Defense Item Changes in Patch 1.12

In the update 1.12 patch notes, SEMC wrote that for Light Armor and Light Shield: “Secondary stat down from 20 to 10”. This may seem insignificant, but I believe it is important to understand the impact it can have on lv2 fights. I will first show how the nerf changed some common lv2 defense builds, then discuss which lv2 defense itemizations are optimal using the new numbers.

Tanky vs. Squishy Heroes

The table above compares the defenses of tanky and squishy heroes. For tanky heroes I used 850 health and 30/30 armor/shield, which is based on Catherine who has 839 health and 30/33 armor/shield at lv2. For squishy heroes I used 740 health and 25/25 armor/shield, which is based on SAW (unspun) who has 743 health and 24/24 armor/shield at lv2.

The first column “Enemy Damage from WP” shows how much of the enemies raw DPS comes from WP, as opposed to CP (Abilities in the early game). The second column, ”DMG to Kill”, shows the total raw damage an enemy team would have to output to reduce a hero from full HP to zero. The third column “100 Bonus Health Value” indicates how much raw damage the enemy would have to output to remove every additional 100 health a hero can get (from any source: Halcyon Potions, barriers, heals, etc).

When a hero has different defense stats (like 30 armor and 50 shield), the amount of raw damage they can block per second changes based on how much incoming DPS is from basic attacks (WP) or spells (CP). This means the total raw damage (WP+CP) hitting a hero before they die changes based on how much of each defense stat they have, and how much of each damage type is doing the hitting.

Going forward, we will focus on opponents who output mostly WP damage and treat Armor as the most reasonable purchase. The results are the same for CP enemies if we replace Light Armors with Light Shields.

To calculate all of the numbers found in this analysis, I used the following equation:

Where “Health” is either the total base health or 100, and “%Raw DPS CP” is equivalent to “1 - %Raw DPS WP”.

How much weaker are 1.12 defense items?

1.11 1.12

Light Armor: 40 armor, 20 shield 40 armor, 10 shield

Light Shield: 40 shield, 20 armor 40 shield, 10 armor

Here I compared the defense capabilities of a squishy lv2 hero with Light Armor in patch 1.11 vs. 1.12. For 100% incoming WP damage there is no difference because the armor stat didn’t change between patches. The more damage is based on CP, the more we see an impact. At a 50/50 raw damage split between CP and WP, this hero would have been able to absorb 43 more damage points in 1.11 before dying. Ok, 43 is pretty tiny, but considering the damage scale it is significant. Most lv2 heroes have a base WP of around 85 and almost no attack speed. This means the hero in 1.12 is ½ of a support’s autoattack closer to dying than his doppelganger in 1.11. At low attack speeds an autoattack takes more than one second to complete, so ½ of a support’s autoattack is a little more than ½ of a second in a fight. For most situations ½ of a second isn’t that important, but it is crucial in very close fights.

Purchasing additional items increases the impact of the nerf. Here I compared heroes buying two Light Armors. In this case, at 50/50 damage ratio the 1.11 hero could tank more than a full base-damage auto attack more than the 1.12 hero. For every 100 bonus health from barriers and Halcyon potions, the 1.11 hero could stop 13 additional raw damage compared to the 1.12 hero. After 200 sustained health, that means a 122 raw damage difference. That’s equal to about 1.5 support hero autoattacks and could mean the 1.12 hero dying over a second sooner. Even damage outputs which are mostly WP are more dangerous for the 1.12 hero. An enemy with 75% raw WP DPS and 25% raw CP DPS can kill heroes with 200 sustained health 0.7 seconds faster.

The more health a hero has, the higher impact this nerf had on them. Here I compared tanky lv2 heroes owning two Light Armors (instead of squishy heroes). At a 50/50 damage split and 200 sustained health this tanky hero requires 135 less raw damage to kill. It isn’t a huge difference from the effect of the nerf on squishy heroes, but for a player thinking “I have a tanky hero with a lot of defense”, they are quite a bit weaker than they once were against mixed damage.

The 1.12 patch nerf was an indirect buff to mixed damage teams. Teams with one type of damage (WP or CP) have the same DPS as before, but now mixed-damage teams have an easier time against enemies with defense. My advice is to look at your enemy and see how much WP or CP damage you’ll be taking. If it turns out to be mixed, then uncalculated “I think I’m a badass” plays that worked in 1.11 might end now with your enemies saying “you’re a dumbass”. Both sides of the map were effected the same by this nerf, so it won’t always be important. However, the effect of giving an enemy free damage, and the speed which a caught-out hero can be deleted, are both more significant. Mixed damage teams will deal higher DPS against defensive builds, which makes it more dangerous not to respond properly when being attacked.

Which items are best, and when (patch 1.12)?

Here I wondered if Oakheart was a better purchase than Light Armor on a squishy lv2 hero.

My answer is probably not. Getting an Oakheart does mean that in an immediate and short fight against a very mixed damage comp the hero will survive through 76 more raw damage. The problem is that when sustain is factored in, it takes only 300 health before the Light Armor would have been better. Halcyon Potion provides 80 health plus 200 over 25 seconds. This means Light Armor is stronger in long fights. Oakheart underperforms against single-source damage, providing 46 less raw damage absorption right off the bat.

Next we would like to know if, after purchasing a Light Armor, it is better to get an Oakheart or a second Light Armor. This depends on enemy damage composition. If the enemy is batting mostly WP, a second Light Armor could be viable. It takes less than 100 sustain health against 100% WP to be a superior choice, or 300 sustain health against 75% WP. The biggest problem with a second Light Armor is how cost inefficient it is. In many cases a second Light Armor (or second Light Shield) will get resold in the midgame and cause a 250 gold deficit. This means purchasing a second Light Armor at lv2 should lead to a noticeable objective or gold advantage. If it is doubtful that the purchase will be extremely useful, I recommend the Oakheart instead. Note that against heavily mixed damage (50/50 split) a second Light Armor would need 700 sustain health to be better than Oakheart.

If a second Light Armor wasn’t good enough, we want to know if a Light shield could do the trick instead. My answer is probably not. At high WP damage ratios, Oakheart greatly outperforms Light Shield. The only case where Light Shield is stronger is long fights against highly mixed damage opponents. In a short fight against an enemy dishing out a 50/50 damage ratio the Oakheart will block 101 more raw damage. Extend the fight to 400+ health sustain and Light Shield makes an appearance as a viable choice. A sustained fight might mean long jungle invades where the opportunity to fully recover health doesn’t occur for some time, and you are able to use up 2+ Halcyon potions or even get a healing minion along the way.

Summary and Closing Comments

In sustained fights, defense items such as Light Armor will outperform health purchases such as Oakheart. This is because each additional point of health gained through sustain is able to block more of the enemies raw damage. Bigger health pools are useful for enhancing survivability in short engagements, and synergize well with complementary armor and/or shield.

(single item purchased) (short fights) (mixed damage ratio) Oakheart (high damage ratio) Light Armor

b) (long fights)

i) (mixed damage ratio) Light Armor

ii) (high damage ratio) Light Armor

(two items purchased) (short fights) (mixed damage ratio) Oakheart + Light Armor (high damage ratio) Oakheart + Light Armor (long fights) (mixed damage ratio) Light Armor + Light Shield (high damage ratio) Two Light Armors

Note: two Oakhearts are worse than Oakheart and Light Armor in all cases.

In a real game there are factors aside from pure defense optimization that go into purchase choices. The most important one being higher tier items that you plan to build in the mid to late game. It’s often less than ideal to make purchases for an optimal lv2 fight, then waste a bunch of gold later on selling tier 1 items to make room for other items (especially after sell-back nerfs). My purpose here is to help with informed decisions, both tactically and strategically. Knowing which builds work better in which situations allows players to better judge the comparative strength of allies and opponents. This provides for less wasted life and more efficient choices.