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A question for the Reds about the difference between %Max Health damage and %Current Health damage.

Lohenngramm·1/10/2016, 9:10:56 PM·7 votes·2,898 views

This is not a qq thread, I swear.

So, before the preseason, there were two items meant for countering HP stacking tanks, one of which was Liandry's Torment and the other was Blade of the Ruined King. They work by inflicting bonus damage on an aa/spell-cast equal to a percentage of the targets current health. Some champions like Mundo have %current health damage on an ability since it allows them to deal damage while still building tank items. Other champions such as Poppy, Vayne, Fiora and Gnar have $max health damage, for the same reasons of dealing damage while being tanky and/or countering health stackers.

My question is: What (from a design standpoint) is the difference between %Max and %Current health damage, and what factors lead you to give a champion one form of damage over the other.

PS. I'm not complaining about any of the champions I used as an example here.

19 Comments

YumaS2Astral1/10/2016, 9:51:27 PM6 votes

The difference is that damage based on max health will always stay the same. For example, dealing 20% of a target's max health as damage, against a 2000 maximum HP champion. If he is full health, he will take 400 damage. If he is at 50% health (1000 health) he will take 400 damage regardless. No matter how much his current health a champion has, he will always take the same amount of damage that is based on the maximium health possible that he can have at full health.

However, damage based on current health decreases as your champion loses health. On the example above, a full health 2000 HP target will take 400 damage. However, at 50% health (1000 health) he will take 200 damage, half of 400, because his current health is 1000, not 2000.

This also means that current health spells are mediocre as executes, unless they have a base damage (minimum damage possible).

This does NOT mean that %current health is more effective against squishies. However, it may mean that it is LESS effective against squishies as they lose health, since their health pool is small and at that point you would be better off relying on flat damage.

Ruin Lance1/10/2016, 9:17:17 PM3 votes

%current health takes away their CURRENT health. current health meaning if someone has 1000/2000 HP, and something does 25% current health damage, then they will take 250 damage. %max health damage takes away their MAXIMUM health, meaning if someone has 1000/2000 HP and they take 25% max health damage they will take 500 damage.

ModWulf Helhammer1/10/2016, 9:14:46 PM2 votes

%current health deals damage to everyone, especially squishies

%max health is good for countering tanks

Quepha1/11/2016, 1:59:00 PM2 votes

Current health damage is good for harass and poke to get a target low but doesn't actually have any kill potential (by itself) Max health damage is equally good from top to bottom Missing health damage is an execute that is good for finishing off low health targets but doesn't do much against a team before the fight has occurred

Here's something I want to know: Liandry's has a passive meant to make your poke more relevant against high-health targets, assumedly tanks, but it has flat pen and builds out of an item that people generally build for its flat pen which is much better against squishies. Why that?

MunchCrunchLunch1/11/2016, 12:51:49 AM1 votes

% max health damage is obviously better in every way. a percent max health equal to a current max health damage is on average. twice as much damageful to enemies. because you know u do less damage the less health they have.

commit an hero1/11/2016, 1:33:43 AM1 votes

It's item 3151 not item 3136

Slamurai Jack1/11/2016, 1:36:21 AM1 votes

%current health damage is given when Riot wants the ability or item to be good against enemies with lots of health remaining and less effective the lower enemies get. This typically influences how an ability is used: Current health abilities are best used at the beginning of fights. Take Evelynns ultimate for example. It does a large amount of current health damage and gives a large shield based on the number of champions hit. This is to make entries into teamfights easier for Eve since she's a melee champion without a gap closer or hard CC. Execute abilities by comparison are made stronger against low health enemies to encourage players to use them at the end of fights and %max health abilities are intended to be useful in either situation.

Stiv12341/10/2016, 9:28:37 PM1 votes

Just one example: Evelynns ult deals current damage and can wreck teamfights if used appropriately. The reason why it was made current instead of maximum is so that she can never ever kill an enemy outside of her Q range (except if she goes for Gunblade or the likes). Having current health also means you are more efficient if you switch your targets instead of bombarding one single.