Cleave



Cleave causes a melee unit's attacks to deal a portion of its damage in an area in front of it.

Mechanics
Cleave causes the unit's attack to deal damage in a trapezoid in front of the attacking unit. The damage is based on the unit's total attack damage values. Cleave can only be used by melee units,  ranged units cannot cleave by default.

Cleave does not affect the primary target, and it cannot miss when hitting secondary targets. However, a missed attack does not cleave. Cleave hits invisible, but not hidden or invulnerable units, and does not work against wards and buildings.

Stacking
Multiple sources of cleave on the same unit work fully independently of each other. Each source applies its full damage within its area, without interacting with the other cleave sources.


 * Example 1
 * with level 4, has level 4 buff and  would deal 3 different instances of cleave damage on each attack to units, with each instance using its own starting radius, distance and end radius in front of him.

Ability Draft
Ranged heroes are unable to cleave. The cleave-granting ability either has its cleave part disabled for them, or the ability is unobtainable by them. An attack is classified as melee when the attack does not rely on projectiles.

If a game mode allows ranged heroes to obtain the normally unobtainable cleave abilities (e.g. Ability Draft), these cleave sources (e.g. and ) fully work for them. The cleave area, just like for melee heroes, is based on the attacking unit's position and happens on attack hit. This means the cleave damage is always applied in front of the attacking hero, even when the target was much further away.

Damage
Cleave's damage type is physical and is entirely based on the unit's total attack damage (before reductions). Its damage pierces spell immunity and is fully affected by damage manipulation.

While cleave damage is technically considered spell damage, certain restrictions are applied to it, which cause outgoing spell damage amplification and spell lifesteal to not work with it.

Area of Effect
The area of effect for cleave sources is shaped like an isosceles trapezoid. This trapezoid is in front of the attacking unit, so that the attacking unit is always at the center of the shorter side of the trapezoid.

Double the starting radius equates to the length of the shorter side of the trapezoid, the cleave distance equates to its height, and double the ending radius equates to the long side parallel to the short side of the trapezoid.

Attack Modifier Interactions
Although cleave is an attack modifier, it works independently on itself and does not interfere with any other attack modifier.

For example, the armor reducing effect of Corruption applied to the primary attacked target does not increase the cleave damage, despite the target receiving extra damage from armor reduction. However, if an attack modifier increases the total attack damage (e.g. Critical Strike), it affects the cleave damage.

Some abilities which grant conditional attack damage bonuses may or may not be included in the cleave damage. The following is a list of abilities that are taken into account by cleave:

Cleave Sources




Splash
Splash is in some ways the ranged version of cleave. It works similarly as cleave, with the main difference being the damage is typically dealt in a circle around the attacked unit, instead of a trapezoid in front of the attacking unit.

Splash does not affect the primary target, and it cannot miss when hitting secondary targets. However, if an attack misses, no splash damage is applied within the radius. Splash damage works with attack modifiers the same way as cleave does.

Just like cleave, splash also works for melee heroes. is able to acquire from  (with  ).

Other Sources
Besides Cleave and Splash, there are some unique attack-based area damage abilities that share some similarities with cleave and splash, or with each other.

Tree Grab


Tree Grab shares several similarities with cleave. Its damage is calculated based on 's total attack damage. It also considers armor value, defense classes, and deals physical damage.

The biggest difference to cleave is how its damage area is calculated. While cleave sources is shaped like an isosceles trapezoid, Tree Grab's area is a semicircle on top of a rectangle. The ability's area is also locked on Tiny, being in front of him, no matter how far away the attack target is.

Psi Blades


Psi Blades causes 's attack to damage enemies behind the attacked target. The spill damage is based on how much exactly the primary attack target took, and is dealt as pure damage to units behind it. The damage counts as spell damage, but they ignore outgoing spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.

The spill area has a rectangular shape, with a width of and has a length of. The spill area can be further increased by other attack range bonuses. Templar Assassin's position is checked as the projectile hits the target, not upon launching.

Patch History
Прорубающий удар 分裂