Spell Damage

From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki

Spell damage ( <math>Sp</math> ) is usually damage dealt in a separate instance from attack damage, with some exceptions. This includes all abilities (including item abilities and attack modifiers) which deal the 3 damage typesmagical, physical or pure damage.

Magic spell damage is influenced by magic resistance, physical spell damage is influenced by armor and pure damage is not affected by either. All three underlie damage manipulation.

Spell Damage Manipulation[edit]

Main Article: Damage manipulation

Stacking[edit]

All sources of spell damage manipulation stack additively within two categories, outgoing and incoming, which are then multiplied together. The two categories Outgoing Spell Damage Manipulation and Incoming Spell Damage Manipulation stack additively with Generic Incoming Damage Manipulation and Generic Outgoing Damage Manipulation respectively as spell damage manipulation is considered to be just a part of Damage manipulation. Since these are handled separately, the same category stack additively while different categories stack multiplicatively with each other.

For example, spell damage dealt by summons, unless otherwise stated, are not affected by the outgoing spell damage manipulation of the hero. However, summons can be affected by incoming spell damage manipulation since incoming spell damage manipulation affects the target of the damage instead of the caster.

Spell Damage Multiplier is defined as:

<math>

\text{Spell Damage Multiplier} = \big( 1 + \sum (\text{Outgoing Manip}) \big) \times \big( 1 + \sum (\text{Incoming Manip}) \big) </math>

Example 1: Outgoing Manipulation

Bloodseeker with a level 4 Bloodrage buff with Kaya and Sange. What is his current spell damage multiplier?
Spell damage amplification values:
<math>

Sp_{Mu} = (1 + 0.3 + 0.12) \times (1 + 0) = 1.42 </math>

Bloodseeker's spell damage multiplier is 1.42 in this example.

Example 2: Incoming and Outgoing Manipulation

Bloodseeker from the previous example has Dagon 5 and is affected by Mage Slayer. How much actual spell damage Energy Burst will be dealt to Marci if she is also affected by Magic Weakness (before magic resistance reductions)?
<math>\begin{align}

Sp_{Mu} &= \underbrace{ (1 + (0.3 + 0.12 - 0.25)) }_\text{Outgoing} \times \underbrace{ (1 + 2) }_\text{Incoming} \\ &= \underbrace{ (1.17) }_\text{Outgoing} \times \underbrace{ (3) }_\text{Incoming} \\ &= 3.51 \end{align} </math>

<math>

\text{Total Spell Damage} = 800 * 3.51 = 2808 </math>

Marci affected by Magic Weakness will take 2808 spell damage (before magic resistance) from Bloodseeker in this example.

Example 3: Generic Damage Manipulation

Bloodseeker from the previous example instead chooses to cast his Dagon 5 on a Spectre with level 4 Dispersion. Assuming all other modifiers are the same, how much spell damage will be dealt to Spectre (before magic resistance).
Dispersion is generic damage manipulation, meaning it affects all damage dealt to [[spectre|]]. Despite this, it stacks additively with other incoming spell damage manipulation like Magic Weakness when calculating spell damage.
<math>\begin{align}

Sp_{Mu} &= \underbrace{ (1 + (0.3 + 0.12 - 0.25)) }_\text{Outgoing} \times \underbrace{ (1 + 2 - 0.2) }_\text{Incoming} \\ &= \underbrace{ (1.17) }_\text{Outgoing} \times \underbrace{ (2.8) }_\text{Incoming} \\ &= 3.276 \end{align} </math>

<math>

\text{Total Spell Damage} = 800 * 3.276 = 2620.8 </math>

Spectre affected by will take 2620.8 spell damage (before magic resistance) from Bloodseeker in this example.

Outgoing Spell Damage Manipulation[edit]

A unit that has outgoing spell damage manipulation deals more or less spell damage with any spell damage they apply to any unit. Multiple sources of outgoing spell damage manipulation stack additively.

Outgoing Spell Damage Reduction Sources
1 Requires TalentsTalents talent.
2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Talents[edit]

Spell Damage Amplification
Ability
Passive
Affects
Self
There is no description for this ability.
Spell Damage Amp: Outgoing Damage Manipulation Varies
NOTES
 
6162, 6015, 5948, 5996, 522, 5949, 511, 5989, 444, 6326, 7401, 6055, 456, 743, 6236, 6327

special_bonus_spell_amplify_3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/14/15/16/18/19/20/25
  • Increases the hero's outgoing spell damage amplification.
  • The following values exist:
    • 3%/4%/5%/6%/7%/8%/9%/10%/11%/12%/14%/15%/16%/18%/19%/20%/25%


The following heroes have a TalentsTalents talent that grants them outgoing spell damage amplification.

Bonus Level 10 Level 15 Level 20 Level 25
Left Right Left Right Left Right Left Right
Spell Amplification
  • +8%

Item Sources[edit]

Many items grant their owners a spell damage amplification bonus by giving them a direct bonus. The effects are limited to the item's owner, which must have the item equipped.

Spell Damage Amplification Items
Item Value Item Cost Cost/Value Point
Fairy's Trinket 5% N/A N/A
Kaya 10% 2100 Gold 210 Gold
Kaya and Sange 12% 4200 Gold 350 Gold
Meteor Hammer 10% 2850 Gold 285 Gold
Timeless Relic 15% N/A N/A
Yasha and Kaya 12% 4200 Gold 350 Gold
Values do not include portions from actives or auras.


For Kaya-based items: Multiple sources of spell damage amplification do not stack.

Incoming Spell Damage Amplification[edit]

A unit that has incoming spell damage amplification debuff on them takes more spell damage, and multiple sources of incoming spell damage amplification stack additively. Incoming spell damage amplification affects every source of spell damage, except for damage flagged as HP Removal.

Abilities[edit]

1 Requires TalentsTalents talent.
2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Exceptions[edit]

There are certain cases of abilities that ignore both types of spell damage amplification, and those abilities usually cannot spell lifesteal. In general, abilities with health manipulation mechanics (Instant Kill, HP Removal, Delayed Damage etc.) are not affect by both types of spell damage amplifications.

However, the following abilities are affected by Hunter's Boomerang's incoming spell damage amplification:

1 Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard. The damage of the bouncing attacks are unaffected by outgoing spell damage amplification. The -based damage is fully affected, including that of the bounces.
2 TalentsTalents The damage of the bouncing attacks are unaffected by outgoing spell damage amplification. However, Overload's area damage is fully affected, including that of the bounces.
3 Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. The damage of the bouncing attacks count as spell damage, but are unaffected by outgoing spell damage amplification.

Version History[edit]

Description
7.30e
(2021-10-28)
  • Magic Weakness no longer amplifies spell damage that is not affected by outgoing spell damage amplification. [?]
7.06c
(2017-05-29)
  • Damage return from Blade Mail is no longer increased by outgoing spell amplification.
7.00
(2016-12-12)
  • Moon Glaives no longer gets boosted by outgoing spell amplification.
  • Cleave no longer gets boosted by outgoing spell amplification.
  • Spell lifesteal does not trigger heal for things that don't receive spell amplification ( Moon Glaives, Cleave).

Patch History[edit]

Patch
Description
  • Alt now show their modified/increased spell ampification values at tooltips.