The Damage Type Lookup Tool shows the damage type of every Dota 2 spell, physical, magical or pure, for every hero, lists all pure damage spells, and tells you whether an enemy team needs armor or magic resistance.
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By Kevin “Kevin10k”·Dota 2 Expert · Mid & Offlane PlayerArticle updated
Every spell in Dota 2 deals one of three damage types: physical, which armor reduces, magical, which magic resistance reduces, or pure, which nothing reduces. The Damage Type Lookup Tool shows the type of every ability for every hero, straight from the game's data, lists all pure damage spells, and tells you for any enemy lineup whether to buy armor, magic resistance or just a bigger health bar. Axe put on full plate and a magic cape. The white beam went through anyway. That was pure. Axe learned.
Axe explains
Damage types in 10 seconds
Counted from the damage type field in the game's own ability data. Right-clicks are physical. Axe is physical.
Physical damage is every right-click plus 80 abilities, from Bristleback's Quill Spray to Phantom Assassin's crits. Armor reduces it, and so do Ghost Scepter and Ethereal Blade: their text says “immune to physical damage”. Magical damage is the biggest group, 294 abilities. Every hero starts with 25% magic resistance, Cloak, Hood of Defiance, Pipe of Insight and Glimmer Cape add more, and Black King Bar's Avatar gives 60%. Ghost form and ethereal form do the opposite: they make you take more magic damage. Pure damage, 31 abilities, ignores armor and magic resistance. What you see on the tooltip is what you lose. Only health, damage barriers and debuff immunity help: BKB's text grants “immunity to reflected and pure damage”.
One more layer: debuff immunity (BKB) does not reduce damage by itself. It blocks the spells that cannot pierce it, which is why 82 damaging abilities carry a BKB badge in the tool: they go through. Blade Mail is the odd one out. It returns incoming damage to the attacker, and the only clean answer to it is BKB's immunity to reflected damage.
Armor stops red. Cloak stops blue. Nothing stops white. Axe tried standing behind a tree. The tree is gone now.
How much does armor actually save? The Armor & HP Calculator turns armor into effective HP, and the Magic Resistance Calculator stacks Cloak, Pipe and BKB for you.
31 abilities on 21 heroes deal pure damage. These are the ones armor and magic resistance cannot touch, with the damage at max level where the game lists a plain number:
Battle HungerAxe24
Counter HelixAxe · goes through BKB160
Culling BladeAxe · ultimate · goes through BKB475
EnfeebleBane
Brain SapBane · goes through BKB
Fiend's GripBane · ultimate · goes through BKB
Ichor of NyctashaBane · innate
BloodrageBloodseeker · goes through BKB
Blood RiteBloodseeker265
RuptureBloodseeker · ultimate · goes through BKB
PenitenceChen200
DoomDoom · ultimate · goes through BKB66
ImpetusEnchantress
Black HoleEnigma · ultimate · goes through BKB200
Sun StrikeInvoker · goes through BKB575
Raptor DanceKez · ultimate · goes through BKB100
Diabolic EdictLeshrac · goes through BKB30
RansackMeepo · goes through BKB
VendettaNyx Assassin · ultimate · goes through BKB500
PurificationOmniknight · goes through BKB
Hammer of PurityOmniknight · goes through BKB90
Arcane OrbOutworld Destroyer
Meat HookPudge · goes through BKB360
Sonic WaveQueen of Pain · ultimate · goes through BKB625
DesolateSpectre · innate · goes through BKB23.5
Psi BladesTemplar Assassin · goes through BKB
Whirling DeathTimbersaw
Timber ChainTimbersaw225
ChakramTimbersaw · ultimate100
LaserTinker
Death WardWitch Doctor · ultimate · goes through BKB120Damage numbers are the plain damage value of the ability in Valve's data (the first level-scaled “damage” value, max level). Percent-based and attack-based pure damage, like Arcane Orb, shows no number.
Culling Blade is pure. Counter Helix is pure. Battle Hunger is pure. Axe is three pure spells and one loud voice.
These heroes have the most magical damage abilities. Against two or more of them, magic resistance is the first defensive buy:
Zeus 7 magical abilities: Arc Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Heavenly Jump, Nimbus, Lightning Hands, Thundergod's Wrath, Static Field
Invoker 6 magical abilities: Cold Snap, Tornado, E.M.P., Chaos Meteor, Ice Wall, Deafening Blast
Ancient Apparition 5 magical abilities: Cold Feet, Ice Vortex, Chilling Touch, Bone Chill, Ice Blast
Dragon Knight 5 magical abilities: Breathe Fire, Dragon Tail, Wyrm's Wrath, Fireball, Elder Dragon Form
Earth Spirit 5 magical abilities: Boulder Smash, Rolling Boulder, Geomagnetic Grip, Enchant Remnant, Magnetize
Ember Spirit 5 magical abilities: Searing Chains, Flame Guard, Activate Fire Remnant, Immolation, Fire Remnant
Jakiro 5 magical abilities: Dual Breath, Ice Path, Liquid Fire, Liquid Frost, Macropyre
Largo 5 magical abilities: Catchy Lick, Frogstomp, Croak of Genius, Amphibian Rhapsody, Bullbelly Blitz
Techies 5 magical abilities: Sticky Bomb, Reactive Tazer, Blast Off!, M.A.D., Proximity Mines
Viper 5 magical abilities: Poison Attack, Nethertoxin, Corrosive Skin, Nosedive, Viper Strike
Batrider 4 magical abilities: Sticky Napalm, Flamebreak, Firefly, Flaming Lasso
Beastmaster 4 magical abilities: Wild Axes, Summon Raptors, Drums of Slom, Primal RoarMystic Flare (Skywrath Mage, 1,600), Sharpshooter (Hoodwink, 1,350), Finger of Death (Lion, 850), Laguna Blade (Lina, 760), Proximity Mines (Techies, 700), Wheel of Wonder (Ringmaster, 600), Thundergod's Wrath (Zeus, 575) and Chain Frost (Lich, 550). Before magic resistance, which every hero has.
80 abilities deal physical damage, mostly attack modifiers, crits and the spells of right-click heroes. Armor reduces all of them. The heroes with the most:
Tiny 4 physical abilities: Tree Grab, Tree Volley, Grow, Tree Throw
Clinkz 3 physical abilities: Searing Arrows, Burning Barrage, Burning Army
Drow Ranger 3 physical abilities: Frost Arrows, Multishot, Marksmanship
Kez 3 physical abilities: Echo Slash, Kazurai Katana, Talon Toss
Monkey King 3 physical abilities: Boundless Strike, Jingu Mastery, Wukong's Command
Pangolier 3 physical abilities: Swashbuckle, Shield Crash, Rolling Thunder
Riki 3 physical abilities: Blink Strike, Tricks of the Trade, Backstab
Alchemist 2 physical abilities: Acid Spray, Unstable Concoction
Bristleback 2 physical abilities: Quill Spray, Prickly
Dazzle 2 physical abilities: Poison Touch, Shadow WaveRight-click exceptions worth knowing: Muerta: While Pierce the Veil is active, all of her attack damage is dealt as magical damage. Outworld Destroyer: Arcane Orb adds pure damage to his attacks, based on his remaining mana. Silencer: Glaives of Wisdom add magical damage to his attacks, based on his Intelligence. Templar Assassin: Psi Blades spill pure damage to units behind the target. Spectre: Desolate adds pure damage to her attacks on isolated targets. Enchantress: Impetus adds pure damage to her attacks, more the farther the target.
Which of these spells also go through BKB? The BKB Checker has the full list, and the Dispel Checker tells you whether the debuff that comes with them can be removed.
Shiva's Guard +17 armor
Platemail +10 armor
Lotus Orb +10 armor
Assault Cuirass +10 armor
Blade Mail +7 armor
Solar Crest +7 armor
Crimson Guard +6 armor
Pavise +3 armor
Ghost Scepter immune to physical damage for a few seconds
Cloak +18% magic resistance
Mage Slayer +18% magic resistance
Glimmer Cape +20% magic resistance
Pipe of Insight +20% magic resistance
Eternal Shroud +20% magic resistance
Black King Bar +60% magic resistance Black King Bar immunity to pure damage while active
Heart of Tarrasque more health, more regen Pipe of Insight the barrier only absorbs magic damage, not pureAll items · Dota2FreaksEvery Dota 2 item with its recipe and costArmor, magic resistance or health? See what each item costs, what it is made of and what it builds into.All 127 heroes from A to Z with their damaging abilities: red physical, blue magical, black pure. “Open” loads the hero in the tool above.
Hero guides · Dota2FreaksEvery Dota 2 hero with builds and skill orderKnow their damage type. Now see how the hero is played, with builds and skill order.
Free guide · Dota2FreaksRank Up Guide: find the one thing holding you backRight defensive item, still dying? Five quick questions show which habit to fix first.Three: physical, magical and pure. Physical damage is reduced by armor, magical damage by magic resistance, pure damage by neither. In Valve's hero data 80 abilities deal physical damage, 294 magical and 31 pure; right-click attacks are physical.
Damage that ignores armor and magic resistance, so it always hits for the listed number. Only debuff immunity blocks it: Black King Bar's text says it grants “immunity to reflected and pure damage”. 21 heroes have a pure damage ability, for example Axe, Bane, Bloodseeker, Chen, Doom and Enchantress.
Axe, Bane, Bloodseeker, Chen, Doom, Enchantress, Enigma, Invoker, Kez, Leshrac, Meepo, Nyx Assassin, Omniknight, Outworld Destroyer, Pudge, Queen of Pain, Spectre, Templar Assassin, Timbersaw, Tinker and Witch Doctor. The Damage Type Lookup Tool lists every pure damage spell with its damage at max level.
Blade Mail returns incoming damage to the attacker; the item text says “return all incoming damage” while active. Black King Bar is the counter: Avatar grants immunity to reflected damage.
They attack, so their damage is physical and armor reduces it. Pure and magical damage only come from spells and from the few attack modifiers that carry their own type, like Arcane Orb (pure).
No. Armor only reduces physical damage. Magic damage is reduced by magic resistance (every hero has 25% base, items like Cloak, Hood and Pipe add more), and pure damage by nothing at all.
Yes, while Avatar is active: the item text grants 60% magic resistance and “immunity to reflected and pure damage”. Pure damage spells that pierce debuff immunity are the exception.
Data: Valve's official Dota 2 datafeed · updated
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