I've been playing this game for about a year, but there are several interactions that my friends and I are unclear on.
Question 1: Redirection and reduction
When exactly does damage reduction apply? If for instance, I am playing fanatic, and I have undaunted in play, and Someone else is playing the wraith, with smoke bombs in play, and I would take 5 damage and are at the lowest health, would this be reduced to 3 damage, then redirected and reduced to 2 damage? Similarly, if there are two effects that redirect and reduce damage, can the damage just be bounced around until it is at 0(can damage even be redirected more than once?)
Question 2: Multiple instance of damage on a single card, and damage modifiers
How does damage increases or decreases affect are card that deals damages in multiple instances. If I am playing fanatic, my base power deals 1 melee and 1 radiant damage. If Legacy increases all damage by 1, am I dealing 2 melee and 2 radiant damage? If not, which of the two damages is increased? Do the rules change if The damage is dealt to multiple targets, like with Tempest's chain lightning?
Question 3: Redirecting AOE damage
If an effect does damage to multiple targets, is all damage dealt simultaneously, and can it all be redirected simultaneously? For example, if stealth bot is in play with 3 health, and something like Baron Blade's Hasten doom gets played(with 5 palyers), can all 10 (5 with reduction)damage be redirected to stealth bot?
1) Damage reduction only applies to that specific hero. So if Fanatic is no longer the final recipient of the damage, her damage reduction doesn't apply. Damage can be redirected more than once by different sources, but the consensus is that a particular redirection effect (e.g. Smoke Bombs) can only be triggered once, and therefore, the damage redcution only triggers once. Now, whether or not the reduction applies if the final target isn't the one that Smoke Bombs originally redirected to is up for debate. Unless there was another thread that clarified it.
2) A generic +1 damage will add the damage to each instance of damage. So, Fanatic will do 2/2, and Tempy will have the +1 to each of the targets of Chain Lightning and Squall. If a card only increases the next damage, only the first one will get the increase, not the entire power.
3) Nothing in SotM is simultaneous. Each instance of damage is dealt with individually before moving onto the next. So with Stealth Bot, it won't be 1 instance of 10 damage, but little pockets one at a time, and it will destroy Stealth Bot before it gets to redirect everything.
When the specific effect granting damage reduction says it does. In the example you provided of Fanatic with Undaunted in play, it applies when five or more points of damage are going to be subtracted from Fanatic’s current HP.
Yup.
On the downside, if something reduces all damage by one, Fanatic’s base Exorcism power deals 0 melee and 0 radiant unless buffs are also in play.
Nope. On the plus side, though, since damage isn’t dealt simultaneously, it can also be interrupted under the right circumstances. Say in your example Baron Blade only has 2 HP left, and Unity has Volatile Parts in play. You can choose to have Stealth Bot be hit first so the explosion will finish him off before he has a chance to inflict damage on the other hero targets.
Related (?) question about damage manipulation and redirection. I was fighting Iron Legacy, and (from memory) one of his sides says the first time he's damaged redirect to the hero with the highest (lowest?) HP. As I was playing with a subset of the Freedom 6, his nemesis (nemeses? nemesi? nemesises?), I wasn't sure if I included included the damage bonus.
For example:
Tempest hits Iron Legacy for 2 damage plus 1 for nemesis damage. So 3 damage is then redirected to Tachyon who currently has the highest health.
OR
Tempest hits Iron Legacy for 2 damage. Since it is redirected and Iron Legacy is not the final target, the +1 nemesis damage is not added so Tachyon only takes 2 damage.
When in doubt, I always choose the option that is harder for the heroes, but hope to get the answer for future play throughs. Thanks all!
Tachyon would only take 2 damage in that example, since she is not Tempest's nemesis! Damage gets refigured after redirection.
Edit: Really? You had to wait until I got home to answer this question Pydro? I bet you were sitting there with the answer ready, just waiting for the forums say that I signed on.