What you were expecting to happen, and what actually happened:
I assumed Sparkinator’s spell would not be considered as Damage (Steals Armor), which was confirmed by casting it vs barriered troops, whereas the barrier was unaffected and the armor was duly stolen.
However, in a previous battle, upon stealing armor from 3 troops that submerge when receiving damage, (Aquatic trait) all 3 troops ended up submerged.
How often does this happen? When did it begin happening?
Noticed it during Journey event, I’m assuming happens always but I seldom use Sparkinator unless restrictions nudge me that way.
Steps to make it happen again
Use Sparkinator Vs troops with Barrier and Vs troops with Aquatic trait, to observe the apparent inconsistency.
To me, in a literal sense, removing armor is not taking damage, it’s stealing… like I am literally picturing I am running up and stealing armor plates
But other may think that is not the case, it is a type of damage, so it should trigger things like Submerge (as it does) and barrier needs to be changed
Agreed on the Steal Armor not sounding like damage, but now we would need to consider whether Steal Life is damage, for consistency reasons of the overarching ‘Steal’ effect.
There’s an argument to be made for either one, but I don’t really like it being a mix and match. Be nice to point and say, yup that’s what its supposed to do.