Spell Power and Damage Modifier

In this guide we will take a look at how healing and damage modifiers work, something which is useful to know when evaluating specific Talents which provide those effects, especially for Heroes who have access to both types of modifiers but also when they come from different Heroes in the same team.

Those modifiers are:

• Spell Power Modifier, which affects both healing (including percent-based healing) and damage done with Abilities (excluding percent-based damage);
• Damage Modifier, which affects both damage done with Abilities (excluding percent-based damage) and Basic Attacks.

Healing Modifier, Spell Damage Modifier, and Physical Damage Modifier cannot go lower than -75%, however, the in-game interface does not show so. This cap is there to prevent those effects to completely deny the damage and/or healing done by Heroes when combined together.

Finally, be aware that what you see in the Target Info Panel is actually the Spell Damage Modifier, not the Spell Power Modifier, so the label is misleading because it looks like it includes the Healing Modifier but that is not always the case, depending if the Spell Damage Modifier comes from a Spell Power Modifier or a Damage Modifier.

Ana has a Talent called Debilitating Dart which reduces damage dealt by enemy Heroes by 50% for 4 seconds, so it falls in the Damage Modifier category. As a consequence, the enemy Hero hit will have -50% Spell Damage Modifier and -50% Physical Damage Modifier for 4 seconds.

To recap, Debilitating Dart applies:

• -0% Healing Modifier,
• -50% Spell Damage Modifier,
• -50% Physical Damage Modifier.

This effect will incorrectly show as -50% Spell Power Modifier in the Target Info Panel, however, we know that we still have -0% Healing Modifier because, as explained above, what is being shown there is the Spell Damage Modifier with a wrong label.

Ana also has Mind-Numbing Agent which can be used to reduce the Spell Power of enemy Heroes up to 50% by hitting them with Basic Attacks that apply Doses with Shrike. As a consequence, the enemy Hero hit will have -50% Spell Damage Modifier and -50% Healing Modifier.

To recap, Mind-Numbing Agent apllies:

• -50% Healing Modifier,
• -50% Spell Damage Modifier,
• -0% Physical Damage Modifier.

This effect will correctly show as -50% Spell Power Modifier in the Target Info Panel because the Physical Damage Modifier, which causes the interface to be wrong sometimes, is equal to 0% in this case.

If we use Debilitating Dart and Mind-Numbing Agent on the same target, we are applying -50% Damage Modifier and -50% Spell Power Modifier. As you can see from the graph above, this means that the enemy Hero hit will have -50% Healing Modifier, -75% Spell Damage Modifier, and -50% Physical Damage Modifier.

We stop at -75% Spell Damage Modifier because of the cap, however, keep in mind that the enemy Hero hit will not be able to gain Spell Power if the amount they receive is lower than 25% because there is still -25% Spell Damage to be denied under the cap!

To recap, Debilitating Dart and Mind-Numbing Agent together apply:

• -50% Healing Modifier,
• -75% Spell Damage Modifier,
• -50% Physical Damage Modifier.

This combination of effects will incorrectly show as -100% Spell Power Modifier in the Target Info Panel, but the affected Hero will obviously still be able to heal and deal damage thanks to the -75% cap.