Damage over Time

This article may contain material from Wikipedia An article on this subject has been redirected to another page on WP: Damage over time Current versions of the GNU FDL article on Wikipedia may contain information useful to the improvement of this article

WP R E D

In computer games and wargames, Damage over Time (DoT) is a commonly used game mechanic (WP), usually used with spells. Such spells cause damage in regular increments (or at a steady rate), usually for a limited amount of time, usually a set duration. This damage can be equal at all increments, or it may build up or diminish in power while the effect remains.

DoT effects are most commonly found in computer role-playing games, but also frequently appear in other video games. By far the most common example of damage over time is the status effect (WP) "poison", which appears in nearly every CRPG that features status effects; it usually damages a target for every turn the afflicted character takes, and if it remains after battle, for every step taken on the map.

Depending on the game balance chosen by developers, DoTs may deal more or less overall damage than one hit attacks or spells. As with most spells, DoTs are known to ignore armor rating on a character, meaning the damage the spell is supposed to inflict is not reduced by a character's defensive attributes in many games (especially Wikipedia:massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)).

Most crowd control (WP) abilities "break" when the target takes damage, so DoT spells are incompatible with them, as they will continue to break even repeated castings of mesmerize spells, roots, and the like, but not stuns or fear.

DoTs of the same type usually do not stack with each other. Wikipedia:World of Warcraft Warlocks have multiple types of DoTs; a common tactic for Warlocks is to halt enemy actions with Fear, and then stack several different DoTs on them, causing their life to drain rapidly.

While DoTs may be classed as debuffs to distinguish them from instantaneous damage spells, this and their duration is the only thing DoTs and debuffs have in common.

If a unit must continue with a certain action to maintain the effect, it is referred to as a "Channeling" action, such as a "channeling spell".

See also

• Wikipedia:Heal over Time (HoT) the healing counterpart to DoT
• Wikipedia:Power over Time (PoT) in games using a limited resource to cast spells, PoTs restore that power
• Wikipedia:Status effects including Poison

References

• Guide for Mentalists in DAoC, class which uses DoT, HoT, and PoT spells
• Guild wars DOT information
• Wow combat information
• [1]