Damage modification

Damage modification refers to effects that either increase or reduce the damage dealt or taken by a hero.

Damage amplification

Damage amplification effects increase the damage dealt by the hero or the damage taken by the hero it is applied to.

Abilities that amplify damage dealt

These abilities amplify the damage dealt by the hero it is applied to. Damage amplification effects from different sources generally stack additively with each other.

Heroes	Ability	Amount	Details
Ana	Nano Boost	+50%	Projectiles are amplified as long as the hero was being damage boosted when they were released.
Baptiste	Amplification Matrix	+100%	Affects all damage dealt by the weapon/ability, including on-hit effects, such as splash and DoT, as long as the projectile passes through the matrix.
Mercy	Caduceus Staff	+25%	Projectiles are amplified as long as the hero was being damage boosted when they were released.

Abilities that amplify damage taken

These abilities amplify the damage taken by the hero it is applied to. Stacks additively with the target's damage reduction.

Hero	Ability	Amount
Zenyatta	Orb of Discord	+25%

Abilities that cannot be damage boosted

The following abilities cannot have their damage dealt amplified by damage boosting the hero or when fired through Amplification Matrix. The damage they deal can still be increased when damaging a target affected by Zenyatta's Orb of Discord.

Hero	Ability	Details
Ashe	B.O.B.	B.O.B.'s own damage can be amplified, but amplifying Ashe's damage does not affect B.O.B.
D.Va	Self-Destruct
Hanzo	Dragonstrike	The arrow can be amplified, but the dragons cannot.
Junkrat	Steel Trap
	RIP-Tire
Sigma	Gravitic Flux	The lift can be amplified, but the slam cannot.
Sombra	EMP	Can no longer be damage boosted as of November 17th, 2022 patch.
Symmetra	Sentry Turret
Torbjörn	Deploy Turret	The turret's own damage can be amplified with Amplification Matrix but amplifying Torbjörn's damage does not affect the turret.
	Molten Core	The impact damage from Molten Core can be amplified, but the damage over time cannot.
Widowmaker	Venom Mine
Wrecking Ball	Minefield
Zarya	Graviton Surge	The impact damage from Graviton Surge can be amplified, but the damage over time cannot.

Headshots

Main article: Headshot

Headshots, or critical hits, are a property most weapons have that increases the damage dealt by the shot based on the weapon's headshot multiplier when it collides with the target's critical hit hitbox (usually their head). Headshots are multiplicative with other damage amplification effects.

Damage reduction

Damage reduction effects reduce the damage taken by the hero it is applied to. Damage reduction effects from different sources generally stack additively with each other, however the combined reduction is capped at 50%. Single abilities that grant more than 50% by default may override the cap.

Abilities that grant damage reduction

Hero	Ability	Amount
Ana	Nano Boost	-50%
Bastion	Ironclad	-20%
Cassidy	Combat Roll	-75%
	Deadeye	-40%
Doomfist	Power Block	-80%
Mauga	Cardiac Overdrive	-30%
	Overrun	-50%
Orisa	Fortify	-45%
Ramattra	Block	-75%
Roadhog	Take a Breather	-50%

Armor

Main article: Armor

Armor is a type of recoverable health that reduces damage taken by that portion of hit points by 30%. It stacks additively with other damage reduction effects.

Calculation

The equation used to calculate damage in general is as follows:

damage = baseDamage * headshotMultiplier * (1 + totalDamageDealtAmplification) * (1 - min(0.50, totalDamageTakenReduction + armorReduction) + damageTakenAmplification)

However, the formula is different when including abilities whose damage reduction is greater than 50%, namely, Ramattra's and Doomfist's block abilities, and Cassidy's Combat Roll.

damage = baseDamage * headshotMultiplier * (1 + totalDamageDealtAmplification) * (1 - greatestDamageReduction + damageTakenAmplification)

The difference between these two formulas means that while one of these abilities is active, it overrides all other damage reduction effects.

Multiple amplification effects of the same category—damage dealt or damage taken—are added together. For example, if Ana uses Nano Boost (+50% damage dealt) on a target who then shoots through Baptiste's Amplification Matrix (+100% damage dealt), the damage would be 250% of the base damage. This includes Sombra's hack damage amplification; however, this only applies to the impact of her virus.

Damage reduction from abilities modifies damage taken (up to their 50% cap), just like damage taken amplifiers. This means they add together when combined and apply separately from damage dealt modifiers. If Orb of Discord (+25% damage taken) is on Bastion with Ironclad (−20% damage taken), Bastion - without his armor - takes 5% extra damage. If a Bastion with Ironclad (20% damage reduction) gets Nano Boosted (50% damage reduction), Bastion's damage reduction hits the 50% cap. It's important to note the 50% cap applies to damage reduction abilities before damage taken amplifiers are added. If that Nano Boosted Bastion is then affected by Orb of Discord (+25% damage taken), Bastion's damage reduction would be 25%. Even if Bastion regains his armor, his damage reduction is already at the 50% limit, so he'd still only have 25% damage reduction.

Examples

Cassidy hits (70 damage) a full-health Reinhardt (30% armor reduction) with a headshot (2x multiplier). Cassidy has Nano Boost (+50% dealt) and shoots through Amplification Matrix (+100% dealt) and Reinhardt also has Nano Boost (50% damage reduction) and Discord Orb (+25% taken). The damage dealt is calculated as follows:

damage = 70 * 2 * (1 + (.50 + 1.00))  * (1 - min(.50, (.50 + .30)) + .25)
    = 70 * 2 * (1 + 1.5) * (1 - min(.50, .80) + .25)
    = 70 * 2 * (2.5) * (1 - .50 + .25)
    = 70 * 2 * 2.5 * 0.75
    = 262.5

Soldier: 76 lands a direct hit with his Helix Rockets (120 damage) on a full-health, blocking (75% damage reduction) Ramattra in Nemesis Form (30% armor reduction) marked with Discord Orb (+25% damage taken). The 2nd formula is used because Ramattra's block exceeds the 50% cap and overrides all other damage reduction effects.

damage = 120 * 1 * (1 + (0.0)) * (1 - .75 + .25)
    = 120 * (1 - .75 + .25)
    = 120 * (.50)
    = 60

Trivia

• Mercy gains ultimate charge equal to the damage she amplified.
• Hypothetically, the highest damage dealt value is 280% and the highest damage taken value is 125%. Combined, the maximum damage amplification would be 350%. This can then be further increased with the headshot multiplier. Using Widowmaker's 2.5× headshot multiplier, the absolute highest increase from the original damage would be 875%.
• Healing amplification works the same way as damage amplification, though the only healing dealt amplifier is Amplification Matrix (+100% healing dealt) and the only healing taken amplifier is Biotic Grenade (+50% healing taken). Together, the target would gain 300% of the base healing.
• At the start of Overwatch 2, armor's damage reduction was separate from other damage reduction effects, stacking multiplicatively with them and was not taken into the 50% cap. This was changed in August 10, 2023 Patch, as Tanks with armor were getting difficult to kill when also affected by damage reduction.