Mechanics

These properties are used by units in general, including heroes, creeps, and summons. Heroes possess a number of unique mechanics that other units don’t.

Mechanic	Introduction
Abilities Cooldown	Skills possessed by units, to be used on the battlefield. All heroes have at least three basic abilities, and one ultimate ability. Hero abilities are acquired upon leveling up with experience. Most abilities need to be activated, while others are passive. Active abilities have a cooldown period between uses.
Attributes  Strength  Agility  Intelligence	Baseline stats that increase with each level. Strength increases health and health regeneration, Agility increases armor and attack speed, Intelligence increases mana, mana regeneration, and magical damage. All heroes are associated with one of three attributes, known as their Primary Attribute. Raising a hero’s Primary Attribute also raises their physical attack damage. Attributes can also be increased by items and abilities.
Talents	Bonuses that increase a hero’s stats and properties. Players can pick one of two talents at levels 10, 15, 20, and 25.
Experience	Points needed for heroes to level up. Experience is gained from killing creeps and enemy heroes. Maximum level is 25, after which experience no longer serves any purpose.
Spawning	Heroes spawn at the fountain, in their base. Dead heroes respawn after a set amount of time. Respawn time is determined by the hero’s level.
Health Health regeneration	The amount of hit points a hero has. Health and health regeneration can be increased by strength, items, abilities, and talents.
Mana Mana regeneration	The resource required to use most abilities. Mana and mana regeneration can be increased by intelligence, items, abilities, and talents.
Armor Armor types Armor manipulation Effective HP	Property that reduces incoming physical damage by a scaling amount per attack. Armor comes in three types, and can be increased or decreased by some items and abilities.
Damage block	Property that reduces incoming damage by a fixed amount per attack. It is granted by some items and abilities.
Magic resistance	Property that reduces incoming magical damage by a percentage. Most heroes start with 25% Magic Resistance. It can be further increased by some items and abilities.
Evasion True strike Accuracy	Property that grants a percentage chance to completely avoid a physical attack. True strike allows a hero to ignore evasion.
Movement speed	The rate at which a unit moves. Movement speed can be increased and decreased by items and abilities.
Turn rate	The rate at which a unit’s model turns. Most actions require the model to be facing towards the direction of the action about to be taken.
Collision size	The internal size of a unit, which is impassable and can block other units. Most heroes have the same collision size, regardless of their graphical model.
Aura	Passive buffs and debuffs that surround a hero or unit in a circular radius. Auras come from abilities and items, and cannot be dispelled.
Illusions	Clones of heroes that are generated by abilities, items, or runes. Illusions come in different types, and possess lesser properties of the original hero.

Attack mechanics

Mechanic	Introduction
Damage types Physical damage Magical damage Pure damage HP Removal	There are three overall categories of damage. Physical damage is done by basic attacks, and some abilities. Magical damage is done by abilities and items. Pure damage is the rarest, and penetrates armor and magic resistance. HP Removal ignores all forms of damage manipulation, and is not technically considered a type of damage.
Attack damage Hero damage Basic damage Pierce damage Siege damage	Damage done by basic attacks. This type of damage is always physical, but is split into four minor types that interact differently with armor types.
Spell damage Spell amplification	Damage done by any source other than basic attacks. Spell damage can come in magical, physical, or pure damage types. It is amplified by the Intelligence attribute.
Damage manipulation Damage amplification Damage reduction Damage negation	Calculations that affect the final value of a damage instance. Items and abilities can amplify, reduce, or negate final damage.
Damage over time	Periodic damage done over intervals, usually in small amounts.
Attack speed	The time it takes to perform an attack. Attack speed can be increased or decreased by items and abilities.
Attack animation Attack point Attack backswing	The model animation that plays when a unit attacks. Damage is dealt at the attack point, followed by the attack backswing of the animation. Attack animations play faster or slower according to a unit’s attack speed.
Cast animation Cast point Cast backswing	The model animation that plays when a unit uses an ability. The ability is used at the cast point, followed by the cast backswing of the animation. Each ability has its own unique cast animation. The speed of cast animations cannot be altered, and therefore cast speed stays the same throughout the match for each ability.
Channeling	The model animation for certain abilities that require a unit to stand still in order to affect the ability over time.
Missile speed	The speed at which the projectile from a ranged basic attack travels. Abilities have unique missile speeds for their projectiles.
Attack range	The distance from which a unit can perform basic attacks. Most melee heroes have a range of 150, while ranged heroes can have a range of up to 700.

Attack modifiers

Main article: Attack modifier

Additional effects can be added to basic attacks. Some of these effects stack with each other in several ways, while others do not stack at all.

Mechanic	Introduction
Critical strike	Modifier that increases damage from basic attacks by a percentage multiplier.
Cleave & Splash	Modifiers that cause damage from basic attacks to spill past a single target to a larger area.
Bash	Modifier that gives basic attacks a chance to stun.
Lifesteal	Modifier that causes attacks to regenerate a portion of their damage as health.
Mana break	Modifier that causes attacks to burn mana from the target, dealing damage based on the burned amount
Active/Autocast	Modifiers that are innate to abilities, and can be toggled on or off.

World mechanics

Mechanic	Introduction
Game map Lanes Jungle	The battlefield where Dota 2 matches takes place. Three Lanes are present on the map, and lead into each team’s base. In between the lanes are wooded areas known as the Jungle.
Buildings Ancient Towers Barracks Shrines Glyph of Fortification	Structures that aid in the defense of each opposing side. The main building is the Ancient, which must be destroyed in order for a side to win. Buildings can be made temporarily invulnerable with Glyph of Fortification.
Shops	Stores scattered across the map that sell items to heroes.
Gold Buyback	Currency used to buy items, which increase a hero’s capabilities. Heroes gain a small amount of gold every second, and can earn more gold by killing creeps, enemy heroes, and buildings. Dead heroes can use gold to Buyback, allowing them to respawn instantly.
Items Recipes Item sharing Item passive stacking Disassembling	Objects that can be purchased on the game map. Items increase a hero’s properties, and grant them special abilities and effects. Smaller items combine into larger items, with the help of recipes. Some items can be disassembled. Most items cannot be shared with other players.
Courier	A special unit owned by each team that holds and delivers items to players.
Creeps Lane creeps Neutral creeps	Units that automatically spawn on the map. They are killed for gold and experience. Lane creeps attack and push towards the opposing base. Neutral creeps reside in the jungle.
Summons	Units that are created by heroes to aid them in combat.
Wards	Units that provide vision, or some other utility.
Runes	Special boosters that spawn on the map. Runes give extra gold and experience to heroes who pick them up, as well as a variety of power-up effects.
Vision Ground vision Flying vision Shared vision True sight	A unit’s ability to see the map in real time, versus being covered by the fog of war. Most units have a radius of vision around them. Some units can turn invisible, and can only be detected by True Sight.
Time of day	The cycle of night and day. Some heroes have abilities that function differently at night. Vision is also limited at night.
Trees	Vegetation that serve as impassible obstacles on the game map. Trees can be cut down, and will regrow over time. Some items and abilities can interact with trees.
Pseudo-random distribution	The chance an ability or item’s effect will occur, increasing every time the effect does not occur.
True random distribution	The chance an ability or item’s effect will occur, calculated independently of previous instances.

Status effects

Main article: Disable

Status effects are a variety of conditions that can afflict units. They are caused by abilities and items.

Mechanic	Introduction
Stun Shackle	Unit is unable to move or perform any actions. Shackle is the same as stun, but requires the attacking hero to channel the effect.
Root	Unit is unable to move, but can perform some actions.
Hex	Unit is transformed into a critter, and is unable to perform any actions except move at a slow pace.
Cyclone	Unit is swept into the air, where it is invulnerable, but cannot move or perform any actions.
Hide/Banish	Unit is temporarily removed from the game map, and cannot be damaged or affected by any other mechanics.
Blind	Unit has a chance to miss basic attacks.
Silence	Unit is disabled from using unit abilities, but can still use item abilities.
Mute	Unit is disabled from using item abilities.
Break	Unit’s passive abilities are disabled.
Disarm	Unit cannot attack, but can still use abilities.
Slow	Unit’s movement speed is reduced. Most slows end after a set time, while other slows gradually decrease over time.
Trap	Unit’s movement is restricted by barriers, but can still perform actions.
Taunt	Unit is compelled to attack a certain target, ignoring player input.
Forced movement	Unit is compelled to move in a certain direction, ignoring player input.
Teleport/Blink	Unit moves to a location instantaneously.
Invisibility	Unit cannot be seen by normal vision, but can be detected by True Sight.
Phased	Unit can move through other units, ignoring collision size.
Invulnerability	Unit cannot be damaged by physical attacks.
Spell immunity	Unit cannot be targeted or affected by most spells.
Ethereal	Unit assumes a ghostly form, becoming immune to physical damage, but takes more magical damage. Ethereal units cannot attack.