Armor

Armor is a defensive stat that changes how much physical damage a unit takes. Higher armor reduces physical damage, while negative armor can increase it.

What is Armor in Dota 2?

Armor is the main resistance stat for physical damage. Heroes and other units have armor values that can be increased or reduced by base stats, agility, items, abilities, auras, and debuffs. The game converts the armor value into a physical damage multiplier rather than subtracting the armor number directly from each hit.

Because armor is a scaling defense, its value is best understood through effective survivability rather than as a fixed amount of blocked damage. Armor does not provide the same protection against magical or pure damage, so a hero with excellent armor can still be vulnerable to other damage profiles.

How Armor is used in a match

Players build or reduce armor in response to the enemy team’s damage profile. Extra armor is valuable against lineups that rely heavily on physical attacks or physical abilities. Armor reduction has the opposite purpose: it makes physical damage more threatening to the affected target.

Target selection changes with armor. A physical carry may avoid wasting time on a heavily armored frontline hero and instead attack a softer target, while the team uses armor reduction or mixed damage to make the durable target easier to kill later.

Do not confuse Armor with...

Armor is not damage block. Armor scales physical damage taken; damage block removes a defined amount from qualifying hits. Armor also does not reduce magical damage, which is primarily handled by magic resistance.