Armor and Attack types

Units have Armor and Attack types that modify the damage they deal/take against other units.

For more information read: Damage Calculation

Attack types

Normal

Mainly used by melee or short ranged units. Effective against most ground ranged units. Examples: Knights, Huntresses

Piercing

Primarily used by ranged attackers, ground, air, or structure. Effective against air units and spellcasters. Examples: Crypt Fiends, Hippogryph Riders

Magic

Primarily used by spellcasters, but also by certain heavy air units. Squashes most ground melee units. Introduced in patch 1.06. Examples: Druids of the Talon, Gryphon Riders

Siege

Used by siege units, to destroy fortifications and spellcasters. Examples: Meat Wagons, Chimaera

Hero

Used by Heroes. Full damage to all units except those with Fortified armor. Introduced in patch 1.06.

Chaos

Used by powerful summoned units and creeps above level 6. Full damage to all armor types. Used by the Demon Hunter in demon form. Also used in the campaign by Chaos Orcs, as well as certain characters.

Spell

Used by abilities. Deals reduced damage to heroes. Also poison abilities use this attack type. Note that spell immunity does not affect spell damage. Locust is the only unit using this attack type.

Armor types

Heavy

Primarily used by melee units, long-ranged siege weaponry, and summoned units. Examples: Druids of the Claw, Demolishers

Medium

Primarily used by ground ranged units. Examples: Riflemen, Spell Breakers Also used by Workers.

Light

Used by most air units, and Scout Towers. Examples: Destroyers, Frost Wyrms

Unarmored

Mostly Used by spellcasters, and certain air units. Examples: Necromancers, Gargoyles

Fortified

Used by most buildings. Also used by Siege Engines.

Hero

Used by Heroes. Resistant to most types of damage, except for Normal and Chaos. Takes 70% damage from Spells.

Divine

Used by powerful characters in the campaign. Divine beings take only 5% damage from attack types other than Chaos.

Damage calculation tables

The Frozen Throne

	100%	150%	100%	100%	70%	100%
	100%	75%	200%	150%	35%	50%
	200%	75%	125%	100%	35%	50%
	100%	50%	100%	150%	150%	50%
	100%	100%	100%	100%	50%	100%
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	70%

Reign of Chaos

In Reign of Chaos, Heavy, Medium, and Light armor have rotated. So Light takes extra from Normal, Medium takes extra from Magic, and Heavy takes extra from Piercing.

Also note basic melee units such as Grunts have Medium armor, but heavy melee such as Tauren have Heavy armor. Summons and Workers also have Medium armor.

	100%	100%	150%	100%	50%	100%
	150%	100%	75%	150%	35%	50%
	100%	200%	100%	75%	50%	50%
	100%	100%	50%	150%	150%	50%
	100%	100%	100%	100%	50%	100%
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	75%

Version History

Balance Patch History
Version	Release	Balance Changes
1.15	2004-05-10	Hero spell resistance increased to 30% reduction from 25% reduction.
1.03	2002-10-09	All creeps of level 6 or higher now have Hero magic resistance. All creeps of level 7 or higher now deal Chaos damage.