Blade Mail – Dota 2 Guide, Stats & Hero Matchups [Patch 7.39d]
Upgraded Item | Armor
Main shop
2300A razor-sharp coat of mail, it is the choice of selfless martyrs in combat.
A hero's reflective shield, an ingenious and tactical item that not only protects your hero but also turns enemy damage against them in the most daring cost.
Base Combat Stats
+ 15 Damage
Recipe
Abilities
Active: Damage Return
For 5.5 seconds, return all incoming damage, increasing the percentage by 85%.
Mana: 25
Cooldown: 25
Passive: Damage Return
Everytime you are attacked, you return 10 damage plus 15% of the attack damage dealt to you.
Additional Insights
- Damage Return is calculated before any kind of reduction.
- Damage Return doesn't reflect damage from other forms of Blade Mail.
- Returned damage type is the same as it was received.
- Does not interrupts channeling when activating.
- Offering a defensive option that doubles as an offensive tactic. It's particularly effective when activated at the right moment during engagements, deterring enemies from targeting your hero or punishing them for doing so.
Statistics
The statistics below shows the percentage of hero builds which contain Blade Mail as a core, common or situational item for each role. These statistics are based on our hero guides.
Itemization Strategy
Fist Fight! Yes you read that right this item is heavily favored by cores who are highly to be targeted to return more a significant ammount of damage as he fights through the opponents, Best for hereos like Axe and Legion Commander and only think off like that cause if it's not their specialy the cost is not worth going for.
Heroes with Blade Mail as Core Item
A core item that combines well with Berserkers Call. Allows you to accelerate your farming speed even further. It is especially strong against high DPS right clickers and uncontrollable high AoE damage, e.g. Eclipse.
A core item that makes use of your high HP pool with Flesh Heap stacks to reflect damage back to enemy heroes. Particularly useful against heroes who cannot stop doing damage around them with their abilities once they cast them, such as {leshrac}. Also works well against squishy heroes who do high right click damage, such as {sniper}.
A core item that uses your high HP pool and Ghostship rum buff to reflect damage back to enemy heroes.
A core first item to buy instead of {dagon} if you took the Bondage facet at the start of the game. Pairs well with your facet to lifesteal you back up with the reflected damage after you Blink in the middle of teamfights. You can still choose to buy Dagon later in the game after getting {kaya-and-sange}.
A core item with the Caustic Bath facet to use your tankiness in the early game and return a ton of damage along with Corrosive Skin. The item only gets better as you get more tanky with items like {shivas-guard} and {rod-of-atos}.
A core item to use the tankiness gained from {spirit-vessel} to reflect damage back to enemy heroes after you Teleport in the middle of fights.
A core item that uses your high HP pool to reflect damage back to enemy heroes. When you choose to build Blade Mail, get it as your first major item and rush Eternal Shroud and Aghanim's Scepter afterwards to make it more effective.
A core item that provides armor as well as extra damage output.
A core item to get you kills with Duel and snowball in the game with the extra damage. Pop {blade-mail} before blinking in on an enemy and Dueling them. This will make them attack you and kill them during the duration of the Duel.
A core item that uses your high HP pool to reflect damage back to enemy heroes. When you choose to build Blade Mail, get it as your first major item and rush {black-king-bar} or {eternal-shroud} afterwards to make it more effective.
Trivia
The concept and mechanics of Blade Mail have their origins in the original Defense of the Ancients (DotA) mod for Warcraft III. In DotA, Blade Mail was known as 'Return Damage', featuring similar mechanics where it reflected a portion of the damage taken by the hero back to the attacker for a duration.
