Understanding Damage Types

Abbadon's "Mist Coil" (only piercies allied Spell Immunity, including Abbadon's)



Bloodseeker's "Rupture"



Doom's "Doom"



Enigma's "Midnight Pulse"



Invoker's "Sun Strike"



Lina's "Laguna Blade" with Aghanim's Scepter



Pudge's "Meat Hook"



Queen of Pain's "Sonic Wave"



Templar Assassin's "Psi Blades"



Vengeful Spirit's "Wave of Terror"



Warlock's Golem's "Flaming Fists"



Winter Wyvern's "Arctic Burn"

If you are only going to read and understand one section, ensure that it is this one. If you do not understand the different types of damage that can be dealt in DotA2 you will not understand many things in this guide (or even why many things are mentioned in this guide). This section describes how the different types of damage in DotA2 normally operate, but you'll come to understand that there really is no true "normal" in DotA2. Memorize these rules and assume they apply to everything... until you read otherwise in a specific Hero's section. The tables at the end of this section include every hero spell or ability that does not deal magical damage as a reference.damage is caused by all attacks from all units and by some spells and passive abilities. An “attack” is triggered when a hero or unit is ordered to attack another hero or unit with a right-click (attack order) or the “A” key (attack move order). Attacks can miss because of evasion or miss chance (including misses caused by terrain). Physical damage is reduced by both Armor and Damage Block. Armor points are not considered when calculating cleave damage (damage caused by cleaves such as Sven’s “Great Cleave”, Kunkka’s “Tidebringer”, and items like “Battle Fury”). Damage Block affects cleave damage normally. The area of effect of a cleave effect is circular, where the length of the radius is equal to the cleave range of a given cleave ability. The circular area of effect is always placed directly adjacent to the attacking unit and oriented in the direction that the attacking unit was facing when the attack was made. The diameter of the aforementioned circle runs through the attacking unit and the unit being attacked. Armor type (hero, structure, basic, etc…) is still considered when calculating cleave damage. Physical splash damage (from ranged attacks such as Dragon Knight’s “Splash Attack” passive ability at level 2 and 3 of his ultimate “Elder Dragon Form” or Shadow Shaman’s “Mass Serpent Ward”) is reduced as normal. Units with negative Armor values receive an increased amount of physical damage. Physical damage is totally unaffected by Magic Resistance and cannot affect ethereal units. Spells that deal physical damage cannot target Spell Immune units directly. Physical spells and passive abilities can only affect Spell Immune units if they are capable of piercing Spell Immunity. Unlike physical attacks, physical spells cannot be avoided with Evasion (from skills or items). Physical spell damage is reduced by damage block.damage is caused primarily by spells and some passive abilities (not all spells deal magic damage). Magic damage is reduced by Magic Resistance and does not affect Spell Immune units. Magic damage is amplified against ethereal units by 1.4x. Magical damage does not affect mechanical units like siege creeps. Lifesteal effects from items, spells or passive abilities still function against Spell Immune units. Spells that cause magical damage cannot target or damage Spell Immune units. Items with offensive active abilities cannot target Spell Immune units and do not affect them. Every spell in the game that IS NOT listed in one of the two tables in the next sections of this guide deals magical damage (if they deal any damage at all). Most of the spells in DotA2 deal magical damage.damage is a type of magical damage and it shares all properties not mentioned in this description with that damage type. Pure damage is unaffected by Magic Resistance or Magic Amplification. This means that pure damage always does the exact amount of damage specified in the in-game tooltip. Pure damage does the same amount of damage to ethereal units as it does to non-ethereal units (it is not amplified). A few rare Pure spells ignore Spell Immunity (like Black King Bar, Omniknight’s “Repel”, Lifestealer’s “Rage”, or the passive Spell Immunity that Ancient creeps have). Some rare cases exist in which a pure damage spell can damage a Spell Immune unit. Example: Bane cast's "Nightmare" on Drow Ranger. Omniknight casts "Repel" on Drow Ranger. Drow Ranger continues to take damage because "Nightmare" is pure damage, but "Nightmare" could not have been cast on Drow Ranger if she had been Spell Immune when Bane had attempted the cast.The following Pure spells pierce Spell Immunity:are not based on any other damage type. HP modifications directly subtracts hit points from units that it affects, ignoring Spell Immunity, Armor, Magic Resistance, Damage Block, Damage Reduction/Amplification and Ethereal states. This means that hp modifications always remove the exact amount of hit points specified in the in-game tooltip (this amount can be conditional). In short, almost nothing in DotA2 protects you or your enemies from hp modifications. Invulnerability does protect from hp modification. Unlike all other damage types, hp modifications do not count as being attacked and as such they will not interrupt items (such as Blink Dagger, Heart of Tarrasque, Clarity, Salve and Bottle) or trigger any other on-attack effects (like Timbersaw's “Reactive Armor”). Hp modifications cannot kill you or an enemy in any circumstance.None of the damage types in DotA2 can innately damage structures when used in spells or abilities. Spells and abilities must be designated in the game with a specific flag to be able to damage structures. Example: Leshrac’s “Diabolic Edict” deals physical damage. Leshrac’s “Diabolic Edict” can damage structures.