Damage over Time

Damage over Time (short: DoT) is a debuff that causes the affected unit to constantly take damage until the effect expires, is removed by certain abilities or effects, or the target enters the Hall of Storms. Once applied Damage over Time effects persist until they expire or get removed, regardless of its caster's state. This is a distinct from effects that deal constant periodic damage such as Burning Rage.

Damage is dealt at the end of each interval, the first of which begins when the spell lands, and the amount the unit will take is usually shown on the health bar as brown health. Some spells come with an initial damage, which may or may not be equal to the periodic damage. DoT effects will not interrupt certain effects that require the hero not to take damage while channeling, such as mounting or taking an objective, and they do not trigger A Call For Help, when damaging enemy Heroes under their Structures.

DoT effects have different ways of stacking with other instances of the same DoT. Some abilities fully stack with themselves, gaining increased damage or effects with each stack. Most abilities have only partial stacking, with reapplication of the DoT simply refreshing the effect. There are a few abilities with no stacking at all, so the DoT cannot be re-applied while a previous DoT is already present on the target.

Damage over Time effects can be removed via Invulnerable and Stasis status effects, as well as few specific Abilities and Talents, like Lunara's "Abolish Magic". Time Stop only pauses the duration of DoT effects, and effects that grant damage immunity, without Stasis or Invulnerable, only prevent the damage while they are active.

Basic Abilities

 * Alexstrasza's "Flame Buffet" applies a non-stacking 5.5 second DoT.
 * Her level 20 talent, "Ancient Flame", causes "Dragonqueen" to apply the DoT to all enemies hit with her basic attacks.
 * Ana's trait "Shrike" causes her basic attacks to apply a stacking DoT for 5 seconds, with each stack increasing the damage up to 5 times.
 * Her level 4 talent, "Overdose", adds an additional effect to her "Sleep Dart" ability making it apply 3 stacks of "Shrike".
 * Chen's "Breath of Fire" applies a 3 second DoT on enemies affected by "Keg Smash".
 * Cho's "Consuming Blaze" applies a 3 second DoT on all nearby enemies.
 * Gul'dan's "Corruption" applies a stacking 6 second DoT with each hit, with each stack increasing the damage up to 3 times.
 * Kael'thas' "Living Bomb" applies a non-stacking 3 second DoT that explodes in an area, spreading Living Bomb to other heroes hit but with those bombs not spreading.
 * His level 20 talent, "Master of Flames", allows spread Living Bombs to also spread.
 * Lunara's trait "Nature's Toxin" causes all damage dealt to apply a stacking DoT, with each stack increasing the duration by 3 seconds up to 3 times.
 * Malthael's trait "Reaper's Mark" causes his basic attacks, his ability "Death Shroud", and his heroic "Tormented Souls" to apply a DoT for 4 seconds, dealing % max health damage.
 * His level 4 talent, "Black Harvest", increases the duration of "Reaper's Mark" to 6 seconds after the quest is completed.
 * Nazeebo's trait "Voodoo Ritual" applies a 6 second DoT with all damage he deals but does not affect heroes.
 * His level 20 talent, "Vile Infection", makes "Voodoo Ritual" apply its damage to heroes after the quest is completed.
 * Nazeebo's "Plague of Toads" releases toads that each apply a stacking DoT for 6 seconds.
 * Qhira's "Blood Rage" passively causes her basic attacks and other abilities to apply a DoT for 4 seconds that stacks up to 5 times.
 * Her level 1 talent, "Fatal Wounds", increases the duration by 2 seconds once the quest is complete.
 * Stitches' trait "Vile Cleaver" applies a 3 second DoT to nearby enemies when basic attacking.
 * His level 13 talent, "Lacerate", causes "Slam" to apply Vile Cleaver's DoT.
 * Sylvanas' "Shadow Dagger" applies a non-stacking 2.5 second DoT to the target, and spreads to all nearby enemies when the initial target is damaged by Sylvanas.
 * Valeera's "Garrote" applies a 7 second DoT.
 * Her level 20 talent, "Rupture", causes basic attacks to increase the damage and refresh the duration of the "Garrote" DoT.

Heroic Abilities

 * Blaze's "Combustion" applies a 1 to 5 second DoT and slow to nearby enemies, depending on how long the ability was channeled.
 * Gazlowe's "Robo-Goblin" passively causes his Basic Attacks to apply a DoT for 5 seconds that stacks up to 3 times.
 * Mal'Ganis' "Dark Conversion" swaps health percentages with an enemy hero, applying a 3 second DoT to the higher-health hero.
 * Murky's "March of the Murlocs" releases Murlocs that each apply a stacking 5 second DoT and slow that stacks indefinitely.
 * Xul's "Poison Nova" applies a 10 second DoT to all enemies it hits.

Talents

 * Abathur's level 1 talent, "Envenomed Nest", causes "Toxic Nest" to apply a 3 second DoT to all enemies hit.
 * Anduin's level 20 talent, "Varian's Legacy", causes his basic attacks to apply a 3 second DoT and heal himself for 50% of the damage dealt.
 * Blaze's level 20 talent, "Burn Notice", causes basic attacks to apply a stacking 2.5 second DoT and slow to all enemies hit, with each stack increasing the damage and slow up to 5 times.
 * Deathwing's level 16 talent, "Conflagration", causes "Molten Flame" to apply a 4 second DoT if it deals enough damage to the target.
 * Garrosh's level 1 talent, "Warbreaker", causes "Groundbreaker" to apply a 3 second DoT to heroes hit after its quest is partially completed.
 * The Lost Vikings' level 4 talent, "It's a Sabotage!", causes Erik's basic attacks against structures to apply a 5 second DoT.
 * Lt. Morales' level 13 talent, "EMP Grenade", causes "Displacement Grenade" to apply a 2 second DoT.
 * Murky's level 7 talent, "Time to Krill", causes basic attacks apply a stacking 4 second DoT and slow, with each stack increasing the damage and slow up to 5 times.
 * Murky's level 16 talent, "Wrath of Cod", causes "Pufferfish to apply a stacking 5 second DoT dealing % max health damage to all heroes hit.
 * Sonya's level 7 talent, "Poisoned Spear", causes "Ancient Spear" to apply a 6 second DoT to the enemy hit.
 * Ragnaros' level 16 talent, "Giant Scorcher", causes "Empower Sulfuras" to apply a 3 second DoT dealing % max health damage to all heroes hit.
 * Thrall's level 7 active talent, "Ancestral Wrath", applies a stacking 3 second DoT dealing % max health to the target enemy Hero and healing.
 * Tychus' level 7 talent, "Melting Point", causes "Frag Grenade" to apply a 3 second DoT to all enemies hit.
 * Zagara's level 4 active talent, "Envenomed Spines", causes the next basic attack to apply a 5 second DoT.
 * Zeratul's level 4 talent, "Rending Cleave", causes "Cleave" to apply a 3 second DoT.

Non-Heroic Abilities

 * Junk Swarm Host's "Slime Pod Poison" applies a 5 second DoT to enemies hit.