History Main / ManaShield

* In the ''VideoGame/DotHackGUGames'', Doppelgangers are already tough as they are, what with being automatically 8 levels above the main character, and having an outrageous HP/SP regen points, AND having a very damaging weapons equipped, complete with devastating effects thrown in for good measure. Come Volume 3 (At Walking Pace/Redemption), and the Doppelganger has the Mana Shield in full force, making fighting him an exercise in patience, frustration, and revival items, as, for a good amount of time, your attacks will do exactly 0 damage until you run its SP to 0. On the good side though, once you do, he won't be able to do Arts, so that's one less worry to deal with.

* In the ''DotHackGUGames'', Doppelgangers are already tough as they are, what with being automatically 8 levels above the main character, and having an outrageous HP/SP regen points, AND having a very damaging weapons equipped, complete with devastating effects thrown in for good measure. Come Volume 3 (At Walking Pace/Redemption), and the Doppelganger has the Mana Shield in full force, making fighting him an exercise in patience, frustration, and revival items, as, for a good amount of time, your attacks will do exactly 0 damage until you run its SP to 0. On the good side though, once you do, he won't be able to do Arts, so that's one less worry to deal with.

* Much like ''World of Warcraft'', ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}'' has a skill by the same name as the trope, which uses a rather intricate formula for determining the damage hit to the user's [[{{ManaPoints}} Mana]] and also steadily drains it while in use. When their Mana does run out, any damage not blocked averts this trope.
** However, a recent Music-type skill [[{{SubvertedTrope}} subverts]] this trope, which regenerates quite a chunk of Mana such that it completely overrides the passive drain effect.

* ''FinalFantasyTactics'' has the Time Mage ability "MP Switch" for this effect.
* ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' and ''FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' have the "Damage > MP" and "MP Shield" abilities respectively. The former is something of a GameBreaker: it didn't put any overflow damage into HP (which made it incredibly useful for the main character to have for those 1-on-1 story fights), characters start with full MP at the beginning of the level, and they regain 10 MP every turn. In ''A2'', MP Shield is {{nerf}}ed heavily. Not only does overflow come from HP, MP also starts at 0, making this skill is a really bad choice for classes that actually use MP and only slightly better for those that don't.

* ''DefenseOfTheAncients'': Medusa has this skill

* ''KingdomOfLoathing'' has the Warbear energy bracers accessory, which lets monster attacks reduce your MP instead of your HP.

* ''HeroesOfNewerth'': Electrician has a skill that reduces incoming damage by half at the cost of mana.

* ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' and ''FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' have the "Damage > MP" and "MP Shield" abilities respectively. The former is something of a GameBreaker: it didn't put any overflow damage into HP (Which made it incredibly useful for the main character to have for those 1-on-1 story fights), characters start with full MP at the beginning of the level, and they regain 10 MP every turn. MP Shield is {{nerfed}} heavily. Not only does overflow come from HP, MP also starts at 0 in the second game, making this skill is a really bad choice for classes that actually use MP and only slightly better for those that don't.

* [[TalesOfMajEyal TOME]] actually inverts this trope. Archmages can get a shield that converts incoming damage to a mana ''increase.'' The downside is that, if the damage would bring your mana above its maximum value, your shield ''explodes'' instead.

* ''MapleStory'', although it only absorbs up to 80% instead of full damage. Still very important for mages to master, as they would die to nearly anything in one hit at the higher levels without it.

* There's the Vigor ability available to psionic characters in ''DungeonsAndDragons''. It uses psionic powers in order to create temporary hit points, so its effect is similar.

* The Wraith Armor in ''[[LegacyOfKain Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain]]''.
* The Endure skill in ''BlueDragon''.

** [[RaulJulia Of course]], ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' did this with ManaShield on the Naga Sea Witch.

** In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' Lady Deathwhisper casts one of these at the start of the fight, and doesn't drop it until her mana has been entirely depleted. Not that it stops her from [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules casting spells after anyway]].
** [[RaulJulia Of course]], ''[[{{Warcraft}} Warcraft III]]'' did this with ManaShield on the Naga Sea Witch.

* Much like World of Warcraft, {{Mabinogi}} has a skill by the same name as the trope, which uses a rather intricate formula for determining the damage hit to the user's [[{{ManaPoints}} Mana]] and also steadily drains it while in use. When their Mana does run out, any damage not blocked averts this trope.

** Particularly irritating opponents in the second game have both Damage > MP and Blood Price, the latter of which allows them to cast spells out of their HP. ''Particularly'' irritating ones can also heal themselves for more HP than it costs to cast the healing spell. Kill them quickly!

* ''FinalFantasyTactics'' has the Time Mage ability "MP Switch" for this effect. ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' and ''FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' have the "Damage > MP" and "MP Shield" abilities respectively. The former didn't put any overflow damage into HP (Which made it incredibly useful for the main character to have for those 1-on-1 story fights), while the latter does, and since MP also starts at 0 in the second game, this skill is a really bad choice for classes that actually use MP and only slightly better for those that don't.

* Mages in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' had the spell Mana Shield, which causes damage to briefly be dealt to your Mana instead of your Health. Unlike healers' spells and other mage absorption spells, it didn't become more efficient as you gained more Spell Power from gear; but unlike them, it didn't cost any mana if it expired unused.

* One of the many GeoEffects in ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'' swaps your HP/MP values, so that running out of MP can get you killed on these spots. Good for quickly wiping out powerful enemies with low MP; not so good for your DumbMuscle, if you have any...
* Technically the Neptune card from ''[[{{Castlevania}} Castlevania: Circle of the Moon]]'' heals you when you would be damaged by the element in question, but the healing's so minor and the drain on your MP so major that it's really more like the attack just drains your MP.
** It's a miracle-worker, though, in the second playthrough's "Magician" mode, where you have very little defense and HP and a crap-ton of MP and intelligence (MP regen). Since you get all the cards at the beginning of the game in Magician mode, and you also have the Uranus/Unicorn combo to heal, plus almost every enemy in the game (including bosses) attack with an element, you become basically invincible provided you don't mind switching your cards whenever you have to deal with a different element, go on the attack, or restore accidental damage.

* An item in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' causes damage to your heart supply (only used for {{limit break}}s in this game) rather than your HP.

* One of the many GeoEffects in ''[[{{Disgaea}} Disgaea 3]]'' swaps your HP/MP values, so that running out of MP can get you killed on these spots. Good for quickly wiping out powerful enemies with low MP; not so good for your DumbMuscle, if you have any...

* In ''SuperRobotWars'', barrier abilities reduce damage while draining energy.

Sometimes, this can turn a SquishyWizard into quite the tank. Can become a GameBreaker by giving NighInvulnerability to the user. Especially if damage that would overkill the user's MP does not get converted into actual damage. On the other hand it will quickly turn a magic user into a sitting duck if the mana doesn't regenerate. It is also usually far more efficient to use your MP for healing spells rather than to absorb the damage directly.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces]]'', any attack that hits your barrier takes away from mana and being drained of all mana while guarding causes a guard crush with stun until the mana automatically regenerates.
* An item in ''OrderOfEcclesia'' causes damage to your heart supply (only used for {{limit break}}s in this game) rather than your HP.

* ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Gears of Destiny'' grants this to [[HumanoidAbomination System U-D]] in her FinalBoss form. As long as it's up, only throws or a [[LimitBreak Full Drive Burst]] could damage her HitPoints and she's ImmuneToFlinching. Combine this with tons of painful attacks, and you have a recipe for an SNKBoss.

* ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's: The Battle of Aces]]'' uses this. Any attack that hits your barrier takes away from mana and being drained of all mana while guarding causes a guard crush with stun until the mana automatically regenerates.

* Mages in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' have the spell Mana Shield, which causes damage to briefly be dealt to your Mana instead of your Health.

* ''DungeonCrawl'' has an amulet of guardian spirit that has this effect.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' is the TropeNamer. The eponymous spell, which is the lifeblood of the middle-to-late-game Sorceror, not only reduced all damage by a third but redirected ''all the rest of the damage'' to mana instead of health. In fact, due to a famous glitch, a high-level Sorceror is well-advised to have ''as low of a health count as possible'', enabling him to completely avoid stun from high damage attacks.

* ''PuzzleQuest'' and its sequel have skills for magic-user characters that let you take damage from one of your mana pools in place of your HP. There's usually an upkeep cost for using them, so the duration of the spell is typically how long you can keep chaining mana to keep the shield going.

* This is more or less how blocking works in the ''{{Touhou}}'' fighters. You take no or reduced damage and can't die, but most attacks cause damage to the spirit gauge (necessary for danmaku and special) instead.