Non-projectile, unit-targeted damaging ability with no side effects

[Pyrogasm]

Seems like someone should have asked this before but I didn't see it in a cursory search. I'm looking for a base ability with the following properties:

1. Unit-targeted and not an AoE effect
2. Deals damage (not a healing spell with negative healing)
3. Does not use a projectile (and is therefore instant once cast)
4. Does not apply any visual effects or buffs (like Shadow Strike's damage text, Frost Nova's blue tint, or a silence effect like Soul Burn/Doom)
5. Is not target restricted (Holy Light can only damage undead units but is otherwise what I want)

Is Finger of Death the only such spell (it explodes units on death but otherwise satisfies these conditions)? Other thoughts:

• Abilities with buffs and effects set to 0.01 duration are not acceptable unless they would literally not be visible or affect the target in any way.
• Acid Bomb and Chain Lightning both fail #3 because they have projectiles.
• Unstable Concoction satisfies all but kills the caster, which could be acceptable in some cases.
• Forked Lightning with targets set to 1 would work if the targeted unit is guaranteed to be the first chosen target every time, but I don't know if it is.
• Life Drain with a very short duration?

 

[BenderPaulo]

You can Chain Lightning, changing the Number of Targets to 1, or you can use a properly set up Channel and deal damage through a simple trigger.

 

[Pyrogasm]

Chain Lightning has a projectile speed and isn't instant (the lightning effect is but there's a projectile that actually does the damage).

Damaging a unit with a trigger isn't what I want, because I want the spell cast to be constrained by normal things like armor type damage reduction, resistant skin, spell shield, etc.. I am fully aware that if I wanted to I could also account for all of these special cases with additional effort as well as using an attack-/damage-type combo that is properly accounted for in armor reduction... but that's not the point of my question here.

 

[Tal'Rarity]

Set projectile speed to 0 and remove the visual effects.

 

[Pyrogasm]

Doesn't change anything, Chain Lightning seems to always have a 0.25s delay between "starts the effect" firing and damage being dealt.

• A dummy with proper instant-cast setup doesn't change this.
• Projectile speed at default 1500, maximum 10000, and minimum 0 all have the same delay between the event and when the unit takes damage.
• The same dummy casting Holy Light on the same target does achieve a 0.00 delay between cast and damage so it's 100% the base spell not some setting for the caster.

Acid Bomb damage delay does decrease with projectile speed, but setting it to 0 achieves the same speed/delay as setting it to the maximum 10000 so again it isn't instant.

 

[BenderPaulo]

Alright, why not simply using a Unit-Target Channel ability with triggers for damage dealing then?

 

[Pyrogasm]

Alright, why not simply using a Unit-Target Channel ability with triggers for damage dealing then?

Please read what I have already replied the first time you suggested this.

Damaging a unit with a trigger isn't what I want, because I want the spell cast to be constrained by normal things like armor type damage reduction, resistant skin, spell shield, etc.. I am fully aware that if I wanted to I could also account for all of these special cases with additional effort as well as using an attack-/damage-type combo that is properly accounted for in armor reduction... but that's not the point of my question here.

I'm not looking for a workaround. I am asking: is Finger of Death the only such ability that satisfies this, or are there other things I am not considering? It seems weird that there's literally only one spell with no side effects and I'd never thought about it before.

Edit: Never mind, FoD has a side effect: units killed by it explode on death. So only Forked Lightning if it works properly?

 

[MyDadBeatsMe]

Frost nova maybe? Feels similar to holy nova but i dont have my PC to test...

 

[Pyrogasm]

Frost nova maybe? Feels similar to holy nova but i dont have my PC to test...

Does not apply any visual effects or buffs (like Shadow Strike's damage text, Frost Nova's blue tint, or a silence effect like Soul Burn/Doom)

 

[Antares]

If the buff restriction is only about it not having a visual effect, you could use Unholy Frenzy with an invisible buff and a duration of 0.011 seconds. Then you get exactly one tick with damage equal to the Damage per Second field.

 

[Pyrogasm]

That’s not damage it’s health reduction so it doesn’t grant kill credit, experience, or gold.