Hello, new player here... At this point in time, I'm trying to get a really good picture of how this game works; man is it deep. One thing that I haven't been able to find much info about is damage types. For example, some poison abilities say that they do '2 poison damage' to an enemy, and acid abilities 'do 2 acid damage' to an enemy, etc. What's the difference between poison damage, acid damage and regular damage, etc.? Are certain champions weak vs. certain types?
This should definitely be in extended tutorial missions. There are 8 damage types, and 1 not-damage-type. Fire, Ice, Electric, Magic, Poison, Sonic, Acid, and Disease. The Not-Damage-Type is Loss of Life (LoL for short), which is damage that does not trigger any damage clause (bypasses everything except on hit). There is no gigantic weakness/strength wheel. Instead, champions are more or less arbitrarily given weakness to a damage type. Damage amplification is a mechanic you will have to build your BG around, since it's an ability typically given in increments of 10% (max of 50% and is a global effect).
Damage type is all about resistances and voulnerabilites. Some cahmps have resistance to some dmg type and some are vourneable to some type. In general it is good to include multiple damage types in your bg to be able to bypass resistances.
Damage types are really just flavor more than anything else. Acid Elemental has Attack - Acid, for example, for obvious reasons. Other than that, different damage types are resisted by certain champions. Groble Rock Eater has Resistance - Acid 3, for example, so he takes 50% less Acid damage. Some champions are even immune to all damage of a certain type; Myx Broodlord is immune to all Acid damage, for example. Other times, a champion will be vulnerable to a certain damage type, meaning they take 40% more damage from that type. Deathcaster has Vulnerability - Acid, for example, so he takes 40% more Acid damage from all sources. It's really just about looking at a champion's abilities; if they have a Resistance - X, try to not attack it with that damage type, as it will be less effective. If they have an Immunity - X, don't attack that champion at all with that damage type, as it won't do any damage. If a champion does not have a Resistance, Immunity, or Vulnerability to a specific damage type, then they take normal damage from that damage type (assuming no other modifications are present). Loss of Life is a special case in that it is not considered damage, and thus it ignores a bunch of defensive abilities that modify damage (e.g. Tough, Resistance, Immunity, Evasive/Reflexes). Very few champions have access to it as a basic attack, but it is common on things like Death Pact, Soulstrike, Hex, Tome of Hate, Chopping Block, and Afflict. EDIT: Razzoriel's explanation is better than mine; just read his.
A word about loss of life. It bypasses several resistances because, in short, isn't a damage type. It just causes the target to loss life. However, it still tied to the damage value on attacking champion, so any value that reduces the damage from source will impact or limit the lol on target. EDIT: As example, hex.
You all forgot Psychic damage. OK... first of all, how damage is DEALT. 1) Attack (has a range and a damage value associated with each champ). Attacks with a damage type are subject to the defense stat of the target, along with resistances. 2) Spell (target or area of effect, damage value given on the spell's card). Spells ignore defense, but not resistances/immunities, and keep in mind "spell resistance" on champs and in factions (IS faction bonus, SP font/shrine bonus). 3) Aura (in a range of 2 squares around the champion, no action required). Auras have Rank 1, 2, or 3 and deal 2/4/6 damage of Type X, respectively. Auras are incredibly useful as "finishers" and to get around champions with "Perserverence" 4) Nova (range of 2 squares around the champion, requires an action). Novas have Rank 1, 2, or 3, and deal 3/6/9 damage of Type X, respectively. Novas are very often associated with debuffs to the victims (Slow, Decrease Defense, Inhibit, Rend, and so forth). 5) Cones or Bombs (these have both a range away from the champion with the ability and an area of effect (usually AOE 2)). These have Ranks 1, 2, and 3, and correspond to increasing percent damage, and increasing Range for each rank. The area of effect does not change. Cones and Bombs ignore defense, but not resistance or immunity. Cones/Bombs are often associated with an effect (Knockback or Dot), but not always. 6) Specials (Tremor, Pulse, Beam, Terrain change, Lava Storm, Lava Fall, and so forth - these are less common, and are described on their respective cards - get to know all of the above, read the ability and you'll figure out the specials. Finally, Know Your Secondary Effects!!! Char, Rend, Poison, Chill, Freeze, Inhibit, Defile, Jolt, Knockback, Slow, Stun, Paralyze, Distract, Charm, Scour, Sunder -- these and more can come from Damage Delivered via an attack (the champion will have a description), via a Spell (described on the card), or related to a bomb/cone/Aura/Nova or special. Each of them usually does some form of Damage over Time (DoT), and often imparts a disability to the targeted champion. Resistances: Ranks 1, 2, and 3 with 15/30/50 percentage decrease in damage (rounded DOWN). Eaters - Damage that would be taken is instead healing for this champion (Fire Eater, Ice Eater, Rock Eater, etc). Immunes - No damage take, no healing done, nothing happens. Loss of Life is NOT damage. It goes through all immunities, it does not trigger deflection, it is not countered by Impervious... Damage Types: Physical, Magical, Fire, Frost, Psychic, Sonic, Disease, Poison, Acid, Electricity Damage amplification, damage suppression: Some Runes (champ, spell, relic, equip) enhance or decrease the percentage multiplier... pay attention to them, as they can really change the game. Vulnerabilities to particular damage types are found on some runes, or can be given to runes by other runes.
Just to expand on this (since there will likely never be an all-encompassing guide outside of the forums).
Can we just have an official wiki that the community can moderate? Maybe the new council members? (If they'd want to.) These kinds of things would be great resources for newbies.
