Damage Reduction

Damage Reduction reduces all damage taken by a percentage.

• Often damage reduction only gives bonuses to incoming damage from the front, or only from the rear, or only degens.
• Heroes, creatures, and guardians have 0% base damage reduction.

Damage reduction has a soft cap of 50%, meaning that stacking damage reduction bonuses from skills and upgrades can only have a maximum effect of 50% damage reduction.

• For example if you have 35% damage reduction and 25% degen resistance, the end result will be only 50% damage reduction against degens.
• The soft cap does not affect single skills that grant more than 50% damage reduction, such as Vadasi's focus, which grants 90% damage reduction, and gets treated as if she has 90% total damage reduction.

Note that the damage reduction from armor is independent from the damage reduction stat.

• 60 armor and 50% damage reduction combine together to reduce total damage by 80%.
  • $basedmg*(1-0.60)*(1-0.50)=basedmg*0.20$

Heroes are able to increase their damage reduction with temporary buffs or permanent upgrades.

• Damage reduction cannot be reduced in any way by skills, upgrades, or status effects.

Degen Resistance

Degen Resistance is damage reduction that only applies to damage taken from degen effects.

• For damage calculations it combines additively with other sources of damage reduction.

Testing

The max 50% damage reduction cap can be verified by testing with Ezren Ghal in practice mode.

• Practice mode has motiga enemies that apply different status effects on their attacks.
  • The bleed motiga applies a bleed that deals 50 dmg/s for 2s, ignoring armor.
• Ezren gains 35% damage reduction while his Q is active
  • Bleed deals 32.5 dmg/s (shows as 32), since Ezren has 35% damage reduction.
• If you take the R R upgrade on his F called Hardy, it gives him +25% baseline degen resistance.
  • Bleed deals 37.5 dmg/s (shows as 37), since Ezren has 25% damage reduction.
• Now use Q in combination with the upgrade.
  • Bleed deals 25 dmg/s, since Ezren has 25+35=60% damage reduction, but instead gets treated as 50% damage reduction due to the cap.
• For further verification, use his F, which grants an additional +25% degen resistance until death.
  • Bleed deals 25 dmg/s, since Ezren has 25+25=50% damage reduction.
• Now use Q in combination with the upgrade and the focus buff.
  • Bleed deals 25 dmg/s, since Ezren has 25+25+35=85% damage reduction, but instead gets treated as 50% damage reduction due to the cap.