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Source: This Wc3c thread.
Table of Content
I. Introduction
I. Introduction
Damage in Warcraft 3 is made up of 2 components: Attack type and Damage type. This is the case for every damage instance, be it attack or spell, even though the game rarely ever makes it explicit to us.
1. Attack type (AT): This is colloquially known as the "Normal, Siege, Piercing, Chaos, Magic etc." that you see when hovering over a unit's basic attack. What Attack type does is comparing itself against the target's Defense Type to work out whether it will be reduced or increased, before armor is taken into account. The damage factors VS. Defense types for all Attack types can be modified in Gameplay Constants.
For example: Siege Attack type has a 1.5x multiplier against Fortified Defense type before taking into account the target's Defense Value (armor). Thus, the target's armor will have to deal w/ 1.5x the attack value of the Siege attacker.
2. Damage type (DT): This is the information that you rarely ever see, which is only available to choose in the "Unit - Damage Area/Target" triggers. Ever wondered why Slow Poison and Disease Cloud's damage always leave the target at 1 HP without killing, but Shadow Strike, which is also a (poison) Damage over time spell, can kill the target? It's because they have different damage types.
What damage type does is determining whether the damage instance will be reduced by armor value.
For example: Slow Poison (Aspo) deals AT: Spells, DT: Slow Poison damage; in-game, it is only reduced by Hero Defense type since AT: Spells deals 0.75x damage VS. Heroes, and DT: Slow Poison ignores how much armor the target is packing.
3. Process for damage calculation
Step 1. Attacker's attack value gets multiplied with its AT bonus/penalty against the target's Defense Type.
Step 2. Attacker's DT is checked. If the DT is one that ignores armor, the multiplied damage from Step 1 is applied. Otherwise, the multiplied damage is further reduced by the target's Defense Value before applying.
II. Detailed information about Attack types and Damage types
That being said, the following are classifications of ATs and DTs, so you have a good idea of what to use in Triggers:
1. Attack Types
There are a total of 7 attack types but since some of them have similar behaviors, they belong to 3 broad categories:
- Normal (Normal, Piercing, Siege, Hero, Chaos): It's essentially a PHYSICAL attack type. Ethereal units ignore all damage with this AT.
- Spells (Spells): It's an attack type for SPELLS. Understandably, it's used by all default spells in this game. AT: SPELLS is the most versatile AT since it can be ignored by Ethereal/Spell Immunity based on damage type. The Runed Bracers ability reduces damage from this AT only.
- Magic (Magic): It's a MAGICAL attack type. It's used by spellcasters such as Priests, Witch Doctors, Necromancers etc. Spell Immune units ignore all damage with this AT, but Ethereal units don't. That's why spellcasters can hurt Ethereal units.
2. Damage Types
There's a lot more of damage types but similar to ATs, they can be grouped into 4 categories:
- Normal Physical (Normal): Physical damage type which takes Defense Value into account. Basic attacks of almost all units in the game (except spellcasters) are AT Normal and DT Normal Physical.
- Enhanced Physical (Enhanced, Poison, Disease, Acid, Demolition, Slow Poison): Physical damage type which ignores Defense Value.
- Universal (Unknown, Universal): Universal damage type which ignores Defense Value.
- Magical (The rest, including Fire, Cold, Lightning etc.): Magical damage type which ignores Defense Value. Will never affect Spell Immune units.
Here's an excel table.
3. Some known examples
- Cleaving Attack (ANca, ACce): This spell takes AT from the basic attack of whichever unit it is present on, and has DT:Enhanced. On the Pit Lord, Cleaving Attack deals armor-ignoring damage to secondary targets in its AoE, including Spell immune targets, but gets reduced if the secondary target has Fortified Defense type.
- Death and Decay (AUdd): This spell has AT:Spells and DT:Universal. It can damage both Spell Immune units and Ethereal units, and gets reduced by Hero Defense type.
- If you played Dota in Warcraft 3, there's a hero called Beastmaster whose "Wild Axes" spell deals a damage that checks for both Defense type and Defense value on the target. It has AT:Spells and DT:Normal.
- Most of the "Pure" damage in Dota is actually AT:Hero (category Normal) and DT:Magic. That's why it affects neither Spell Immune nor Ethereal units, but always deals full damage otherwise.
4. Additional notes
- There should be no issue with dealing AT:Spells damage via Triggers; however, Blizzard abilities which deal spell immunity-ignoring AT:Spells damage will not affect on Spell immune units as long as the abilities' required level isn't greater than 1. It's hardcoded this way. For example, you can make a Death and Decay spell with 1 as minimum level requirement, and it will not damage Spell immune targets.
Table of Content
I. Introduction
1. Attack type (AT)
2. Damage type (DT)
3. Process for damage calculation
II. Detailed information about Attack types and Damage types2. Damage type (DT)
3. Process for damage calculation
1. Attack types
2. Damage types
3. Some known examples
4. Notes
2. Damage types
3. Some known examples
4. Notes
I. Introduction
Damage in Warcraft 3 is made up of 2 components: Attack type and Damage type. This is the case for every damage instance, be it attack or spell, even though the game rarely ever makes it explicit to us.
1. Attack type (AT): This is colloquially known as the "Normal, Siege, Piercing, Chaos, Magic etc." that you see when hovering over a unit's basic attack. What Attack type does is comparing itself against the target's Defense Type to work out whether it will be reduced or increased, before armor is taken into account. The damage factors VS. Defense types for all Attack types can be modified in Gameplay Constants.
For example: Siege Attack type has a 1.5x multiplier against Fortified Defense type before taking into account the target's Defense Value (armor). Thus, the target's armor will have to deal w/ 1.5x the attack value of the Siege attacker.
2. Damage type (DT): This is the information that you rarely ever see, which is only available to choose in the "Unit - Damage Area/Target" triggers. Ever wondered why Slow Poison and Disease Cloud's damage always leave the target at 1 HP without killing, but Shadow Strike, which is also a (poison) Damage over time spell, can kill the target? It's because they have different damage types.
What damage type does is determining whether the damage instance will be reduced by armor value.
For example: Slow Poison (Aspo) deals AT: Spells, DT: Slow Poison damage; in-game, it is only reduced by Hero Defense type since AT: Spells deals 0.75x damage VS. Heroes, and DT: Slow Poison ignores how much armor the target is packing.
3. Process for damage calculation
Step 1. Attacker's attack value gets multiplied with its AT bonus/penalty against the target's Defense Type.
Step 2. Attacker's DT is checked. If the DT is one that ignores armor, the multiplied damage from Step 1 is applied. Otherwise, the multiplied damage is further reduced by the target's Defense Value before applying.
II. Detailed information about Attack types and Damage types
That being said, the following are classifications of ATs and DTs, so you have a good idea of what to use in Triggers:
1. Attack Types
There are a total of 7 attack types but since some of them have similar behaviors, they belong to 3 broad categories:
- Normal (Normal, Piercing, Siege, Hero, Chaos): It's essentially a PHYSICAL attack type. Ethereal units ignore all damage with this AT.
ATTACK_TYPE_MELEE (this is AT:Normal),
ATTACK_TYPE_PIERCE,
ATTACK_TYPE_SIEGE,
ATTACK_TYPE_HERO,
ATTACK_TYPE_CHAOS
ATTACK_TYPE_PIERCE,
ATTACK_TYPE_SIEGE,
ATTACK_TYPE_HERO,
ATTACK_TYPE_CHAOS
ATTACK_TYPE_NORMAL
ATTACK_TYPE_MAGIC
2. Damage Types
There's a lot more of damage types but similar to ATs, they can be grouped into 4 categories:
- Normal Physical (Normal): Physical damage type which takes Defense Value into account. Basic attacks of almost all units in the game (except spellcasters) are AT Normal and DT Normal Physical.
DAMAGE_TYPE_NORMAL
DAMAGE_TYPE_ENHANCED,
DAMAGE_TYPE_POISON,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DISEASE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_ACID,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DEMOLITION,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SLOWPOISON
DAMAGE_TYPE_POISON,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DISEASE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_ACID,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DEMOLITION,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SLOWPOISON
DAMAGE_TYPE_UNKNOWN,
DAMAGE_TYPE_UNIVERSAL
DAMAGE_TYPE_UNIVERSAL
DAMAGE_TYPE_COLD,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DEATH,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DEFENSIVE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DIVINE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_FIRE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_FORCE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_LIGHTNING,
DAMAGE_TYPE_MAGIC,
DAMAGE_TYPE_MIND,
DAMAGE_TYPE_PLANT,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SHADOWSTRIKE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SONIC,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SPIRITLINK
DAMAGE_TYPE_DEATH,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DEFENSIVE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_DIVINE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_FIRE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_FORCE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_LIGHTNING,
DAMAGE_TYPE_MAGIC,
DAMAGE_TYPE_MIND,
DAMAGE_TYPE_PLANT,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SHADOWSTRIKE,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SONIC,
DAMAGE_TYPE_SPIRITLINK
Here's an excel table.
3. Some known examples
- Cleaving Attack (ANca, ACce): This spell takes AT from the basic attack of whichever unit it is present on, and has DT:Enhanced. On the Pit Lord, Cleaving Attack deals armor-ignoring damage to secondary targets in its AoE, including Spell immune targets, but gets reduced if the secondary target has Fortified Defense type.
- Death and Decay (AUdd): This spell has AT:Spells and DT:Universal. It can damage both Spell Immune units and Ethereal units, and gets reduced by Hero Defense type.
- If you played Dota in Warcraft 3, there's a hero called Beastmaster whose "Wild Axes" spell deals a damage that checks for both Defense type and Defense value on the target. It has AT:Spells and DT:Normal.
- Most of the "Pure" damage in Dota is actually AT:Hero (category Normal) and DT:Magic. That's why it affects neither Spell Immune nor Ethereal units, but always deals full damage otherwise.
4. Additional notes
- There should be no issue with dealing AT:Spells damage via Triggers; however, Blizzard abilities which deal spell immunity-ignoring AT:Spells damage will not affect on Spell immune units as long as the abilities' required level isn't greater than 1. It's hardcoded this way. For example, you can make a Death and Decay spell with 1 as minimum level requirement, and it will not damage Spell immune targets.
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