Does a unit that has taken damage but not died still attack with its full might value when defending?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes. A unit that has taken damage but has not been killed still contributes its full Might when summing combat Might and assigning combat damage, unless an effect changes its Might or otherwise changes how lethal damage is defined or whether it can take damage.

A damaged but not killed unit uses its current Might for combat calculations (it does not lose Might because it has damage marked). A unit is only killed when it has nonzero damage marked equaling or exceeding its Might; otherwise it still counts at full Might when summing and assigning combat damage [143.2.a] [460.2].

Check the unit's marked damage vs its Might. If the unit has nonzero damage equal to or greater than its Might, it is Killed during cleanup per rule [143.2.a]. If the unit has damage marked but it is less than its Might, the unit remains on the board and nothing in the rules reduces its Might just because it has damage marked; damage is a separate tracked quantity [143.3.a]. When Combat Damage is calculated and assigned, the game sums the current Might of all attacking and defending units; a unit with damage marked that has not been Killed still contributes its full current Might to that sum [460.2] [460.2.a] [460.2.b]. Players then assign damage equal to those summed Might values among opposing units. The presence of marked damage on a surviving unit does not change how much Might it contributes to those sums unless some other effect changed its Might value itself [460.2.c].

If an effect has changed the unit's Might (for example, buffs or debuffs, or an effect that makes Might negative), that changed Might is what is summed for combat. If Might is less than 0 it is treated as 0 when summing Might [143.2.b]. If a card or effect changes the definition of lethal damage (e.g., 'any amount of your damage is enough to kill enemy units' style effects), then the comparison of marked damage to Might for killing can differ from the default behavior [FAQ:unleashed#8]. If a unit cannot be dealt damage (some effects can make a unit ignore damage), it is exempt from lethal-assignment considerations during damage assignment [460.2.c.9]. If an effect moves the unit off the board (non-board zone), other interactions may change; but as long as the unit is on the board and not killed, it contributes its current Might to combat sums [359.3.e.12] (context for targets becoming non-board).

Short answer: Yes — marked damage does not reduce a unit's Might for combat calculations. Damage on units is tracked separately from their Might; damage only kills a unit when the marked damage is nonzero and is equal to or greater than that unit's Might [143.2.a] [143.3.a]. Combat uses each unit's current Might when summing attacking and defending Might totals, and those sums are what determine how much damage each side assigns during the Combat Damage step [460.2] [460.2.a] [460.2.b] [460.2.c]. Therefore a unit that has taken some damage but remains below lethal (not killed) still contributes its full current Might to those sums and to damage assignment.

Exceptions and important notes: If an effect actually changes the unit's Might (for example, buffs like Dominus or a global effect such as Master Yi - Wuju Master granting +1 Might), that changed value is what is used in the combat sums. If Might is reduced below 0 it is treated as 0 when summing Might for combat [143.2.b]. Also, effects that alter what counts as lethal damage (see [FAQ:unleashed#8]) or that prevent a unit from taking damage can change how marked damage interacts with killing and assignment [460.2.c.9]. But absent such effects, merely having damage marked that is less than the unit's Might does not reduce the Might used for attacking or defending.