Damage Block

From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki

Damage Block is a mechanic that reduces incoming damage, typically by a flat amount.


Overview[edit]

Damage block differs from Damage Manipulation in that it always reduces instead of increasing incoming damage, and is able to block damage with the HP Removal flag.

There exist four different categories of damage block currently, which are listed by the order of proccing below.

Mana Shield Damage Block[edit]

Driven by MODIFIER_PROPERTY_TOTAL_CONSTANT_BLOCK_UNAVOIDABLE_PRE_ARMOR.

Mana Shield blocks damage of all types, before all other damage manipulation. The block value is variable and adapts to the damage value of the incoming instance.

Physical Damage Block[edit]

Axe blocking physical attack damage with Vanguard.
The ochre number displays the total amount of damage blocked.

Driven by MODIFIER_PROPERTY_PHYSICAL_CONSTANT_BLOCK.

Physical damage block reduces any physical damage a unit takes from attacks or from cleave, with the exception of damage dealt by attacks from ward-type units. Physical damage block offers no protection against spells, with only a few exceptions.

Physical damage block triggers after Mana Shield, but before all other damage manipulation. This means that the higher the unit's armor is, the less actual reduction is provided by damage block. However, the effectiveness of damage block is only meaningful in relation to the attacker's damage. See total attack damage for detailed examples with calculation.

When physical damage block procs, an ocher-colored negative number pops up on the unit, with a shield icon on the right side of the -x number. This number shows the exact amount of damage blocked.

Chanced-based physical damage block uses pseudo-random distribution.

Melee Damage Block[edit]

Damage Block (Melee)
Ability
Passive
Affects
Heroes
Grants melee heroes a chance to block a flat amount of physical attack damage from incoming attacks.
Proc Chance: 50%
Damage Blocked: This bonus/reduction source only affect Melee heroes.This bonus/reduction source only affect Melee heroes. 16
One man's wine barrel bottom is another man's shield.
Details

Other Sources[edit]

Constant Physical Damage Block Sources

Blocked Spell Damage[edit]

The following abilities' damage is blocked by Damage Block.

Physical Spell Damage Blocked

Not Blocked Attack Damage[edit]

Attack damage setting is not blocked by Damage Block.

Attack damage setting
1 Requires TalentsTalents talent.
1a When not TalentsTalents talent upgraded.
2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Magical Damage Block[edit]

Axe blocking magical damage from Shadow Poison with Infused Raindrops.
The cyan number displays the total amount of damage blocked.

Driven by MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MAGICAL_CONSTANT_BLOCK.

Magical damage block reduces any magical damage a unit takes from attacks or from spells.

Magical damage block triggers after Mana Shield, but before all other damage manipulation. This means that the higher the unit's magic resistance is, the less actual reduction is provided by damage block.

When magical damage block procs, a cyan-colored number pops up on the unit, showing the exact amount of damage blocked.

Constant Magical Damage Block Sources

Universal Damage Block[edit]

Driven by MODIFIER_PROPERTY_TOTAL_CONSTANT_BLOCK.

Universal damage block reduces damage of all three types a unit takes. It triggers after almost every other source of damage manipulation. Therefore, on-damage effect will proc directly afterwards.

Sources[edit]

Universal Damage Block Sources
Aeon Disk
  • Aeon Disk - Combo Breaker
    Damage Absorb (HP≥70%): Blocks damage partially so that wielder remains with 70% health
    Damage Absorb (HP<70%): Blocks all damage
    This effect takes place immediately preceding the activation of Combo Breaker and is distinct from the activated Combo Breaker damage reduction.

Stacking[edit]

Within the same damage block category, if multiple sources of damage block activate, the actual blocked damage is taken from the source with the highest block value, and the other sources cannot reduce damage any further. Sources from different categories simply block the damage sequentially, independent of each other. Thus, it is inadvisable to stack multiple damage block sources of the same category.

Side Effects[edit]

Many sources of damage block have negative side effects that can take place when blocking damage. When multiple sources of the same category activate at once, even though only the source with the highest block value actually reduces damage, the side effects will all activate regardless.

For example, Infused Raindrops and Dandelion Amulet will both go on cooldown from one single magical damage instance, and a single attack can remove a stack from both Fire Shield, Gravekeeper's Cloak, while simultaneously causing Ghostship rum hangover.

Thus, it could be inadvisable to try and stack multiple damage block sources of the same category.

Chance-based blocking[edit]

The proc chances of physical damage block work independently from each other. The probability of proccing any damage block when there are multiple damage block sources of the same value can be defined as

% Block = 1 - <math>\prod_{i=1}^{n}</math>(1 - Damage Block Sources i )

Examples[edit]

Example 1
Huskar has two Vanguards in his inventory. What is the probability that one of them will proc when he is attacked?
Block Chance
= 1 - (1 - 0.6) × (1 - 0.6)
= 1 - 0.16
= 0.84
As Vanguard has a Damage Block proc chance of 60%, the probability of Damage Block proccing when he is attacked is 84%.
Example 2
Warlock is affected by Guard and he has one Vanguard in his inventory. What is the probability for each source of Damage Block to proc?
The Proc Chance and Damage Block for both sources are:
  • Guard from Crimson Guard: 100% chance, 75 damage blocked
  • Vanguard: 60% chance, damage blocked on a ranged hero like Warlock
As Guard procs on every hit, and its blocked damage value is greater than that of Vanguard,
Vanguard will have no effect on damage blocked whether it procs or not.

Preventing on-damage effects[edit]

Many abilities react on damage a unit receives. In some cases, fully negating the damage causes them to not proc. However, some on-damage effects also react on 0 damage so they still may proc even when the proccing damage got negated.

The following abilities and effects do not react on damage when it gets fully negated (reduced to 0):

1 These work when the damage gets negated by Aphotic Shield.

2 These abilities have damage counters, which do not work when the damage gets negated.

The following abilities still do react on fully negated damage:

1 The damage of Dispersion and the damage spread of Fatal Bonds are fully unaffected by any form of reduction, except for magic resistance and armor.

Recent Changes[edit]

Description
7.28
(2020-12-17)
7.23c
(2019-12-06)
  • Directly negates a flat amount of damage before damage manipulation calculations. Damage Block
    • Now works against player-controlled units again.
    • Now follows the same stacking rules as other sources of Damage Block, instead of fully stacking with all of them.
    • Reduced proc chance from 100% to 50%.
    • Increased blocked damage from 8 to 16.
7.23b
(2019-11-29)
  • Directly negates a flat amount of damage before damage manipulation calculations. Damage Block no longer works against player-controlled non-hero units.


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