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This article contains outdated information. Until it is revised, please see Conventional Damage for a more accurate description of the same concept.

Physical Damage is the most common Damage Type in Master of Magic. It is the primary (and often only) damage component delivered by all Melee Attacks and Ranged Attacks, and it is used by a wide variety of spells in order to directly harm their targets. In all cases, Physical Damage behaves in a specific but rather complex way, significantly different from the various types of Special Damage.

Physical Damage is intended to cause actual Icon Damage Damage Points to the target - reducing its current Icon Hits Health and potentially killing off some or all of its Icon Figure figures. The "stronger" the Physical Damage attack, the more Icon Damage Damage Points it can potentially deliver.

The process involves two types of rolls - Icon ToHit To Hit and Icon ToBlock Defense rolls - made respectively by the attacker and the target. These rolls help determine how much Icon Damage Damage is actually inflicted on the target, and thus give Physical Damage a great randomness that is not found in other types of damage.

The process is quite complex, and becomes even more complex whenever the attacker or the target (or both!) are Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units. This article explains the entire process in as great a detail as possible.

Physical Damage sometimes receives different names depending on how it is delivered - such as "Melee Damage", "Ranged Damage" or "Magical Damage". All of these behave the same way, except they may sometimes trigger various immunities the target might possess.

Finally, it is important to note that while some other Damage Types, such as Doom Damage and Poison Damage, also cause Icon Damage Damage Points to the target, they are not considered Physical Damage since they involve no Icon ToHit To Hit nor Icon ToBlock Defense rolls - a staple of all Physical Damage types.

Process Overview[]

Whenever Physical Damage is being dealt, by any attack or method, the program runs through this generalized set of actions:

  1. Calculate the Total Attack Strength of the attacking unit.
  2. The attacker makes several randomized Icon ToHit To Hit rolls to determine how many times it has managed to hit its target.
  3. The target makes several randomized Icon ToBlock Defense rolls to determine how many of these hits are blocked or deflected.
  4. Each unblocked hit inflicts Icon Damage 1 Damage Point on the target, injuring it and possibly killing some or all of its Icon Figure figures.
  5. Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units that lose a figure due to this damage may get to make more defense rolls to reduce further damage.
  6. Steps #4 and #5 are repeated until all registered hits are either blocked or translated into Icon Damage Damage.

Each of these steps is explained in greater detail below.

Attack Type and Strength[]

Before we start to deliver Physical Damage, we need to figure out the strength of the attack itself. This tells us the amount of Physical Damage being delivered at the target.

To tell how strong an attack is (and therefore how much damage it can deliver), we need to know what kind of attack we're dealing with. In other words, we'll know what factors to look at in order to determine the attack strength.

Attack Type Strength Calculated From...
Melee Attack The attacker's Icon Melee Normal Melee Attack strength.
     
Ranged Missile Attack The attacker's Icon Ranged Bow Ranged Missile Attack strength.
     
Ranged Boulder Attack The attacker's Icon Ranged Boulder Ranged Boulder Attack strength.
     
Ranged Magical Attack The attacker's Icon Ranged Magic Ranged Magical Attack strength.
     
Thrown Attack The attacker's Icon Thrown Thrown Attack strength.
     
Breath Attack The attacker's Icon Breath Fire Breath or Icon Breath Lightning Lightning Breath ability score.
     
Direct-damage spells Varies from spell to spell, as indicated in the spell's description tool-tip and on this wiki.

The column on the right indicates which unit property we need to read to get the attack strength - which is also the amount of Physical Damage the attack delivers. Spells are the exception, as their strength is not indicated in any specific panel - but rather in the spell's description as found in-game or (often more accurately) in this wiki.

The attack's strength indicates the maximum potential amount of damage it can deliver. However, due to the many random rolls involved, as explained below, very few units in very few circumstances will actually deliver this many Icon Damage Damage Points to the target.

Further complicating things, for Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units the attack strength represents the maximum potential damage that can be delivered by each individual Icon Figure figure in the unit. Only figures that are alive and visible on the battlefield can inflict damage - missing ones (i.e. casualties) cannot. The process of multi-figure attack and defense is explained in greater detail below and elsewhere, particularly in the Figure article.

Registered Hits[]

Calculating the strength of a Physical Damage attack is only the first step. Next up, the attacker (whether a unit on the battlefield or an independent spell effect) must make a number of Icon ToHit To Hit rolls to determine how much of this damage potential it can actually manifest. Each successful Icon ToHit To Hit roll will result in one "registered hit" on the target, which will potentially be translated into Icon Damage 1 point of Damage at the end of the process.

The number of Icon ToHit To Hit rolls that are made is equal to the strength of the attack (see the previous section). Therefore, for example, a unit with Icon Melee Normal 18 will make 18 separate Icon ToHit To Hit rolls, representing 18 separate attempts to score Hits on the target.

Each Icon ToHit To Hit roll results in a completely random number between 1 and 100. This is then directly compared to the attacker's Icon ToHit To Hit score. The default To Hit score is Icon ToHit 30% for all units and spells, while some units can enjoy a bonus (or suffer a penalty) which is measured in 10% increments, given by the unit's innate abilities and/or any Unit Enchantments currently affecting it.

Each roll that results in a number equal to or lower than the Icon ToHit To Hit score is "successful", and thus one hit is registered on the target. Each rolls that comes up higher than the Icon ToHit To Hit score is a "miss", and is not registered.

When all Icon ToHit To Hit rolls are completed, the game tallies them up. This number of successful hit represents the maximum amount of Icon Damage Damage that will be done to the target. However, as we'll see in a moment, the process is not over: the target might still have a chance to deflect some of this damage.

Example[]

A unit attacks with Icon Ranged Bow 15. This gives it 15 separate attempts to score hits on the target.
Units have a basic To Hit value of Icon ToHit 30%, but this specific unit's abilities happen to modify its score to Icon ToHit 40%.
The game proceeds to roll 15 completely-random numbers, each between 1 and 100. Each of these rolls that comes up 40 or lower will register as a Hit on the target. All other rolls are ignored.
The game tallies together all of these "registered Hits". If, for example, 10 rolls were successful, then 10 "hits" are registered, and the target will suffer anywhere up to Icon Damage 10 depending on how well it defends itself.
If all fifteen rolls resulted in 40 or lower, it means that the attacker delivers its full damage potential of Icon Damage 15 damage points to the target. Conversely, if all rolls came up 41 or higher, the attacker has failed to score any hits and will deal no Icon Damage Damage at all! Most often though, thanks to the copious randomness involved, some rolls will succeed and some will fail, resulting in somewhere between 0 and 15 hits.

The Target's Defense[]

Before damage is actually applied however, the target of this Physical Damage gets the chance to block or avert some or all hits registered upon it by rolling against its own Icon Defense Defense and Icon ToBlock To Block scores.

The unit's Icon Defense Defense score is visible in its details panel as a row of Icon Defense Shield icons. Each Icon Defense Shield represents a chance to block one of the registered hits, thus avoiding exactly Icon Damage 1. The more rolls are successful, the more Icon Damage Damage is avoided.

The process is similar to the Icon ToHit To Hit rolls explained above - except with different parameters.

For one, the number of rolls made by the defender is equal to its Icon Defense Defense score, so a unit with Icon Defense 5 Defense makes 5 rolls, and thus blocks anywhere up to 5 incoming hits (i.e. Icon Damage 5).

Secondly, the chance of success with each roll depends on the unit's Icon ToBlock To Block score. This score is rarely shown anywhere in the game, since it almost never changes; it is nearly always exactly Icon ToBlock 30% for any target. Only a few targets, primarily those possessing the Lucky ability, have more than Icon ToBlock 30% To Block (usu. Icon ToBlock 40% and no more).

Once again, each roll results in a random number between 1 and 100. The numbers are then compared to the target's Icon ToBlock To Block score. Each roll that comes up equal to or lower than that score has successfully managed to deflect 1 incoming hit, and thus reduces the resulting damage by Icon Damage 1. Failed rolls - resulting in a number higher than the unit's Icon ToBlock To Block score - do nothing.

Thus, the greater the number of successful Icon ToBlock Defense rolls made by the target, the less Physical Damage it suffers from the attack. A target can potentially block all incoming damage if it succeeds in a large enough number of rolls, which often happens when the incoming attack was weak to begin with.

Example[]

An attacker makes its Icon ToHit To Hit rolls, and ends up registering 10 hits on the target.
The target has a Defense score of Icon Defense 10, and an unmodified Icon ToBlock 30% To Block. It will therefore roll 10 random numbers, each between 1 and 100, and each roll that comes up 30 or lower will deflect one incoming hit.
If three rolls are successful, the number of hits is reduced by 3. Therefore, the target will only suffer 7 hits (which will be translated to Icon Damage 7 points of damage, as explained below).
If all 10 rolls are successful, the target unit suffers no damage - having averted all hits!
Conversely, if all 10 rolls fail, the target will suffer all 10 hits, i.e. Icon Damage 10 points of damage.

Applying Damage[]

As explained above, each registered hit that is not blocked by the target's Icon Defense Defense rolls will inflict exactly Icon Damage 1 damage point on the target.

Icon Damage Damage Points are subtracted from the unit's current Icon Hits Hit Points. Each Icon Damage 1 will darken a single Icon Hits Heart as displayed in the unit's details panel. Only healing (whether over time or thanks to spell effects) will restore these lost Icon Hits Hit Points.

Once a unit loses all of its Icon Hits Hit Points, it is completely destroyed. Only magical spells and very special Unit Abilities can restore it to life - otherwise it is gone for good.

Implications of Damage[]

Icon SingleFigureUnit Single-Figure units handle Icon Damage Damage in a very simple manner: as long as a Icon SingleFigureUnit Single-Figure unit has at least Icon Hits 1 Hit Point remaining, it remains alive and can fight just as effectively as when the unit is fully-healed. In other words, Icon Damage Damage itself has no noticeable effect on the unit's performance.

For example, a Sky Drake has a powerful and dangerous attack regardless of how injured it is -- so long as it is still alive. Obviously, it is much easier to kill a Sky Drake when it only has a few Icon Hits Hit Points left; but until it is killed, its offensive abilities are not affected by any amount of Icon Damage Damage from which it is currently suffering.

Icon Hits Hit Points are handled very differently for units containing Icon MultiFigureUnit Multiple Figures, where things start to get complex. This is because the game tracks the Icon Hits Health of each individual figure separately.

Only the "front" figure in a Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure unit suffers Icon Damage Damage. However, once that figure suffers a sufficient amount of Icon Damage Damage - enough to reduce its Health to Icon Hits 0 - that figure is killed off. When this happens, the next figure in the unit (if any remain at all) steps up to take any subsequent damage. The unit itself is only destroyed once all Icon Figure figures are killed in this way, but each lost Icon Figure figure reduces the unit's combat performance as well.

For more information, see Damage Points, or skip to the section on Multi-Figure Units, below.

Multiple-Figure Units[]

Physical Damage, and the attacks that deliver it, behaves very differently when it is either inflicted by or upon a Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure unit than it does when inflicted by or upon a Icon SingleFigureUnit Single-Figure unit. The process becomes very complex in these cases, and is explained here in some detail.

Multiple Figures Attacking[]

When a Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure Unit makes an attack delivering any kind of Physical Damage, it will actually deliver one attack per each of its live Icon Figure figures. This is contrary to the game's manual and Official Strategy Guide, which erroneously explain that Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units deliver only a single attack whose strength is based on the number of live Icon Figure figures.

In other words, each of the Icon Figure figures in the attacking unit makes a separate attack on the target. The strength of each of these "sub-attacks" is equal to the unit's Icon Melee Normal Melee Attack strength, Icon Ranged Bow Ranged Missile Attack strength, or whatever other factor is appropriate (see table above).

For example, imagine a unit with Icon Melee Normal 4 Melee Attack Strength and Icon Figure 3 live Figures remaining. When making a Melee Attack, this unit will actually deliver 3 separate Physical Damage sub-attacks (one per Icon Figure figure). Each of these "sub-attacks" delivers 4 Physical Damage points (given the unit's Melee strength of Icon Melee Normal 4).

Only live Icon Figure figures are permitted to deliver a sub-attack. Casualties - i.e. figures currently missing from the unit - obviously cannot attack at all.

This is one of the primary reasons why a Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure unit's combat performance relies so heavily on the maximum number of Icon Figure figures it can contain, and the number it has left at any given time. It also explains why Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units can seem to punch well above their weight, though that is a topic to discuss separately.

Again, since each of these sub-attacks is a separate attack of its own, each delivers Physical Damage as per the entire process described above in this article, from start to finish - including all Icon ToHit To Hit and Icon Defense Defense rolls as appropriate, as well as applying Icon Damage Damage to the target - before moving on to process the next sub-attack. Thus, while the attacker's potential Icon Damage Damage output is greater, the defender's ability to protect itself is also greater, since it gets to defend separately against each and every attacking Icon Figure figure.

Multiple Figures Defending[]

As explained earlier in this article, Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units also behave differently when suffering Icon Damage Damage, and as explained in this section here, they Icon Defense Defend differently as well.

Each Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure unit has one figure designated as the "lead" figure. This is the only figure in the unit that will Icon Defense Defend itself, and the only figure that will suffer Icon Damage Damage. To hurt the other figures in the unit, it is first necessary to kill the "lead" figure.

When this figure is killed, something very important happens: the next figure in the defending unit steps up to take its place. Any unblocked incoming Icon Damage Damage in excess of what it took to kill the first "lead" figure is now redirected towards the new "lead" figure, and can potentially kill it too. If sufficient Icon Damage Damage has yet to be inflicted, it can potentially kill all of these figures one after the other.

However, each time a new "lead" figure steps up, it will make a completely new set of Icon ToBlock Defense rolls, just like the first lead figure did before it died! Therefore, each time a new figure steps up, the remaining incoming Icon Damage Damage can be reduced further and further. Each new "lead" figure's Icon ToBlock Defense rolls does not diminish - it is exactly as potent as the rolls made by the original lead figure.

The result in the game is that the more figures there are in a unit, the harder it is to kill in one attack. Killing the first "lead" figure is usually easy, but the remaining damage will likely be reduced more and more as it keeps killing figures.

Example[]

A High Men Cavalry unit - with all 4 of its Icon Figure figures present - is being attacked by some enemy unit. Each Icon Figure figure in this unit has Icon Hits 3 Hit Points. The unit's Icon Defense Defense score is Icon Defense 2, and it has a mundane Icon ToBlock To Block score of Icon ToBlock 30%.
The attacker makes 7 successful Icon ToHit To Hit rolls, scoring a total of 7 hits. Potentially, this should cause Icon Damage 7 to the target, killing two of the Cavalrymen and injuring another (Icon Damage 7 / Icon Hits 3 = Icon Figure 2 dead figures and change). Of course, given what's explained above, that is actually very unlikely to happen, as we'll see in a moment.
Once we're done with the hit rolls, the "lead" figure in the High Men Cavalry unit makes his Icon Defense Defense rolls. Since this cavalry unit has a Defense score of Icon Defense 2, the cavalryman may make 2 separate rolls. Each roll has a 30% chance to avert one hit, as per the unit's Icon ToBlock 30% To Block.
The rolls are made, but the cavalryman succeeds with only one. This means that the number of inflicted hits is only reduced to 7-1 = Icon Damage 6. This is still enough to kill two cavalrymen, but we're not there just yet.
First, we inflict as much damage as possible on the lead cavalryman. Since the he only has Icon Hits 3 Hit Points, Icon Damage 3 points of Damage are inflicted on him - just enough to kill this cavalryman on the spot.
The next cavalryman then steps up to the "lead" position, ready to absorb the remaining Icon Damage 3 that's still pending. However instead of just taking the damage, this cavalryman gets to make another set of 2 Icon Defense Defense rolls! Lets imagine that he rolls well, blocking Icon Damage 2 of the remaining damage points, leaving him to suffer only Icon Damage 3 - Icon Damage 2 = Icon Damage 1 point of Damage. He suffers this damage, which isn't enough to kill him, and with no Icon Damage Damage left to be processed, the attack concludes.
In total the unit made 4 Defense rolls. 2 were made by the first cavalryman, who failed to protect himself and died valiantly. The second cavalryman then got a fresh chance, making an additional 2 defense rolls and saving himself. Had this cavalryman also been killed, the next one in line would also have been able to make 2 defense rolls, and so would the very last figure if it came to that.
This method of defense is so effective, that it would require an attack of strength 40 or higher to have any real chance of destroying the entire High Men Cavalry unit in one go! Thus, while seemingly a little fragile and defenseless, even High Men Cavalry display quite some resilience, and will rarely be killed in an instant - at least where Physical Damage attacks are involved.

Immunities[]

As mentioned earlier, Physical Damage may be delivered by all sorts of different attacks. Generally speaking, Physical Damage behaves the same regardless of which Attack Type delivered it, at least in terms of the process of applying Icon Damage Damage to the target.

However, different methods of delivering Physical Damage will trigger different immunities possessed by the target (if any). For the most part, if Physical Damage triggers one of the target's immunities, the target's Defense score is temporarily boosted to Icon Defense 50 for purposes of blocking this Physical Damage. In other words, the target will make 50 Icon ToBlock Defense rolls, which can easily avert all Icon Damage Damage from any but the strongest Physical Damage attacks.

In most cases, the factor that determines whether one or more of target's immunities are triggered is either the delivery method of Physical Damage or its source. In others, specific sub-types of Physical Damage from the same type of attack will cause different types of immunities to trigger.

Ability WeaponImmunity Weapon Immunity[]

Main article: Weapon Immunity

Weapon Immunity is the weakest type of immunity that works against Physical Damage. It is also triggered only in very specific circumstances.

When triggered, Weapon Immunity sets the target's Defense score to Icon Defense 10 while processing the Physical Damage component of the attack. Thus, the target makes 10 Icon ToBlock Defense Rolls instead of however many it normally would.

Only Normal Units and Heroes will ever trigger Weapon Immunity in their target, and only while delivering Melee Damage (a sub-type of Physical Damage).

Also, a Normal Unit must be carrying Icon Melee Normal Normal Weapons in order to trigger an enemy's Weapon Immunity. If the unit has Icon Melee Magic Magical Weapons or better, the target's Weapon Immunity is not triggered.

Similarly, Heroes will only trigger a target's Weapon Immunity if they are not currently holding a Magical Weapon. Any weapon will give the Hero a magical attack that does not trigger this immunity.

Ability MissileImmunity Missile Immunity[]

Main article: Missile Immunity

Missile Immunity works only when a target is struck by a Icon Ranged Bow Ranged Missile Attack, and will temporarily raise the target's Defense score to Icon Defense 50 for the purposes of blocking the Physical Damage component of that attack. This includes the Slingers' Icon Ranged Boulder Ranged Attacks which are missile attacks.

Other types of Ranged Attacks (namely Icon Ranged Boulder Ranged Boulder Attacks and Icon Ranged Magic Ranged Magical Attacks) will not trigger a target's Missile Immunity.

Ability MagicImmunity Magic Immunity[]

Main article: Magic Immunity

Magic Immunity is triggered whenever a target is struck by Magical Damage - the type of Physical Damage delivered by Ranged Magical Attacks, Lightning Breath, and most damage-dealing spells.

Furthermore, Magic Immunity will trigger against any attack that delivers either Fire Damage or Cold Damage, which are basically just sub-types of Magical Damage.

The resulting effect of triggering a target's Magic Immunity differs based entirely on the method of delivery of this damage:

It is currently unknown which of these two effects occurs against Breath Attacks, but the working theory is that these are blocked entirely - similarly to spells.

Ability FireImmunity Fire Immunity[]

Main article: Fire Immunity

Fire Immunity is triggered whenever a target is struck by Fire Damage - a specialized sub-type of Magical Damage. Fire Damage is only distinguished from Magical Damage by the fact that it triggers Magic Immunity or Fire Immunity, if either is present in the target.

Again, when Fire Immunity is triggered, the target's Defense score is raised to Icon Defense 50 for purposes of blocking this incoming damage. Therefore it is virtually impossible to hurt a Fire-Immune target using Fire Damage.

Note that if the target possesses both Magic Immunity and Fire Immunity, Fire Damage will only trigger one of these (doesn't matter which one) - causing the target's Defense score to be raised to Icon Defense 50, not Icon Defense 100.

Ability ColdImmunity Cold Immunity[]

Main article: Cold Immunity

Cold Immunity is triggered whenever a target is struck by Cold Damage - a specialized sub-type of Magical Damage. Cold Damage is only distinguished from Magical Damage by the fact that it can trigger Magic Immunity or Cold Immunity, if either is present in the target.

Again, when Cold Immunity is triggered, the target's Defense score is raised to Icon Defense 50 for purposes of blocking this incoming damage. Therefore it is virtually impossible to hurt a Cold-Immune target using Cold Damage.

Note that if the target possesses both Magic Immunity and Cold Immunity, Cold Damage will only trigger one of these (doesn't matter which one) - causing the target's Defense score to be raised to Icon Defense 50, not Icon Defense 100.

Tandem Damage[]

While many Physical Damage attacks deliver only Physical Damage of one type or another, a few of them are or can be augmented with additional Damage Types that will make this Physical Damage more effective.

This is called "tandem damage delivery", because two or more damage types are delivered simultaneously by the same attack. The Physical Damage component of such an attack is the only component that's actually responsible for harming the target, while the tandem damage components make that task easier.

This also means that if the Physical Damage is blocked by any of the target's immunities (see previous chapter), the effect of the tandem damage component is meaningless, since it causes no harm on its own.

Tandem damage types include:

Illusion Damage[]

Main article: Illusion Damage

Illusion Damage is fairly rare, and is found as a tandem component in the attacks of units possessing the Illusion ability, as well as Heroes holding certain Magical Weapons.

When Illusion Damage is dealt together with Physical Damage in the same attack, the target is not allowed to make any Icon ToBlock Defense Rolls during the process of dealing that Physical Damage. This means that the Physical Damage process, as described in this article, relies entirely on Icon ToHit To Hit rolls, giving the target no chance to defend itself.

The Illusion Damage component is cancelled when used against targets possessing Illusion Immunity - such targets can make Icon ToBlock Defense Rolls as normal.

Armor Piercing Damage[]

Main article: Armor Piercing Damage

Armor Piercing Damage is an uncommon tandem component that's usually added to a unit's attacks via the Armor Piercing ability. Furthermore, the Icon Breath Lightning Lightning Breath attack and most lightning-based spells deliver this damage as well, resulting in it sometimes being referred to as "Lightning Damage". Heroes may also acquire Armor Piercing Damage through Magical Weapons.

When Armor Piercing Damage is dealt together with Physical Damage in the same attack, the target may only make half as many Icon ToBlock Defense Rolls as it normally would. This makes it much easier for the Physical Damage component to hurt the target, particularly if the target was heavily-armored to begin with.

There is no immunity that cancels the effect of Armor Piercing Damage, so it is quite reliable. Of course, if the Physical Damage component does trigger any of the target's immunities, then Armor Piercing Damage has no effect at all.

The Many Names of Physical Damage[]

One of the purposes of the Master of Magic Wiki is to attempt to analyze and explain the inner workings of the game. This can be very difficult to do, since many of the rules are filled with exceptions and are very complex to begin with. Thus, many concepts have had to be invented in order to try and keep things simple. This isn't always an easy task.

Physical Damage was the name given to the entirety of Damage Types that involve Icon ToHit To Hit and Icon Defense Defense rolls, as explained above in this article. Physical Damage was invented in order to refrain from re-explaining things over and over whenever discussing various attack types and damage types, but it doesn't solve all the complexity. There are still many different ways that Physical Damage is handled, as explained in the chapters on immunities and tandem damage above.

To make things a little easier to read, this Wiki often refers to different "sub-types" of Physical Damage by different names. Although they behave the same, they are often delivered differently or have slightly-different effects. This chapter explains the different names of Physical Damage used throughout the wiki, why they are used, and what they mean when used.

Melee Damage[]

Main article: Melee Damage

Melee Damage is the name given to the Physical Damage delivered by any Melee Attack.

When the term Melee Damage is used, it will always refer to the damage delivered at the very end of the attack (or sometimes just before the end, such as when attacks employ First Strike to reorganize the combat sequence). The amount of Melee Damage an attack delivers is based on the unit's Icon Melee Normal Melee Attack strength.

This is important because some Melee Attacks deliver several separate instances of Physical Damage. For example, an attacker possessing a Icon Thrown Thrown Attack will deliver Physical Damage from this attack when melee combat begins, and then Melee Damage at the end of the attack. Similarly, units with a Icon Breath Breath Attack of any kind will also deliver Physical Damage as part of that attack, prior to delivering Melee Damage.

To summarize, whenever the term "Melee Damage" is mentioned, it refers only to that damage that a Melee Attack delivers near the very end of the attack process, and whose amount is based mostly or entirely on the unit's Icon Melee Normal Melee Attack strength. A Melee Attack may deliver additional Physical Damage, which would then be referred to separately as appropriate.

Ranged Damage[]

Main article: Ranged Damage

All Ranged Attacks deliver Physical Damage, though it behaves a little differently based on which type of Ranged Attack a unit is using - whether it is a Icon Ranged Bow Missile, Icon Ranged Boulder Boulder, or Icon Ranged Magic Magical attack. This makes things a lot harder to explain without using very very long sentences.

The term Ranged Damage was invented to describe any Physical Damage as coming from a Ranged Attack, without specifying the attack's type. In other words, Physical Damage from any of the three Ranged Attack types is often called Ranged Damage - for simplicity's sake.

This can get very confusing since, again, the damage from each attack is sometimes handled differently. For example, Physical Damage from a Icon Ranged Bow Ranged Missile Attack will trigger a target's Missile Immunity, while damage from a Icon Ranged Boulder Ranged Boulder Attack will not.

Therefore, the term Ranged Damage should be used only when discussing damage coming from a Ranged Attack of any kind. If it is necessary to distinguish between them, extra explanations can be used, particularly denoting the type of attack.

Magical Damage[]

Main article: Magical Damage

Magical Damage is one of the most confusing terms used on this wiki, since it lumps together a whole bunch of Physical Damage instances delivered by all sorts of attacks and from all kinds of sources. The main thing that all Magical Damage has in common is that it will trigger a target's Magic Immunity (if it has this ability), in one way or another.

All Physical Damage spells are said to deliver Magical Damage - and they will all be completely blocked if the target has Magic Immunity, as explained earlier. None of this damage will ever hurt the target in any way!

The same thing goes for spell effects that deliver Physical Damage, such as the Wall of Fire spell, Magic Vortex, Meteor Storm, and a whole slew of others. Again, if a target possesses Magic Immunity, the spell effect will deal no damage to it whatsoever.

The term Magical Damage is also sometimes used to refer to the Physical Damage caused by a Icon Ranged Magic Magical Ranged Attack, since it also triggers the target's Magic Immunity. In this case, the target's Defense score is raised to Icon Defense 50, rather than just blocking all damage outright. Of course, things get a little complicated since, given what's explained in the previous section, a Icon Ranged Magic Magical Ranged Attack is also said to deliver Ranged Damage. Depending on the context, either term (and usually both) is appropriate.

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