Damage over time
Effects that deal damage across a duration — poison, burn, bleed — rather than instantly on hit. DoT changes combat's time signature: damage becomes an investment that pays out later, which creates distinct playstyles (apply-and-evade, stacking multiple DoTs, ramping pressure) and asymmetric counterplay (cleansing, out-healing, racing the clock). Designers use DoTs to differentiate damage archetypes from burst, to reward uptime and target discipline (DoTs punish target-swapping), and to make tanky enemies vulnerable to patience. Key mechanical decisions: snapshot versus dynamic scaling (does the DoT lock in stats at application or update continuously? — a deceptively deep balance question that has defined whole eras of World of Warcraft and Path of Exile theorycraft), stacking and refresh rules (pandemic-style refresh windows reward precise timing), tick-rate granularity, and visibility of remaining duration. Pitfall: DoTs balanced to equal burst damage on paper but strictly worse in practice, because real fights end before the payout completes.
- Dev effort: Small
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: rpg, arpg