Attack damage

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

³ Main attack damage is only reduced for the instant attack, so that only the ability can use it.

⁴ Total attack damage is only reduced for the

Tempest Double if the penalty distance is exceeded or Arc Warden is dead.

Main Attack Damage[]

Main Article: Heroes' Main Attack Damage Table

Main attack damage is the damage value shown in white numbers on a hero's statistics consisting of the base attack damage with the damage granted by a hero's primary attribute on top. A hero's main attack damage can only be increased by raising its primary attribute, or by very few specific abilities.

Attribute points can be acquired by leveling up, or by using specific items, abilities, or talents that grants bonus attributes.

Primary Attribute	Main Attack Damage/Point
Strength	+1
Agility	+1
Intelligence	+1

Main Attack Damage is defined as

Main Attack Damage = (Base Attack Damage + Σ Primary Attribute) × $\prod _{i=1}^{n}$ (1 - Modifiers _i)

For a detailed table of all 123 heroes' main attack damage, please refer to this page.

Main Attack Damage Sources[]

Increasing Sources[]

The following items and abilities manipulates the primary attribute of the hero, and therefore increasing its main attack damage.

Main Attack Damage Increasing Sources

Attributes - Attribute Bonus

All Attribute Bonus: 2/4/6/8/10/12/14
If all ability points are spend on their respective levels, Attribute Bonus levels up automatically on the levels 17/19/21/22/23/24/26.
Apex

Primary Attribute Bonus: 70
Possessed Mask

Primary Attribute Bonus: 7
Titan Sliver

Main Attack Damage Bonus: 20%
Power Treads - Switch Attribute

Selected Attribute Bonus: 10
Passively grants the owner of the item a bonus to the current selected attribute. Can be cast to switch the bonus from Strength ➜ Intelligence, Intelligence ➜ Agility and Agility ➜ Strength.
Vambrace - Switch Attribute

Selected Attribute Bonus: 10
Passively grants the owner of the item a bonus to the current selected attribute. Can be cast to switch the bonus from Strength ➜ Intelligence, Intelligence ➜ Agility and Agility ➜ Strength.

Strength[]

Strength Items

Item	Value	Item Cost	Cost/Value Point
Abyssal Blade	35	6250	178.57
Black King Bar	34	4050	119.12
Echo Sabre	28	2500	89.29
Gleipnir	44	6150	139.77
Ring of Aquila	6	N/A	N/A
Satanic	63	5050	80.16
Skull Basher	35	2875	82.14
Values may include portions from actives or auras.

Strength Increasing Sources

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

Agility[]

Agility Items

Item	Value	Item Cost	Cost/Value Point
Butterfly	55	4975	90.45
Gleipnir	44	6150	139.77
Ring of Aquila	12	N/A	N/A
Values may include portions from actives or auras.

Agility Increasing Sources

Drow Ranger – Marksmanship
Morphling – Attribute Shift (Agility Gain)
Riki – Tricks of the Trade
Slark – Essence Shift
Phantom Lancer – Phantom Rush

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

Intelligence[]

Intelligence Items

Item	Value	Item Cost	Cost/Value Point
Bloodthorn	70	6800	97.14
Echo Sabre	25	2500	100
Gleipnir	54	6150	113.89
Mage Slayer	30	2400	80
Oblivion Staff	25	1500	60
Ring of Aquila	6	N/A	N/A
Values may include portions from actives or auras.

Intelligence Increasing Sources

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

Talents[]

Reducing Sources[]

Some abilities reduces main attack damage based on percentages, and some abilities manipulates the primary attribute of the hero, and therefore reducing its main attack damage.

Main Attack Damage Reducing Sources

Lycan – Howl
Medusa – Split Shot
Morphling – Attribute Shift (Strength Gain)
Rubick – Fade Bolt
Silencer – Glaives of Wisdom
Slark – Essence Shift
Tidehunter – Anchor Smash
Timbersaw – Whirling Death
Underlord – Atrophy Aura
Undying – Decay
Windranger – Focus Fire

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

Base Attack Damage[]

Base attack damage is the part of the main attack damage that stays the same throughout a game. It consists of two values, a minimum and maximum amount. Every time an attack is issued, a random value between the minimum and maximum is chosen to help decide the damage output.

The most extreme hero example of this is Chaos Knight, with his base attack damage ranging between 29 – 59, causing his damage output to be somewhat unpredictable. This range of 30 is always part of his attack calculations, no matter how many attributes or how much bonus attack damage he acquires.

Abilities[]

Base Attack Damage Increasing Sources

Talents[]

The following heroes have a talent that grants them base attack damage.

Bonus	Level 10		Level 15		Level 20		Level 25
Bonus	Left	Right	Left	Right	Left	Right	Left	Right
Base Damage	+50	+30

Heroes	Bonuses	Σ Base Attack Damage
	+30	57 – 67
	+50	81 – 91

Bonus Attack Damage[]

Bonus attack damage is the attack damage value shown in green numbers with a plus on the left, right after the white attack damage number on a unit's statistics. Whenever a bonus attack damage granting item or ability shows a +Attack Damage, e.g. Blades of Attack +9 Damage, it increases the bonus attack damage of the affected unit.

Probably the most important difference between main and bonus attack damage is that illusions only benefit from main attack damage, although their HUD still shows the bonus armor just like on other heroes, to make them less obvious to the enemy.

There are two types of bonus attack damage:

Flat Bonuses: Adds a flat number of damage to the unit's damage total (e.g. Phase Boots etc.).
Main Attack Damage Percentage Bonuses: Adds an amount of bonus attack damage equal to a percentage of the affected unit's main attack damage (e.g. Vladmir's Offering, Packleader's Aura etc.). While bonus attack damage is usually positive values, it can also use a negative value to reduce a unit's net attack damage (e.g. Static Link etc.).

Bonus Attack Damage is defined as

Bonus Attack Damage = (Main Attack Damage × $\prod _{i=1}^{n}$ (1 + Bonus Value Modifiers _i) + Flat Bonus Values

Bonus Attack Damage Sources[]

Increasing Sources[]

Percentage Bonuses[]

Abilities Granting Percentage Bonus

Flat Bonuses[]

Abilities Granting Flat Bonuses

Armlet of Mordiggian – Unholy Strength
Alchemist – Aghanim's Scepter Synth
Bristleback – Warpath
Bounty Hunter – Jinada
Broodmother – Insatiable Hunger
Chen – Holy Persuasion^4a
Dawnbreaker – Starbreaker³
Elder Titan – Astral Spirit
Enchantress – Enchant
Hoodwink – Acorn Shot³
Helm of the Dominator – Dominate
Helm of the Overlord – Dominate
Io – Tether¹
Invoker – Exort
Invoker – Alacrity
Kunkka – Tidebringer
Legion Commander – Duel
Marci – Sidekick
Luna – Lunar Blessing
Monkey King – Jingu Mastery
Nature's Prophet – Wrath of Nature
Night Stalker – Dark Ascension
Phantom Assassin – Stifling Dagger³
Primal Beast – Uproar
Razor – Static Link
Shadow Fiend – Necromastery
Skeleton Warrior – Rally
$Refraction icon.png$ Templar Assassin – Refraction
Underlord – Atrophy Aura

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

³ Damage is granted for the ability and is immediately removed afterward, so that only the ability can use it.

^4a Grants flat attack damage bonus to

Persuaded units only.

Talents[]

The following heroes have a talent that grants them flat bonus attack damage.

Bonus	Level 10		Level 15		Level 20		Level 25
Bonus	Left	Right	Left	Right	Left	Right	Left	Right
Damage	+15 +35 +60	+15 +15 +15 +15 +20 +25 +30 +30 +30 +50	+20 +40	+25 +45 +65 +80	+30			+252

The majority of attack damage increasing talents grants bonus attack damage. Therefore, it does not benefit illusions and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.

Items[]

Flat Bonus Attack Damage Increasing Items

Item	Value	Item Cost	Cost/Value Point
Abyssal Blade	25	6250	250
Armlet of Mordiggian	15	2500	166.67
Battle Fury	60	4100	68.33
Black King Bar	24	4050	168.75
Blade Mail	28	2100	75
Blades of Attack	9	N/A	N/A
Blades of Attack	9	450	50
Bloodthorn	50	6800	136
Brigand's Blade	10	N/A	N/A
Broadsword	15	1000	66.67
Broom Handle	8	N/A	N/A
Butterfly	25	4975	199
Claymore	20	1350	67.5
Crystalys	32	1950	60.94
Daedalus	88	5150	58.52
Demon Edge	40	2200	55
Desolator	50	3500	70
Divine Rapier	350	5950	17
Echo Sabre	15	2500	166.67
Faerie Fire	2	70	35
Falcon Blade	12	1125	93.75
Gleipnir	30	6150	205
Maelstrom	24	2700	112.5
Mage Slayer	20	2400	120
Mask of Madness	10	1775	177.5
Mind Breaker	25	N/A	N/A
Mithril Hammer	24	1600	66.67
Mjollnir	24	5600	233.33
Monkey King Bar	40	4975	124.38
Nullifier	80	4725	59.06
Oblivion Staff	15	1500	100
Orchid Malevolence	30	3475	115.83
Paladin Sword	16	N/A	N/A
Penta-Edged Sword	45	N/A	N/A
Quarterstaff	10	875	87.5
Radiance	60	5050	84.17
Ring of Aquila	3	N/A	N/A
Sacred Relic	60	3750	62.5
Satanic	38	5050	132.89
Shadow Blade	20	3000	150
Silver Edge	52	5450	104.81
Skull Basher	25	2875	115
Stygian Desolator	60	N/A	N/A
Values may include portions from actives or auras.

Reducing Sources[]

Abilities Applying Bonus Attack Damage Reductions

Razor – Static Link

Critical Strike Multiplier[]

Wraith King performing a critical strike.
The red number displays the resulting physical damage before reductions.

Main Article: Critical Strike

An attack that triggers Critical Strike has its total damage value multiplied by the given multiplier of the source of the Critical Strike. This means a critical strike is basically an attack damage amplifier, as it does not add extra damage on top of the attack damage, but directly increases the damage of the attack by multiplying it.

It can be defined as

Critical Strike Multiplier = 1 + MAX C_i

The multiplier is applied before any reductions or amplifications on the target or on the attacking unit. It only counts the unit's main attack damage, plus any bonus attack damage (percentage and flat bonuses) it has, meaning any damage instances (i.e. conditional attack damage bonuses) added to the attack damage which is separate from the attack damage itself is not considered by critical strikes.

Therefore, in short, if an ability adds its damage directly to the attack damage, then it may be considered by Critical Strike, though there are exceptions to this. See total attack damage for the complete calculation.

All chance-based sources of Critical Strike use pseudo-random distribution. If an attack procs more than one source of critical strike, only the highest multiplier is applied.

Damage Block[]

Main Article: Damage Block

Damage block reduces any physical damage a unit takes from attacks or from cleave, with the exception of damage dealt by attacks from ward-type units. Does not trigger against magical or pure attack damage. Damage block does not trigger against physical spell damage, with the exception of the abilities listed here. Unlike armor, damage block reduces a fixed amount of damage, instead of a percentage.

When damage block triggers, it blocks damage before other damage reducing effects do. This means that the higher the unit's armor is, the less effective damage block gets. See total attack damage for the complete calculation.

All chance-based sources of damage block use pseudo-random distribution. If an attack activates more than one damage block ability, only the highest block value is applied.

All Melee heroes have an innate Damage Block ability, which has a 50% chance to block 16 damage.

Damage Manipulation[]

Main Articles: Armor and Damage Manipulation

Damage manipulation is a mechanic that alters damage values, either increasing or reducing it. Damage can be manipulated on both ends, from the dealing unit (outgoing damage) and the receiving unit (incoming damage). Armor and magic resistance are the most common damage manipulators, affecting incoming physical and magical damage respectively. Besides armor and magic resistance, a general damage manipulator exists, which is used by almost all other sources of damage manipulation. This manipulator is more flexible, and can amplify or reduce any kind of damage and may affect attack damage, spell damage, or both at the same time.

The damage multiplier limits are 0 and 2, for infinitely positive and negative armor, respectively.

Attack Classes[]

There are several different classes of attack damage (also known as Attack types or attack damage types), which determine how much damage a unit's attack deals against certain unit types. Each of the 3 different attack classes deals either reduced, increased, or unchanged damage against heroes, non-hero units, and structures, on top of it being also manipulated by the armor value of the target.

The attack classes are represented by 3 abilities visible in the unit's HUD. If a unit does not have any of these 3 abilities, their attacks deal 100% damage and is only altered by the target's armor and other damage manipulators.

These abilities are not acquirable via Devour.

Runty

Ability
Passive

Runty Units Deal reduced damage to hero units

Attack Damage Reduction Against Heroes: 25%

Attack Damage Reduction Against Reinforced Units: 30%

Modifiers []

Notes:

Treats creep-heroes as creeps, except for the Spirit Bear, which is treated as a hero.

Treats Roshan as a creep.

Reinforced units include all units with the Reinforced ability (i.e. Siege Creep and all buildings).

Piercing

Ability
Passive

Piercing Units Deal Bonus Damage to non-hero, non-heavy units and reduced damage to heroes and heavy units

Attack Damage Bonus Against Non-Hero Units: 50%

Attack Damage Reduction Against Heroes: 50%

Attack Damage Reduction Against Reinforced: 65%

Modifiers []

Notes:

Treats creep-heroes as creeps, except for the Spirit Bear, which is treated as a hero.

Treats Roshan as a creep.

Reinforced units include all units with the Reinforced ability (i.e. Siege Creep and all buildings).

Reinforced

Ability
Passive

Reinforced Units and Buildings Deal Bonus Damage to other Reinforced Units and Buildings and take less attack damage from other units.

Attack Damage Bonus Against Reinforced Units: 50%

Incoming Hero Attack Damage Reduction: 50%

Incoming Non-Hero Attack Damage Reduction: 30%

Incoming Piercing Attack Damage Reduction: 65%

Modifiers []

Notes:

Treats creep-heroes as creeps, except for the Spirit Bear, which is treated as a hero.

Treats Roshan as a creep.

Reinforced units include all units with the Reinforced ability (i.e. Siege Creep and all buildings).

If a non-hero unit has piercing attack, it is only affected by the attack damage reduction against piercing attacks, and not by the reduction against non-hero units.

Attack damage dealt against defense class is defined as

Attack Damage Dealt = Total Attack Damage × Attack Class × Damage Manipulation

This table shows how much damage each attack class deals against each defense class, and which units use which attack class:

Attack Class	Used by	D amage Against Unit Type
Attack Class	Used by	Hero	Non-Hero	Reinforced
Default	Heroes, Clones, Illusions, Creep-Heroes and every single non-hero unit that is not explicitly listed in another attack class	100%	100%	50% / 70%
Runty	Mega Melee Creep, Melee Creep, Super Melee Creep	75%	100%	70%
Piercing	Ghost, Harpy Scout, Harpy Stormcrafter, Hill Troll Berserker, Hill Troll Priest, Hill Troll, Mega Ranged Creep, Plague Ward, Ranged Creep, Serpent Ward, Super Ranged Creep, Vhoul Assassin	50%	150%	35%
Reinforced	Fountain, Melee Barracks, Ranged Barracks, Siege Creep, Super Siege Creep, Tower (Tier 1), Tower (Tier 2), Tower (Tier 3), Tower (Tier 4)	100%	100%	150%

Examples[]

Instant Attacks[]

Instant Attacks are abilities that uses the hero's regular attack damage values as ability damage to the target unit(s) or area. Instant Attacks do not use the hero's attack animation, are independent from attack speed, and ignores the regular downtime between attacks. Certain abilities that deal instant attack damage are not affected by evasion. If an instant attack is performed by a Ranged hero, it still uses their regular attack projectile for the attack, unless it is set not to.

If an instant attack occurs while already attacking an enemy normally, it does not interfere with the regular attacks. Instant Attacks do not interfere with any other actions of the hero either, meaning they neither interrupt movement, nor cancel ability casts nor stop channeling abilities.

Since instant attacks do not use attack animations and jump straight to the attack point, they cannot proc effects which react on the start of an attack (e.g. Untouchable or Moment of Courage). However, they can proc effects which react on attack hit (e.g. Counter Helix or Retaliate), although there are some exceptions to this.

Instant attacks may proc on-hit effects only when they are allowed to. An instant attack which is not allowed to proc attack modifiers is not allowed to proc on-hit effects either. Evasion and blind fully work against instant attacks. Just like regular attacks, instant attacks also cause the attacking hero to get revealed if attacking from the Fog of War.

Instant Attack Sources That Trigger Attack Modifiers

The following Instant Attack sources cannot trigger attack modifiers.

Sources That Cannot Trigger Attack Modifiers

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires

³ Grants instant attacks to tier 2, 3, and 4 towers.

⁴ May not proc any attack modifiers or on-hit effects, unless the required

talent is chosen.

Attack-based Projectiles[]

Some abilities generate projectiles that are based on an attack, but are technically not an attack. These abilities' projectiles use the source's attack projectile, and deal damage based on the attacking unit's attack damage, and have their damage flagged as attack damage as well, but are not counted as attacks otherwise. Instead, they are treated like regular ability projectiles (like e.g. Magic Missile), and therefore cannot trigger attack modifier or on-hit effects, ignore evasion and blind, and do not reveal the attacking units through the Fog of War. This also means that these abilities continue to use projectiles even when their source is a melee hero.

Instant Attack Sources That Trigger Attack Modifier

¹ Requires

^2a Requires

^2b Requires