The type of damage an ability deals is usually determined by the Secondary stat the ability relies on. In Hero Wars, there are three types of damage: Physical, Magic, and pure. Physical attack translates into Physical damage, Magic attack translates into Magic damage, while Pure damage abilities may rely on either or both of these stats.
Damage types can be distinguished by their color in descriptions and battles. Physical damage is red, magic damage is purple, and pure damage is white in action but green in depictions.
As a result of their high agility stat, Warriors and Marksmen prefer physical damage. Physical damage is also, with a few exceptions, the type of damage guardians' basic attacks deal with. Physical damage has several countermeasures and enhancements and is the most common type of damage.
The opponent's armor reduces physical damage, which is negated by armor penetration. This type is, therefore, useful against targets with low Agility and Armor, such as Orion, Amira, or Kai.
Unlike physical damage, magic damage is joint among mages and support guardians. Only three guardians inflict Magic damage with their basic attacks: Satori, due to his ultimate ability; Celeste, in her dark form, with "Zenith," and Morrigan, the only guardian whose basic attacks deal magic damage by default.
Magic defense and penetration work like Armor and Armor penetration does, making magic damage efficient against targets with low Intelligence and Magic defense stats. Crit and Dodge, however, don't interact with this type of damage. Consequently, even though magic damage cannot be critical, it can also be dodged, making it even more helpful against guardians who rely on dodges.
It is arguably the most efficient type of damage since it completely ignores defensive stats like Armor and Magic Defense, causing opponents to receive the total damage. Only about a dozen heroes possess pure damage. Consequently, Pure damage can be used against enemies with all secondary defensive stats.
In the same way as Magic damage, both dodge and critical hit chance do not affect Pure damage: it cannot deal critical damage, nor can it be dodged. However, this damage type is affected by Silence, as some Pure damage abilities use Magic attack to calculate the damage.
Awareness of the damage types your Guardians deal with and how to counter the enemy pack is the key to victory. Using your opponent's weaknesses to your advantage is always a good strategy, and experimenting with different team compositions will help you figure out which works best in specific encounters.
