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Doom Damage is a type of Special Damage that can be delivered by various spells, as well as by various units as part of their Melee Attacks and/or Ranged Attacks. An attack delivering Doom Damage will cause an exact amount of Icon Damage Damage to the target.

Doom Damage is the simplest type of damage. When inflicting Doom Damage, the attacker does not need to make any Icon ToHit To Hit rolls - it automatically inflicts a number of hits equal to the strength of the attack. Similarly, the defender may not make any Icon Defense Defense rolls to try and block any of this damage. As a result, the target suffers a number of Icon Damage Damage points exactly equal to the strength of the Doom Damage attack.

Doom Damage is not as rare as its strength might indicate. It is delivered by several types of spells - primarily Doom Bolt and Magic Vortex. Chaos Spawns, possessing the Doom Gaze ability, also deliver Doom Damage as part of their devastating attacks. Heroes may also add a Doom Damage component to their Melee Attacks or Ranged Attacks by equipping a Magical Melee Weapon that contains the "Chaos" enchantment (though this halves the strength of their attacks, as explained below). Other than these, no other units or attacks will deliver Doom Damage.

Effect[]

Doom Damage has the simplest effect of any Damage Type: it inflicts an exact amount of Icon Damage Damage on the target, completely unaffected by any Icon ToHit To Hit, Icon Defense Defense or Icon Resist Resistance rolls.

Exact Damage[]

Whenever an attack containing a Doom Damage component strikes any target on the battlefield, it inflicts an amount of Icon Damage Damage on that target identical to the strength of the attack itself. For example, an attack of strength 10 delivering Doom Damage will inflict exactly Icon Damage 10 points of Damage on the target.

There are no Icon ToHit To Hit rolls involved in determining how many hits are successfully inflicted, so the attacker's Icon ToHit To Hit score is irrelevant. Similarly, the target is not allowed to make any Icon Defense Defense or Icon Resist Resistance rolls, and thus cannot reduce the number of hits suffered.

As a result, the amount of Icon Damage Damage inflicted by a Doom Damage attack does not change unless the strength of the attack itself changes.

Immunities[]

Only two sources of Doom Damage can be blocked, namely the Doom Bolt spell and the damage a Magic Vortex does when passing over a unit. Units possessing the Magic Immunity ability will never be harmed by these spells at all. This is also true for all units enchanted with Righteousness or Magic Immunity.

Sources of Doom Damage[]

There are several Icon ChaosChaos spells that deliver Doom Damage. One unit (the Unit Icon ChaosSpawn TransparentChaos Spawn) uses a Doom Gaze attack, and Heroes can be equipped with Magical Weapons that deliver this type of damage.

Doom Bolt Spell[]

Main article: Doom Bolt, Doom Bolt Spell

SpellIcon DoomBolt Doom Bolt is a Rare Combat Instant belonging to the Icon ChaosChaos Realm. For a base cost of Icon Mana 40, it delivers a strength-10 Doom Damage attack against any target on the battlefield. As explained above, this causes exactly Icon Damage 10 points of Damage to the target. If the target has Magic Immunity however, the spell has no effect against it (entirely wasting the Icon Mana Mana spent on casting the spell).

The Warlocks unit possesses an ability Ability DoomBoltSpell Doom Bolt Spell, which allows it to cast Doom Bolt once per battle, without spending any Icon Mana Mana whatsoever. This version of the spell is identical in effect to the regular Doom Bolt described above.

Doom Gaze[]

Main article: Doom Gaze

The Ability DoomGaze Doom Gaze ability is a powerful source of Doom Damage, possessed by only one unit in the game: the Chaos Spawn. Whenever the Chaos Spawn makes a Melee Attack or Counter Attack, it will first execute a separate Gaze Attack that delivers Doom Damage. This attack has a strength of 4 (boosted to 6 in Chaos Nodes), and thus inflicts exactly Icon Damage 4 points of Damage on the target, as explained above in this article.

A Gaze Attack occurs before the exchange of Melee Damage between the attacker and the target. As a result, any enemy Icon Figure Figures killed by the Doom Damage do not get a chance of cause any Melee Damage nor Touch Attacks against the Chaos Spawn. Thus, Doom Gaze protects the Chaos Spawn by reducing the number of enemy Figures that retaliate against it. It may, potentially, kill the entire enemy unit outright, and thus end the combat round before the target can deliver any damage at all!

Magic Vortex[]

If a SpellIcon MagicVortex Magic Vortex passes over any unit, it will deliver Icon Damage 5 points of Doom Damage to that target. Note, that a Magic Vortex may also strike adjacent units, but this will deal no Doom Damage.

Chaos Weapons[]

The final source of Doom Damage comes from weapons imbued with the ItemPower Chaos "Chaos" Item Power. This enchantment can be placed only on weapons - including Swords, Maces, Axes, Bows, Wands, and Staves.

When a Sword, Mace or Axe with the "Chaos" enchantment is equipped, the Hero's Melee Attacks and Counter Attacks will deliver Doom Damage instead of regular Melee Damage. Similarly, a Bow, Wand or Staff enchanted with "Chaos" cause the Hero's Ranged Attack to deliver Doom Damage instead of regular Ranged Damage.

This is extremely powerful, as it renders the Hero's Icon ToHit To Hit score meaningless - inflicting the same amount of damage on the target with each and every attack, even when directed against the more heavily-armored opponents in the game.

On the other hand, the "Chaos" enchantment has another important effect: it halves the strength of the Hero's attack, and rounds it down. For example, if the Hero normally has a Melee Attack of strength Icon Melee Normal 9, when he/she equips a "Chaos" weapon his/her attack will now deliver 4 Doom Damage - causing exactly Icon Damage 4 Damage to any target. This attack doesn't have the potential of the Hero's original attack (which would deliver up to Icon Damage 9 Damage), but is far more dependable and ignores the target's armor to boot. Overall, this is quite a worthwhile tradeoff!

During the custom Item Crafting process, the "Chaos" bonus is only available if you possess at least Icon Chaos6 Chaos Spellbooks. Naturally, it's always possible to find a weapon containing this bonus as a reward for defeating Encounters.

The Hero's attack will only deliver Doom Damage while the Hero is holding the enchanted item. If the item is removed or lost, the Hero's attack no longer delivers Doom Damage - but its strength returns to normal as well.

Black Sleep[]

The effect of Icon DeathBlack Sleep can also be linked to Doom Damage. If a unit was cursed by Black Sleep, the unit is not only unable to attack: all incoming Conventional Damage (attacks checked against Icon Defense Defense) will also be converted to Doom Damage - dealing maximum damage and ignoring immunities. For example, if a UnitEnchantment BlackSleepsleeping unit is attacked by an unexperienced unit of Bowmen (Icon Ranged Bow 1 attack strength, Icon MultiFigureUnit 6 figures), the Bowmen will inflict exactly Icon Damage 6 damage points - ignoring stuff like Attack Rolls, Defense Rolls, ranged penalties and Missile Immunity. However, the sleeping unit is still able to defend against Special Damage (attacks checked against Icon Resist Resistance) as usual.

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