself), but that does not mean that a spell with pure damage can target spell immune units (e.g. 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:

¹ Mist Coil deals pure damage to the caster, but magical damage to the target.

² Laguna Blade and Macropyre deal pure damage only when upgraded by Aghanim`s Scepter   Item   Upgraded Abilities   Old Abilities   Lore   Changelogs     Aghanim s Scepter The scepter of a wizard with demigod-like powers. Cost4200 Bought FromCaster Passive Ultimate Upgrade Bonus +10 Strength+10 Agility+10 Intelligence+175 /by the respective level 25 talent, else they deal magical damage.

³ Mystic Snake deals pure damage to units turned into stone by Stone Gaze, and magical damage to all others.

⁴ Whirling Death deals pure damage if it cuts trees within its 300 radius on the same cast, else it deals magical damage.

Flags

Several abilities are flagged certainly, so that they behave differently in certain situations. There are 2 different flags: The HP Removal flag and the No-reflection flag. All spells can be flagged, regardless of what damage type they use.

HP Removal flag

Spells flagged as HP Removal fully ignore any form of damage manipulation (with a few exceptions listed below), means they cannot be amplified, reduced or blocked except by magic resistance in case of magical damage and armor in case of physical damage. They also ignore and do not trigger any on-damage effects, making them unable to cancel consumables for example. Almost every spell flagged as HP Removal deals pure damage. The HP Removal flag also causes damage to ignore invulnerability, be that as it may, this is not always the case.

This flag is usually used on instantly killing effects (this includes expiring summoned as well as with Enchant dominated units, and summons dying due to re-summoning), on spells which damage the caster (as health cost) or as a damage delaying effect.

The following abilities instantly kill units (usually by dealing their current or max health as damage). Their damage type is pure, flagged as HP Removal:

Time and Cost

All abilities have a cast time and cost, along with a cooldown.

Cast Time

Abilities use either the hero`s cast time or its own unique cast time. The animation can be cancelled early to stop the ability from being used, and it will not spend Mana or go on cooldown if cancelled.

Instant Cast Time

Ignores cast time and activates instantly.

Channel Time

Will only provide its effect as long as the user does not get interrupted or cancel it early. Some forms of movement do not interrupt channeling.

Cooldown

The wait period after casting. The spell may not be allowed to be cast again until the cooldown time is over.

Mana Cost

Requires Mana Points to be spent from your hero`s mana pool. It cannot be cast without enough mana.

HP Cost

HP cost was previously known as HP removal. It directly subtracts the Hit Points of the user and does not count as damage or an attack. This allows effects that are stopped by on-hit triggers such as Bottle to continue working. HP cost is not considered a damage type, is always non-lethal, and cannot lower the user`s HP below 1. The damage cannot be reduced or amplified by any ability. Below is a list of all spells with HP costs.

Charges

Main Article: Charge Abilities

Charge based abilities use an ammo system rather than a basic single-use cooldown ability. Each charge recovers on a shared cooldown, allowing only 1 charge can be recharged at a time. Another charge does not recharge until the one before it has finished. Charge an be stored to allow multiple uses in quick succession. The maximum number of charges depends on the ability.

Targeting Types

Some spells require a target to be cast, while other spells are released instantly.

No Target

Skills of this type do not require a target to be cast, and will activate when pressed. Skills of this type will start their effects as soon as their cast time or channel time has completed.

Unit Target

Skills of this type require a target to be selected to provide their effects. The cursor will change to allow target selection. If the spell has an area of effect, a blue visual indicator appears. The indicator has a central targeting visual to imply that it must be cast on a single target regardless of the area effect it provides after.

Control Modifiers

A few Consumables can be changed to Unit Targeting when the Control key is held. List is below:

Point Target

Skills of this type require an area to be selected and may affect the area around the casting point. If the spell has an area of effect, a blue visual indicator appears to indicate the area that will be affected.

Ability Types

Active

Active abilities must be used in order to apply their effects. Active abilities can consume mana, cooldowns, and usually have some method of targeting related to them. Most abilities are active abilities. Active abilities are indicated by a bevel around the icon, which makes them look like a pressable button. They can be activated by pressing their associated hotkey.

Channel

Main Article: Channel

Channeled abilities require the user to stay still while it is active. A bar showing the duration of the channel time will appear when used. The effect ends if interrupted or cancelled. See the main article for a list of all channeled abilities and actives which can be used while channeling.

Passive

Main Article: Passive

Passive abilities will apply their effects as long as they are learned. They can be applied to the hero itself, or as an aura belonging to the hero. Passive abilities do not consume mana and sometimes have cooldowns.

Toggle

Main Article: Toggle

Toggled abilities can change states between on and off. They are similar to passives but must be toggled to enable or disable their effects. Toggled abilities do not have cooldowns and sometimes consume mana.

Auto-Cast

Main Article: Auto-Cast

Auto-Cast abilities are abilities that can be toggled on to automatically cast, or turned off to manually cast. An auto-castable ability will have an empty rim around it, which glows orange when toggled on. When toggled on the ability will apply when it can. For example, Drow Ranger`s Frost Arrows will be used whenever she attacks a valid target. When attacking an invalid target such as a Tower, the Frost Arrows will not be used or consume mana, as if they are toggled off. These abilities can also be manually cast for greater precision, in which case they fire off a single time. If the ability is a Unique Attack Modifier it will be treated as a spell when manually cast, as opposed to a physical attack. This is known as Orb Walking. See here for a list of all auto-cast abilities.

Innate

An innate ability is a special ability that is not skilled and is already learned by the hero at the start of the game. This persists through all game modes, including Ability Draft. While their other skills may be shuffled around, a hero with an innate ability will still have their innate ability tied to them alone. All innate abilities are listed below:

Ultimates

Ultimate abilities are high impact abilities that may only be leveled 3 times instead of 4. They may be leveled at 6, 12, and 18 at the earliest. Some ultimates are affected by Aghanim`s Scepter, a powerful item that passively upgrades them. If dropped or sold, the upgrade is lost until the hero is in possession of it again. Upgrades with irreversible effects will not allow Aghanim`s Scepter to be removed from that hero`s inventory. The upgrade Aghanim`s Scepter provides is different for every hero. It can be a new ability entirely, an upgrade to the hero`s basic abilities, or simply an increase in power to the hero`s ultimate.