Dota 2/Gameplay

Dota 2 is quite a complex game with lots of mechanics one needs to take note of. This page will explain all of it in detail.

Heroes
A Hero is a player character in Dota 2. There will always be 5 heroes on each team at the start of a standard match. Heroes each have their own unique attributes, abilities and playstyles.

Heroes will earn experience and gold over the course of the game. Gold can be used to buy items from shops, while experience lets heroes level up. Leveling up will improve a Hero's attributes as well as letting the player learn or upgrade an ability. Every Hero has a level cap of 25.

Basic Statictics
Like most other games, every Hero has health and mana. Health is obviously a Hero's current vitality. Once it runs out, the Hero dies. Each hero has a base hit point total of 150, which is increased by the hero's strength rating. Health regenerates at 0.25 hp/second which is also increased by a hero's strength.

Mana is used for casting abilities as well as using some items. If you don't have enough mana required for an ability, you can use that ability. Heroes get 19 mana for every point of their intelligence attribute. Heroes also have a base mana regeneration rate of 0.1 mana/second which is again influenced by the level of intelligence.

All heroes have an attack damage stat and a base attack time. Attack damage is pretty self-explanatory. It's the measure of how much damage you do, and will increase based on your level as well as your primary attribute. It's important to note that the attack damage displayed on the HUD in-game is not actually accurate. The damage dealt by a hero's attacks will actually fluctuate a bit from the displayed value. For example, if a hero's attack damage is displayed as 98, it means that they might go from 96 damage to 101 damage.

Base attack time on the other hand is almost uniform for all heroes. It determines how long the gap between two attacks will be. All heroes have a BAT of 1.7 with a few exceptions. BAT cannot be changed, but increased attack speed, also called IAS, can. IAS will be increased by leveling up as well as with items, and works with your BAT to calculate how fast a hero attacks. The formula for it is n=(1+IAS%)/BAT, where n is the amount of attacks you can do in a second. IAS cannot rise above 400 or below -80.

Lastly, every hero is split into two groups based on attack range, which is melee and ranged. Since ranged heroes will always be at an advantage when up against a melee hero, there are also a few benefits that only applies for melee heroes. Most item effects like the Stout Shield and Quelling Blade will be stronger for a melee hero. Melee heroes are also the only heroes that benefit from unique attack modifiers like cleave and lifesteal.

There are a few other statistics for heroes, but they will be covered further down the page.

Attributes
Every hero possesses three main attributes: Strength, Agility and Intelligence. These attributes affect certain areas of a hero's performance. Every hero has a primary attribute. Every point of this attribute will give the hero an additional point of damage in addition to its normal effects.


 * Strength determines how tough and durable the Hero is. For every point of it, it will increase the hero's health by 19 and health regeneration rate by 0.03hp/second. Strength heroes will also gain an additional point of damage with each point of Strength.
 * Agility is the measure of a hero's physical combat prowess. Each point grants 1/7 armor, increases a hero's attack speed by 1 and if it's an agility hero, one point of damage.
 * Intelligence determines a hero's ability to cast spells. Each point will increase your maximum mana by 13, mana regeneration rate by 0.04 mana/second as well as an additional point of damage for intelligence heroes.

Abilities
All heroes have abilities that have a variety of effects, from small buffs that strengthen themselves to devastating spells that inflict major damage. Most heroes have 4 abilities, 3 of which are standard abilities while one is considered an ultimate. Ultimates are usually more powerful than a Hero's other abilities, though are more costly to use.

Standard abilities can be upgraded up to 4 times, though they can only be leveled once every two levels. Basically, every standard ability cannot exceed level 1 until a Hero is level 3. Ultimates can only be leveled 3 times, no earlier than at levels 6, 11 and 16. The only exception to this leveling system is Invoker, which will be explained on his Hero page. Upgrading abilities will make it more effective, such as increasing its damage and reducing its cooldown. Sometimes, upgrading an ability will also raise their mana cost, meaning you'll have to expend more mana to use the upgraded ability.

There are a few types of abilities:


 * Active abilites are abilities that have to be manually activated by the player. These abilities can have all sorts of effects, such as buffing an area, doing damage on a target or summoning a unit. Most active abilities use up mana and has a set cooldown. If a player does not have enough mana or an ability is still in cooldown, they can't use that ability. Active abilities abilities can be split further into sub-categories based on how they are used.
 * Target point abilities will affect the area on which it was cast on.
 * Target unit abilities will affect the unit it was cast on. Sometimes it also affects nearby units.
 * Channeled abilities are abilities that prevents the player from performing most other actions while the Hero is using the ability, including moving.


 * Passive abilities are abilities that grant their effects as long as they are learned. These abilities will usually be a constant buff (usually called an aura if it affects an area instead of a unit) or a luck-based attack like a counter attack or critical hit.


 * Autocast abilities are abilities that can be toggled to apply or stop their effects. Usually these abilities affect a Hero's standard atack.


 * An attribute bonus is an extra passive ability that is shared among all heroes. They will increase all 3 of a Hero's attributes by 2. It is usually leveled after all the other abilities have been mastered, or to compensate for a weakness like a lack of health or mana early on in the game. Unlike other abilities, attribute bonuses can be upgraded up to 10 times.