Blade Mail – Dota 2 Guide, Stats & Hero Matchups [Patch 7.38c]

Upgraded Item | Armor

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A 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

+ 18 Damage

+ 7 Armor

Recipe

Abilities

Active: Damage Return

For 5.5 seconds, the damage returned from all sources is increased by 85%.

Mana: 25

Cooldown: 25

Passive: Damage Return

Everytime you are attacked, you return 20 damage plus 20% 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 countered by Blade Mail

Lets you reflect Rupture damage back onto Bloodseeker and potentially kill him by running in its duration.

Lets you reflect Clinkz's high damage back to him and possibly kill him if he does not stop attacking you.

Lets you counter Dark Willow's Aghanim's Scepter by reflecting her high damage and possibly kill her if she does not stop attacking you.

Lets you reflect Death Prophet's high damage back to her and possibly burst her down if she does not stop chasing you with her spells.

Lets you reflect all of Disruptor's damage back to him and possibly burst him down from it.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Hoodwink and potentially kill her from the massive burst of Sharpshooter.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Huskar and potentially kill him from the massive burst of Life Break and Burning Spear.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Invoker from his spells and right clicks, and possibly kill him particularly from the high Chaos Meteor damage.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Jakiro and possibly kill him particularly from the high damage of Macropyre.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Leshrac and possibly kill him with his heavy burst damage from spells.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Lich and possibly kill him particularly from the high damage of multiple Chain Frost bounces.

Lets you reflect Lunas high damage back to her and possibly kill her from the massive burst of Eclipse and her right clicks.

Lets you reflect Marci's high damage back to her and possibly kill her if she does not stop hitting you during Unleash.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Outworld Destroyer and possibly kill him from the high burst of Arcane Orb and Sanity's Eclipse.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Primal Beast and potentially kill him from the massive burst from all his spells.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Sand King and possibly kill him particularly from the massive burst damage of Epicenter.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Shadow Fiend and burst him down particularly from the Requiem of Souls damage. Also deters him from hitting you with his high damage right clicks.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Skywrath Mage and burst him down particularly from the Mystic Flare damage.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Snapfire and burst her down particularly from the Mortimer Kisses damage.

Lets you reflect Sniper's high damage back to him and possibly kill him if he does not stop attacking you.

Lets you reflect Sven's high damage back to him and possibly kill him if he does not stop attacking you.

Lets you reflect Techies' high spell damage back to him and possibly burst him down from it.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Tinker and possibly burst him from the burst of Laser. Also cancels his Blink Dagger from the returned damage.

Lets you reflect damage back onto Windranger and potentially burst her down if she does not stop attacking you during Focus Fire.

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.