Dota 2 has a lot of different mechanics that most newcomers do not know about, or even players who have been playing for years do not always go into the details of certain features in the game. One of the interesting mechanics in Dota 2 is the distribution of damage by different types. During the game, it is very important to know about the details of the damage dealt or incoming damage to know how to increase this indicator or vice versa to reduce it to increase the survivability of your character. So, lets checkout Dota 2 damage mechanics.

Sources of damage in Dota 2

Damage can be dealt by heroes in the following ways: normal hero attacks, abilities, and items. However, the last two sources of damage can be combined and called spell damage.

Attack damage is a quantitative value that indicates how much health a hero will take from the enemy with a normal attack, in the absence of various sources of blocking or reducing incoming damage. Total damage is the sum of two indicators of basic damage from an attack (the so-called white damage) and bonus damage (green damage).

Spell damage is mostly the damage that a hero deals due to magical abilities or items, or attack modifiers that make normal attacks magical.

Classification of damage in Dota 2

In general, damage can be divided into different categories, but there are three main Dota 2 damage types: physical damage, magic damage, and pure damage, as well as manipulatives that interact differently with the health of a hero or target.

Physical damage

Physical damage is damage that comes mainly from normal character attacks, as well as from other sources: towers, creeps, Roshan, and some abilities such as Quill Spray (Bristleback), Acid Spray (Alchemist), Stifling Dagger (Phantom Assassin), Battle Hunger (Axe), and many others.

This type of damage can be reduced with armor or damage blockers. Physical damage can be reduced by using items, active or passive abilities that provide additional armor or protection from incoming damage; units under the influence of Ethereal form do not take physical damage, and in astral forms they cannot be attacked at all; evasion is the chance that an incoming melee attack will not harm the hero, that is, the hero will miss his target. Some types of physical attacks can have the True Strike effect, ignoring misses on the hero, as well as Pierce, which is damage from an attack that ignores any type of armor or defense.

The final result of incoming/dealing damage is affected by various effects that block or reduce damage. For example, if a hero's damage is 50, and the enemy has 0 armor, then the target will receive all 50 damage. And if he has a certain amount of armor or base defense to the incoming damage, then this 50 damage will be adjusted as a result. If the armor value is negative, then the incoming damage will be slightly higher.

Some abilities grant full resistance to incoming Dota 2 physical damage  (such as Guardian Angel or Cold Embrace), but the target can still be attacked. Some abilities deal physical damage, but this type of damage is not affected by attack classes unless the ability is dependent on the damage of the main attack. Physical damage from abilities that increase the damage of an attack is impacted by armor scores, but cannot be dodged or blocked.

Magical damage

Magic damage is the type of damage that heroes deal through their abilities and items, the type of damage from the source is indicated in their description; some abilities can give a special effect to your normal attacks, making them magical for a specified time or other conditions. You can increase the damage from magic thanks to certain abilities (Arcane Supremacy in the hero Rubick) and items (Veil of Discord) that give this effect to magic.

In an incorporeal form (i.e., under the influence of Ethereal effects), the hero on whom this effect hangs will receive increased magical damage, but as already mentioned, will be immune to physical damage. You can also reduce the amount of incoming Dota 2 magical damage  by using various items (Glimmer Cape, Pipe of Insight, Hood of Defiance) and abilities (Counter Spell in Anti-Mage, Corrosive Skin in Viper) that provide magic resistance.

Pure damage type

Pure damage is the type of damage that heroes deal thanks to certain abilities: Counter Helix (Axe), Black Hole (Enigma), Meat Hook (Pudge), Laser (Tinker), etc. The effectiveness and damage of pure damage abilities cannot be enhanced by effects that increase the magic or physical effect of the damage, nor can they be reduced by armor, magic resistance, or other types of damage blocking.

However, the pure damage type does not work on heroes in the invulnerable state: Phase Shift (Puck), Infest (Life Stealer), and Omnislash (Juggernaut). Some sources can manipulate pure damage, such as Dispersion. These are Dota 2 damage reduction mechanics. Pure damage works on creatures that are immune to the effects because immunity does not block damage. However, an ability that deals pure damage cannot be targeted on a hero or other creature that is immune to the effects. An example of this situation is Laser (Tinker), which deals pure damage but cannot be used on a character that has an effect of immunity. 

It's also worth mentioning that you can increase the pure damage type with items and abilities that affect all damage dealt, not just a specific damage type. For example, the Kaya item increases spell damage by 10%, not the specific magic or physical damage type. When using abilities of a certain type, you should always read their descriptions carefully, as a certain type of damage does not always mean that the ability will not work on the target. For example, even if the damage type is pure, it may have a positive "through effect immunity" status in one ability (Black Hole), while it has a negative status in another (Arcane Orb). Physical damage Dota 2 always passes through effect immunity, but the debuff it imposes, such as stun from an ability or item, will not work.

Other types of damage

In addition to the three main types of damage we've already mentioned. There are other types of damage that can't be fully attributed to them, as they work in a slightly different way, even though they deal a specific type of damage.

HP Removal

Abilities with the "health subtraction" effect ignore damage manipulation, although with some exceptions. The damage that a player with this effect takes cannot be reduced, amplified, or suspended. These are abilities that don't interrupt the effect of consumables (like Clarity or Healing Salve) or even Blink Dagger. This type of damage is often ignored by invulnerability. However, abilities of this type fall under the three types of damage classification, but with an additional note about the damage subtype. Here are a few examples of abilities with damage subtraction status: Heartstopper Aura (Necrophos), Pispersion (Spectre), Poison Sting (Venomancer), Rage (Bloodseeker).

Setting Health

In addition to restoring health and dealing damage, there are also ways to regulate health that are neither considered healing nor damage and are also ignored by other sources that produce the current effect. In addition, the effect of manipulating these mechanics does not cause the hero to die, only to drop to 1 HP, and cannot make the health greater than the hero's maximum HP. Examples of abilities: Terrorblade — Sunder, Undying — Decay, Soul Ring — Sacrifice, Lifestealer — Infest, Morphling — Attribute Shift, Weaver — Time Lapse.

Instant kill

Some types of spells can instantly kill an enemy hero if the conditions specified in the description of this ability are met. Most often, this refers to a certain threshold of health that will lead to death. Examples of such abilities: Culling Blade (Axe) and Ice Blast (Ancient Apparition), which kills the target if it has low health, Meepo — Divided We Stand — kills all other Meepo if at least one of them dies.

Burst and Tunnel damage type

If we consider heroes by the type of damage they deal, they can be divided into two categories: Dota 2 Burst damage and Tunnel damage. Unlike the previous types of damage we discussed, this division is not quantified in the game itself, but has a completely different approach to understanding. This division itself is conditional, more focused on the heroes themselves and the items they need, and characterizes primarily the characters of the first three positions.

Burst is a classification of heroes and their style of inflicting maximum damage to their targets with the help of abilities and items in a short time, and after that their effectiveness decreases. Tunnel heroes are a type of character that, on the contrary, become stronger and increase DPS over time. That is, if you take two heroes of these different categories (Templar Assassin and Slark), with the same level and items, TA deals a lot of damage at the beginning, thanks to its first two abilities that boost it. As soon as their duration expires, the character's DPS will start to drop until the player uses their abilities again. The situation is different for the Slark character, whose DPS increases over time, as its main strength is in a passive ability that assigns attributes from the enemy and adds agility to the hero.

To understand what type of damage your hero has, you should analyze how quickly you can kill an enemy hero at the average level of his or her leveling. That is, if you can kill a hero that is more or less equivalent to you by pressing your buttons, then you are playing as a Burst hero. Otherwise, you play as a Tunnel. However, it is important to understand that the enemy hero can be weak in itself, and therefore two types of heroes with different approaches to dealing damage will have the same result. 

An example of Burst heroes: Legion Commander, Nyx Assassin, Life Stealer, Clinkz, Ember Spirit, Kunkka, Morphling, Shadow Fiend, Chaos Knight, Juggernaut. Heroes with procrastination abilities are most often burst heroes: Lion, Puck, Invoker, Pudge, Storm Spirit. All of them have important buttons that can kill the target or boost the hero, and if these abilities are in cooldown, the hero can rarely do anything.

An example of Tunnel heroes: Slark, Phantom Lancer, Razor, Huskar, Weaver. They need some time for their abilities to show the greatest effectiveness after activation, and therefore their power increases over time. They can also be heroes with static DPS: Sniper, Luna, Medusa, Bloodseeker. Likewise, they can't kill anyone very quickly, they require time. Characters with magical abilities can also deal Tunnel damage because they cannot kill their target in one button press: Necrophos, Zeus, Undying, Phoenix, Jakiro. Heroes with this type of damage can kill even a fat hero if they have enough time. Their main problem is mobility, that is, the ability to catch up with their target.

Conclusion

Knowing the sources and types of damage will make it easier for players to navigate the game to know what type of defense they need. It will also help them understand how to act in a particular situation so that the use of abilities and attacks have the maximum effect on enemies.