(All about DotA)
Note
If you've got any questions, make sure you check the following before asking:
DotA FAQ forum
Information about a lot of different things can be found here, and a lot of the topics that are covered here are also covered there in more depth.
DotA Terminology, Commands and Allusions
Information about ingame commands and DotA slang can be found here.
DotA Questions forum
A lot of questions have been asked here already, and you may find your answer and many other things that might interested you by browsing here.
Keep in mind that this might not be fully accurate, since not all of the changes in each version have been noted. If you spot an error, tell me =)
Contents:
1. Introduction to DotA
2. Diminishing Returns
3. Magic Resistance
4. Magic Immunity
5. Criticals
6. Bash
7. Orb effects
8. Blade Mails
9. Armour
10. Cleaving
11. Evasion
12. Truesight and Invisibility
13. Images
14. Movespeed
15. Attack Speed
1. Introduction to DotA
Things to know before you can play
First and foremost, before you think about playing DotA, you're going to need to download the map (easiest way to do this is just go to the Latest Versions section on this site and download the latest one, or download it from getdota.com). After you downloaded the map, move the file to:
(Main Drive) -> Program Files -> Warcraft 3 -> Maps -> Download
Note: If you don't play custom games, you might not have a downloads folder, so you can just make one if you want, but I'm pretty sure leaving it in maps will work anyway. Some people tell me this isn't true, but it's worked for me =) You might as well be cautious anyway and put it in a folder called "downloads" just in case.
Next, make sure you have the latest War3 patch (currently 1.21). You can either download this from Blizzard, or try to get into Battlenet (this should automatically update you, although I'm not sure if it's only an automatic update if you have the previous patch... Just check the Blizzard site to be 100% safe).
Now you should be ready to play DotA. Probably the best way to introduce yourself to DotA is by playing a game in Single Player mode (not on BNet). First, no matter what mistakes you make, it doesn't matter and nobody will care, and second, you can explore more if you're not worried about anything else in the game.
When you create your game, your color is automatically Blue, which means you are able to choose what the game mode is. For a list of possible game modes and their commands, visit this FAQ. Note that a mode command must be entered before the 15 second mark or Normal Mode will be defaulted.
The basics of DotA
DotA stands for Defense of the Ancients, so it's pretty obvious that you're going to have to be defensive, but at the same time you and your team will need to be offensive. In the game, there are 2 opposing sides with bases at completely opposite sides of the map (Sentinel base is in the lower left hand corner, Scourge base is in the top right hand corner), and there are 3 corridors (or lanes), with 2 towers for each side in each lane. Creeps will spawn from Barracks at 30 second intervals (starting from the 90 second mark) for each lane and travel down their corresponding lanes until they meet opponents.
What is your role in all of this? Well, you get to pick a hero from a tavern and join the battle to help your team win. Your hero starts off at level 1 and has a skill point available for use... You'll also have gold at your disposal for buying items (or reviving yourself when you die, although I do not recommend this as it is almost always a waste of money). If you want to find out which heroes are newbie friendly and how to play them, I suggest you check out the DotA heroes sections (or experiment for yourself).
Apart from getting 8 extra gold every 7 seconds (not really that much), the only way to get money (and experience) is by killing enemy creeps, neutral creeps or enemy heroes. The important thing to note is that you only get money if you actually kill the creep/hero, but you can get experience by being within 800 range of a creep/hero that gets killed by your team. You get anywhere between 30-60 gold for killing an enemy creep (less if you have lost a barracks in that lane), and 100 gold + bonus for ending kill streaks, when killing an enemy hero. But getting gold isn't anywhere near as important as getting experience early on...
A good first item for beginning players is Boots of Speed, which will give you increased movement speed. While it doesn't help with anything else, it can get you places faster, as well as get you out of places faster (for example, if your hero were about to die). Other good beginning items include rings of regeneration (for health regeneration), sapphire waters (heals 400 HP over 20 seconds, but cancels if you are hit by anything), ironwood branches (+1 to all stats is helpful early, and it only costs 57 gold) and circlets of nobility (+2 to all stats, costs 185 gold). A mix of these items is helpful early on (for example, a RoR and 2 branches is affordable straight away and gives some nice benefits, but then again, getting boots first has some upsides too... It depends how you want to play)
Now choose a lane (middle, top or bottom) and head towards your last tower in that lane. Don't go past that tower without your creeps! When your creeps come, follow them to where they meet the other creeps. This is where the fun begins. Now, depending on what hero you are, and who you're versing, you're going to have to play with completely different styles. Some heroes are nuke spammers (Nukes are any spell designed to deal a lot of damage to the hero, and most heroes have at least one. Spammers are those that use them frequently!), some heroes are late game heroes (with very little early game combat capability), some heroes have regeneration/armor/HP skills for survival, some heroes are melee (which are almost never going to be as good as ranged early game)... Well, you get the idea; there are lots of different types of heroes in the game! It may take a while to figure out which ones are good at what, but here are some general rules:
If you're an intelligence hero, chances are you'll be able to use whatever nukes you have more frequently than other heroes. Getting some mana regeneration items (Sobi Mask: 325 gold, or Clarity potion: 50 gold, Void Stone: 900 gold), or items which increase Intelligence/Mana (Mantle of Intelligence: 150 gold, Circlet of Nobility: 185 gold, Energy or Point Boosters: 1000/1200 gold) are good first items. Getting items that can combine into better items, like Void Stone (which can be combined with items like Ring of Health to make Perserverence - which can then be further combined, or Staff of Wizardry and Robe of the Magi to make Eul's Sceptre of Divinity - which can be further combined to make Guinsoo's) or Boosters (1 of each booster, Vitality, Energy and Point, makes a Soulbooster, which for some Intelligence heroes can be further combined into Aghanim's Scepter to increase their ultimate's power).
If you're a Strength hero, chances are you'll be able to tank (take a lot of hits) a bit early game as well as possibly using whatever nukes you have (a lot of Strength heroes have a stun or slow spell, but others have defensive spells too so this may not always be an option). Getting items which increase health regeneration so you can regenerate after taking hits (Ring of Health: 875, Ring of Regeneration: 375, Sapphire Water: 100) or items which increase HP/Strength (Gauntlets: 150, Circlet of Nobility: 185, Bracer (combination item): 175 + CoN + Gauntlets, Vitality Booster: 1100, Ogre Axe: 1000). Again, items which combine into bigger, better items are good; for example, Ogre Axe (which can make Black King Bar - Broadsword and BKB recipe) or Vitality Booster (for Heart of Tarrasque - Messerschmidt's Reaver and HoT recipe).
If you're using an agility hero, it really depends on what you are. Some agility heroes are purely late game, with little capability of performing well early on - for example Phantom Assassin, Antimage and Stealth Assassin. Getting some regeneration is probably your best option with them, since if you plan to do anything early, chances are you'll need it! Others are good at farming early, but not at hero killing - for example, Troll Warlord, Clinkz and Nerubian Weaver (heroes that are ranged with no nuke, but good skills for farming). Getting some damage, and possibly some regeneration items (because if you're versing a good nuker you wont be able to fight back very effectively and they could potentially dominate you) is good for them. Then you have agility heroes which are very reliant on spells; these include Nerubian Assassin, Bounty Hunter and Venomancer. Playing them like intelligence heroes is a good move (getting some items for their mana pool since they can be very reliant on mana).
It's important to note though that if you're versing a nuker, it's best to not try to farm like you would normally. Standing behind your ranged creep will allow you to get experience from creep kills, but it will also (probably) keep you out of the range of your enemy's spells. If you can, without getting hurt too badly, kill creeps which are on low HP. Holding the ALT key will tell you which units have what HP, so this can be handy. Also, if one of your creeps is fairly low HP and you can kill it without causing harm to yourself, do that too! This will deny your enemy experience.
The final tip about early game that I can give you is be cautious. Hero killing is good but don't be too greedy; killing creeps is good but don't be too greedy; keep an eye out for traps and ambushes (very frequent in DotA, especially around the time heroes reach level 6).
Now for some technical details of DotA....
2. Diminishing returns
Whenever you hear this, what it means is that a certain effect has an increased percentage, but not directly increased. If you have 20% of something, and an item or skill that gives another 20% of that something, if it stacks diminishingly, it will not equal 40%!
The way to work out diminishing returns is to use this formula:
T = C/100 + (100-C)/100 * E/100
T is the Total percent, C is the Current percent, and E is the Extra percent.
For example, if you have a melee hero with 25% bash and buy the item Cranium Basher, the extra 15% bash stacks diminishingly. To work out the total percent, use the formula:
T = 0.25 + (100-25)/100 * 0.15
= 0.25 + 0.75 * 0.15
= 0.25 + 0.1125
= 0.3625
The total bash percent would be 36.25%. If you added another Cranium Basher, to work out the bash percentage, again apply the formula. Note that the Current Percent is changed to 36.25%
T = 0.3625 + (100-36.25)/100 * 0.15
= 0.3625 + 0.6375 * 0.15
= 0.3625 + 0.095625
= 0.458125
The total bash percent would then be 45.8125%.
3. Magic Resistance
Every hero starts out with a natural 25% magic resistance to spells. A spell that says it does 300 damage will only do 225 damage to heroes (75% of 300). On top of that, there are items which give magic resistance, and even some heroes that have skills which increase magic resistance. Getting extra magic resistance stacks diminishingly, though.
When a hero buys a Planeswalker's cloak, which gives 15% magic resistance, to calculate the total magic resistance we use the formula for Diminishing Return.
T = 0.25 + (100-25)/100 * 0.15
= 0.25 + 0.75 * 0.15
= 0.25 + 0.1125
= 0.3625
Total magic resistance with a Planeswalker's Cloak is 36.25%.
When a hero upgrades the Planeswalker's cloak to a Hood of Defiance, which gives 30% magic resistance, to calculate the total magic resistance we again use the formula:
T = 0.25 + (100-25)/100 * 0.3
= 0.25 + 0.75 * 0.3
= 0.25 + 0.225
= 0.475
Total magic resistance with a Hood of Defiance is 47.5%. Note that the current magic resistance was 25% because you no longer have the Planeswalker's cloak! If the hero with a Hood of Defiance then buys another Planeswalker's cloak, the magic resistance will not stack. Likewise, if the hero with a Hood of Defiance then buys another Hood, the magic resistance will, again, not stack. You may only buy one magic resistance item, and the Hood of Defiance will take precedence over the Planeswalker's cloak (what this means is that you will always have 47.5% magic resistance, no matter what items you buy after a Hood of Defiance).
When a hero has a skill that increases magic resistance (only Antimage, Pudge and Viper have skills that do this), to calculate the total magic resistance, you again use the formula for Diminishing Return. But, it is important to note that, like a Hood of Defiance and a Planeswalker's cloak, a hero's magic resistance will not stack with items that give magic resistance, unless you buy the magic resistance item before you get any points in magic resistance.
For example, if you buy a Hood of Defiance on Antimage, then later on start leveling up his Spell Shield, when Spell Shield is level 4, the total magic resistance is calculated like this:
T = 0.475 + (100-47.5)/100 * 0.4
= 0.475 + 0.525 * 0.4
= 0.475 + 0.21
= 0.685
Note that the current magic resistance was 47.5%, which is the resistance a hero has with a Hood of Defiance. The total percent of magic resistance on an Antimage, who got a Hood of Defiance before getting any points in Spell Shield, is 68.5%. If, however, the Antimage drops the Hood of Defiance, the magic resistance will not stack anymore, and only the Spell Shield will add magic resistance!
For ease of reference:
Hero with no magic resistance items: 25% magic resistance
Hero with Planeswalker's Cloak: 36.25% magic resistance
Hero with Hood of Defiance: 47.5% magic resistance
Antimage with Planeswalker's Cloak: 61.75% magic resistance
Antimage with Hood of Defiance: 68.5% magic resistance
Viper with Planeswalker's Cloak: 49% magic resistance
Viper with Hood of Defiance: 58% magic resistance
Pudge with Planeswalker's Cloak: 46.4% magic resistance
Pudge with Hood of Defiance: 55.9% magic resistance
Magic resistances calculated for Antimage, Viper and Pudge are worked out as stated above
4. Magic Immunity
If a target is magic immune, it will take no spell damage whatsoever, and will not be able to be targeted by a lot of spells. In DotA, there are several ways to achieve Magic Immunity:
Heroes: Omniknight (Repel), Juggernaut (Bladefury, Omnislash; he cannot be targetted and spells will not affect him for the duration of Omnislash), N'aix (Rage), Voidwalker (Timewalk; he cannot be targetted and spells will not affect him for the duration of the Timewalk)
Items: Linken's Sphere (Blocks one spell per minute), Black King Bar (Similar to N'aix's rage, makes a target magic immune for a duration).
It is important to note that magic immunity only means immunity to magical damage! You do not get full immunity to every spell, and any spell that does physical damage, and some ultimates and skills that have effects other than damage, will go through magic immunity. For example, spells that do physical damage, like Juggernaut's Omnislash or Leshrac's Diabolic Edict, will still damage a magic immune hero. Also, spells like Rootfellen's Overgrowth, Bane Elemental's Fiend's Grip, Naga Siren's net, et al will affect magic immune heroes but do no damage at all. It is important to note, though, that a hero that activates magic immunity after a spell is used (happens automatically with Linken's Sphere) will not be affected by the spell that was used, since magic immunity gets rid of all buffs that are currently on a hero.
The one exception to the rule of magic immunity (that magic immunity grants resistance to all magical damage) is Doombringer's ultimate, Doom. This spell goes through magic resistance, and does full damage to a hero. It is the only magic spell in the game that does damage to a hero with magic immunity.
5. Criticals
There is always much confusion about how Criticals work. Do Burizas stack? Does a hero's Critical Strike skill stack with a Buriza's Critical? Do Crystalys and Buriza stack?
First of all, multiple Burizas on a hero will cause the critical strike chance to stack diminishingly. To calculate the chance to critical strike, for a hero with two burizas, we use the Diminishing Return formula:
T = 0.20 + (100-20)/100 * 0.20
= 0.20 + 0.80 * 0.20
= 0.36
With two burizas, a hero has a 36% chance to Critical Strike.
A hero with Critical Strike as a skill who gets Buriza will be Critical Striking a lot, but it is important to note that when the infamous "double critical" occurs (when you see two criticals appear at one time, on your screen), they do not stack. When calculating damage from critical strikes, if two occur at once, only the last critical strike skill or item you achieved will have effect. Skills are only counted as achieved when they are learnt for the first time.
Example: If PA has Buriza at level 7, and she has learnt Coup de Grace at level 6, then throughout the whole game, whenever Buriza critical and Coup de Grace critical occur at the same time, the Buriza critical will override Coup de Grace's critical attack.
When a hero has a Crystalys and Buriza, again, when the infamous double critical occurs, it doesnt really happen - the criticals do not stack! In this case, the Crystalys's critical strike will take precedence over the Buriza's critical strike, so you will actually deal less damage than you would have, had you just got a Buriza alone. I do not recommend getting multiple Buriza anyway, since, if youre looking for a higher chance to deal criticals and an item that gives damage, you are better of getting something like a monkey bar, or even a butterfly if you're an agility hero (since higher attack speed means more criticals, and they give damage as well!).
6. Bash
As was said in part one, about Diminishing Return, Bash stacks diminishingly. To calculate Bash, just use the formula for Diminishing Return.
One important thing to note about bash, however, is that there is a little trick to it. If you are a melee hero that can turn into a ranged hero (Troll Warlord with his Berserker skill, Lycanthrope with his ultimate, Dragon Knight with his ultimate, Terrorblade with his Metamorphosis skill), and you buy the bash when you are in melee mode, or pick up a basher when you are in melee mode, then later change to ranged, you will still have a 15% chance to bash. Likewise, if you buy the bash in ranged mode, or pick up a basher when you are in ranged mode, then later change to melee, you will only have a 10% chance to bash.
There are two other passive skills which can stun for a short duration. The first is Sniper's Headshot, which has a 40% chance to stun for 0.1 seconds. The second is MKB, which has a 30% chance to stun for 0.1 seconds. It is important to note that these skills will not stack with each other; if two bashes occur at once, only the bash time and damage from the last bash skill or item you got will work.
For easy reference:
On heroes without bash -
1 Cranium Basher : 15% bash
2 Cranium Bashers : 27.75% bash
3 Cranium Bashers : 38.5875% bash
4 Cranium Bashers : 47.79937% bash
5 Cranium Bashers : 55.62946% bash
6 Cranium Bashers : 62.28504% bash
On heroes with 25% bash (Timestopper, Slithereen Guard) -
1 Cranium Basher : 36.25% bash
2 Cranium Bashers : 45.8125% bash
3 Cranium Bashers : 53.94062% bash
4 Cranium Bashers : 60.84953% bash
5 Cranium Bashers : 66.7221% bash
6 Cranium Bashers : 71.71378% bash
On heroes with 10% bash (Troll Warlord) -
1 Cranium Basher : 23.5% bash
2 Cranium Bashers : 34.975% bash
3 Cranium Bashers : 44.72875% bash
4 Cranium Bashers : 53.01944% bash
5 Cranium Bashers : 60.06652% bash
6 Cranium Bashers : 66.05654% bash
7. Orb Effects
I'm sure you've all heard everything there is to know about Orb Effects before, so what I'm about to tell you isn't really news. But I'll outline it all anyway.
This is a list of orb effects in the game:
Note: Some of the following are not orb effects, and are listed as skills which do not stack with orb effects!
- Lifesteal (lifesteal is only an orb effect on items, which include Mask of Death, Helm of the Dominator, Mask of Madness and Satanic)
- Corruption (from the item Stygian Desolator)
- Maim (from the items Sange or Sange and Yasha)
- Frost (from the item Eye of Skadi)
- Feedback (from the items Diffusal Blade or Manta Style)
- Chain Lightning (from the item Maelstrom)
- Frost Arrows (Drow Ranger's skill)
- Searing Arrows (Bone Clinkz's skill. Although a lot of people consider this not to be an orb effect, it should be noted that it does not stack with orb effects that debuff a hero, apart from Skadi.)
- Moon Glaive (Luna Moonfang's skill. Also not considered an orb effect, but it does not stack with orbs that debuff a hero.)
- Mana Break (Antimage's skill)
- Impetus (Enchantress's skill)
- Poison Attack (Viper's skill)
- Soul Assumption (Necrolic's skill)
- Poison Sting (Venomancer's skill. This will stack with orb effects that do not debuff a hero.)
- Germinate (Nerubian Weaver's skill. This stacks with Skadi, but the Skadi will only proc on the attack that Germinate procs.)
- Caustic Finale (Sandking's skill)
- Fury Swipes (Ursa's skill)
- Incapacitating Bite (Broodmother's skill)
Orb effects do not stack, with one exception: Eye of Skadi on a ranged hero. The eye of skadi's Frost effect is based of the Frost Wyrms from ladder TFT, and will thus stack with orb effects that do not debuff a hero. These include: Lifesteal, Searing Arrows, Germinate and Maelstrom.
When the feedback effect takes precedence over any other orb effect, it only takes precedence if the opponent has mana. When the opponent's mana is 0, another orb effect has will occur. It is important to note, though, that, most of the time, a hero will regenerate at least 1 mana faster than you can hit them, so this is almost useless to know
Heroes with passive orbs will have them overridden by any and all orb effects, with three exceptions.:
1) Venomancer's poison sting, which stacks with some effects like a Skadi stacks.
2) Nerubian Weaver's germinate, which, as already mentioned, stacks with Skadi (because of the ranged factor)
3) Antimage's Mana Break is not always overridden by Feedback effects. If an Antimage gets a Diffusal Blade or Manta Style before any levels of Mana Break, then Antimage's Mana Break will still take precedence over Feedback, and, in the case of Manta Style, Antimage will have images that burn 64 mana. However, if the Manta Style is dropped, or the position shifted, then he loses the bonuses, and the Feedback takes precedence over Mana Break!
For more information on anything that I've left out, see this topic in the DotA FAQ section:
Orb Effect Table
8. Blade Mails
Blade Mail's Return stacks directly, with other blademails and with skills of heroes. 6 Blademails in the inventory of a hero will return 120% damage to an opponent who hits you. A hero's skill that gives return, for example Nerubian Assassin or Centaur, will also stack directly with blade mails. A Nerubian Assassin with 4 levels of Spiked Carapace and 6 Blademails will return 160% damage to all melee attackers!
Blade mails return magical damage, so damage is reduced by magic resistance,
Correction by Bengal_Tigger: Magic Immunity WILL stop return damage. Also, to clarify, Critical Strikes will indeed NOT increase damage returned. The attacker will receive the same damage as normal - the damage that would have been returned had he not gotten a critical.
For an example of how Blademails would work, consider the following scenario. A level 25 Nerubian Assassin with Level 4 Spiked Carapace and 2 Blade Mails gets hit by a melee hero who does 200 damage per hit. Nerubian Assassin's armour will be 29, which equals a damage reduction of about 64%.
Return Damage = Damage * Return/100 * Magic Resistance/100
= 200 * 0.8 * 0.75
= 120 damage.
Damage taken by Nerubian Assassin = 200- (200 * Damage Reduction/100)
= 72 damage.
So with 2 Blademails and Level 4 Spiked Carapace, Nerubian Assassin will receive 72 damage from an attack that does 200 damage, and if his attacker is melee
9. Armour
Armour reduces the damage of physical attacks, but not magic attacks. Armour stacks diminishingly too, but since it's not percentage-wise, it is calculated differently.
The chart to figure out damage reduction from armour is here: Damage Reduction Tutorial
For the basics of how to figure out damage reduction, each point of armour should add about 6% theoretical HP. Theoretical HP basically means you would have certain amount of extra HP against physical attacks if the damage reduction were 0.
For example, say you have 20 armour. This would give you 20 * 6% = 120% extra theoretical HP. To figure out the damage reduction, we then divide 100 by 220 (total theoretical HP), which gives us 0.454545. This is how much damage you will actually take (45.4545%), so to figure out the damage reduction, we just say 100 - 45.4545 = 54.5454%. If you look at the chart in the URL, 20 armour gives 55% reduction, so that's about right. This is a little too hard to figure out on your own, so you're probably best just using the chart if you need it =).
If you're still unsure about anything to do with armour, check out this topic in the DotA FAQ section:
What do armour type and attack type mean?
10. Cleaving
Cleaving can be achieved three ways in DotA. The first is by buying the the item Battlefury, which gives 35% Cleave. The second is by using the hero Sven the Rogue Knight, who has a skill called Great Cleave which gives 40% cleave at level 4. The final way is by using the hero Magnataur, who has a skill called Mighty Swing which gives 50% cleave at level 4.
Cleaving attack, like Blademail, stacks directly. 6 Battlefuries will give 210% Cleave, but most people never bother doing this, since cleave is really only for farming, and it seems a bit redundant too. Cleave from Battlefury also stacks directly with the cleave from hero's skills.
Note: Some heroes have a special animation for when they have battlefury (these include Phantom Lancer, Axe, Juggernaut, Doom, Tidehunter and others). For Tidehunter, it looks like he is permanently using his Anchor Smash whenever he attacks, but the truth of the matter is that it doesnt actually deal the extra damage that Anchor Smash would unless it actually procs - you can only tell it procs by looking careful at the extra damage dealt to surrounding units. Juggneraut, too, looks like he's permanently using his Blade Dance whenever he attacks, but he isn't actually getting critical strikes!
11. Evasion
There are two ways to get evasion: Through a hero that has a skill that gives evasion (Phantom Assassin's Blur, Panda's Drunken Brawler or Bounty Hunter's Jinada). The other way is to get either the item Butterfly, or the item Radiance ("blinding" effect counts as evasion; ta to Lionel for that).
Evasion never stacks. Period. Getting multiple butterflies, or a butterfly on a hero that already has evasion does not do anything. The skill or item with the highest evasion will always override all the skills or items with lower evasions.
Note: Evasion is different from a skill that will cause a target or targets to miss. Evasion stacks with spells that make a target/targets miss! Evasion of a hero and accuracy loss of an opponent do stack together, diminishingly... For example, a Troll Warlord with a butterfly would have 25% evasion on top of making an enemy miss 42% of the time. His theoretical evasion would be:
TE = 42 + (100-42)/100 * 30
= 59.4%
Note that Backtrack (Voidwalker) is different from evasion. A butterfly on Voidwalker will stack with his backtrack. The way it works is, first, the Voidwalker will have a chance to evade the attack (25%). After this, if the evasion doesn't proc, he will then have a chance to backtrack the hit (25%). So, total evasion would be:
TE = 30 + (100-30)/100 * 25
= 47.5%
12. Truesight and Invisibility
Invisibility is a skill that can be achieved either through a hero's skill, the item Lothar's Edge or by finding a rune of Invisibility. The skills that grant invisibility, and often other bonuses, include Windwalk (possessed by Bone Clinkz and Bounty Hunter), Shukuchi (Nerubian Weaver), Nature's Guise (Rootfellen), Broodmother (after being in her web for a few seconds), Nerubian Assassin (ultimate: Vendetta), Stealth Assassin (ultimate: Permanent Invisibility), Phantom Lancer (Dopplewalk) and Priestess of the Moon (Moonlight Shadow).
The only way to see an invisible unit is by either using a skill or item that grants Truesight. The three items that grant truesight are Gem of True Sight, which drops upon death, Necronomicon, which, with the blue melee summon, allows truesight of the surrounding area, and Sentry Ward (not Observer Ward), which lasts 6 minutes. The skills which allow you truesight include Spiritbreaker's Charge of Darkness (single target only), Slithereen's Amplify Damage (single target only), Naga Siren's Net (single target only), Rootfellen's Eyes of the Forest (AOE), Rootfellen's ultimate Overgrowth (AOE), Bloodseeker's Strygwyr's Thirst (all heroes) and Bounty Hunter's Track (single target only).
While invisible, a unit gains all auras, but surrounding units are not affected by the aura/s of the invisible unit. While invisible, a unit takes full damage from all AOE spells (however, if an AOE spell requires a visible target, like Overgrowth (Treant), they will not be affected).
Also, Strygwyr's Thirst works in a weird way. If the target windwalks after Thirst is activated, you will not be able to see the target, but their position will still be indicated on the minimap and it is still possibly to target them.
For more information about Truesight, see this thread in the DotA FAQ section:
What Spells have Truesight on heroes?
13. Images
Images can be achieved in three ways: Through the use of a hero's skill, the active cast from the item Manta Style, and the rune of Illusion. The heroes which can use skills to create images are Naga Siren, Chaos Knight (ultimate), Phantom Lancer (passive) and Terrorblade.
Illusions have the exact same attributes (HP, Armour, Agility, Strength and Intelligence), but have a few differences:
- Images either take more damage and deal less damage, or just take more damage
- Images do not get as much in increases in attack speed from items
- Images do not get as much in increases in regeneration (mana or health) from items
- You cannot lifesteal an image (I guess you could say they have no life to steal). You do not get any money, experience or anything at all from killing an image. They are 'illusions' and not real. (This includes no bonuses for skills like Pudge's Flesh Heap, Necrolic's Soul Assumption. An exception would be bloodseeker's blood bath, where you gain 20% of the illusion's max hp if you kill it).
- The only orb effect that an image will retain if the hero has it, is feedback. All other orb effects will not work, although the image will have the animation so it appears like it works. However, ranged illusions do not have feedback.
Images have the same passive skills as their counterpart, except some times it's just illusory and doesnt actually have the same effect. For example, if you have a manta style and use images, your images will burn mana with the feedback effect, on every attack, but if you had an Eye of Skadi instead, your images would have the same animation (if you were ranged, a blue stream would come out of your images when they attacked), but the frost effect would only work for the real hero.
14. Movespeed
Movespeed is how fast a hero moves, in units of warcraft, per second. Each hero has a base movespeed, and this can be modified by skills or items that increase movespeed. When a skill/item says that it increases movespeed by a certain % it is refering to the base movespeed, not the total movespeed. Heroes with a skill that increases movespeed include:
- Naix (Anabolic Frenzy)
- Troll Wardlord (Rampage)
- Bristleback (Warpath)
- Bounty Hunter (Track as of 6.20, Windwalk before then)
- Syllabear (Rabid)
- Ogre Magi (Bloodlust)
- Night Stalker (Hunter in the Night)
- Doom (Scorched Earth)
- Bone Clinkz (Windwalk)
- Razor (Unholy Aura)
- Slithereen (Sprint)
- Lycanthrope (Feral Heart)
- Necrol'ic (Grave Chill)
- Broodmother (Web)
- Nerubian Weaver (Shukuchi)
- Bloodseeker (Strywyr's Thirst)
- Spiritbreaker (Empowering Haste; Charge of Darkness)
Items which increase movespeed include:
- Sange and Yasha
- Yasha
- Mask of Madness (active: Frenzy)
- Lothar's Edge (active: Windwalk)
- Boots of Speed
- Power Treads
- Boots of Travel
Summons which increase movespeed include:
- Yellow Necro-minion (from the Necronomicon)
- Kobold Taskmaster (speed aura)
The maximum movement speed in DotA is 522. This can be achieved by finding the rune of Haste or a combination of movement speed increasing skills and items. The highest base movespeed in the game belongs to Chaos Knight, and is 325. The lowest base movespeed in the game belongs to Techies, 270.
Converse to increasing movespeed, there are many heroes which decrease it too. These include:
- Omniknight (Degen Aura)
- Bristleback (Nasal Goo)
- Rhasta (Voodoo)
- Drow (Frost Arrows)
- Panda (Thunderclap)
- Enchantress (Enchant)
- Crystal Maiden (Frost Nova)
- Stealth Assassin (Smoke Screen)
- Phantom Lancer (Spirit Lance)
- Ogre Magi (Ignite)
- Chen (Penitence)
- Medusa (Purge)
- Night Stalker (Void)
- Akasha (Shadow Strike)
- N'aix (Poison Sting)
- Viper (Poison Arrows; Viper Strike)
- Lich (Frost Nova)
- Venomancer (Shadow Strike; Poison Sting)
- Broodmother (Incapacitating Bite)
- Phantom Assassin (Shadow Strike)
- Necrol'ic (Grave Chill)
- Pugna (Decrepify)
- Leviathan (Gush)
- Pudge (Rot)
- Nevermore (Requiem of Souls)
- Sandking (Epicentre)
- Abbadon (Frostmourne)
- Lion (Voodoo)
Items which have abilities to decrease movespeed include:
- Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse (Hex)
- Eye of Skadi (Frost)
- Sange and Yasha (Maim)
- Sange (Maim)
- Diffusal Blade (Purge)
15. Attack Speed
Attack speed is how fast your hero attacks. Attack speed is usually calculated in attacks per second or seconds per attack, which is determined by dividing 1 by the attack cooldown or vice versa. To do this, we first find the total increased attack speed of a hero (from agility and attack speed increasing items and skills), then we apply this formula:
AC = BAC / (1+IAS/100)
AC is the Attack Cooldown; BAC is the Base Attack Cooldown (usually 1.7, but can differ on some heroes) and IAS is the Increased Attack Speed, determined by finding the total agility of a hero and adding it to the increased attack speed a hero gets from skills and/or items. To give an example, Troll warlord at level 25 (87 agility) with a Hyperstone (50% IAS), Level 4 Fervor (30% IAS), Level 3 Rampage (120% IAS) and +20 to all attributes will have an attack cooldown of:
AC = 1.7 / (1+(87+50+30+150+20)/100)
= 1.7 / (1+3.37)
= 0.389
This means that Troll Warlord attacks once every 0.389 seconds. To find out attacks per second, divide 1 by that:
Attacks per second = 1/0.389 = 2.57
NOTE: This probably wont be useful in game, but outside of game you can use this to calculate how fast a hero would attack if you had what items =)