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@RIOT Why have two different kinds of damage in the game?

Critkeeper·12/13/2013, 9:31:02 AM·1 votes·467 views

Why is a mix of magic damage and physical damage in team comps required? Of course it prevents the enemy from building purely one type of resistance, but that is a pragmatic argument. I'm more interested in the theory.

My question is, what does this add to the game from a gameplay point of view? Why have two different damage types in the game? Doesn't this restrict variety?

You can't expect to be on an even playing field against your opponent with a team comp that consists of purely physical damage against an enemy team that has a balanced mix of damage types, because the enemy team can just stack armor rather than spread their mitigation across both armor and magic resist, granting them a significant advantage.

Therefore, there are some combinations of champions that might otherwise work wonderfully as a balanced team comp, except for the fact that they are incompatible because their kits all share predominately the same damage type.

How does this add gameplay or options to the game? Why design it this way?

3 Comments

Paqi12/13/2013, 10:01:35 AM1 votes

Added Gameplay/Options:

  • Multiple damage types makes you build resistance based on the damage type you're laning against. The possibility of being ganked by an alternate damage type forces you to decide between getting resistance against that, or buying additional damage, or further stacking the resistance you were already building. You have to make this decision after the laning phase as well.

  • Hybrid Damage Champs can build the damage type that the enemy team is lacking, giving them a wider-variety of build options.

  • Two types of damage allows the game designers to broadly lay out the play-styles associated with that damage type.

... off the top of my head

JackAqua12/13/2013, 2:33:19 PM1 votes

I get the two damages types, but I don't get why there is no rule for what is magic damage and what not. I mean, a Girl throws magic at you as her AA and it deals physical damage. Wut ?
I know this could really destroy some Champs, but still, Riot should make more defined rules (that are also a bit logical) what sould be magical and what physical.

Gaitreli12/13/2013, 9:38:03 PM1 votes

Because having singular damage type would make building "resistance" highly valuable since it would cover everything (including true damage, which is the third damage type). Three damage types is probably the most balanced approach the game could take, it provides counter-play and allows for strategy. And while it does limit certain team comps, it does not completely destroy them, if a group of AD champs synergize well and offer more than shear damage you can make it work by stacking armor pen items, same goes with AP comps. The alternatives to this would be to have a single damage type, which would make tanks OP (stacking resistance and HP would be immortality, or an even larger group of damage types making the game confusing, protective items in builds would all be institutional, and tanks would be pointless since they'd have to have multiple different types of protective items instead of stacking two.