Illusions in Dota 2 are copies of a hero. Illusions are not permanent and exist for a certain amount of time. Illusions move at the same speed as the hero, although they attack slightly slower and usually have less attack. Illusions also most often take increased damage from enemy attacks. Illusions cannot use the hero’s active skills, but can only adopt some of the hero’s passive skills. Illusions can be controlled like normal summoned units. There are some exceptions, but we’ll talk about them a little later.
Although the illusions look like a hero, if you walk past an enemy illusion while affected by Smoke of Deceit, it will not detect you.
When you attack an enemy illusion next to creeps, they will not react to it in any way, that is, they will not attack you.
When attacking Roshan, illusions instantly die on the first hit. However, illusions can be placed next to Roshan and prevented from attacking. In this case, Roshan will attack them and they will live for some time.
Illusions deal 25% less damage to enemy structures.
The hero can lure enemy illusions with the help of skill .
Illusions are divided into two types: mirror copies of the hero and single illusions. There are some differences between these types, so we will consider each type separately.
Mirror illusions are created in the place where the hero is standing, but the hero may end up in a random place after the call. In other words, with each call to illusions, the enemy will not be able to immediately understand where the real hero is, and where is his mirror copy. At the moment of summoning illusions, the hero becomes invulnerable for a short period of time, but even this time may be enough to dodge a flying projectile (for example, a powerful skill). For example, with the help of summoning illusions, you can dodge such skills as: or . Also, the call of illusions allows you to remove a huge number of negative effects from your hero (various poisons, slowdowns). For example, you can get rid of Pak’s silence or Naix’s slowdown. Mirror illusions are obtained by using the following skills and artifacts:
These type of illusions are usually created in a specified location or when a specific hero is selected. The difference between this type of illusion and the mirror one is that at the time of creation, the illusion does not mix with the hero and it is much easier to determine where the real hero is and where his copy is. Also, at the moment of activation, the hero does not gain invulnerability for a short period of time and cannot get rid of any negative effects. In other words, this is a simple creation of an illusion without any chips. Such illusions are obtained thanks to the following skills:
When you pick up an Illusion Rune, the illusions you create will also be of the single type, not the mirror type.
For the enemy, the illusions look exactly the same as the main one and it is quite difficult to immediately understand where the real hero is. For allies, illusions are displayed in blue and they immediately understand where the real hero is and where his copies are.
Illusion Damage
As a rule, illusions deal a certain percentage of damage from the hero’s attack. In this case, only the so-called white damage is taken into account. If you look at the hero panel, you will see that the damage is usually two numbers. The first (white) number is the hero’s base damage plus attribute damage bonus (strength, agility, intelligence). The second (green) number is the damage bonus from artifacts that only give a damage bonus. Here, for illusions, damage is calculated only on the basis of the first digit. To make it a little clearer, let’s look at the following example. Let’s say you’re playing heroes and want to increase the damage of illusions. If you buy an artifact, then your hero will receive a +60 damage bonus, but the damage of illusions will not change at all. Viper has the main characteristic dexterity, which means that in order to increase the base damage of the hero (white number), you need to buy something for dexterity, for example. With this artifact, both the base damage of the hero and the damage of summoned illusions will increase. Accordingly, if you play some hero with the main characteristic «strength», then the damage of illusions can be increased with the help of Heart of Tarrasque or Armlet of Mordiggian.
Illusion Attack Speed
Attack speed, as well as damage, depends only on the hero’s base attack speed and the bonus received from artifacts that increase dexterity. The exceptions are artifacts: , Sange and Yasha and . These items affect the attack speed of illusions. Also, the attack speed of illusions is affected by the skill. Again, for the purposes of this example, let’s imagine that you are playing the hero. If you buy an artifact, then the hero’s attack speed will increase significantly, but this will not affect the illusions in any way. If you want to increase both your attack speed and the speed of illusions, then it is better to buy something for dexterity, for example, the same .
Illusion Movement Speed
The movement speed of illusions always matches the movement speed of the hero. If you let’s say you buy boots, then when you call the illusions, they will also move as if with boots. Illusions are also affected by various auras that increase movement speed. Thus, the illusions will always move at the same speed as the hero and cannot be distinguished. There is one exception worth noting, namely boots. Illusions will only gain the base movement bonus, but their movement speed will not increase when the boots start to grant an additional movement bonus out of combat.
Health and Illusion Protection
The health and armor of illusions also depend on the base values of the hero. If you want to significantly increase the survivability of your illusions, then the Artifact Heart of Tarrasque is a very good fit. It should be understood that illusions will only receive a good bonus to health, but will not receive accelerated health regeneration. Also, illusions do not benefit from most auras or lifesteal. If you want to increase the armor of your illusions, then you need to buy artifacts for dexterity accordingly, since 7 dexterity gives 1 point of armor. If you buy an artifact that gives a fixed amount of armor (for example), then by itself this illusion bonus will not be received. The magic resistance of illusions is increased only from some basic skills. No artifacts to increase resistance for illusions do not work. Because of this, most often illusions are quickly killed with powerful AOE skills.
Attack modifiers
All illusions can deal critical hits and dodge attacks if they have specific artifacts or passive skills.
Illusions do not gain an attack modifier that allows splash damage (on multiple enemies), such as through an artifact or a skill. Illusions cannot stun enemies, regardless of skills or purchasable artifacts, including or Monkey King Bar. Also, illusions cannot transfer the effect of bleeding with their attacks, for example due to artifacts: , Sange and Yasha or .
Artifacts
Illusions are affected by several artifacts, and below we will talk about each of them.
— same as for a hero, increases damage against creeps and neutral monsters.
Monkey King Bar — thanks to this artifact, illusions will always hit enemies, regardless of their chance to dodge an attack. The item itself will not give additional damage or a chance for a mini-stun.
— each illusion will deal periodic fire damage. It should be understood that one enemy can only take damage from one source of Radiance, but you can send illusions to different places and then each of them will actively deal fire damage in its place.
Gem of True Sight — each illusion will have the ability to see all invisible units and wards. However, when the illusion dies, you certainly don’t lose the Gem. It is very convenient to carry out reconnaissance and break enemy wards with the help of illusions.
— gives your illusions the ability to burn out part of the enemy’s mana with each hit and, due to this, inflict additional damage. This artifact only works for melee heroes.
Armlet of Mordiggian — thanks to this item, you can significantly increase the maximum amount of summoned illusions. The most important thing is to activate the artifact before calling the illusions. At the same time, illusions will appear with an increased supply of health and they will not lose part of their health every second, like a hero.
— Illusions will get a chance to dodge attacks.
— Illusions will get a chance to deal critical hits.
Please note that blocking damage from artifacts and Poor Man’s Shield will not apply to illusions.
Hero Skills
A little earlier, we said that illusions cannot use hero skills, but some passive hero skills apply to them. Below are the skills whose actions are transferred to illusions.
Also worth mentioning are a few skills that do not affect illusions.
Auras
In addition to the fact that illusions can take over some passive skills of enemies, some auras also work on them. Below is a list of auras that work on the illusion.
— Illusions receive only a bonus to attack speed.
— the aura works in full force.
— Illusions get a bonus to movement speed.
Drum of Endurance — Illusions get a bonus to movement speed.
It is also worth noting the negative auras that will affect illusions.
— illusions will slow down.
— decrease in protection.
Presence of the Dark Lord — armor reduction.
— Illusions take fire damage.
— freezing aura.
When an enemy summons illusions in the first seconds, it is quite difficult to determine where the real hero is. It is worth remembering that illusions take more damage. This way you can start one illusion after another and at what point it will become clear that one of the illusions is clearly taking less damage and that means it will be an enemy hero. The easiest way to quickly identify a real hero is to use an AOE skill. In this case, you will deal the same damage to all illusions and it will immediately be clear that one of the illusions received less damage.
Next, we will look at skills and artifacts that allow you to quickly kill illusions.
— kills the illusion instantly.
— kills the illusion 0.1 seconds after the start of the cast.
— The illusion instantly dies the first time it takes damage.
— Illusions die if they look at Medusa for 2 seconds.
— Deals damage equal to 25% of the illusion’s current health.
Scythe of Vyse — Kills the illusion instantly.
I think it’s no secret that Dota 2 has different types of damage and attacks. Few people have questions about physical and magical damage, but all sorts of unusual attacks, such as splash damage (cutting blow), are sometimes misleading. In reality, everything is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance, and below we will analyze in detail what kind of unusual type of attack it is.
Cleave (splash damage) — allows melee heroes to deal part of the damage to surrounding enemies. Some heroes have splash damage, due to the action of some abilities. These include: (ability), (ability), (ability that the hero can use on his allies) and (ability, after Tiny buys an artifact). In addition, the splash damage effect can be received by any melee hero who buys an artifact. As we see in Dota 2 there are not many sources of cleave and it is very easy to remember them.
All splash damage stacks smoothly with each other. That is, if, for example, he buys an artifact and uses his ability on it, then all three effects will work. Accordingly, the power of a cleaving blow can be greater than a normal attack, that is, the heroes behind the main target will receive more than 100% damage and it is more than realistic to achieve such a percentage. There is only one caveat here, it is important to take into account that splash damage from different sources can have a different damage radius. Accordingly, some enemies can receive splash damage from all sources, and some only from 1 or 2. We will talk about this in a separate paragraph.
Splash damage is taken by invisible enemies and targets in the fog of war. In other words, there is no escape from splash damage behind the Christmas tree.
The damage type of cleave is physical, but there are a number of nuances that sometimes cause people to disagree. The fact is that the damage of a cleaving blow depends on the damage of the attacking hero, and at the same time, neighboring targets receive a percentage of damage that is not reduced by their armor. As we know, ignoring armor refers to «clean» damage, and that’s precisely because of this, confusion often arises. It is immediately worth paying attention to the fact that the strength of splash damage does not depend on the defense of the target that we are attacking. Whether the main target has 10 or 100 defense, it doesn’t matter, enemies standing behind will receive the same amount of damage, which will depend on the attack of the hero with splash damage. For example, it may turn out that the main target will have a lot of protection and it will receive less damage than the enemies behind, although the splash damage will only deal a certain percentage of the initial damage. In some cases, this can be useful when we want to break through an enemy with a high defense score, for example. We can start attacking another target, but make sure that the enemy we need is within the radius of the splash damage. Of course, this is just a nuance, and in battle it is not always possible to quickly calculate everything and select a target, but you should definitely know this.
Now let’s finally decide why the cleave attack type is physical (although it ignores armor). The fact is that the effect of splash damage can be easily avoided by using invulnerability to physical damage. The effect of invulnerability to physical damage can be obtained using some abilities and items: (ability ), (ability ) and artifacts , . If the splash damage attack type was «pure», then the invulnerability to physical damage would not help. It is important to remember that magical invulnerability against a cleave will not save. It doesn’t matter if the enemy has BKB or some skill active, the damage from splash damage will still pass.
In addition to complete invulnerability to splash damage (due to physical invulnerability), you can also reduce the incoming damage of splash damage with the help of items, for example . That is, the artifact will block 32 damage. Of course, usually heroes with splash damage have a huge attack, but it’s still nice when our items are able to absorb some of the damage and you also need to know about it.
If your hero has the ability to reduce incoming damage, then this can also be used to reduce the effectiveness of enemy splash damage. For example, incoming damage can be reduced by such heroes as: (ability), (ability) or (ability after purchase).
Separately, I would like to once again draw your attention to the fact that the amount of splash damage does not depend on what buffs or debuffs weigh on the main attacked target. The damage depends only on the attacking enemy and on the heroes who receive this very splash damage. Let’s take a simple example. If he uses his ability on the main attacked target, then the amount of splash damage will not change in any way. But if the same ability is used on a hero with splash damage or enemies that are in the radius of splash damage, then the amount of damage will change, that is, opponents will receive more damage.
This item is very small, but very important. The fact is that splash damage (although it is physical damage) cannot be dodged. For example, if you attack the main target and a hero with a chance to dodge the attack falls into the splash damage radius, then this hero will receive damage every time. This is quite important, since, for example, such a situation may arise that the enemy buys or simply unexpectedly pumps an ability that gives us dodge. In this case, in order not to lose effectiveness in combat, we can start attacking other enemies and try to keep the enemy with a dodge in the radius of the cleave. If we start attacking the enemy with a chance to dodge the attack, then at the moment the dodge is triggered, we will not only miss, but the splash damage will not work either. Therefore, it is important to keep track of what the enemies are buying, what abilities they pump and have time to react to it. For example, you can buy the Monkey King Bar artifact.
Cleave power can be increased by using items. These include: , , , , and in general any items or abilities that give a crit chance. Let’s talk a little more about some subjects. The item can only increase the power of splash damage if we are attacking a creep or monster. For example, we can attack a creep in the lane and the enemy hero standing behind will receive 32% more damage. Of course, this feature is most often used to farm the jungle, but even in the lane you can sometimes surprise the enemy with good damage. The only exception here is skill. Otherwise, any player on Kunk was sure to buy Quelling Blade as a cheap way to significantly increase the power of his blow (already powerful with crits). Artifacts and even though they provide an opportunity to increase damage (meaning the first attack from invisibility, which will have a bonus of 175 damage), but to be honest, the increase in damage is negligible and definitely not worth buying these items just to increase the power of a cleave. It is much more interesting to have items with a chance to crit in your arsenal, and it is these artifacts that heroes with their own splash (for example, or) often buy. The fact is that in the event of a critical attack, the enemies standing behind will receive really impressive damage, which, as we remember, will not be cut by their armor.
This item is one of the most important, since the range of splash damage is not as obvious as many people think. Most often, novice players mistakenly believe that the radius of splash damage, which is written in the description of an item or skill, is a kind of radius of a circle around the attacked hero. That is, the following picture is drawn in the player’s head:
In reality, the attacked hero stands on the edge, and the splash damage area is behind the attacked enemy. In the picture below, the damage radius is shown as a circle, but this is also not entirely true. Previously, the affected area was really a circle, but after update 7.00 it became more like a trapezoid. That is, we strike the enemy and a wave, as it were, diverges behind him.
Thus, if, for example, we consider the hero and his ability with a radius of 570, then we can hit behind standing enemies at a great distance. Now I think you understand how Kunka, with his skill, manages to deal damage to enemies who can even stand on the very edge of the screen.
Earlier we said that splash damage from different sources can stack, but it has a different radius. Accordingly, if we, for example, take a hero and buy him , then the effects of the item and the ability will of course add up, but the splash damage from the artifact will act in a much smaller radius. Accordingly, enemies in the distance will receive splash damage only from the ability, and heroes close to both effects.
Several heroes, to be exact (Mass Serpent Ward ability), (Elder Dragon Form ability ice dragon) and Ancient Black Dragon, got into a separate item. The fact is that all these abilities can be partly attributed to splash damage, but they act a little differently. In this case, the damage radius is really calculated from the attacked target, that is, enemies receive damage in a circle around the main target. I would like to draw your attention to several interesting features regarding the effect of the skills described above. Mass Serpent Ward Shaman’s snakes initially deal physical damage to the hero, but the splash damage is already magical, which is generally very unusual. That is, you can safely defend yourself against the splash damage of wards with the help of BKB. If it misses an attacked target in Frost Dragon Form, nearby targets will still take splash damage, but 50% less.
The last point might confuse you a little, but in reality this is only a rare exception. Most often, you will encounter the usual splash damage available to melee heroes, and special skills are rare and easy to memorize.
Updates
05/24/2017 — Some changes have been made in view of update 7.00 and a number of bugs have been fixed.
