History Characters / Dota2DireIntelligence

This is part of the [[{{Characters/Dota2}} character sheet]] for ''{{VideoGame/Dota 2}}''. This page contains all '''Dire Intelligence''' heroes.

[[center: [- Strength - [[Characters/Dota2RadiantStrength Radiant]] | [[Characters/Dota2DireStrength Dire]] -] ]]
[[center: [- Agility - [[Characters/Dota2RadiantAgility Radiant]] | [[Characters/Dota2DireAgility Dire]] -] ]]
[[center: [- Intelligence - [[Characters/Dota2RadiantIntelligence Radiant]] | '''Dire''' -] ]]
[[center: [- [[Characters/Dota2Neutrals Neutrals]] | [[Characters/Dota2NPCs Others]]-] ]]

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[[foldercontrol]]
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[[folder:Atropos, the Bane Elemental]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bane_7280.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/1/1e/Bane_kill_11.mp3 "Shut your eyes, and dream of me."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' David Scully
''"When the gods have nightmares, it is Bane Elemental who brings them. Also known as Atropos, Bane was born from the midnight terrors of the goddess Nyctasha. A force of terror too powerful to be contained by sleep, he surfaced from her slumbers, fed upon her immortality, and stole his vaporous form from her inky blood. He is the essence of fear. Mortals who hear his voice hear their darkest secrets whispered in their ear. He calls to the hidden fear in every Hero's heart. Wakefulness is no protection, for Bane's black blood, continuously dripping, is a tar that traps his enemies in nightmare. In the presence of Bane, every Hero remembers to fear the dark."''

* AchillesHeel: While Bane is a great disabler, all his spells are single targeted, making him one of the worst pushers in the game. Bane players are encouraged to build a Necronomicon on him because of this.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of fear and nightmares.
** IKnowWhatYouFear
* ArmorPiercingAttack: ''Fiend's Grip'' can disable and drain an enemy's mana through spell immunity, although it can't damage them. This makes it one of the more powerful disables in the game, since carries often rely on spell immunity in order to avoid being disabled in a teamfight.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: ''Nightmare'' can be used to deny an allied Hero from getting killed. He can even do this to himself if his health is exceptionally low.
* BlackBlood: He is continually oozing black blood from various parts of his body, although in this case it's not his own.
* BlackMage: His entire kit consists of nukes and debuffs designed to screw his enemies up as much as possible.
* CounterAttack: If Bane has purchased an Aghanim's Scepter, any enemy who tries to land physical right-clicks on Bane while he channels ''Fiend's Grip'' will be hit with ''Nightmare''.
* DarkIsEvil
* DifficultButAwesome: Since all of Bane's abilities are single-target and mechanically very different and unique, good Bane gameplay means that you'll have to know when to cast certain disables and when to hold back. Additionally, the wonky mechanics of ''Nightmare'' (it can be cast on allies, it transfers between targets with right-clicks, and it has a 1-second invulnerability window) mean that it can completely screw over your team if used the wrong way. However, good Bane players can disable two or more enemy Heroes in a teamfight, greatly reduce the effectiveness of carries' right-clicks, and generally make life difficult for the enemy.
* DreamEater[=/=]EmotionEater: ''Brain Sap'' deals Pure damage to a targeted enemy, and heals Bane for the same amount. It always heals Bane for the full amount, no matter how much damage is dealt to the target (for instance, if it's cast on Spectre who has levels in ''Dispersion'' or Slardar with his ''Sprint'' active).
* DreamWeaver: ''Nightmare''. ''Fiend's Grip'', according to the flavor text, literally brings the target's nightmares to life to attack it.
* EldritchAbomination: This monster that was literally born from night terrors and feeds upon fear is as close as it gets.
* EvilLaugh: Very frequently.
-->'''Bane (buying Blink Dagger):''' [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/a/a5/Bane_blink_03.mp3 Blink Dagger-AAUAAAGAUAGAHUAGHAAA]]
* EyelessFace
* ForTheEvulz: His primary motivation.
* GenderBlenderName: In Myth/GreekMythology, Atropos was a female name.
* JackOfAllStats: Unusually, Bane has completely even stats and stat growth, starting off with 22 points in each category, then gaining 2.1 points with each level.
* MadnessMantra: When casting ''Fiend's Grip''.
-->'''Bane:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/d/de/Bane_ability_fiendsgrip_06.mp3 "bane of your existence bane of your existence bane of your existence bane of your existence..."]]
* MercyInvincibility: ''Nightmare'' gives its target invincibility for the first second of the spell, allowing it to be used to dodge abilities. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK7TveuvK8k multiple times]].
* MindRape: All of Bane's abilities rely on manipulation of the fear he creates in enemies.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: He has an extra set of arms extending from his back.
* NightmareFace
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Has a distinctively centaur-like body.
* OurMonstersAreWeird
* PowerBornOfMadness
* PowerFloats
* PowerLimiter: ''Enfeeble'' reduces the target's attack damage by a certain amount for 20 seconds, and can't be dispelled by anything. What's more, it has a 10 second cooldown so it can be perpetually cast to keep an enemy's damage down, or used to neuter two enemies at once. Used in-lane it can starve your lane opponents of last hits (and experience since you can then easily deny creeps), used in teamfights it can drastically reduce the damage output of the enemy carries.
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack
* PutTheLaughterInSlaughter
* SlasherSmile
* StandardStatusEffects: Specializes in sleep-related disables; ''Nightmare'' renders the target unit unable to move or attack, but any damage will wake them up (as well as transferring the Nightmare to the attacker if it's a right-click). ''Fiend's Grip'', his ultimate, deals huge amounts of damage and cannot be broken unless Bane himself is interrupted. Additionally, allies can attack an enemy under its effect, making it extremely useful for taking down carries and other damage-dealers in the late game.
* ShoutOut[=/=]TakeThat: Towards VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth in one of his responses.
-->'''Bane (after killing Anti-Mage)''': [[http://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/a/a0/Bane_rival_11.mp3 I must have reminded him of someone he hated!]][[note]]Magebane is a playable character in [=HoN=], and is a rough equivalent of Anti-Mage[[/note]]
* VampiricDraining
** LifeDrain: ''Brain Sap'' deals damage and heals Bane equal to the damage dealt.
** ManaDrain: ''Fiend's Grip'' steals a percentage of the target's maximum mana. Aghanim's Scepter doubles this percentage.
* YourWorstNightmare: His means of attack, and also what he is.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Ethreain, the Lich]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lich_9417.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/0/05/Lich_rare_01.mp3 "And so the dead will bury the dead."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Gary Schwartz
''"In life, the frost-mage Ethreain (not yet a Lich) had used the threat of destructive ice to enslave entire kingdoms. His subjects, aided by a few desperate magicians, eventually grew bold enough to ambush him. Armed with enough charmed rope to bind him forever, they tied the frost mage to adamant weights and dropped him in a pool known chiefly for being bottomless. It wasn't. He only fell for a year or so before an outcrop snagged him. There he rested, dead but undecaying, until the geomancer Anhil thought to verify the legend of the supposedly bottomless Black Pool. Anhil's plumbline snarled with the ropes that bound the drowned magician, and up he hauled an unexpected prize. Thinking that by rendering the dead undead, he could question the Lich about the properties of the pool, he removed the bindings and commenced a simple rite of resurrection. Even the descendants of Ethreain's enemies were long forgotten by time, so there were none to warn Anhil against imprudence. But he learned the error of his judgment almost immediately, as Lich threw off the shackles and consumed him."''

* AffablyEvil: He has a large amount of dedicated voice lines for support actions, and even for buying wards (which makes him unique among even support heroes).
* BaldOfEvil
* BoringButPractical: Lich is widely considered to be one of the best beginner heroes, as all of his skills are very simple to use: ''Sacrifice'' solves all of his mana problems in the early laning phase and constantly pulls the creep wave to his tower, ''Frost Blast'' is a very simple spammable nuke and slow, ''Ice Armor'' can be turned on autocast and forgotten about, ''Chain Frost'' can score multi-kills simply by being tossed at a group of enemies, while Lich himself is fairly farm-independent and doesn't need much last-hitting skills. Because of this, it is very hard even for a complete newbie to screw up as Lich; and he remains popular amongst high-level players thanks to his amazing ability to harass with ''Frost Blast'' spamming, guaranteed deny of 25% of all gold in a lane, and acceleration of his lane mates' XP gain with ''Sacrifice''.
* ChainedByFashion
* ElementalArmor: ''Ice Armor''.
* EvilIsDeathlyCold
* EvilOverlord: He was one in his past life as a frost-mage.
* EvilSorcerer
* GlassCannon: While Lich is very squishy and easy to kill, his ''Frost Blast'' nuke does a lot of damage and has a very low cooldown, allowing him to spam it. On top of that, ''Chain Frost'' can deal massive amounts of damage to crowded enemies, making it one of the most feared ultimates in the game.
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath
* GradualGrinder: In the laning phase. Lich has no stun, and ''Frost Blast'''s 30% slow and 125 damage at level 1 isn't going to help burst down a full HP enemy hero. However, ''Sacrifice'' provides him with a plentiful source of mana which he can use to spam ''Frost Blast'' to constantly harass the enemy offlaner, to the point they can't dare going near the creep wave (which is usually already near Lich's tower due to ''Sacrifice'' pulling his lane back) or risk getting killed.
* HumanResources: Lich's ''Sacrifice'' ability allows him to instantly kill a friendly creep and convert a percentage of its current HP into mana for him, as well as converting it into experience for any hero (regardless of team) within the XP gain radius. This means that casting it on a creep while no enemy heroes are nearby will generate mana for him and XP for only friendly heroes. Lich is infamous for being one of the best laning supports in the game because of this ability to guaranteed deny 25% of all gold in a lane just by being there. And played smartly, it can be used to essentially ''steal'' XP from the other team. With enough mana regeneration (or frequent use of ''Sacrifice''), Lich can afford to perpetually cast ''Ice Armor'' on himself and his teammates upon being attacked (albeit with a minor cooldown) with no major downsides, providing a sizable defensive boost for any nearby allies.
* AnIcePerson
* ItsAllAboutMe:
--> '''Lich (casting Sacrifice on a friendly creep):''' [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/e/e0/Lich_ability_ritual_01.mp3 "For the greater good-- mine!"]]
* KillItWithIce: Or frost, in this case.
* LeakedExperience: While this is how all experience in Dota works, ''Sacrifice'' is notable in that it can be used to accelerate experience gain for yourself and your teammates (so long as you cast it outside of the enemy team's experience gain radius).
* MutualDisadvantage: Lich has ''no'' control over ''Chain Frost'' after it launches, so unless he has an Aghanim's Scepter, heroes with summoned creeps can take much of the bite off his ultimate by having [[WeHaveReserves much of the damage be taken by them instead]]. On the other hand, after he gets Scepter, it becomes much more difficult to split your minions up, because they can no longer eat the bounces for you.
* NotTheIntendedUse: ''Chain Frost'' can be cast on spell immune units. It doesn't actually damage them, but it will still mini-stun the first target and continue to bounce. This means that a Lich with an Aghanim's Scepter [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6GYt6aeUM can lock down ancient camps and kill anybody who tries to farm them]].
* PinballProjectile: ''Chain Frost'' hits up to 10 enemies via bouncing if another enemy is close enough to it (buy an Aghanim's Scepter, and the bounces become unlimited as long as there's another target nearby). It's fairly common for a savvy Lich to pull off multi-kills against gankers, or during teamfights.
* PowerFloats: He floats a few inches over ground.
* RandomNumberGod: Because ''Chain Frost'' will bounce to random targets after each hit, you can get extremely varied results if there are more than two enemies within the bounce radius.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Ethreain has been imprisoned for so long that even the descendants of his enemies were forgotten by time.
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* TheRedMage
* SorcerousOverlord
* SpamAttack: Though ''Frost Blast'' costs a lot of mana at the early laning stage, Lich can easily replenish it with constant ''Sacrifice'', allowing him to toss a ''Frost Blast'' every time it comes off cooldown. ''Ice Armor'' can be this as well, seeing how it can easily be turned on auto-cast and forgotten about.
* SquishyWizard: While he can alleviate this somewhat with ''Ice Armor'', Lich has very low Strength gain and can be squashed quite quickly if caught out of position.
* StandardStatusEffects: Besides his nuking power, all of Lich's active spells serve to slow the enemy's attack and movement speed. An enemy hero under the effects of the debuffs from ''Frost Blast'', ''Ice Armor'' and ''Chain Frost'' will have their movement speed slowed by 90% (which is more than enough to guarantee minimum movement speed) and attack speed by 60 (more than a Shiva's Guard).
* StayFrosty: He says this when casting ''Ice Armor''.
* WalkingShirtlessScene
* WeaksauceWeakness: There are two ways to counter ''Chain Frost'': Either walk into a group of allied or neutral creeps, as they will take some of the bounces, or [[RunOrDie run away from any allied units]], which, done fast enough, may mean the spell won't be able to bounce even once. This means that to get the most use out of the ulti, it is necessary to lock down the targets' movement speed and engage in an area without creeps.
** One of Lich's biggest weaknesses is that he has no pushing power, as ''Frost Blast'' has an extremely thin radius and can only be unit-targeted, making it less than ideal for nuking down creep waves, and does most of it's damage to a single target while others in the area take reduced damage anyway. Combined with his low base Intelligence, this means that he can't really spam his abilities until he gets some good items or enough levels of ''Sacrifice''.
** ''Sacrifice'' also eventually becomes a liability in the late game, when map control is dictated by how far the creep waves are pushed against the enemy towers (as opposed to early game, where you want the creeps near your tower to keep enemy heroes away). Since Lich has to kill one of his own creeps in order to sustain his mana pool, relying too much on ''Sacrifice'' can inadvertently take map control away from your team.
* WeirdBeard: Made of frost, apparently.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Lion, the Demon Witch]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lion_6539.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/c/ce/Lion_rare_01.mp3 "When the demon betrayed me, I took its very arm. Imagine what I'll do to a mere hero."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Tom Chantler
''"Once a Grandmaster of the Demon Witch tradition of sorcery, Lion earned fame among his brethren for fighting on the side of light and righteousness. But adulation corrupts. With powers surpassed only by his ambition, the mage was seduced by a demon and turned to evil, trading his soul for prestige. After committing horrible crimes that marred his soul, he was abandoned. The demon betrayed him, striking better deals with his enemies. Such was Lion’s rage that he followed the demon back to hell and slew it, ripping it limb from limb, taking its demonic hand for his own. However, such demonoplasty comes at a cost. Lion was transfigured by the process, his body transformed into something unrecognizable. He rose from hell, rage incarnate, slaying even those who had once called him master, and laying waste to the lands where he had once been so adored. He survives now as the sole practitioner of the Demon Witch tradition, and those who present themselves as acolytes or students are soon relieved of their mana and carried off by the faintest gust of wind."''

Lion is a simple support hero with a versatile set of abilities, allowing him to stun his enemies, disable a particularly troublesome foe, drain his enemies of mana and land a devastating nuke. ''Earth Spike'' causes spikes to erupt from the ground at a target area or enemy, stunning and damaging all enemies caught within it. ''Hex'' transforms the target enemy into a harmless little critter, disabling them for a short while. ''Mana Drain'' drains mana from an enemy, giving Lion more opportunities to cast spells without worrying about running dry of mana. ''Finger of Death'' is his ultimate, and perhaps his most famous spell. ''Finger of Death'' is a single target nuke that deals massive magical damage to the unfortunate victim, likely finishing them off. While the cooldown on ''Finger of Death'' is initially very long, it gets much shorter as it's leveled, to the point that it can be cast in every teamfight. With an Aghanim's Scepter, the cooldown on ''Finger of Death'' is shortened even further, the damage is increased, and now damages all enemy units standing near the target for the same amount of damage, turning ''Finger of Death'' from an useful finishing spell to a powerful teamfight ability. Lion may be frail and slow, but if played right, he can disrupt multiple enemy heroes with ''Earth Spike'', disable the most dangerous foe with ''Hex'', stop a low intelligence opponent from casting spells with ''Mana Drain'', and immediately kill or weaken anyone with a well-placed ''Finger of Death''.

* AppendageAssimilation: Creatively referred to as "demonoplasty".
* ArtEvolution: Prior to a redesign, Lion used to look [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lion1_8243.png like an obese half-demon]], but was updated to a more agressive, slightly feline appearance prior to game release. Prior to even this, he was [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m32jxrm9so1rt2j9do3_400.jpg spikey yet somewhat feline-looking, or simply a purple blob]].
* BaldOfEvil: Lion has no hair at all, only a bunch of spikes on his head that resemble hair.
* BalefulPolymorph: He can do this to his enemies with ''Hex''.
* BeamSpam: Aghanim's Scepter drops the cooldown on ''Finger of Death'' down to twenty seconds, an extremely short cooldown for such a damaging spell. Additionally, an upgraded ''Finger of Death'' will fire one beam at every enemy inside the area of effect.
* BlackMage: Lion is known as one of the most fearsome nukers in the game, being able to burst down heroes extremely quickly in the early- and mid-game.
* BodyHorror: ''Finger of Death''. It deals a huge amount of damage because it is attempting to turn the target [[{{Squick}} inside out]]. In other words, if he kills someone with the spell - it ''succeeded in doing so!''
* DealWithTheDevil: Also resulted to a FaustianRebellion and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killing the demon]].
* DifficultButAwesome:
** Lion is one of the most squishy heroes in the game, because of his slow speed, short effective range (''Hex'', for example, only has 500 range), poor HP and lack of armour. Your positioning has to be strong, and you have to be wary of strong enemy combos.
** While ''Earth Spike'' can be targeted on units up to 500 range away, its actual effect range is 825. Add in the 125 radius on the spikes, and you can potentially stun enemies up to 950 range away, almost twice the targetable range. So while regular Lion players can reliably stun enemies at the usual 500 range by directly targeting them, good Lion players can hit people twice as far by ground-targeting the spell instead, relying on manual aim.
* EvilCounterpart: To Lina; they are two of the very first heroes in the game (since version 0.60), both are fearsome nukers with an ultimate capable of dealing massive damage to a single target. Compared to Lina, Lion is a better ganker and disabler, needs fewer levels and items, but scales to the late game worse than Lina.
* EvilSorcerer
* FaceHeelTurn
* FallenHero
* FingerPokeOfDoom: ''Finger of Death''
* FinishingMove: ''Finger of Death'' is often used this way.
* GlassCannon[=/=]SquishyWizard: ''Finger of Death'' is the second most damaging spell in the game after ''Laguna Blade'', although he's quite frail. With Aghanim's Scepter, Lion can hit ''multiple enemies'' with a single ''Finger of Death'', effectively dealing up to 1025 magical damage to enemies that are bunched up, and potentially causing a team wipe under the right circumstances.
* {{Gonk}}
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Units hit by ''Earth Spike''.
* [[TheRightHandOfDoom The Left Hand of Doom]]: The demon's hand.
* LikeABadassOutOfHell
* LoinCloth
* MageKiller: A villainous variety, in his backstory. In the actual game, Lion is quite adept at nuking down fragile intelligence heroes with ''Earth Spike''[=/=]''Finger of Death'', or preventing them from casting spells with ''Mana Drain''[=/=]''Hex''.
* MagicStaff
* ManaDrain: His third ability, named this. Used properly, Lion can maintain his mana pool without having to go back to base, meaning that he can roam and gank very effectively. It also has utility in teamfights, since draining an enemy Hero's mana pool (usually coupled with a disable to keep them from breaking the tether too early) can prevent them from casting their escape abilities or using their big teamfight ultimate.
* OneHitPolykill[=/=]SplashDamageAbuse: Due to his ultimate becoming an [=AoE=] targeted spell if an Aghanim's Scepter is purchased, a good grouping spell such as Magnus' ''Reverse Polarity'' or Dark Seer's ''Vacuum'' can allow you to drop your nuke on multiple enemy heroes at once, to say nothing of the short cooldown.
* SpikesOfVillainy: On his face.
* ToHellAndBack: Judging by Visage's surprised reaction, he did it multiple times already.
--> '''Lion:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/4/4a/Lion_respawn_01.mp3 "I've been to hell and back, and back to hell…and back."]]
* VampiricDraining: His third skill, ''Mana Drain''.
* VolcanicVeins: His stolen demon hand.
* WalkingShirtlessScene
* WasOnceAMan: His background lore makes it clear that he was ''something'' else before his transformation, though it's unclear just dramatic the demonoplasty altered him.
* WingsDoNothing: The Legacy of Infernal Wings set gives Lion a pair of small bat wings that do nothing at all.
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Lion is one of the game's more notable heroes due to having two hard disables (''Earth Spike'' and ''Hex''), as well as ''Mana Drain'', which can prevent heroes with small mana pools from casting any spells or using certain item active abilities. Most other heroes in the game will have only one reliable disable.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Zharvakko, the Witch Doctor]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Witch_Doctor_295.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/8/8c/Wdoc_kill_08.mp3 "Your bones will make a fine powder."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Tom Chantler
''"A wiry silhouette hitches forward--uneven of feature and limb, bizarre of gait, relentlessly criss-crossing the battlefield in search of that vital weak point where his talents can do most good, and most harm. Whether broken or mismade it is not clear, but still, none can doubt the power carried in his twisted physique. A long staff thumps the earth as the Witch Doctor advances, deploying a terrifying arsenal of fetishes, hexes and spells. It is a body of magical knowledge learned over several lifetimes in the island highlands of Prefectura, now wielded with precision accuracy against his enemies. Witch Doctor is your best friend, or your worst enemy--healing allies and laying waste to all who oppose him."''

* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: His skin is purple.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: It's really hard to tell if he's a misshapen human or simply an odd-looking humanoid. His very vague backstory doesn't help matters.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: The ''Death Ward'''s attacks deal physical damage but bypass damage block, meaning that Stout Shield, Vanguard, Crimson Guard and Tidehunter's ''Kraken Shell'' cannot reduce its damage.
* AwesomeButImpractical: ''Maledict''. On paper, it is a very powerful damage amplification, able to explode any enemy heroes caught by it. However, its cast point is slow, its cast range is really poor, forcing Witch Doctor to stand in the face of an enemy hero to cast, and when a teamfight breaks, his job is to turn on ''Voodoo Restoration'', then stand at a safe place, far from the centre of the fight to channel ''Death Ward'' (whose effective range is at least 1300). If Witch Doctor even attempts to use ''Maledict'', he will greatly screw up his own positioning, and he can and will be lit up by the enemy team before he even reaches casting range. Getting into position quickly for a better ''Death Ward'' usually is way better than landing a 2-man ''Maledict'', and every second he's not channelling ''Death Ward'' is a huge waste. Because of this, ''Maledict'' is almost always neglected by pros, who skip it entirely until level 22.
* BallisticBone: The projectile of ''Paralyzing Cask'' is a skull filled with paralysing powder.
* CombatMedic: ''Voodoo Restoration'' periodically heals allies around Witch Doctor.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Maledict'' deals a pitiful amount of damage by itself, but deals a large amount of bonus damage with each tick depending on the difference in the target's HP between ticks, making it a powerful damage amplification spell, in effect if not in mechanics. However, it can also be countered with large amounts of burst healing between ticks, as the spell only checks on the HP difference rather than damage dealt to the target (meaning that a burst heal that happens at the same time as a damage nuke will essentially make ''Maledict'' think that little to no damage was done between the ticks).
* DanceBattler: While channeling ''Death Ward'', Witch Doctor dances along to a drumbeat rhythm.
* DeadlyDoctor: Of the magical persuasion.
* DifficultButAwesome:
** ''Maledict'' has a very thin [=AoE=], low range and a fairly long cast time, making it difficult to land on smart opponents. However, it is a very powerful damage amplification that can decimate any enemy heroes caught in it.
** As ''Death Ward'' is a channelling spell, Witch Doctor needs to try to wait out enemy stuns, have his team disable them, or have suitable equipment to avoid the channelling being broken. In addition, it cannot be repositioned once cast, so Witch Doctor must make sure to use it at the correct time and location (ideally slightly back from the 'centre of gravity' of the fight), and even then, if his team has no AOE disable the enemies can simply run away from it. However, if used correctly and combined with a good setup (like Medusa's ''Stone Gaze'' or Faceless Void's ''Chronosphere''), it can deal a whopping 8738 physical damage when maxed (27280 with Aghanim's Scepter), able to dominate teamfights with ease.
* DreadlockRasta: One of the cosmetic unlockables [[StonersAreFunny to go with his accent]].
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Witch Doctor's Immortal item, Bonkers the Mad, is a monkey that sits on his back.
** CoconutMeetsCranium: With this item, when Witch Doctor uses ''Paralyzing Cask'', Bonkers will throw a coconut which, of course, can stun and bounce exactly like the skull that Zharvakko otherwise throws.
* {{Gonk}}
* HollywoodVoodoo
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: By purchasing an Aghanim's Scepter, Witch Doctor's ultimate will bounce up to 4 times between targets. This means that if you can catch all five enemy Heroes in the area, you can do up to 5 times its rated damage, provided there are no illusions.
* LoinCloth
* MagicStaff
* MonochromaticEyes
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate
-->'''Witch Doctor:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/b/b9/Wdoc_rare_03.mp3 "Do no harm. Dah! What fun is that?"]]
* PinballProjectile: ''Paralyzing Cask''; plus ''Death Ward'' if Witch Doctor has Aghanim's Scepter.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: According to his backstory, Witch Doctor has learned magic for several lifetimes.
* TheRedMage: Although usually played as a passive support, Witch Doctor can be quite deadly if played as an offensive initiator.
* SavagePiercings
* ShoutOut: To VideoGame/Left4Dead:
-->'''Witch Doctor:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/b/bb/Wdoc_lasthit_05.mp3 "Pills here!"]]
* ShrunkenHead: One of his cosmetic items, the Shrunken Head Staff, is adorned with his mother's head.
* SquishyWizard[=/=]GlassCannon: Witch Doctor deals incredible amounts of both physical AND magical damage (most heroes specialize in one or the other, and thus peak at different times in the game) with his spells. His damage potential is therefore offput by his very low stats.
* StonersAreFunny: While not explicitly stated, he has a very stereotypical Rasta accent.
-->'''Witch Doctor:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/6/64/Wdoc_level_08.mp3 "Feeling good, man."]]
* TopHeavyGuy
* TribalFacePaint
* TheTurretMaster: His ultimate, ''Death Ward'', summons a magical turret that deals incredible amounts of damage.
* WalkingShirtlessScene
* WeaksauceWeakness: While ''Death Ward'' can dominate a teamfight or counterpush, it's also a channeled spell - meaning that if Witch Doctor is stunned, silenced or otherwise interrupted the ward will disappear.
* WitchDoctor: Natch.
* YouAreAlreadyDead: ''Maledict'' deals delayed damage based on how much health an enemy lost since the spell cast. If it's instantly followed by burst damage, the target won't be able to escape alive.
-->'''Witch Doctor (finishing off an enemy with Maledict):''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/6/68/Wdoc_killspecial_01.mp3 "Wait for it… waaaait for it… "]]
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Enigma]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Enigma_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/e/e6/Enig_ability_black_01.mp3 "If light cannot escape me, what hope have you?"]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' John St. John
''"Nothing is known of Enigma’s background. There are only stories and legends, most of them apocryphal, passed down through the ages. In truth, Enigma is a mystery for whom the only true biography is description: he is a universal force, a consumer of worlds. He is a being of the void, at times corporeal, other times ethereal. A beast between the planes. There are stories that say he was once a great alchemist who tried to unlock the secrets of the universe and was cursed for his arrogance. Other legends tell that he is an ancient being of strange gravity, the abyss personified—a twisted voice from out the original darkness, before the first light in the universe. And there are older legends that say he is the first collapsed star, a black hole grown complicated and sentient—his motivations unknowable, his power inexorable, a force of destruction unleashed upon existence itself."''

* AchillesHeel: Amongst heroes with big teamfight ultimates such as Magnus and Tidehunter, Enigma is the most vulnerable to Rubick. Since ''Black Hole'' has to be channelled, if Enigma can't catch Rubick in its small area of effect, ''Spell Steal'' is guaranteed to give him ''Black Hole'' - enough to turn the tides of the fight.
** This is augmented by the fact that ''Spell Steal'' can pierce spell immunity, meaning that even if Enigma activates BKB or Glimmer Cape (which in the case of the latter is still vulnerable to detection), Rubick can still steal it in the 4 second channeling time. Similar principles apply for other spell immunity piercing abilities such as Vengeful Spirit's ''Nether Swap'', Beastmaster's ''Primal Roar'', Clockwerk's ''Hookshot'', and so on. In fact, the only real way for Enigma to be completely safe while channeling his ultimate is to either purchase a Linken's Sphere on top of the BKB or Glimmer Cape, or catch all enemy heroes who can interrupt him through spell immunity.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: He is a sentient manifestation of gravitational forces.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: ''Midnight Pulse'' deals Pure damage that ignores spell immunity. Similarly, ''Black Hole'' will disable spell immune enemies, meaning that the only way to dodge either ability is to become invulnerable.
* BatmanGambit: ''The Summoning'' comic reveals that Enigma planted fake alchemical journals, under a fake identity, in order to lead power-hungry alchemists into crafting powerful artifacts that he can use.
* BlackMage
* ChunkyUpdraft: He is followed by a trail of rocks and dirt raised from the ground by his gravity. Rocks start orbiting him as a tiny asteroid belt when he's standing still.
* DifficultButAwesome: ''Black Hole'' is one of the most fearsome teamfight abilities in the game, disabling the entire enemy team for up to 4 seconds. It is also very difficult to land as the enemy will rarely group nicely for you given the choice, and being a channelled ability, requires Enigma to catch all enemy heroes or buy BKB to prevent disruption.
* EldritchAbomination
* EnemySummoner: ''Demonic Conversion'' turns friendly or enemy creeps into three Eidolons, which are capable of self-replicating on successful attacks. Casting it on allied creeps instantly denies them, while casting it on enemy/neutral creeps will instantly kill them, making it a highly flexible spell (you can even cast it on existing Eidolons). You can even summon them on the ''catapults'', which are always the hard to kill creep and the one immune to almost every spell (It nets you a very neat 75 gold).
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: ''Black Hole'' can suck in interface elements like gold and damage indicators.
* GlassCannon: His Eidolons are less durable than Nature's Prophet's treants or Lycan's Wolves, and slower to boot, but their damage output once there's 6 of them is staggering, and their range makes up for the lack of mobility to some degree.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Enigma and his Eidolons.
* GravityMaster
* GravitySucks: ''Black Hole'' pulls all affected enemies into its centre.
* IAmNotLeftHanded: In ''The Summoning'' comic, Enigma is summoned and apparently trapped in a chalk circle by an alchemist. He spends most of the comic letting the alchemist talk, and trying to trick him into letting him out. Then he reveals he could leave the circle at will anytime he wanted.
-->'''Enigma:''' Did you really think you could become a god by singing nursery rhymes and making chalk drawings on a floor?
* KingMook: To the [[MiniMook Eidolons]].
* MeaningfulName
* MechanicallyUnusualClass:
** While most other support heroes would either be babysitting the carry, zoning out the enemy offlaner, pulling the lane and/or roaming for kills in the early game, Enigma doesn't - he is neither a good ganker, harasser, nor babysitter, and he needs a lot of farm for a support. However, there's a thing he excels at: farming, as ''Demonic Conversion'' makes him the fastest level 1 jungler in the game. Because of this, Enigma often stays in the jungle until he can get level 6 and a Soul Ring, which allows him to spam ''Demonic Conversion'' to push down towers with ease.
** The term 'farm-dependent support' describes Enigma pretty well. Most supports need very few items, usually brown boots (and Blink Dagger for certain heroes) are sufficient (for example, Tidehunter, who can farm fast with ''Anchor Smash'' and only needs boots and Blink Dagger, is still considered 'too greedy' to be run in a 4 position), but Enigma needs, besides boots, a Soul Ring to solve his mana problems, Blink Dagger to get into position for ''Black Hole'', and Black King Bar (and sometimes Linken's Sphere) to prevent himself from being interrupted when channelling. Yet he has a much faster farming speed than most other supports thanks to ''Demonic Conversion'', so it's not uncommon to see him building utility items like Mekansm, Vladmir's Offering, Pipe of Insight and Necronomicon, items otherwise almost always built on cores.
* MesACrowd: Enigma's Eidolons are actually aspects of himself from other dimensions.
* MoneyMultiplier: With ''Demonic Conversion'', Enigma is THE fastest early game jungler in the entire game, which allows him to farm up really fast, meaning that he's rarely starved for money unlike most other supports. Good Enigma gameplay primarily revolves around farming up utility items to give the team a huge advantage or making sure he can land a good ''Black Hole''.
* TheNameless: Though he was named 'Darchrow' in [=DOTA=].
* [[EvilCounterpart Neutral Counterpart]]: As the manifestation of gravity, Enigma is a counterpart to Wisp, Chaos Knight and Keeper of the Light, the manifestations of the other fundamental forces. [[SubvertedTrope Gameplay-wise, they have surprisingly little in common.]]
* PercentDamageAttack: ''Midnight Pulse'', which does 5.25% damage per second for 11 seconds in a large area. [[TooDumbToLive Anyone stupid enough to stand in it for the whole duration loses nearly 60% of their heatlh]]. An upgraded ''Black Hole'' has a miniature ''Midnight Pulse'' added which stacks with the original. Using both at once nets 10.5% per second for 4 seconds and [[OhCrap Enigma can use a Refresher Orb to reset the cooldown and do it again]].
* PowerOfTheVoid
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack
* SelfDuplication: Enigma's Eidolons are able to multiply and fully heal themselves after 6 successful attacks.
* SentientCosmicForce: He is actually one of the Fundamentals, the sentient manifestations of the four fundamental forces of the universe.
--> '''Enigma, on a team with Io, Chaos Knight and Keeper of the Light:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/9/95/Enig_ally_15.mp3 "The four pillars stand together once more."]]
* SummonMagic: ''Demonic Conversion''.
* TimeAbyss: As a Fundamental, he's literally as old as creation.
* TooAwesomeToUse: ''Black Hole'' has '''the''' longest cooldown in the game, 3 minutes at the minimum (beaten only by Bloodstone's active ''Pocket Deny'', Wraith King's level 1 ''Reincarnation'', and only tying with some level 1 ultimates which then become even shorter as they're leveled). This means that Enigma players will frequently be forced to die without casting their ''Black Hole'' because they need it for a major teamfight. It isn't uncommon for an Enigma to build single-target disable items just so that they have an option outside of ''Malefice'', or a Refresher Orb to effectively reduce the cooldown to a maximum of 160 seconds after casting.
* UnrealisticBlackHole: Enigma's ''Black Hole'' hovers above the ground, sucking in every enemy (but not allies or terrain) in a very small area until it disappears or Enigma stops channelling.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Rotund'jere, the Necrophos]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Necrolyte_3018.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/b/b7/Necr_spawn_04.mp3 "Behold the Pope of Pestilence."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Sam A. Mowry
''"In a time of great plague, an obscure monk of dark inclinations, one Rotund'jere, found himself promoted to the rank of Cardinal by the swift death of all his superiors. While others of the order went out to succor the ill, the newly ordained cardinal secluded himself within the Cathedral of Rumusque, busily scheming to acquire the property of dying nobles, promising them spiritual rewards if they signed over their terrestrial domains. As the plague receded to a few stubborn pockets, his behavior came to the attention of the greater order, which found him guilty of heresy and sentenced him to serve in the plague ward, ensorcelled with spells that would ensure him a slow and lingering illness. But they had not counted on his natural immunity. Rotund'jere caught the pox, but instead of dying, found it feeding his power, transforming him into a veritable plague-mage, a Pope of Pestilence. Proclaiming himself the Necrophos, he travels the world, spreading plague wherever he goes, and growing in terrible power with every village his pestilential presence obliterates."''

Necrophos is a ranged Intelligence carry hero. His abilities are most effective in team fights where he can damage enemies and heal allies simultaneously, while picking off key enemy heroes with his ultimate. Necrophos is most dangerous when his enemy is severely injured, instantly killing them with his ultimate while recovering over time after killing his foe. Necrophos is naturally fragile, but his kit requires him to stay in the midst of encounters; it is for this reason that he depends on items to prevent his death. Ideally, by casting ''Death Pulse'' repeatedly, he and his team are able to stay alive while the enemy team's health is gradually sapped by ''Heartstopper Aura'', which reduces enemy HP by a small percentage each second. Because his abilities are suited to prolonged encounters, he must build items which allow him to survive for as long as possible against his enemies. His ultimate, ''Reaper's Scythe'', has its damage increased by how much of their maximum HP the target is missing; meaning that an enemy that is close to death will be killed outright by it. Upon attaining a kill, ''Sadist'' restores Necrophos's mana and HP over a short time, allowing him to continue fulfilling his role in encounters. Necrophos is best understood as a hero who is weak at the beginning of a fight but becomes more dangerous with each passing second.

* BeardOfEvil
* BodyHorror: And he absolutely loves talking about it.
* CombatMedic: Necrophos's first ability, ''Death Pulse'', deals damage to enemies and heals his allies within a certain radius. It also can't be evaded through blinking or teleportation, so it'll eventually hit its target no matter what.
* CorruptChurch: An individual example, as Necrophos's superiors swiftly brought him to punishment when they found out what he was doing.
* CursedWithAwesome[=/=]ThePunishment: The plague was supposed to slowly kill him, but he was immune to it and became a PlagueMaster instead.
* DeaderThanDead
** Necrophos's ultimate is unique in that it's the only skill in the game that can negatively affect the target's respawning ability. Killing someone with the scythe will add a flat 30 seconds to their respawn timer, which is powerful in the early game since that can easily more than double their respawn time, drastically reducing their ability to farm up the items they need to come online, and can be critical in the late game and give your team more breathing room.
** If you purchase an Aghanim's Scepter, any enemy killed by ''Reaper's Scythe'' will not be able to buy back into the game for that death. In late game fights, where buying back becomes necessary to prevent the other team from pushing, managing to catch the enemy carry with this spell will put them out of the game for a neighborhood of ''two minutes'', more than enough time for your team to take at least one major map objective.
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Though Necrophos initially doesn't deal much damage, ''Death Pulse'' and ''Heartstopper Aura'' damage can constantly add up to ludicrous levels in a prolonged fight, before he finishes his victim off with ''Reaper's Scythe''.
* EmotionEater[=/=]HumanResources: Necrophos's third ability and passive, ''Sadist'', gives him HP and mana regeneration every time he kills anything (including denying). Each individual amount isn't that much, but considering that he only has two active abilities, and that you'll be getting kills each time you last-hit a creep (and you'll be doing this dozens of times in any given match), this means that it's very hard for him to run out of mana even if he spams ''Death Pulse''.
** UpToEleven: The bonus is multiplied by ten for every hero that Necrophos kills. This allows Necrophos to regenerate large amounts of HP in the middle of a teamfight, making him hard to bring down.
* EvilOldFolks
* EvilSorcerer
* FieldPowerEffect[=/=]FixedDamageAttack: Necrophos' second ability and passive, ''Heartstopper Aura'', degenerates a percentage of every nearby enemy's maximum HP every second. While 1.5% per second doesn't sound like much, being in a teamfight for just 20 seconds means that you can remove 30% of their max HP. Its huge radius means that it is possible to actually finish off fleeing enemy heroes simply by walking after them, since they will still take the damage even outside of direct combat.
* FieldPromotion[=/=]YouAreInCommandNow: Rotund'jere rose to become a Cardinal in the first place because all of his immediate superiors died to the plague.
* FinishingMove: Because ''Reaper's Scythe'' deals the more damage the less HP the victim has, increases their respawn timer and locks out buyback if upgraded, it's often used this way.
* FixedDamageAttack: ''Heartstopper Aura'' deals damage based on enemies' maximum HP.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* GradualGrinder: ''Heartstopper Aura'' removes a small percentage of HP from all enemy units... within a screen's radius, [[DeathOfAThousandCuts every second]]. In order to deal ludicrous amounts of damage Necrophos just needs to walk along with the party and chase off fleeing enemies, and it isn't unheard of to outright kill fleeing enemies with the passive alone.
* HealingFactor: ''Sadist'' grants Necrophos absurd amounts of HP and mana regeneration, making him one of the few Heroes in the game who will rarely/never have to go back to base except to buy items.
* TheImmune: To the 'great plague'.
* InjuredVulnerability: Necrophos's ultimate, ''Reaper's Scythe'', deals damage based on how much health the target is missing, meaning that if the victim's below a certain percentage of health, it can potentially result in a OneHitKill.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Necrophos is a rare case of a caster who scales (although through unusual ways), which is what allows him to carry.
** While ''Death Pulse'''s damage doesn't scale to the late game, it only has a measly 5-second cooldown. The longer Necrophos survives in a fight and the more mana he has, the more times he can spam ''Death Pulse'', allowing him to continuously keep his allies alive while wearing his enemies down. Late game, if built as a tank and when mana isn't a problem anymore with ''Sadist'' procs, Necrophos can spam ''Death Pulse'' indefinitely while being almost unkillable.
** Due to being a form of FixedDamageAttack, ''Heartstopper Aura'' actually deals more damage the tougher an enemy is. At max level, it is capable of killing any enemy inside of 67 seconds by itself, making it an extremely powerful aura if teamfights drag out too long.
** ''Reaper's Scythe'', as an inversion of PercentDamageAttack, has the ability to instantly kill any enemy once they fall below a certain health threshold, making it a more powerful version of Axe's ''Culling Blade'', which can only cull a target below a flat amount of HP. And upon killing an enemy, Necrophos becomes stronger through proccing ''Sadist''.
* KillSteal: This would often result any time you lock down anybody with your ultimate, as your teammates would instantly jump on the disabled target in the 1.5 second window it takes for the scythe to come down, preventing you from getting ''Sadist'' HP and mana recovery.
** This was actually inverted in the 6.78 patch, where Necrophos himself will kill-steal whenever he casts ''Reaper's Scythe'' and a teammate finishes off the hapless target, crediting Necrophos with the kill and proccing ''Sadist'' no matter what. In fact, between then and 6.81, the only way to kill-steal from Necrophos was with Axe's ''Culling Blade''.
* MagikarpPower: Necrophos is extremely weak early game: ''Death Pulse'' costs a lot of mana and needs many levels to be effective, while ''Sadist'' is simply ineffective when there are so few creeps and heroes to kill, with the only useful skill being ''Heartstopper Aura''. However, late game, with enough levels and equipment, Necrophos can become extremely tanky with constant ''Death Pulse'' spamming and ''Sadist'' stacks giving him absurd regeneration, and with ''Death Pulse'' and ''Heartstopper Aura'' he is a walking hazard to the enemy team as long as he lives, before he uses ''Reaper's Scythe'' to finish them off while adding 30 seconds to their respawn time, putting them at a huge disadvantage. Ironically these traits means that Necrophos is a bad support, and the fact that he is a carry has become a running joke amount the player base since pubs tend to think that Necrophos is a support.
* MightyGlacier: Because his first skills can wear down enemies steadily in a teamfight, Necrophos can afford to be built as a tank without any damage items and still be a huge threat. A common (even encouraged!) way to play Necrophos is to build survivability items on him rather than damage items so that he can stay alive longer for teamfights to make full use of ''Heartstopper Aura'' and let him spam ''Death Pulse'' as much as possible until he can finish a high-priority target off with ''Reaper's Scythe''. As such, it's not uncommon to see Necrophos players build Heart of Tarrasque, Shiva's Guard, and/or Pipe of Insight.
* MonochromaticEyes
* MysticalPlague
* ObviousRulePatch: During the 6.84 era, Necrophos received a buff to his ''Heartstopper Aura'' that makes it affect creep-heroes such as Spirit Bear and Ancient creeps. Once a Redditor mod named Leafeator posted a video on how to jungle ancient creeps, many low-level pub players began picking Necrophos for the sole purpose of [=AFK=] jungling causing many facepalms, rage and colorful languages to the point that by 6.85, Icefrog immediately patched it out so that now it no longer affects Ancients.
* OneHitKill: Unless an opponent has absurd amounts of magic resistance, has spell immunity, or has a special ability active, ''Reaper's Scythe'' will often net a guaranteed kill. With an Aghanim's Scepter and level 3 ulti, you only have to drop a target to slightly below 50% HP in order to net a kill unless they have magic resistance items or skills.
* PlagueMaster: He enjoys spreading pestilence. His other title is the "Pope of Pestilence".
* TheRedMage
* RegeneratingMana: ''Sadist'' regenerates up to 60 mana for every creep kill you get with it. This means that simply killing three creeps will allow ''Death Pulse'' to pay for itself. Killing a hero regenerates ten times that amount, more than paying back however much mana you spent casting ''Reaper's Scythe''.
* ReviveKillsZombie: Parodied whenever he grabs a Regeneration rune. It still heals him and restores his mana as normal, however.
--> '''Necrophos (activating Regen rune):''' [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/a/ad/Necr_regen_01.mp3 "Ugh... Regeneration…"]]
* SicklyGreenGlow
* SinisterMinister: He's more appropriately an evil Cardinal, or with some unlockables, Pope.
* SinisterScythe: He carries one around (fittingly, also shaped like a shepherd's crook), but only uses it as a MagicStaff. Although his ultimate, ''Reaper's Scythe'', manifests as a giant scythe.
* SpamAttack: ''Death Pulse'''s cooldown is extremely short, only 5 seconds when maxed. With enough mana, Necrophos can afford to spam it with ease during a fight. It's also the reason why Necrophos is a carry, as he needs mana items so he could spam ''Death Pulse'' without running dry for ''Reaper's Scythe'', HP items so he could survive for longer and throw more ''Death Pulse''s (good teams will focus him first and he'll melt easily without items), and last hits to fuel ''Sadist'' (and by extension ''Death Pulse'').
* TheSouthpaw
* WalkingWasteland: The nature of Necrophos' kit makes him a walking hazard to the enemy team simply due to his very presence in the teamfight: the longer he lives, the more times he can spam ''Death Pulse'' and the more damage ''Heartstopper Aura'' can deal, without the need of many damage or Intelligence items, though it also means that Necrophos will be a very high priority target for good teams. Because of this, he can very easily be built as a tank and in most circumstances should be.
* WeaksauceWeakness: The very cheap Glimmer Cape, which costs only 1950 gold and is already a commonly built item on supports, makes Necrophos (a position 1 hero) nearly useless. It doesn't even take a particularly fast-fingered player to use Glimmer Cape and give 55% magic resistance to the low HP hero that Necrophos just used ''Reaper's Scythe'' on and make it deal no damage.
* WizardBeard
* WhyWontYouDie: A combination of ''Death Pulse'' and ''Sadist'', along with active healing items like Mekansm can make Necrophos extremely hard to kill unless he's disabled and focused down.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Demnok Lannik, the Warlock]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Warlock_6994.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/e/ea/Warl_level_10.mp3 "More pages for my Black Grimoire!"]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Sam A. Mowry
''"As Chief Curator and Head of Acquisitions for the Arcane Archives of the Ultimyr Academy, Demnok Lannik was tireless in his pursuit of lost, rare and forbidden tomes. No cursed temple was so foreboding, no cavern path so treacherous, that any concern for his own survival could dissuade him from entering if rumors hinted that some pamphlet of primordial lore might still survive in its depths. However, so often did his investigations trigger the wrath of protector entities, that he finally found it necessary to master the arts of magic. He bent himself to learning sorcery with the same thorough obsessiveness that marked his quest for incunabula, becoming the most powerful Warlock of the Academy in less time than most practitioners required to complete a course of undergraduate work. Almost as an afterthought, he carved a staff of Dreadwood and summoned into it a captive spirit from the Outer Hells. And anticipating the day when he will have recovered every last lost spellbook, he has commenced writing his own Black Grimoire. It will undoubtedly be instructive."''

* AdaptationSpeciesChange[=/=]RaisedByNatives[=/=]TheArtifact: In the original [=DotA=], Warlock was an orc and part of the Oglodi tribe. While he is still referred to as Oglodi by Axe and Disruptor, his character design is decidedly not orcish and his lines and backstory make no mention of the Oglodi.
* AdventurerArchaeologist: The whole reason he became a Warlock was to protect himself from whatever was protecting the tombs he raided for artifacts.
* BadassBookworm: His dedication to uncovering artifacts became his motivation to learn the dark arts, which he managed to do in his spare time faster than others who were actually studying on a full-time basis. In-game, despite being an Intelligence support hero, his high Strength gain makes him surprisingly durable as the game progresses, as opposed to most other Intelligence supports, who tend to fall over from a light breeze.
* BadassGrandpa
* CanisLatinicus: Some of his responses while casting spells are Latin-sounding nonsense words.
* CombatMedic: ''Shadow Word'' can also heal his allies.
* TheDarkArts: He's a practitioner of it.
* DynamicEntry: ''Chaotic Offering'' summons a Golem[[note]]or two, or even four, depending on Warlock's items[[/note]] in a fiery explosion, which briefly stuns all enemies in its radius. The stun also goes through spell immunity, and has one of the largest areas of effect in the game.
* {{Familiar}}: Warlock's Golems qualify as one of the most powerful and dangerous summons in the game; not only do they have a chance to deal large amounts of bonus damage with every auto-attack, but they also deal constant magical damage to all enemies in their reach and can be difficult to kill if supported by a team. By the end of a game, a well-farmed Warlock can summon [[{{UpToEleven}} four golems at a time]] (using both Aghanim's Scepter and Refresher Orb).
* TheFaceless: Warlock's Golem has no face, only a set of bindings that vaguely resemble one.
** FacelessEye: One of Warlock's cosmetic Golems, Ishul-Shog the Watcher, has a huge eye where a face should be.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* {{Golem}}: His ultimate summons one of these, which can be used to push towers or contribute to teamfights.
* HerdHittingAttack: Warlock is notable for having some of the most powerful teamfighting abilities in the game, capable of ripping entire teams apart almost by himself if they dare to clump up. ''Fatal Bonds'' effectively doubles the power of area-of-effect spells that hit multiple enemy Heroes, ''Chaotic Offering'' will stun everything in its area (through spell immunity as well) for one second while the Golem's passive abilities help it to deal loads of damage to multiple enemies at once, and ''Upheaval'' will slow all of the enemies by a drastic amount, making it harder for them to split up.
* InTheHood
* LivingWeapon: The Immortal staff Hellborn Grasp has a set of custom animations for various situations.
** FingerWag: While channeling ''Upheaval''.
** RockPaperScissors: While idle, there is a chance that Warlock will do this with the staff.
** ShoutOut: When Warlock drops the staff upon death, it [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay gestures a thumbs-up, then sinks into the ground]].
** WardingGestures: During some auto-attacks as well as when casting the ultimate.
* MagicStaff
* MuckingInTheMud: Warlock's third ability, ''Upheaval'', channels a huge area that slows everything caught in it, and continues to slow them even after the enemy leaves the area or the channel ends. It can even be used to create a dead-zone that can instantly lock down enemies who walk into it after a certain point, since the slow is dependent on how long the spell is channeled rather than how long an enemy stood in its radius (meaning that you can be slowed to the minimum speed if you even put one foot into the whirlpool after it's been going for a few seconds).
* OminousLatinChanting: When casting ''Shadow Word''.
* PlayingWithFire: Warlock's Golem burns enemies around it and can deal extra cleave damage when attacking with ''Flaming Fists''.
* ProphetEyes
* PungeonMaster: He replaces "friend" with "fiend" in much of his dialogue.
* PutTheLaughterInSlaughter: While Warlock tends to be fairly straitlaced most of the time, he loses his cool once he gets Aghanim's Scepter or Refresher Orb, which allows him to summon two or even four golems instead of one with his ultimate.
--> '''Warlock (summoning multiple demons):''' [[http://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/c/c7/Warl_doubdemon_06.mp3 "Can you believe this? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"]]
* TheRedMage: Both literally and figuratively. His second spell, ''Shadow Word'', can either heal or damage, depending on who he casts it on. ''Fatal Bonds'' and ''Upheaval'' don't necessarily ''damage'' enemies, but they do make it very easy for other teammates to take them down, and both of them synchronize well with his ultimate.
* ScaryLibrarian
* SealedEvilInACan: Basically what his Golem is, which he summons at will.
* SummonMagic: ''Chaotic Offering'', which also qualifies as a DynamicEntry for his Golem.
* {{Synchronization}}: ''Fatal Bonds'' causes all units linked together to take 25% of whatever damage one of them takes. Generally considered Warlock's most powerful spell since, if you shackle the entire enemy team together, they'll take more than twice the damage from area-of-effect spells that hit them all.
* ThisCannotBe: Basically his reactions pre-6.85 if you purged his golem with a Diffusal Blade. One of them is more deadpan, though.
-->'''Warlock (react to his Golem's death via Diffusal Blade): [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/0/05/Warl_defusal_04.mp3 "Really? You just did that?"]]
* TomeOfEldritchLore: He dedicated his life to finding such books and seemingly with enough inspirations, now writing his own.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Before 6.85 Diffusal Blade was this, as it used to kill Warlock's golem ''instantly'' with its active ability.
* WizardBeard
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Akasha, the Queen of Pain]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Queen_of_Pain_1190.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/6/61/Pain_ability_sonicwave_04.mp3 "Death travels faster than sound."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Linda K. Morris
''"The Ecclesiast-King of Elze nursed a desire for pain--forbidden pain. In a less prominent political figure, such desires might be considered unwise, but in a monarch of his stature, to satisfy such thirsts would have threatened the virtue of the Divine Throne itself. Therefore he turned to his dungeon full of demonologists, promising freedom to whoever could summon a personal succubus of torment and bind it entirely to his service. The creature who arrived, Akasha by name, visited upon him such exquisite torments that he named her his Secret Queen, and he began to spend all his spare moments submitting to her clever torments--eventually abdicating all his responsibilities in his pursuit of the painful pleasures that only she could bring. Queen of Pain could bring him to the brink of death, but she was rune-bound to keep him alive. At last the King's neglect of state brought on an uprising. He was dragged from his chamber and hurled from the Tower of Invocations, and at the moment of death, Queen of Pain was let loose into the world, freed from servitude--freed to visit her sufferings on anyone she deigned to notice."''

* ArmorPiercingAttack: ''Sonic Wave'' is one of the largest area-of-effect spells that goes through BKB, making it extremely deadly in the right hands as she can finish off targets even if they've activated spell immunity to escape.
** FixedDamageAttack: It also deals Pure damage, which means that any amount of magic resistance will not help the target(s).
* BlackMage: Three out of four of Queen of Pain's skills are nukes, giving her extremely high burst damage, and her last ability is a positioning spell that helps her get them off. If given fast level 6 in the mid lane, she can burst down most enemy heroes with ease when ganking the side lanes.
* BondageIsBad
* BrainsAndBondage: Most of her lines are based off of {{UsefulNotes/BDSM}}, on top of her being an Intelligence hero.
* ChainmailBikini: Justified, see SquishyWizard below.
* DarkActionGirl
* {{Dominatrix}}: This was her role to the King.
* DoubleEntendre: Virtually her entire theme.
* DynamicEntry: [=QoP's=] nuking power and blink ability allow her to initiate fights on her terms, and blast down enemies extremely quickly entire teams at a time.
* FragileSpeedster: Akasha has a built-in ''Blink'' ability, which allows her to engage and escape as she pleases. But with a pitiful 1.7 Strength gain per level, she's easy to kill if she's stunned at the wrong moment and focused down.
* GreatEscape: Similarly, the extremely low cooldown on her ''Blink'' ability, on top of being able to slow pursuers with ''Shadow Strike'', means that she can escape engagements that go sour fairly reliably.
* FlashStep: ''Blink'' moves Queen of Pain over a very long distance (even more than Blink Dagger!) with only one point in the skill, and eventually reaches half of Blink Dagger's cooldown without the player-damage cooldown reset. Its only drawbacks compared to Blink Dagger are the mana cost and cast animation.
* GlassCannon: Akasha can deal massive amounts of [=AoE=] damage, but with a pitiful 1.7 Strength gain per level, she's easy to kill if she's stunned at the wrong moment and focused down.
* HornedHumanoid: As can be seen in her portrait.
* JackOfAllStats: Queen of Pain has nearly everything people want packed into 1 hero: fairly reliable slow, [=AoE=] nuke for team fights and farming, built in mobility, and an ultimate that deals massive Pure damage that pierces spell immunity. She can be played in any core position from main carry, mid to offlaner, and is nearly always a safe pick in any situation against any team. She doesn't really take over a game but can always make an impact. Picking Queen of Pain doesn't reveal anything about your strat and even if she is a late pick, she can still fit.
* KillStreak: Queen of Pain is notable among mid heroes for being reliant on getting early kills and snowballing with them in order to be effective. She has some of the best early game harassing abilities and can get kills with her nuking abilities at a time when the enemy has few ways to counter her, and then use those kills to buy items to increase her ability to kill enemies even more. But if she fails to snowball, then she has a much harder time since it's more difficult to get kills against farmed enemies who have ways to disrupt her chain attacks, can simply become immune to her damage or simply have too much HP, on top of her not having a hard disable ability and thus being reliant on buying an Orchid or Scythe with the gold from her kills.
* KnifeNut: Her primary means of attack is with a seemingly infinite supply of throwing daggers.
* MakeMeWannaShout[=/=]BrownNote: ''Scream of Pain'' and ''Sonic Wave''.
* MagicKnight: Even though she is a burst-heavy nuker with no damage steroids skill, her right-click damage is still decent with good starting damage, Intelligence growth, ''Blink'' to chase and kite and ''Shadow Strike'' to slow her targets. As a result, her item build mostly consist of Intelligence items which boost both her mana pool and right-click damage like Orchid Malevolence, Scythe of Vyse or Shiva's Guard.
* MsFanservice
** BareYourMidriff
** {{Stripperiffic}}
* OurBansheesAreLouder: In the original [=DotA=], she was a banshee that, wishing for a physical form, possessed a succubus. Her sonic powers are all that remain of that aspect in Dota 2.
* PoisonedWeapons: Akasha's first ability, ''Shadow Strike'', throws a poisoned dagger at a target enemy which deals a small amount of initial damage and damage over time afterward, on top of slowing the target for the duration of the damage. It's often considered her best harassing skill in the early game, especially in the mid lane, since the damage is applied once every 3 seconds for 15 seconds, making it hard to use Bottle for that duration to recover from the damage.
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* ShoutOut: To VampireChronicles.
** [[IncrediblyLamePun She really loves shouting, doesn't she?]]
* TheSouthpaw
* SpamAttack: ''Scream of Pain'' is on a constant 7 second cooldown, while ''Shadow Strike'' at its highest level can be cast every 4. With ''Blink'' on a 6 second cooldown, [=QoP=] is capable of dropping loads of damage on her enemies over extended chases.
** Special mention goes to ''Sonic Wave'', which is usually on a cooldown timer comparable to big teamfight ultimates. Purchasing an Aghanim's Scepter reduces its cooldown to 35 seconds, meaning that Queen of Pain can cast it on lone victims any time she finds someone, not just saving it to use on the whole enemy team during a major teamfight. It can even be used to nuke down creep waves instantly for little consequence.
* SquishyWizard: Despite her high mobility and nuking power, Queen of Pain has pitiful Strength gain, mediocre Agility gain, and very little base armor. If she doesn't kill her targets in the first few seconds or tries to engage more than one target at a time, she can be disabled and put down very easily.
* TeleportSpam: Alongside Anti-Mage, [=QoP=]'s ''Blink'' gives her a huge amount of initiation or escape capability, being able to chase with ease or escape determined ganks.
* TortureTechnician: Both in her backstory and the lores for ''Shadow Strike'' and ''Sonic Wave''.
* WaveMotionGun: ''Sonic Wave'' is a gigantic wave of sound that deals heavy damage to all enemy units in its wake.
* WeaksauceWeakness: One of Akasha's greatest weaknesses is that virtually all of her damage is magical, so she loses a lot of her killing potential once her target activates spell immunity. As such, she's often used to pick off lone enemies who don't have a Black King Bar (or can't afford to use it in a single skirmish), or builds a Scythe of Vyse in order to prevent her target from even using their items.
* WingedHumanoid
* WingsDoNothing
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Krobelus, the Death Prophet]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Death_Prophet_116.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/6/64/Dpro_kill_02.mp3 "Such a beautiful death. I envy you."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/EllenMcLain
''"Krobelus was a Death Prophet--which is one way of saying she told fortunes for the wealthiest of those who wished to look beyond the veil. But after years of inquiring on behalf of others, she began to seek clues on her own fate. When death refused to yield its secrets, she tried to buy them with her life. But the ultimate price proved insufficient. Death disgorged her again and again, always holding back its deepest mysteries. Her jealousy grew. Others could die for eternity--why not she? Why must she alone be cast back on the shores of life with such tiresome regularity? Why was she not worthy of the one thing all other living creatures took for granted? Still, she would not be discouraged. Each time she returned from the grave, she brought a bit of death back with her. Wraiths followed her like fragments of her shattered soul; her blood grew thin and ectoplasmic; the feasting creatures of twilight took her for their kin. She gave a little of her life with every demise, and it began to seem as if her end was in sight. With her dedication to death redoubled, and no client other than herself, Krobelus threw herself ever more fervently into death's abyss, intent on fulfilling the one prophecy that eluded her: That someday the Death Prophet would return from death no more."''

* BackFromTheDead[=/=]CameBackWrong
* BareYourMidriff: With the Ghastly Matriarch cosmetic set.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife
* BatOutOfHell: ''Crypt Swarm'' is a swarm of bat-like winged beasts that savage enemies.
* BlackMage
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Each ''Exorcism'' spirit deals relatively little damage. However, her ultimate has a long duration and enemy units around her will slowly be drained of HP.
* DeathSeeker
* FortuneTeller
* GeometricMagic: The icon for ''Witchcraft'' is a pentagram.
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple
* HitAndRunTactics: Death Prophet is one of the best kiting heroes in the game thanks to ''Witchcraft'''s movement speed bonus and ''Exorcism'', which slowly wears down enemies near her.
* ICannotSelfTerminate
* JokeCharacter: Prior to 6.79, she was seen as mostly outclassed by other heroes, but since then...
** LethalJokeCharacter: She lacks any stun or innate escape, but ''Exorcism'' is one of the best pushing skills. It's not uncommon to see a team with Death Prophet these days have all the outer towers by the 20 minute mark.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: As you have read above, she is frustrated because she never stays dead, and of course she is a character in a game where everybody respawns soon after dying.
-->'''Death Prophet''': [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/d/d3/Dpro_respawn_03.mp3 Oh dear. This again?]]
-->'''Death Prophet''': [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/2/2f/Dpro_respawn_14.mp3 You brought me back again? Again?!]]
* LifeDrain: ''Exorcism'' spirits heal Death Prophet in proportion to the damage dealt when they return to her.
* LightningBruiser: Though Death Prophet has a very slow base movement speed (only beaten by Techies, tied with Invoker and Crystal Maiden), ''Witchcraft'' provides her with a significant speed boost: if ''Witchcraft'' is maxed, she can reach 396 movement speed - the highest in the game - with brown boots alone, to say nothing of augmenting her base movement speed even further with Phase Boots, Eul's Scepter of Divinity and/or Boots of Travel; and for an Intelligence hero, she is surprisingly tanky with her high Strength growth and healing from ''Exorcism''.
* {{Necromancer}}
* OurBansheesAreLouder: Her wailing sounds make her seem as one and in her ''Exorcism'' skill, the spirits were described as banshee remnants of her former lives.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Sort of. She's not entirely ghost.
* PowerFloats
* PowerNullifier: She can use ''Silence'' to prevent enemies from using skills.
* SicklyGreenGlow
* SpamAttack: ''Crypt Swarm'' has an extremely short cooldown and is fairly cheap mana-wise. Early game it can be used both to farm and harass, late game it is a very good pushing tool, able to clear creep waves extremely quickly.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Pugna, the Grandmaster of Oblivion]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pugna_6031.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/b/b9/Pugna_respawn_07.mp3 "I renew my vows to cause the most possible suffering."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Gary Schwartz
''"In the realm of Pugna's birth, near the vents of the Nether Reaches, there stood a lamasery devoted to the Arts of Oblivion, which drew its power from the nether energies. The Grandmaster of the temple compound had himself passed into Oblivion several years prior, leaving his academy without a leader. From the moment of their master's death, the regents of the temple began rites of divination to identify their master's reincarnation, and eventually all signs converged on the immediate neighborhood. Several villages squatted in the shadow of the temple, their alleys and plazas full of the laughter of squalling children. Pugna, a mere thirteen months of age, was but one candidate among the local brats, and on the appointed day he was presented at the temple alongside two other promising tots. The lamas offered a jumble of worn relics to the children, treasured possessions of their former grandmaster. One boy reached for a porphyry wand that had belonged to the lama...and put it in his nostril. An impish girl pulled out an amulet that had also been the lama's, and immediately swallowed it. Pugna regarded the other two coolly, gave a merry laugh, and blasted them with gouts of emerald flame, reducing them to ashes in an instant. He then snatched up the wand and amulet, saying 'Mine!' The regents hoisted the beaming Pugna on their shoulders, wrapped him in their grandmaster's vestments, and rushed him to the throne before his mood could change. Within five years, the temple itself was another pile of ash, which pleased Pugna to no end."''

Pugna is a ranged Intelligence carry Hero who possesses powerful abilities which give him great versatility and offensive capabilities. He has a high base Movement Speed and also has the highest Intelligence gain per level in the game, which gives him the highest base stat at level 25. ''Nether Blast'' is a powerful AOE nuke which also deals damage to buildings, turning Pugna into the most hardcore pusher in the game. ''Decrepify'' can disable enemy carries or save allies from physical attacks, while amplifying magical damage done to the target. ''Nether Ward'' is an excellent teamfight ability which deals damage to enemies based on the manacost of abilities, making Pugna a counter to casters. Pugna's ultimate ability, ''Life Drain'', is a channelling ability which saps enemy health and grants it to himself, somewhat making up for his low durability. His skills all require many levels to be effective, making him a bad support, but if given fast farm and XP in a trilane he's able to shove down towers like no other, and it's not uncommon for good Pugna players to force the enemy team to call GG before 25 minutes.

* AttackReflector: The ''Nether Ward'' shoots a ''Mana Flare'' at an enemy hero every time they cast a spell.
* CastFromHitPoints[=/=]CombatMedic[=/=]EmpathicHealing: ''Life Drain'' can be used to heal allied heroes, at the cost of Pugna's own health.
* {{Counterspell}}: The ''Nether Ward'' deals damage before a spell takes effect, so if the target dies the spell will not be finished.
* TheDarkArts
* DemBones
* DomainHolder: Pugna says the Nether Reaches are the source of all magic, explaining his ability to [[MageKiller decimate mages]].
* EnfantTerrible: Stated on his BackStory.
* EvilGenius: He has ''the'' highest per-level intelligence in the game (tied with Invoker only), and an appropriately enormous mana pool. Just a few levels in, he can spam spells with impunity.
* EvilOverlord: As the Grandmaster of Oblivion.
* EvilSorcerer
* ForTheEvulz: He doesn't have a specific reason to destroy everything, he just loves doing it.
--> '''Pugna (Beginning the battle):''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/8/80/Pugna_battlebegins_01.mp3 Time to earn myself a bad reputation.]]
* GlassCannon: He is a SquishyWizard with unusually short-cooldown, high-damage spells, and even deals damage to mechanical units and buildings with ''Nether Blast''.
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath
* HavingABlast: ''Nether Blast'' is a spammable spell that creates a powerful explosion over a large area.
--> '''Pugna (Attacking):''' [[http://hydra-images.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/4/41/Pugna_attack_03.mp3 "A real blast!"]]
* HighCollarOfDoom: He easily has ''the'' most popped collar in the game. It almost looks like an attempt to compensate for his height.
* HornedHumanoid
* HunterOfHisOwnKind: He's a fragile Intelligence hero that excels at killing ''other'' fragile Intelligence heroes with his ''Nether Ward'' and ''Life Drain'', which can melt frail supports like Lion or Crystal Maiden.
* LifeDrain: His ultimate.
* ManaBurn: ''Nether Ward'' applies mana degeneration within its range, and casts ''Mana Flare'' at anyone who uses mana-consuming abilities, dealing from 100% to a whopping '''490%''' (with Refresher Orb and ''Decrepify'') of mana used as damage.
** MageKiller: Especially effective against heavy casters like Skywrath Mage and Lina, easily [[OneHitKill oneshotting]] them.
* MechanicallyUnusualClass: Pugna is one of the few INT heroes better suited to carrying than supporting: his skills need levels to scale and be useful (a level 1 ''Life Drain'' does nothing if you're behind in levels), making him a bad support; meanwhile, he's the most hardcore early pusher in the game with ''Nether Blast'', and Aghanim's Scepter, which greatly boosts the damage of ''Life Drain'' and removes its cooldown, gives him good carrying potential, as he can spam it continuously unless killed or out of mana.
** CantCatchUp: Conversely, Pugna is one of the least hard carries in the game: he can come online fairly fast if given solo experience as a mid or safelane farmer, and then push towers extremely quickly with ''Nether Blast'' spamming, but as a carry he falls off hard around the 30-35 minute mark, because he doesn't scale well with items, unless if he has heavily snowballed his team with tower bounty.
* MysticalHighCollar
* TheNapoleon: He is much smaller than most heroes, but makes up for it with his temper.
* NoSell: Enemies affected by ''Decrepify'' also become immune to physical damage as a side-effect.
* OneHitKill: A ''Mana Flare'' from the ''Nether Ward'' can often be this for squishy mana-heavy heroes like Lich, Lina and especially Skywrath Mage, whose ultimate ''Mystic Flare'' costs the most mana of all abilities in the game.
* OurLichesAreDifferent
* PinataEnemy: The ''Nether Ward'' has a 80 gold bounty at level 4 and is easily destroyed, so Pugna players have to place it in hard-to-spot places to avoid an early detection from the enemy focus fire.
* TheRedMage
* ReligionOfEvil: Pugna and his followers seem to be practicing a twisted [[FantasyCounterpartCulture fantasy counterpart]] of Tibetan {{Buddhism}}, even with references to lamas and the concept of the grandmaster's reincarnated form being chosen among children by letting them identify the grandmaster's possessions in its previous life.
* SicklyGreenGlow
* SorcerousOverlord
* SpamAttack: ''Nether Blast'' and upgraded ''Life Drain'' have very short cooldowns and can be spammed as long as Pugna has mana. Which thanks to his whopping ''4'' point Intelligence growth is pretty easy to obtain with mana regen.
* SquishyWizard: The best example in the game; he has the highest Intelligence growth out of any hero (a whopping 4 points per level), but his Strength and Agility gains leave much to be desired.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Because of his huge Intelligence growth, Pugna is one of the few heroes that can become completely immune to Outworld Devourer's ''Sanity's Eclipse'', which only affects targets with lower Intelligence than OD.
* UndeadChild: According to his backstory, Pugna is only around six years old.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Dazzle, the Shadow Priest]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dazzle_3264.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/7/78/Dazz_rare_02.mp3 " In the Nothl realm, brightness is dark, and the touch that heals a friend will fell a foe."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' David Scully
''"Each young acolyte to the Dezun order must complete a series of rites before becoming a shadow priest. The final rite, the rite of shades, is a harrowing spiritual journey through the Nothl Realm, an unpredictable domain from which not all visitants return. Of those who do, some return mad. Others return with strange aptitudes. But all who go there are changed by their experiences. Driven by the need for enlightenment, Dazzle was the youngest of his tribe to ever request the sacred ritual. At first the order refused him, saying he was too young. But Dazzle was not to be dissuaded. Sensing something special in the headstrong young acolyte, the elders relented. Dazzle drank down the sacred potion and sat by the fire while the rest of his tribe danced through the night. In this ethereal dimension of the Nothl Realm, the properties of light and dark are inverted. Thus his brilliant healing light, beautiful to our eye, is actually a sinister kind of evil; and the darkest deeds are done in a dazzling glow. The elders intuition was prophetic: Dazzle returned to his people as a Shadow Priest like none seen before. With the power to heal as well as to destroy. Now he uses his power to fight his enemies and help his friends."''

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dazzle is one of the friendlier heroes out there, with supportive and defensive spells meant for protecting his team, and he is more than happy to heal his allies should they need it. His spells are also deceptively lethal to his enemies, and ''Shadow Wave'' can easily take off a huge chunk of an enemy's health in the right conditions.
* CombatMedic: ''Shadow Wave'' heals a number of friendly units near the target, and deals damage in an area around them.
* CombinationAttack: ''Weave'' is ridiculously good when partnered with right-click damage dealers. In addition, Dazzle can combo with himself, as both of his offensive spells deal physical damage instead of magical damage.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff[=/=]StatusBuff: ''Weave'' will increase the armor of all friendly units within its cast area, and decrease that of any enemies, over a period of time (with the amount shifted per second increasing with the level of the skill). Any enemies that get caught by it will often find themselves taking loads of physical damage only ten seconds into the ulti, while even the squishiest of allies will find themselves surprisingly resistant to the enemy carry's right-clicks.
* DeadlyDoctor: The Dezun Order teaches very few attack spells, and even these are designed to disable the enemy. Dazzle however can invert their properties thanks to his unique gift.
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: He is actually [[http://i.imgur.com/7eFWHpT.jpg wearing pink underwear with a heart]] under his clothes.
* HerdHittingAttack: Inverted and played straight with ''Shadow Wave''. Since each allied unit that is not Dazzle himself can inflict up to 140 Physical damage in an area around themselves when hit with the spell, the damage can be applied multiple times, meaning that if 8 friendly units are standing next to an enemy, that enemy can potentially take up to '''''840 Physical damage''' from a single cast'', before even factoring in ''Weave''. And since it's an [=AoE=] spell, this damage can potentially be applied to multiple enemies, every 6 seconds.
* LastChanceHitPoint: ''Shallow Grave'' places a 5 second buff on an ally that prevents their HP from going below 1. There are only three ways for a target to die under ''Shallow Grave'': being hit by Axe's ''Culling Blade'', activating ''Suicide Squad, Attack!'' as Techies, or denying yourself with Bloodstone.
* LightIsNotGood: As mentioned in his Dota 2 BackStory, his light has inverted properties.
** DarkIsNotEvil: The Shadow Priests' Order however is stated to use magic mainly for healing and self-defense.
* MagicKnight: His starting damage is quite high for a support hero, and all his spells deal Physical damage, meaning magic resistance or spell immunity don't protect against it. Properly geared, he can easily shred enemy armor down into negative levels and thus increases his overall damage. Combined with his great attack animation and high base damage, he's a viable mid hero and can even carry with the right team/items.
* MagicStaff
* MutualDisadvantage: Against Axe. On one hand, Axe is the only hero in the game that can forcibly ignore Dazzle's ''Shallow Grave'' with his ultimate ''Culling Blade''. On the other hand, Dazzle can crush Axe in the lane, and Axe is very susceptible to ''Shadow Wave'' because of his playstyle, which involves blinking or rushing into a group of enemies and pin them down with ''Berserker's Call'' - the perfect opportunity for a ''Shadow Wave''. ''Weave'' also hurts Axe hard, as it boosts enemy armor, weakening ''Counter Helix'', while reducing his armor, which really hurts a tanky hero like him. In a game with both Axe and Dazzle, Axe can't aggro out a lane and Dazzle has to juggle more variables in mid-late game team fights. Axe has to jungle or even safe/mid and starts being a bully much later then he would like to. However if Axe safely jungles a Blink Dagger then it's tough for Dazzle, so he doesn't straight up win because his kit becomes slightly diminished in that scenario for nought. A well played Axe can make Dazzle useless and a well played Dazzle can really make Axe cry.
* PinballProjectile: ''Shadow Wave'' bounces off allies, healing them while dealing damage to nearby enemies.
* PoisonousPerson: With ''Poison Touch'', which paralyses enemies.
* TheRedMage: Dazzle is both capable of keeping his allies and himself from dying, causing his foes to waste time in a fruitless endeavour, as well as delivering a huge damage output with ''Shadow Wave'' and ''Weave'' when good positioning comes to play.
* TheRival[=/=]BashBrothers: With Huskar, and justified in both their backstory and gameplay. Dazzle's skills can make Huskar an unstoppable machine of destruction - or make him useless if he's on the enemy team.
* RunOrDie: An engagement that follows up a ''Weave'' can become this after enough time. While the spell starts off weak, by the 10 second mark it really starts to kick in, and by the 15 second mark even farmed tanky heroes like Dragon Knight might find themselves with negative armor. Since the spell applies the armor shift to both enemies and allies, Dazzle's teammates may find themselves becoming virtually invulnerable against the enemy carries' right-clicks while the while enemy team starts taking ridiculous damage from even the hard supports' right-clicks.
* SlasherSmile: His face paint makes it seem as though he is always grinning.
* SquishyWizard: Despite his ability to keep his teammates alive, Dazzle himself can be very easy to kill, especially if he can't cast ''Shallow Grave''.
* SupernaturalIsPurple: It's the tint of his light.
* TribalFacePaint
* WhyWontYouDie: While Dazzle himself is quite squishy, he, like Omniknight, can use his abilities to make (at ''least'' one member of) his team extremely difficult to kill with a combination of ''Shallow Grave'' and ''Weave'', while keeping them alive with ''Shadow Wave''.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Leshrac, the Tormented Soul]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Leshrac_1359.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/f/fd/Lesh_rare_02.mp3 " The truth of nature is torment, suffering and decay. But only the wisest see this--which is to say, only Leshrac."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Eric Newsome
''"Leshrac, Tormented Soul, is an entity torn from the heart of nature, a liminal being that exists half in one plane of existence, half in another. His penetrating intelligence is such that he can never ignore for a moment the agonizing horror at the heart of all creation. Once a great philosopher who sought the meaning of existence, he plumbed the depths of nature with the haunted Chronoptic Crystals, and was forever altered by the hideous mysteries thereby revealed to him. Now the darkest depths of his enlightenment are illumined only by the fitful glare of his arrogance. Like other elemental characters, he is completely at one with nature, but in his case it is a nature lurid and vile. He alone sees the evil truth of reality, and has no use for those who believe the cosmos reserves a special reward for those who practice benevolence."''

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Although his backstory is usually interpreted as WasOnceAMan, his in-game dialogue and several other details in his backstory seem to suggest he was a creature similar to Enchantress before his change into the embodiment of nature's dark side.
* BadassBoast: ''A thousand of your kind have fallen before me!''
* BeamSpam: Is a master of this.
* BlackMage: Leshrac at his best is a rampaging ball of magical damage, able to melt heroes, creep waves and towers alike with his four nukes.
* DishingOutDirt: His first ability, ''Split Earth'', stuns enemies by manipulating the ground under them. It's hard to land since crafty players can simply watch his animation and dodge it at the last second, but it's an area of effect spell that can catch several enemy heroes at once if timed properly.
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers
* FourFingeredHands
* GlassCannon: He's as [[SquishyWizard squishy]] as they come, with no escape, and a stun that takes practice to land. But he has an incredibly high damage output and moderate mana use per damage. A Leshrac who manages to farm a Bloodstone essentially becomes a walking hazard that melts anything that comes near him, and his ultimate combined with ''Diabolic Edict'' allow him to damage enemy heroes simply by walking alongside him, making him capable of easily chasing down enemies.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* GoMadFromTheRevelation
* HerdHittingAttack: All four of Leshrac's skills are AOE nukes; one (''Diabolic Edict'') also affects structures, making him an excellent pusher.
* InsufferableGenius
* JackOfAllStats: Because he has a stun, a slow, a pushing skill and doesn't need many items to be effective, Leshrac is often run as a support. On the other hand, because he benefits well from farm and levels, he is viable as a mid hero as well, taking advantage of the XP at mid to quickly shove down towers with ''Diabolic Edict'' and get a quick Bloodstone, which gives him the HP so he can run into the enemy team without being insta-gibbed, and the mana so he could spam ''Split Earth'' and ''Diabolic Edict'', and keep ''Pulse Nova'' perpetually active.
* LeadTheTarget: ''Split Earth'' must be aimed on the ground and has a short delay, forcing Leshrac players to guess where their target would move.
* MagicStaff: With the Immortal weapon Tormented Staff.
* NatureHero: An unusual villainous example.
** NatureIsNotNice: He represents the complete indifference of nature.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: He's based on one in appearance.
* PillarOfLight: ''Pulse Nova''.
* PointyEars
* PowerCrystal: The Chronoptic crystals mentioned in Leshrac's backstory.
* PowerGlows: His entire body.
* PreExplosionGlow: ''Diabolic Edict'' and every flash of ''Pulse Nova'' are preceded by a flash of light from his body.
* RandomNumberGod: ''Diabolic Edict'' hits random enemies around Leshrac, making it very powerful against lone heroes or towers but loses much effectiveness when a creep wave arrives.
* RealityWarper: According to lore, his ultimate damages his enemies by rending the very space around them.
* ShockAndAwe[=/=]HostileWeather: His third ability, ''Lightning Storm'', hits the target with a bolt of lightning, slowing them for a short duration, and then jumps from target to target, allowing him to nuke enemy groups easily. On top of which, it has an extremely low cooldown, meaning that anything that's still standing four seconds after he casts it will eat another bolt.
* ShoutOut: He's named after a MagicTheGathering character.
* SpikesOfVillainy: With the Thorns of Sundering and the Twisted Wisdom cosmetic sets.
* SquishyWizard
* SupernaturalIsPurple: All of his attacks bear a purple tint.
* TimeMaster: With ''Pulse Nova'':
-->''If necessary, the Tormented Soul can manipulate space time itself, ravaging lesser beings.''
* WalkingWasteland: Leshrac's lines show he revels in bringing chaos and entropy wherever he goes, tearing everything apart with his dark elemental powers. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration This is reflected in-game]] with his highly damaging pulse spells.
* WasOnceAMan: Leshrac used to be a normal philosopher before his transformation into the Tormented Soul.
* WizardBeard
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: While most of Leshrac's abilities are damage over time based, two of them (''Diabolic Edict'' and ''Pulse Nova'') allow him to damage enemies while moving, which make him a powerful chaser. Combined with an [=AoE=] stun and a nuke that can slow the target long enough to set up the stun, Leshrac can be very hard to escape, which is especially surprising given that he's an Intelligence support.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Ish'Kafel, the Dark Seer]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dark_Seer_3281.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/9/98/Dkseer_rare_01.mp3 "If your enemy is equal, prepare for him. If greater, elude him. If weaker, crush him."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' John Patrick Lowrie
''"Fast when he needs to be, and a cunning strategist, Ish'Kafel the Dark Seer requires no edged weapons to vanquish his enemies, relying instead on the strength of his powerful mind. His talent lies in his ability to maneuver the fight to his advantage. Hailing from a place he calls 'The Land behind the wall,' Dark Seer remains an outsider here—a warrior from a realm beyond the veil of this reality. Once a great general among his people, and a valiant defender of the god-king Damathryx, Dark Seer’s army was wiped out by a much larger force in the final days of the Great Boundaries War. Facing certain defeat, he made one last desperate act: he led the enemy forces into the maze between the walls. At the last moment, just before capture, he crossed over—then sealed the walls forever in an explosive release of dark energy. When the dust settled, he saw that he had saved his people but found himself blinking at the sun of a different world, with no way to return. Now he is committed to proving his worth as a military strategist, and vows to show that he’s the greatest tactician this strange new world has ever seen."''

* AnotherDimension: The Land Behind The Wall.
* BadassBeard
* BadassBookworm: Even though (or possibly because) he's one of only two melee Intelligence heroes in the game, his base Strength and Strength growth are quite above average, as is his base armor, making him surprisingly durable for an Intelligence utility hero. One of the other interesting quirks is that as he's a melee hero, he can actually take advantage of damage block items effectively, meaning that building Crimson Guard on him is viable (and even encouraged, since Soul Ring is often one of his first-built items to bolster his mana pool).
* BareFistedMonk: He's one of only two melee Intelligence heroes in the game.
* BizarreAlienBiology: Being from another dimension he is quite alien in appearance. Most notably his sharply pointed head (which he seems to take great pride in), as well as "points" jutting out from his back.
-->'''Dark Seer (gaining a level):''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/e/e6/Dkseer_level_07.mp3 "Did my head just get pointier?"]]
* TheDarkArts: He's a master of them.
* DifficultButAwesome: Since he relies on his melee attacks to do damage and is an Intelligence hero, he has very little damage output outside of ''Ion Shell'', giving him little ability to directly kill enemy heroes. However, his skill set allows him to manipulate the battlefield in such a way that makes things difficult for his enemies. He's often one of the first picked or first banned heroes in competitive play due to his ability to change the tide of a teamfight by himself.
* FourStarBadass: He was a general of his people.
* GlacierWaif: Dark Seer is one of the smallest heroes in the game, but he has above-average Strength and Strength growth, and very good base armor (and due to being melee, building damage block items on him is viable), making him surprisingly durable for an Intelligence utility hero.
* GlassCannon: ''Wall of Replica'' illusions can deal even more damage than the original enemy hero if Dark Seer is carrying Aghanim's Scepter, however they also receive three times as much damage. The flip side, though, is that as long as the wall is standing the enemy stands the danger of crossing it after killing an illusion and creating another one to deal with.
* GlowingEyes
* GodEmperor: Damathryx.
* GravityMaster: ''Vacuum'' works by modifying the centre of gravity to a place of Ish'Kafel's choosing.
* GravitySucks: ''Vacuum'' sucks all enemies in an area to its centre.
* HeroicSacrifice: He saved his people by trapping himself along with his enemy on "the other side of the wall".
* HumanoidAliens
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: PlayedForLaughs. He finds the roundness of the human head repulsive.
* TheMaze: Mentioned in his backstory.
* MoneyMultiplier: A maxed ''Ion Shell'' can do a total of 1800 damage over its 20-second duration. While no hero is dumb enough to stand next to an ''Ion Shell'' for 20 seconds to take the full 1800 damage, the same thing can't be said of creeps, giving Dark Seer the ability to quickly clear lane and jungle creeps alike and farm extremely fast.
* PowerGlows: His hands and most of his spells.
* PsychicPowers: All of Dark Seer's abilities rely on mind manipulation.
* PurpleIsPowerful
* RunningGag: The string of patches between 6.75 to 6.79 saw the cooldown for ''Vacuum'' being increased by a few seconds each cycle, leading it to become a saying that unless ''Vacuum'''s cooldown was nerfed, then the patch was fake. Come 6.82, what changes did Dark Seer get?
-->Vacuum cooldown rescaled from 28.0 seconds to 28 seconds
* SpamAttack: ''Surge'' has a very low mana cost and short cooldown, allowing Dark Seer to spam it to get around the map. Similarly, ''Ion Shell'' has a short cooldown, allowing it to be used constantly on creep waves.
* TheStrategist: Was once a master tactician on his homeworld. He even has the whole Chinese Strategist/Sun Tzu theme with his accent, responses, [[WizardBeard beard of profound strategic wisdom]], and being from a "land behind a wall" ruled by a god-like emperor.
* StoneWall: Because of his skillset providing innate damage and escape, he tends to go for tanky and teamfight utility items, such as Mekansm, Pipe of Insight, and Shiva's Guard. Of course, with his utility-oriented skillset, he has very little direct damage output.
* SuperSpeed: ''Surge'' temporarily boosts an ally's speed to the cap of 522.
* SupportPartyMember: Dark Seer has one of the lowest damage outputs in the game: his right-click is extremely weak, ''Vacuum'' deals almost no damage while ''Ion Shell'''s damage quickly fall off mid- and late-game, basically being reduced to a farming tool; but his kit offers so much utility and versatility that he's valuable in almost any situation possible.
* TwinMaker: ''Wall of Replica'', Dark Seer's ultimate, creates an illusion of any enemy hero walking through it, while dealing a small amount of damage. While it can only create one illusion at a time and the illusions are easily destroyed, they do nearly full damage, and dropping it in the middle of a teamfight ensures that they're forced to focus on your teammates instead of the illusions. Even better, the wall will create another illusion if an enemy hero walks into it again after destroying the last one, essentially becoming a hazard zone that the enemy team cannot pass through easily.
* WalkingWasteland: ''Ion Shell'', which deals damage over time to enemy units in an area around a unit, temporarily turns it into this.
* WizardBeard
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Ish'Kafel is trapped in this world, unable to return to his home.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Batrider]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Batrider_7410.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/f/f0/Bat_kill_15.mp3 "It's not the bat you gotta worry about... she eats fruit."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Dave Fennoy
''"There is no such thing as harmony among the creatures of the Yama Raskav Jungle. By bite, or claw, or pincer, or hoof, even the slightest sign of weakness means a swift death. They say the Rider was just a lad cutting chaff in his family's field when he was taken, swept up by a massive morde-bat looking for take-out. But this boy had a better idea, and wriggled his way from his captor's grip, onto the beast's back, and hacked it down with his tools. Emerging from the bloody wreckage and intoxicated by the thrill of flight, the boy realized he'd found his calling. The boy grew, and every summer he'd return to his family's field, often setting out into the bush seeking to reclaim that first thrill of facing death in the form of jaws or a fatal fall. The years went on, but his fire only grew stronger. He studied the overgrowth, plunging deeper with each expedition, until finally he found his way to the caves at the heart of hostility. They say the Rider, on the eve of a scorching summer night, had nothing but a rope, a bottle of liquid courage and a burning determination to feel the skies once more, when he plunged inside..."''

* AdventurerOutfit: The aviator variety.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: His skin is goldenrod-yellow.
* BadassBiker: What his character was obviously modeled after.
* BadassNormal: He has no magical skills whatsoever, all he has is a bat and a seemingly-unlimited supply of fuel.
* BatOutOfHell: His mount.
* BreathWeapon: His standard attack is his mount spitting {{fireballs}}.
* CasanovaWannabe: For a moment he even thinks about hitting on the [[GiantSpider Broodmother]]!
-->'''Batrider:''' ''[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/4/46/Bat_rival_14.mp3 Broodmother, if you weren't already--ugh, never mind!]]''
* CoolHorse
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Sticky Napalm'' increases damage that enemy units take from Batrider over an area, and can scale up to ten times.
* ExplosionPropulsion: Enemies hit by ''Flamebreak'' are ministunned and knocked out from the point of impact.
* JokeCharacter: In pub games, though not to the same level as Io, Batrider has one of the lowest win rates due to his reliance on team co-ordination. He generally needs to heavily coordinate with his team in order to get a successful pick off, which is something that doesn't really exist in pubs (as opposed to someone like Pudge, who can pick off and solo kill most heroes with his combo until the late game). Now until a potato manages to recognise ''Flaming Lasso'' was used, the regular potato will need at least 2 more seconds to understand what to do now. The other thing to consider is that Bat needs a support stacking for his jungle to farm a fast Blink Dagger and that's also not happening outside of higher skill brackets.
** LethalJokeCharacter: In the pros, where everyone is on the same page, and people actually know and trust each other, Batrider is an insane teamfight initiator. It's logical that his bad pub winrate stems from people being unable to reach the full potential of the hero, because of the massive difference between pubs and pros. He was constantly one of the top bans/picks in 2 years from 2013 to 2015 in spite of repeatedly getting nerfed, until 6.84's nerf to ''Firefly'' (which makes his jungling slower and delays his Blink Dagger) threw him into the trash can.
* MadBomber: Batrider seems to be one judging from his responses when he uses his abilities or kills an enemy hero:
-->'''Batrider:''' ''[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/3/3d/Bat_kill_03.mp3 Roasted, toasted and burned to a crisp.]]''
* MightyGlacier: Batrider is fairly durable for an Intelligence hero with his good Strength, but his right-click attack is weak and he is very sluggish with a base movement speed of 290. Since his kit requires him to be close to enemies to be effective, Blink Dagger and Force Staff are both core items on him to turn him into a LightningBruiser.
* MolotovCocktail: ''Flamebreak'' throws a flaming cocktail of dangerous chemicals.
* MoneyMultiplier: ''Firefly'' can deal a total of 840 damage over its duration when maxed, which can be further boosted with ''Sticky Napalm''. Batrider players often use ''Firefly'' to quickly farm stacked jungle camps and get an early Blink Dagger.
* MountedCombat
* NoNameGiven: He was once known as Jin'zakk in the original [=DotA=], but that name was removed when he's included in 2.
* [[NonFatalExplosions Non-Fatal Fire]]: ''Flaming Lasso'', despite being [[CaptainObvious flaming]], doesn't deal any direct damage unless he has Aghanim's Scepter.
* NounVerber
* ObviousRulePatch:
** Players took advantage of ''Sticky Napalm'', a skill that amplifies damage from Batrider on his victims, by building the constant DPS aura item Radiance, which turned Batrider into a real damage-dealer. Apparently Icefrog disagreed, as he proceeded to change ''Sticky Napalm'' so that Radiance could not (normally) trigger the bonus damage any more.
** This also happened on the 6.82 beta test client with Urn of Shadows. As it had its damage type changed from HP Removal to Pure, this affected the way it interacted with ''Sticky Napalm'', allowing each tick to deal 250+ damage, effectively allowing Batrider to deal upwards of 2000 damage with a single Urn of Shadows charge. Thankfully, this was fixed before it was introduced to the main game client.
* PlayingWithFire: His right-click attack and three of his four abilities are fire-based. The one that doesn't directly uses fire drenches foes in napalm.
* SpamAttack: ''Sticky Napalm'', with its short cooldown, low mana cost and stacking effect.
* ThrowDownTheBomblet: His attacks include drenching enemies in napalm and throwing a MolotovCocktail.
* VaporTrail: ''Firefly'' leaves a trail of flames in Batrider's wake.
* WhatADrag: ''Flaming Lasso'' drags any unfortunate victim in Batrider's wake.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ancient_Apparition_354.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/0/0f/Appa_rare_01.mp3 "One day, ice will cover these lands, and it will be as if this war never happened. "]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' John Patrick Lowrie
''"Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition, is an image projected from outside time. He springs from the cold, infinite void that both predates the universe and awaits its end. Kaldr is, Kaldr was, Kaldr shall be...and what we perceive, powerful as it appears to us, is but the faintest faded echo of the true, eternal Kaldr. Some believe that as the cosmos ages and approaches its final moments, the brightness and power of Kaldr will also intensify--that the Ancient Apparition will grow younger and stronger as eternity's end draws nigh. His grip of ice will bring all matter to a stop, his image will cast a light too terrible to behold. An Apparition no longer!"''

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal
* {{Bishonen}}: His low violence model's face is quite handsome, inexplicably.
* BlackMage
* BlowYouAway: In their descriptions, ''Ice Vortex'' and ''Chilling Touch'' are both described to manipulate frigid winds.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Any enemies caught in an ''Ice Vortex'' receive increased magical damage.
* DeathOfAThousandCuts[=/=]GradualGrinder: While his skills don't seem very damaging, the total amount of damage dealt indirectly through buffs easily goes into 4-digit numbers. ''Chilling Touch'' alone has the potential to deal over 2000 damage, and the anti-healing debuff from ''Ice Blast'' removes a lot of ''potential'' health that could be gained with regeneration, healing and lifesteal.
* DefogOfWar: ''Ice Vortex'' temporarily reveals the area around it.
* EldritchAbomination
* ElementalEmbodiment: Of ice and entropy.
* EvilIsDeathlyCold
* EvilSoundsDeep
* FightingAShadow: It's stated in his backstory that Ancient Apparition is only an image of the true, eternal Kaldr.
* FinishingMove: His ultimate [[LiterallyShatteredLives instakills enemies at low HP]].
* FixedDamageAttack: ''Ice Blast'' is this, in effect. Because hitting an enemy with the ball will cause them to instantly die if they fall below 10% of their HP, the debuff effectively removes 10% of an enemy hero's maximum HP for the duration of the debuff, without factoring in the blast itself or the damage over time.
* GhostlyChill
* HarmlessFreezing: While ''Cold Feet'' does deal damage, it's so insignificant that it's never used as a nuke.
* HumanPopsicle: Victims of ''Cold Feet'' are frozen solid, with icicles protruding from the ice.
* AnIcePerson
* IneffectualLoner: Ancient Apparition's skills don't work very well without allies: ''Cold Feet'' is useless without a setup since enemies can simply run away from it, ''Chilling Touch'' is only powerful when used on many allies, which in turn reduces the effectiveness of ''Ice Vortex'''s magical damage amplification, while ''Ice Blast'', in spite of its very high damage, needs to be followed up with more burst, which AA lacks.
* KillItWithIce
* LeadTheTarget: ''Ice Blast'' requires leading the target, stopping the projectile marker at a certain point, and then waiting for the real projectile to arrive and hit. While difficult to land, it's [[DifficultButAwesome exceptionally powerful when it hits]], easily turning around the outcome of a fight. [[HardModePerks Firing it from a long range]] also increases its area of effect up to a whole screen.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: The final effect of his ultimate.
* PowerFloats
* PowerNullifier: ''Ice Blast'' is infamous as the only spell in the game that prevents the enemy from gaining HP through healing for the duration of the debuff. This counters any direct healing (whether from items like Magic Wand and Mekansm, or abilities like ''Voodoo Restoration'' and ''Purification''), stat changing (switching your Power Treads, toggling Armlet of Mordiggian), and even the fountain. The only ways to stop the HP loss are with spell immunity (which only nullifies the damage over time but cannot remove the debuff), invulnerability and banish (which also only nullifies the damage over time), ''Borrowed Time'' (during which Abaddon will not gain any HP either), damage shields (such as ''Aphotic Shield'' and ''Flame Guard''), all of which are only temporary measures used to wait out the debuff. Only Weaver's ''Time Lapse'' and Terrorblade's ''Sunder'' allow you to actually increase your HP while under the effects of the debuff.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Shatterblast Crown Immortal item makes Kaldr's eyes glow red.
* SealedEvilInACan
* SentientCosmicForce: Kaldr is the manifestation of entropy.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Unlike many other heroes in the game who verge on being {{Large Ham}}s, Kaldr is surprisingly reserved in both tone and voice. He never yells, and his voice is soft and deep.
* SpellBlade: ''Chilling Touch'' grants allied heroes in an area bonus magical damage for a set amount of attacks.
* SquishyWizard: One of the squishiest, in order to offset the massive damage his ultimate deals.
* StandardStatusEffects: ''Cold Feet'' freezes slow or unaware enemies that don't leave its radius.
* TimeAbyss: So ancient that the [[PhysicalGod Fundamentals of the Universe]] consider him old.
* YouAreAlreadyDead: Getting frozen by ''Ice Blast'' disables all forms of health regeneration and deals damage over time, making survival of low-HP units impossible without spell immunity or Dazzle's ''Shallow Grave''.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Carl, the Invoker]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Invoker_5947.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/0/09/Invo_begin_01.mp3 "So begins a new age of knowledge."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Dennis Bateman
''"In its earliest, and some would say most potent form, magic was primarily the art of memory. It required no technology, no wands or appurtenances other than the mind of the magician. All the trappings of ritual were merely mnemonic devices, meant to allow the practitioner to recall in rich detail the specific mental formulae that unlocked a spell's power. The greatest mages in those days were the ones blessed with the greatest memories, and yet so complex were the invocations that all wizards were forced to specialize. The most devoted might hope in a lifetime to have adequate recollection of three spells—four at most. Ordinary wizards were content to know two, and it was not uncommon for a village mage to know only one—with even that requiring him to consult grimoires as an aid against forgetfulness on the rare occasions when he might be called to use it. But among these early practitioners there was one exception, a genius of vast intellect and prodigious memory who came to be known as the Invoker. In his youth, the precocious wizard mastered not four, not five, not even seven incantations: He could command no fewer than ten spells, and cast them instantly. Many more he learned but found useless, and would practice once then purge from his mind forever, to make room for more practical invocations. One such spell was the Sempiternal Cantrap—a longevity spell of such power that those who cast it in the world's first days are among us still (unless they have been crushed to atoms). Most of these quasi-immortals live quietly, afraid to admit their secret: But Invoker is not one to keep his gifts hidden. He is ancient, learned beyond all others, and his mind somehow still has space to contain an immense sense of his own worth...as well as the Invocations with which he amuses himself through the long slow twilight of the world's dying days."''

* AchillesHeel: Magic Immunity cancels out most of his arsenal, which is a death sentence for a scaling nuke-based hero who can't simply rely on early game power, then hand the reigns to physical fighters later.
* AnimeHair: The Magus Apex Immortal hair, a big mane of spiky, blond, glowing, gravity-defying hair.
* TheArchMage
* AscendedMeme: His name, Carl, comes from [[http://www.playdota.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2348598&postcount=9 a Google Translate of a "leaked" changelog]]. The original Invoker was named 'Kael', after a ''{{VideoGame/Warcraft}}'' character. When a fake Chinese changelog was posted on the [=PlayDota=] forums, it was Google Translated, and "Kael" was translated as "Carl". In Dota 2, where the name Kael cannot be reused for legal issues, Invoker is renamed to 'Carl', according to several lines of himself, Undying and Mirana.
-->'''Icefrog, commenting on the Invoker "nerf"''': Carl had it coming.
-->'''Invoker:''' [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/8/81/Invo_rare_05.mp3 Behold before you, the illustrious, the imperious, ingenious archmage… CARL.]]
-->'''Undying:''' [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/0/08/Undying_ally_10.mp3 Carl? Is that you?]]
* BadassBookworm: Invoker is a genius and has the highest intelligence growth (tied with Pugna only), and it is generally a bad idea to underestimate him in combat.
* BadassLongRobe
* BlackMage: Except for ''Ghost Walk'' and ''Alacrity'', 8 out of Invoker's 10 spells are offensive to some degree.
* BrownNote[=/=]GaleForceSound: ''Deafening Blast'' knocks victims back and temporarily disables their right-click attack.
** PlanarShockwave: When all elements are maxed out, ''Deafening Blast'' becomes a massive circular explosion.
* CanisLatinicus: Some of the responses for his spells.
* ColonyDrop: ''Chaos Meteor'' pulls an asteroid from orbit and throws it at the target point, where it will roll and deal damage to anything in its path. It rolls farther the more ''Wex'' levels you have, and deals more damage the more ''Exort'' levels you have.
* CombinationAttack: Invoker play revolves around [[SimpleYetAwesome mostly using two effective skills in a combo]] since ''Invoke'''s cooldown is too long early on to do much more other than for special emergencies. Using ''Deafening Blast'' to keep enemies in the area of ''Chaos Meteor'' ForMassiveDamage, ''Tornado'' to prevent enemies from escaping the area of ''EMP'' before it detonates, and using ''Forge Spirits'' to trigger ''Cold Snap''s lock down and capitalize on it with physical damage are the three primary combos, each primarily focusing on two reagents.
* ConfusionFu: Invoker has three "reagents", which grant stat bonuses as well as minor regeneration, movement and attack speed, or damage bonuses when active; and ''Invoke'', which gives Invoker a spell based on which reagents are active at the time. Since there are ten possible combinations and the effects include [[SummonMagic summoning]], [[StatusBuff buffing]], disabling, creating temporary walls, four different attack spells ([[KillSat one with unlimited range]]), and turning [[{{Invisibility}} invisible]], it's very difficult to tell what an Invoker will do next. Since Invoker is limited to having two spells ready at a time, it also makes him DifficultButAwesome.
* DeathFromAbove: ''Chaos Meteor'' and ''Sun Strike''. The latter is a beam that [[KillSat can be fired anywhere on the map]].
* DelayedExplosion: ''EMP'' takes 2.9 seconds after casting to activate. Because of this, a good setup skill, usually ''Tornado'', is essential for Invoker to land a good ''EMP''.
* DifficultButAwesome: Widely considered to have the most complex skill set in the game (though not the hardest character to actually use, as that title goes to Meepo). Not only does casting his spells require good memory of which reagents are required for each spell, the amount that each reagent is leveled drastically affects how powerful each spell is. For instance, ''Deafening Blast'', which requires one of each reagent, can affect the enemy completely differently depending on how much you've leveled each reagent, since each one controls a completely different variable, so it can either do only damage, only stun, or only disarm the enemy, or anything inbetween. This makes it hard to use Invoker effectively if you don't level the proper reagents for maxing out the power of specific spells for specific builds or situations. But once you get it down, Invoker is easily the most flexible caster in the game (with even Rubick coming in second), capable of queuing up whatever spell is required at will, casting it, and quickly Invoking another spell to cast while the others are on cooldown. A good Invoker who has enough mana and Aghanim's Scepter or Octarine Core can potentially cast one spell every two seconds (barring the cooldown of each individual spell stopping him).
** ''Sun Strike'' is this, amongst Invoker's spells. It deals spread out damage over a small area and has a long delay (1,7 seconds), forcing players to predict their victim's movement and assure that no creep wave will come to shield him. But good ''Sun Strike''s can be used to snipe enemies from pretty much everywhere on the map, even near the fountain where they think they're safe.
** Subverted in that for the most part, actual combos aren't really difficult to land, especially when compared to say, Pudge. Most of them just consist of "Shoot these two skills right after eachother at the same location", such as his bread-and-butter combos of each build.
* ElementalPowers: He is perhaps the most glorious user of such powers; manipulation of each element grants bonuses to one attribute and a temporary buff to a related skill.
** AnIcePerson: ''Quas'' grants bonus strength and provides extra HP regen while active, and increases the duration and intensity of the debuffs of his spells.
** ShockAndAwe[=/=]BlowYouAway: ''Wex'' grants bonus agility and provides extra attack and movement speed while active, and buffs his spell's range or area of effect.
** PlayingWithFire: ''Exort'' grants bonus intelligence and provides extra damage while active, and tends to focus on raw damage.
* {{EMP}}: The name of one of his abilities, which deals damage, burns mana and returns part of that mana to Invoker.
* FireIceLightning: The basic reagents of his spells.
* FloweryElizabethanEnglish: When he's not speaking in CanisLatinicus.
* {{Foil}}: To Rubick, both are arguably the most generic mage-type heroes, with no additional theme; Invoker wears white and gold, Rubick dresses in black and green; Invoker's practically a walking mass of ego while Rubick's a NiceGuy; Invoker only uses the 10 spells he has, seeing everything else as beneath him and isn't all that bright, relying on his memory; Rubick on the other hand, is very adaptable and a quick learner, but is also rather forgetful.
* FunctionalMagic: His ability to cast magic lies in his excellent memory.
* FunWithAcronyms: His responses give creative definitions for ''{{EMP}}'' such as "Extractive Mana Pulse" "and "Endoleon's Malevolent Perturbation". ''Quas Wex Exort'' are more obvious, with the first letters for each being the keyboard hotkeys for those skills.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* HarmlessFreezing: While ''Cold Snap'' and ''Ice Wall'' do deal damage, it's mostly incidental next to the stun and area slow.
* HealingFactor: Invoker gains bonus HP regeneration if he has ''Quas'' orbs active (which stack directly with each other). This allows him to shrug off harass damage fairly reliably in-lane, and replenish health over time with enough levels of ''Quas''.
* IHaveManyNames: Acquired from all the ages he's lived.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Basically, to him, there's two kinds of people in the world: Him, and people that aren't him, the latter of which are worthless.
-->'''Invoker''': [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/2/2d/Invo_death_07.mp3 "All that matters, perishes with me."]]
-->'''Invoker''': [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/0/02/Invo_rare_02.mp3 "The universe depends on what I can remember of it."]]
* InsufferableGenius: Constantly prattles on about his ([[KnowNothingKnowItAll Supposedly]]) superior intelligence.
* {{Invisibility}}: ''Ghost Walk'' turns Invoker invisible immediately (meaning there's no fade time), and slows enemies nearby depending on his ''Quas'' levels. While it initially makes him slower as well, he can start moving at normal speed (or even faster) once he has four or more levels of ''Wex''.
* JackOfAllStats: Because of his massive stock of spells, Invoker can be built to fill almost any utility role that his team needs, whether it's ''Quas-Wex'' for crowd control, ''Wex-Exort'' for pushing and damage output, or ''Quas-Exort'' for single-target damage and pickoffs.
* {{Jerkass}}: From claiming he did all the work after a win, to basically ignoring his enemies, to ''not bother to even know whose on his side either''.
* KillSat[=/=]LeadTheTarget[=/=]ThePowerOfTheSun: ''Sun Strike'' has a global range and deals Pure damage. Its damage is distributed evenly on all enemies hit, and it has a very small radius, on top of having a 1.7 second strike delay (requiring players to LeadTheTarget), however it can be used to snipe enemies anywhere on the map, even in their fountain where they think they're safe.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Despite his constant claims of being ''the'' smartest, he's actually quite close to the bottom of the barrel in actual intelligence, largely getting by through memory.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: His background story leans heavily on Dota 2's metagame; even the most complicated hero other than Invoker only has three or four (or six in the case of Keeper of the Light and Earth Spirit) active abilities, with some such as Wraith King and Viper only truly having one. The ability for any player to use Invoker well depends on their memory of which reagents are required for each spell, as well as their knowledge of how powerful those spells are based on how many levels are in each reagent.
* LimitedMoveArsenal: Invoker can only hold two spells at a time. Leveling up his ultimate shortens its cooldown, but good Invoker play involves being able to juggle all the spells and Invoke what's needed beforehand while removing spells that are on cooldown.
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Played straight with Invoker, making it an inversion to how the trope is often played in Dota. He is one of the best scaling nukers in the game: while most nukers start off powerful, peak at level 16 with a level 3 ultimate (and Aghanim's Scepter if applicable) and then start to fall off as their damage stops scaling, Invoker's spells scale with levels of his orbs all the way from level 2 until level 25, making him extremely level-dependent but allowing him to remain useful into the late game.
* ManaBurn: Invoker's ''EMP'' ability lays down an electric blast over a massive area that explodes 2.6 seconds after he casts it. Any enemies in the area will have a part of their mana pool destroyed (based on the levels of ''Wex''), and half of that amount converted into damage done to them.
** ManaDrain: The other half of the mana destroyed by ''EMP'' is given to Invoker.
* ManInWhite: His default robe is white with golden lining on the outside.
* MonochromaticEyes
* {{Narcissist}}: Just to give an idea of how bad he is compared to the other egomaniacs in this game (who also have plenty of "Look at me!" or "I am the best!" lines): Invoker is the only hero to have zero special interactions with other heroes, like greeting an ally, taunting a rival or acknowledging a WorthyOpponent. Nope, he is so self-absorbed he doesn't bother to learn anyone's names, they mean nothing to him.
-->'''Invoker (killing a foe)''': [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/2/2e/Invo_kill_03.mp3 Whatever THAT was, twas scarcely worth my notice.]]
* NonStandardSkillLearning: Unlike any other hero in the game, Invoker cannot directly learn his various spells via leveling up; he must first skill the necessary reagents for the spell, then ''Invoke'' them in the correct order to temporarily gain access to that skill. He's also one of only two heroes who can skill his ultimate before level 6, the other being Meepo at level 3.
* PetTheDog: If he's healed by an item used by an ally, Invoker still has enough decency to thank them, despite being a {{Jerkass}} {{Narcissist}} [[ItsAllAboutMe on a very high caliber]]. Compare with Troll Warlord, who doesn't even thank the healer.
* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: The Magus Apex Immortal hair, which looks much more prominent than Invoker's default hairstyle.
-->''The Sol Apex Incantation, forgotten for over nine thousand years, promised its caster the chance to touch the sun, bathe in its blinding glory, and harness its most scalding wrath. Only one would dare be so bold.''
* Really700YearsOld: Due to the Sempiternal Cantrap.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness
* ShoutOut: His death animation is very similar to [[Series/DoctorWho timelord regeneration]].
* SomeDexterityRequired: Managing Invoker's spells before level 17 can be (comparatively) straightforward once you learn which reagents are required for certain spells, since there's still at least a 12 second cooldown on ''Invoke'', giving you plenty of time to think about what spell you need next. Once you hit level 17 (or grab an Aghanim's Scepter or Octarine Core after level 12) though, you can essentially barrage the enemy with every single spell you have, since the cooldown on ''Invoke'' shortens down to 5 seconds or less, meaning that you have to be quick with your thinking and key presses in order to make the most of it.
* SpecialPersonNormalName: His true name of power is Carl.
-->'''Invoker:''' [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/1/18/Invo_rare_04.mp3 Throughout the aeons I have been known by many names… but my true name of power… is Carl.]]
* SquishyWizard[=/=]GlassCannon: On top of his relatively mediocre Strength and Agility gain, Invoker is incapable of getting attribute bonuses since each of his three reagents can be leveled 7 times, and his ultimate 4 (other heroes level their three abilities 4 times each and their ultimate 3 times, with 10 levels left over for stats). This means that despite each reagent passively giving him stat bonuses each time they're leveled, at level 25 he has three less stat levels than every other hero, which adds up.
** Interestingly, though, this also makes Invoker stronger early-game if the proper reagents are leveled, since each reagent level gives him a small stat bonus in that category. An Invoker who maxes out ''Quas'' as his primary reagent can be surprisingly tanky since he'll have the equivalent of seven Strength stat bonuses before level 15, which is the first level at which most other heroes start leveling stats.
* SummonMagic: ''Forge Spirits'' summons a minion to fight alongside you. Having more than four levels in both ''Quas'' and ''Exort'' will summon two of them instead of one.
* SuperSpeed: Invoker starts out with the second-lowest base movement speed in the game (tied with Death Prophet and Crystal Maiden), but gains bonus movement and attack speed with active ''Wex'' orbs. With enough levels of ''Wex'' and an active ''Ghost Walk'', Invoker can move quite quite quickly, to say nothing of his recommended item build including various movement speed items like Eul's Scepter and Phase Boots.
* TornadoMove[=/=]StatusBuffDispel: ''Tornado'' throws a tornado at the enemy in a straight line, disabling them for a certain amount of time (however many ''Quas'' levels you have). It has an absurdly long range if you level ''Wex'' enough (well beyond visual range starting at 4 levels), and can remove buffs similar to Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
** StopHelpingMe: it also gives the enemy invincibility for the duration of the spell, and unlike most such effects, hits a large area. Invoker setting up ''his'' combo with ''Tornado'' can often completely screw up everyone else's combo as they drop their stuns and nukes into the ground while their targets are blown above. [[FridgeBrilliance Makes sense considering how self-centered Invoker himself is]].
* WizardsLiveLonger: Thanks to the Sempiternal Cantrap spell (Which Invoker purged from his memories the moment he used it).
* WolverinePublicity: One of the more well-known heroes due to his notorious versatile spells and high difficulty curve. It also helps that he's the most obvious target (as an enemy or rival) for Anti-Mage, who himself has a heavy case of WolverinePublicity.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Harbinger, the Outworld Devourer]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Outworld_Destroyer_8138.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/6/6c/Odest_begin_01.mp3 "Their sanity I'll shatter, their dreams of conquest I'll destroy."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Tom Chantler
''"One of a lordly and magisterial race, Harbinger prowls the edge of the Void, sole surviving sentry of an outpost on the world at the rim of the abyss. From this jagged crystalline Outworld, forever on guard, he has gazed for eternities into the heavens, alert for any stirring in the bottomless night beyond the stars. Imprinted deep in the shining lattices of his intellect lies a resonant pattern akin to prophecy, a dark music implying that eventually some evil will wake out there, beyond the edges of creation, and turn its attention to our world. With his whole being focused on his vigil, Outworld Devourer paid little attention to events closer in to the sun. But at last the clamor of the Ancients, and a sense of growing threat from within as well as without, sent him winging sunward to visit the plains of war. Harbinger's place in our own prophecies is unambiguous: he must be considered an omen of worse things to come. But his arrival in itself is bad enough."''

* BlackMage: Outworld Devourer gameplay revolves around stacking as many Intelligence as possible and blasting the hell out of the enemy team with ''Arcane Orb'' and ''Sanity's Eclipse''.
* ContinuityNod: Despite his name being changed from Obsidian Destroyer to Outworld Devourer several characters still refer to him as "Obsidian". Not to mention he appears to be partially covered in obsidian.
* CosmicHorrorStory: Certainly seems to be part of one. Standing guard against some terror from beyond the stars, coming from another dimension to do battle, and forcing others to realize their infantile knowledge and mortality.
* DarkIsNotEvil: As bad as he may seem, his purpose is to warn the universe about something even worse.
* EnergyBall: ''Arcane Orb''.
* FixedDamageAttack: ''Arcane Orb'' deals Pure damage based on OD's current mana pool, meaning that he benefits from both Int items and raw mana-boosting items. What's more, the damage is calculated when the attack hits, so if ''Essence Aura'' procs the attack will do extra damage.
* GlassCannon[=/=]SquishyWizard: Harbinger with the right items can potentially one-shot an entire enemy team with ''Sanity's Eclipse''. However, unlike most other carries that would stack Agility or Strength items, Harbinger stacks Intelligence, an attribute that provides no inherent survivability, so so much as sneeze on him and the inverse quickly is proven just as true.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Causes this with ''Astral Imprisonment'', causing heroes to lose intelligence to him for a time. ''Sanity's Eclipse'' probably does this too, judging by the name, and that the damage taken depends on heroes' intelligence.
* GoodWingsEvilWings: He has a dark crystalline set of wings.
* HarbingerOfImpendingDoom: It's in the name.
* LastOfHisKind
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Played straight (which oddly makes it an inversion in Dota) with ''Arcane Orb'', whose damage scales with OD's current mana, making him one of the few INT carries in the game.
* LockedOutOfTheFight: A unit affected by ''Astral Imprisonment'' can do nothing but becomes invulnerable for its duration except against ''Sanity's Eclipse''.
* MagicStaff
* ManaBurn: ''Sanity's Eclipse'' removes 40% of its victims' current mana.
* MediumAwareness: With this line:
--> '''Outworld Devourer (Killing Tinker):''' ''[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/d/d9/Odest_rival_15.mp3 Hard carry? I hardly cared.]]''
* MindRape[=/=]MySkullRunnethOver: His ultimate ''Sanity's Eclipse'' obliterates any heroes that has lower intelligence than him and burns out the smarter ones' mana. Heroes whose intelligence is higher than Devourer's are unaffected.
* MutualDisadvantage: Against Anti-Mage. On the one hand, ''Arcane Orb'' deals massive pure damage, easily bypassing both Anti-Mage's armor and ''Spell Shield'', while ''Essence Aura'' counteracts ''Mana Break''. On the other hand, ''Mana Break'' also deals damage based on the mana burned, which can really hurt Harbinger due to his low health pool and constant mana supply, and his massive mana pool makes him very vulnerable to ''Mana Void'' should his mana run low.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: He is overall centaur-shaped with wings.
* PocketDimension: As described on ''Astral Imprisonment'':
--> ''Locked away in the pocket between this world and the Outworld, victims realize their infantile knowledge and mortality.''
* PowerCrystal: He is a living one.
* PowerEchoes: Every single one of his lines.
* PowerFloats: He is obviously too heavy to be able to fly just with his wings.
* RegeneratingMana: ''Essence Aura'' gives OD and any nearby allies a chance to restore 25% of their total mana pool whenever they cast a spell. This synergizes well with ''Arcane Orb'' since each attack will give him a chance to replenish his mana.
* SicklyGreenGlow
* SituationalDamageAttack: ''Arcane Orb'', which deals its damage based on OD's current mana pool.
* SpamAttack: ''Arcane Orb''. OD can also allow his allies to do this with ''Essence Aura''.
* SpellBlade: ''Arcane Orb'' adds a percentage of Harbinger's current mana pool to his right-click damage.
* StarfishAliens
* ThroatLight
* TimeAbyss: Most of it spent waiting for some SealedEvilInACan to unveil itself.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Though it's rare, heroes with a higher Intelligence than OD are completely unaffected by ''Sanity's Eclipse''. The heroes with the biggest shot at this are Pugna, and Invoker, with a higher intelligence gain, and Silencer, who gains intelligence for every kill.
* VampiricDraining: If used on an enemy hero, ''Astral Imprisonment'' temporarily takes some of their Intelligence and gives it to Outworld Devourer.
* VolcanicVeins
* WeaksauceWeakness: Unlike other carries, spell immunity completely shuts Outworld Devourer down: to dish out massive damage, he absolutely needs ''Arcane Orb'', which is rendered useless by spell immunity. ''Astral Imprisonment'' and ''Sanity's Eclipse'' are blocked by BKB as well, so by the time the enemy team gets Black King Bars, he becomes much less of a threat.
* YouCantFightFate: A recurring theme in his taunts.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Shadow Demon]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shadow_Demon_8233.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/5/5d/Shadow_demon_level_up_07.mp3 "The Second Domination draws near."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Nolan North
''"Among the sovereign Demons with explicit access to this world, Doom scarcely bothers with the affairs of Noninfernals and Lesser Spectral Consorts, while Shadow Fiend passes through almost exclusively on collecting expeditions. The Shadow Demon, however, has always taken a deep and abiding interest in the material plane, as if sensing that mastery of this gritty dimensional nexus might be the key to total domination of all realities. Summoned first by minor wizards, the Shadow Demon granted every wish and put on increasingly impressive displays of power until he had the full attention of the greatest demonologists, and through them the various lords, tyrants, autarchs and heirophants who depended on sorcery to buttress their mundane power. So great was his deception that all his summoners considered themselves the master and Shadow Demon the servant; meanwhile, he eroded their identities and made their minds his own. In the end, most members of the cult were hollow puppets, extensions of his evil will. What Shadow Demon's next step would have been remains open to speculation, for around this time, Nevermore the Shadow Fiend bit into a particularly nasty-tasting soul and discovered that it held nothing but a foul nougat of Shadow Demon's essence. Alerted that a coup was underway, and that the ancient equilibrium of the Umbral Pact was about to be destabilized, Doom and Shadow Fiend briefly joined forces to destroy the burgeoning cult. Combining spells of incredible force, they undid Shadow Demon's centuries of patient work, reducing his cult to smithereens--and all its members to a bloody splatter. Nothing remained except a tiny speck of demon shadow. Immortal and irreducible, this mote of evil was enough to seed the Shadow Demon's next scheme, and in fits and starts, over further centuries, he began to regroup. Whatever that speck of shadow touched, it tainted, and its influence gradually grew. A chaos of damaged parts pulled together, reknit, and combined to give Shadow Demon a form even stronger than his former. He is all but complete now, and his plan for infinite dominion lacks all of its former weaknesses. It would seem that such a being of pure malice and malevolence, a threat to all creation, would be forever out of place in our world...yet Shadow Demon does not lack for followers."''

* AssimilationPlot: Shadow Demon eroded the identities of all of his followers and made their mind his own.
* BlackMage: The only spell in Shadow Demon's arsenal with any defensive application is ''Disruption''. Other than that, Shadow Demon is a purely offensive caster.
* CastingAShadow: ''Shadow Poison'' deals a small amount of damage to any target in its path, then places a stacking debuff on the target. After a certain amount of time (or at Shadow Demon's command), the target takes additional damage based on how many times they were hit with ''Shadow Poison'', with the damage increasing exponentially with the number of stacks.
* ChainedByFashion: Shadow Demon wears them on his chest, likely signifying his (false) servitude to the summoners who thought they were his master.
* CombinationAttack[=/=]DifficultButAwesome: ''Disruption'' is one of the best skills to help teammates land spells with long cast times or delays. Examples include skills such as ''Torrent'', ''Sacred Arrow'', ''Light Strike Array'' and even ''Sun Strike'' or ''Slithereen Crush''. When combined with ''Soul Catcher'', this makes for a powerful ganking combination... that is, with good coordination. ''Disruption'' is infamous as one of the most misused skills in pubs, often used discriminately by bad Shadow Demon players and more frequently saving the enemy than not.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Soul Catcher'' is often regarded as the most reliable damage amplification spell in the game. Its one weakness is that it chooses a random target in its [=AoE=], meaning that it's ineffective in crowded situations.
* DarkIsEvil
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: While ''Shadow Poison'' deals very little damage per tick, the total damage from several stacks can reach 320 right from level 1.
* DefogOfWar: ''Shadow Poison'' briefly reveals the area it passes through, so it's often used to scout important areas like narrow paths, high grounds or the Roshan pit.
* EvilOverlord
* EvilVersusEvil: His actions forced Doom and Shadow Fiend to join forces and fight him.
* FromASingleCell: According to his backstory, he's been almost destroyed before.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Played straight with ''Disruption'', making it one of the few inversions of how the trope is presented in Dota. Since it creates two illusions of a hero, it only gets stronger and stronger alongside the teams' carries as the game progresses.
* LockedOutOfTheFight: A unit affected by ''Disruption'' can do nothing but becomes invulnerable for its duration except against ''Soul Catcher'', ''Shadow Poison'' and ''Demonic Purge''.
* ManipulativeBastard
* MonochromaticEyes
* MultiversalConqueror
* NoNameGiven: Though in [=DOTA=], he was named "Eredar", which counts as ADogNamedDog because Eredar is a name of the race in VideoGame/Warcraft when his model was originally Archimonde.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent
* PocketDimension[=/=]TwinMaker: ''Disruption'' banishes any hero from the battlefield for 2 seconds, then returns them with two illusions that can be controlled by Shadow Demon. The ability is often used for disabling an enemy, giving your team 2 seconds to surround them, or can be used on an ally or yourself to effectively dodge any damage that you would have otherwise taken in those two seconds.
* PoisonousPerson: ''Shadow Poison''.
* ProphetEyes
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack
* RandomNumberGod: ''Soul Catcher'' chooses a random target inside its [=AoE=], making it difficult to target a hero walking through a creep wave and impossible to target a specific hero in a group.
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* ReligionOfEvil: Shadow Demon formed one in the past.
* SkullForAHead: As can be seen in his portrait.
* SpamAttack: ''Shadow Poison'', with its short cooldown, low mana cost and stacking effect.
* SquishyWizard
* StatusBuffDispel: ''Demonic Purge'' removes all positive buffs from a target and severely slows the target for several seconds, then deals a large amount of damage. The buff removal and slow even go through spell immunity, making it an extremely useful tool for shutting down melee carries who have just activated their Black King Bars and are bearing down.
* TakeOverTheWorld
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: In Shadow Demon's backstory, when Nevermore collected a nasty-tasting soul only to discover that it held nothing but part of Shadow Demon's foul essence.
* WalkingShirtlessScene
* WhyAmITicking: Played with. While ''Shadow Poison'' and ''Demonic Purge'' do not affect the surrounding targets, they still turn the enemies into living bombs activated by timer running out - or manually.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The lore of ''Demonic Purge'':
--> Once Shadow Demon no longer has any need for his collected cultist, he releases it from its subservience - and its life.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Visage, the Bound Form of Necro'lic]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Visage_1177.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/1/18/Visa_spawn_03.mp3 "That which passes beyond the veil must forever stay."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Dempsey Pappion
''"Perched atop the entrance to the Narrow Maze sit the looming shapes of sneering gargoyles, the paths into the hereafter forever in their gaze. Beasts and birds, men and monsters, all creatures that die and choose to travel beyond must someday pass beneath their sight. For an untethered spirit, the decision to journey through the veil of death is irrevocable. When chance comes, and by craft or cunning some restless soul escapes their hells and heavens, it is the dreaded gargoyle Visage, the bound form of the eternal spirit Necro’lic, who is dispatched to reclaim them. Ruthless and efficient, unhindered by the principles of death and fatigue, Visage stalks its prey without mercy or end, willingly destroying all which may give shelter to the fugitive essence. That which flaunts the laws of the afterlife may never rest, for while it is true that the dead may be revived, it is only a matter of time before Visage finds and returns them to their proper place."''

* AttackAttackAttack: Averted utterly with his Familiars; while they start with incredible bonus attack power, they quickly are reduced to [[CherryTapping 10 damage]] until the next time they activate ''Stone Form'', encouraging hit and run tactics. Played straight, however, if Drow Ranger is also on the same team, as the massive damage boost from ''Precision Aura'' can allow the Familiars to fight very well even with no attack charges left.
* BadassBookworm: Despite being an Intelligence hero, he has above-normal Strength gain and up to 70% resistance to ''both'' physical and magical damage when he maxes out ''Gravekeeper's Cloak'', letting him withstand even heavy harassment. Much needed because his skills benefit his team the more he stays in team-fights.
* BlackMage
* ChargedAttack[=/=]SpamAttack: ''Soul Assumption'' initially deals extremely low damage, but becomes more and more powerful with soul charges which Visage can acquire when heroes take damage near him. Combined with its very short cooldown, Visage can constantly spam it in a fight as long as he has mana and soul charges.
* CombinationAttack: Visage's synergy with Drow Ranger is notable: Visage's familiars attack extremely quickly, but their damage also drops just as fast, to a minimum of 10, making them only good for hit-and-run attacks. ''Precision Aura'', which gives a damage bonus to allied heroes (and creeps when activated) based on Drow's agility, negates this entirely: if Drow has enough Agility (which is made even easier with Marksmanship) she can multiply the familiars' damage by around 4-6 times, making them much deadlier and less dependent on ''Stone Form'' to replenish their damage. For this reason, very few teams would want to leave either Drow or Visage available to the enemy once either one was picked.
* DarkIsNotEvil: While he is not [[GoodIsNotNice nice]] by any stretch of the imagination, his task to make sure the dead stay dead is a necessary one. His being part of the Dire faction is rather flabbergasting due to the many undead heroes it contains.
* DeflectorShields: ''Gravekeeper's Cloak'' generates a four-layered barrier of protection around Visage. One layer is removed every time Visage takes damage from players, making him very durable against burst damage, but damage-over-time effects can break it in no time.
* DifficultButAwesome: Like Meepo, Visage is considered one of the more difficult heroes to master given the amount of micromanagement required to manage his ultimate, on top of his other abilities being quite complex. Given the punishing cooldown on summoning his familiars and the large bounty they award to enemy players for killing them, new players can be easily discouraged from learning the hero properly given how easy it is to feed the enemy team with the familiars. But mastering the familiars gives Visage a great deal of flexibility and firepower, since they can globally gank squishy heroes with almost no warning by using trees for cover, and chaining their ''Stone Form'' stuns can give you an area-of-effect stun that lasts up to 3 seconds, or even 4.5 seconds with an Aghanim's Scepter. Combined with his other abilities, Visage is one of the deadliest support heroes in the game who can tank damage, burst down enemies extremely quickly, and disable entire teams when used properly.
* EliteArmy: Visage's Familiars are weak in a direct fight, but are valued for their ability to globally gank squishy heroes with little warning, their 3 second area stun, and the large bounty that they award to enemies for killing them.
* {{Familiar}}: Can summon 2 of his fellow gargoyles (3 with Aghanim's Scepter) from the Narrow Maze.
* GlassCannon: His familiars are capable of decimating most enemies in seconds if they've recently used ''Stone Form'', but don't take much to destroy.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: [[SubvertedTrope However, he's a decidedly heroic character.]]
* GuardianOfTheMultiverse: Necro'lic is not only in charge of bringing souls to the afterlife, but also keeping various {{Multiversal Conqueror}}s, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and even gods at bay.
-->'''Visage (killing Doom):''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/d/da/Visa_rival_12.mp3 "This realm is not yours to torment, Doombringer."]]
* HitAndRunTactics: His familiars are best used to blast enemies and then beat a fast retreat, as they are pretty weak in a direct fight.
* LightningBruiser: Visage can dish out great damage with ''Soul Assumption'' and his familiars; ''Gravekeeper's Cloak'' makes him extremely resistant to burst damage; and he can also move very quickly with ''Grave Chill''.
* LimitBreak: ''Soul Assumption'' does very little damage by itself, but it scales up as heroes (allied, enemy, and including Visage himself) take damage in an area around him. Combined with its extremely low cooldown, Visage can nuke down targets extremely quickly during a teamfight.
* MetalSlime: Visage's familiars give a very large bounty when killed, but move very fast and can fly over terrain, so no good Visage player would allow his enemies to profit from that bounty. [[TheLoad Bad ones, on the other hand...]]
* TheMinionMaster: Visage summons 2 familiars with his ultimate (3 with Aghanim's Scepter). Unlike most summoned creatures, they don't die on their own after a set of time.
* NoPronunciationGuide: Nobody seems to be able to agree on whether his name is pronounced vis-IHJ or vis-AHJ. Visage himself pronounces it as vis-IHJ in the English audio, but casters and players will use both in the same breath. Lampshaded by the [[{{VideoGame/Bastion}} Bastion]] announcer pack where Rucks dubs him "[[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/0/03/Dlc_bastion_announcer_pick_visage.mp3 vis-AHHHHJ]]".
* OurGargoylesRock: Both him and his summoned familiars.
* PinataEnemy: Familiars are worth 100 gold each and have less hp than normal lane creeps. While they make up for that with their temporary invincibility and can be denied by resummoning, a planned attack on them is as profitable as ganking a hero.
* PowerGlows
* RemoteBody: For Necro'lic.
* ShockwaveStomp: Familiars' ''Stone Form'' combines this with TakenForGranite, as it also stuns enemies in an area around the Familiar.
* SomeDexterityRequired: Playing Visage well requires good micro-management of his familiars; while they can quickly burst down enemy heroes and charge up ''Soul Assumption'' in no time, they also do not have much HP and give a huge bounty if the enemy can kill them.
* SophisticatedAsHell: He normally speaks in a tone worthy of the afterlife's overseer. Killing [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Dirge the Undying]] yields this responce:
-->'''Visage:''' [[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/6/6b/Visa_rival_30.mp3 "Herp Derp Dirge."]]
* SquishyWizard: Visage is one of the squishiest early-game heroes in the game, as he is one of only three heroes in the game with '''negative''' base armor (the others being Wisp and Phoenix), and the only hero in the game with less than the standard 25% base magic resistance...
** BadassBookworm: ...yet his Strength gain is actually quite respectable, and ''Gravekeeper's Cloak'' makes him absurdly resistant to burst damage once he maxes it out, allowing him to shrug off magic nukes and burst physical damage surprisingly well if he survives into the late game.
* SummonMagic: ''Summon Familiars''.
* TakenForGranite: His familiars can do this to ''themselves'' as means for both offense and defense.
* VampiricDraining: ''Grave Chill'' drains speed from enemies and gives it to Visage.
* WingsDoNothing[=/=]AcrophobicBird: Played straight by Visage, averted by his familiars.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:Auroth, the Winter Wyvern]]
[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/931f4a3738ff9cdc6754621475f4d218.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[http://dota2.gamepedia.com/images/4/4b/Winwyv_spawn_05.mp3 "Some breathe fire. I breathe ice."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Merle Dandridge
''"Like many great poets, Auroth just wants time to write, but the Winter Wyvern's life is full of interruptions. The epics of the Eldwurms have a long and colorful history, but some fear that the remaining dragon scholars are not as prolific as they once were, with few lines added to the Eldwurm Eddas since the last age of greatness. Auroth laments: "We forget that there is more to life than triumph and dominion over enemies. We must also live our lives in the pursuit of creative expression." She embarks on research expeditions, collecting books for inspiration. But all this research can be terribly distracting, and she spends less time writing than she should. Although she knows she should be lurking in her lair, adding to the Eddas, she finds herself engaged in epic battles against powerful enemies. She loots castles, raids ancient libraries... and if she happens to heap glory on herself in the process, she tells herself that it's merely a side effect of her research. The fact is, while her skill and power on the battlefield are legendary, her scholarly travails have thus far hardly been the stuff of literary acclaim. But she is not content to stand as a protagonist of heroic lore. She wishes also to create it."''

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Which is, frankly, an unusual occupation for a dragon.
* BadassBookworm: She collects books and scrolls as part of her intellectual pursuits.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: One of the more affable heroes on the Dire side (and indeed, in the game in general), but it's still obviously not a good idea to get on her bad side given that she's a dragon. Her speech to Crystal Maiden in ''The New Neighbors'' sums it up quite well:
--> '''Winter Wyvern''': You know, Warden... ''most'' people would fall to their knees and praise a dragon for ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis just. Eating. Their livestock.]]'' Because most dragons raze cities to the ground. Enslave humans. And eat whatever - whomever - they please. Now, [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch I am not most dragons.]] I am an artist. But if my eating habits bother you, I could always be more... ''Traditional''.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy[=/=]CompellingVoice: Victims of ''Winter's Curse'' are frozen in place while their nearby allies are turned mad and fight against them.
* BreathWeapon: As with all dragons.
* CoolOldLady: The dragon equivalent. And yes, the pun is intentional.
* DifficultButAwesome: While it is relatively simple to use ''Cold Embrace'' to heal a protected allied carry to make him not have to run back to the fountain to regenerate, it becomes much harder to use in big fights. You can make beautiful saves with it, but also huge mistakes and ending up killing someone who may had a way of escaping.
* DragonHoard: Like many traditional Western dragons Auroth often lies on a hoard, though in her case it's a hoard of books instead of wealth, which she stores in a different room, and refers to as "not-books".
** WorthlessYellowRocks: She barely even cares about them, and parts with some just to pay for the keep and livestock.
* FemaleMonsterSurprise[=/=]GenderFlip: Due to her old model being the genderless Frost Wyrm in the original [=DotA=], many thought that Auroth is a male dragon. The first hint that she would receive the trope treatment is that way before her reveal, she's confirmed to share the same VA as Legion Commander.
* GeniusBruiser
* GiantFlyer
* GlowingEyes
* GoodAllAlong: The New Neighbors comic involves Crystal Maiden investigating a case of missing livestock of the farmers in Icewrack. It turns out Auroth has nested in an abandoned keep nearby and was responsible for the disappearances, and Rylai isn't happy about it, but Auroth herself is quite polite, offering Rylai the priceless Frost Avalanche cape as payment for the keep and the missing livestock.
* HarmlessFreezing: Auroth can freeze an ally by using ''Cold Embrace'', which restores their health and blocks physical attacks, but also [[StopHelpingMe stuns them for a few seconds]].
* HumanPopsicle: ''Cold Embrace'' encases an allied hero in ice, healing them and protecting them from physical damage but prevents them from acting.
* AnIcePerson: It's in her name, obviously.
* InadequateInheritor: She knew Slyrak before the Dragon Knight killed him; as a result she's [[http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/dota2.gamepedia.com/2/20/Winwyv_rival_05.mp3 rather dismissive]] of Dragon Knight.
* MightyGlacier: Winter Wyvern has high starting Strength (24) and good Strength growth, and can deal good damage with her skills, but she is very sluggish with a pitiful 285 base movement speed.
* NoSell: A unit affected by ''Cold Embrace'' is immune to all physical damage applied to them while in that ice cocoon.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: She's a Wyvern, who breaths ice.
* PercentDamageAttack[=/=]SpellBlade: ''Arctic Burn'' inflicts a debuff that deals damage equal to 6% of the target's current HP each second.
* {{Pun}}: She's a dragon who loves books. Wyrm/Wurm is another term for some types of Dragons. Ergo, she's a Bookwurm. In fact, she's even ''called that'' in descriptions for some of her skills.[[note]]For those who are wondering, Dragon Knight's Dragon form is a Wyrm, Auroth is a Wyvern.[[/note]]
* TheRedMage: Outside of her damage output from ''Arctic Burn'' and ''Splinter Blast'', Winter Wyvern can heal allies with ''Cold Embrace''.
* TreasureRoom: Auroth's lair has a room where she stores her riches.
* WarriorPoet: She is depicted as an 'artistic' dragon with interests in books.
[[/folder]]
----

* badassBoast: ''A thousand of your kind have fallen before me!''

* OurBansheesAreLouder

* TheStrategist: Was once a master tactician on his homeworld. He even has the whole Chinese Strategist/Sun Tzu theme with his accent, responses, [[WizardBeard and beard of profound strategic wisdom]].

[[center: [- [[Characters/Dota2Items Items]] | [[Characters/Dota2Neutrals Neutrals]] | [[Characters/Dota2NPCs Others]]-] ]]

* HumanResources: Lich's ''Sacrifice'' ability allows him to instantly kill a friendly creep and convert a percentage of its current HP into mana for him, as well as converting it into experience for any hero (regardless of team) within the XP gain radius. This means that casting it on a creep while no enemy heroes are nearby will generate mana for him and XP for only friendly heroes. Lich is infamous for being one of the best laning supports in the game because of this ability to guaranteed deny 25% of all gold in a lane just by being there. And played smartly, it can be used to essentially ''steal'' XP from the other team.
** Enemies still get experience from Sacrificed creeps as though they were denied through normal methods. However, this can be circumvented by eating creeps far from enemy lines, who can't be denied normally, and allows the lane to be pulled.
** With enough mana regeneration (or frequent use of ''Sacrifice''), Lich can afford to perpetually cast ''Ice Armor'' on himself and his teammates upon being attacked (albeit with a minor cooldown) with no major downsides, providing a sizable defensive boost for any nearby allies.

* PowerFloats

* FragileSpeedster: Akasha has a built-in ''Blink'' ability, which allows her to engage and escape as she pleases. But with a pitiful 1.7 Strength gain per level, she's easy to kill if she's stunned at the wrong moment and focused down.

** {{Counterspell}}: Damage is applied before a spell takes effect, so if the target dies the spell will not be finished.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dazzle is one of the more friendlier and upbeat heroes out there, with supportive and defensive spells meant for protecting his team, and he is more than happy to heal his allies should they need it. His spells are also deceptively lethal to his enemies, and ''Shadow Wave'' can easily take off a huge chunk of an enemy's health in the right conditions.

* WizardsLiveLonger

* BlackMage

* ChainedByFashion

* SkullForAHead

* AnIcePerson

* OurDragonsAreDifferent

** RegeneratingMana: ''Sadist'' regenerates up to 60 mana for every creep kill you get with it. This means that simply killing three creeps will allow ''Death Pulse'' to pay for itself. Killing a hero regenerates ten times that amount, more than paying back however much mana you spent casting ''Reaper's Scythe''.

* ThisCannotBe: Basically his reactions if you purge his golem with a Diffusal Blade. One of them is more deadpan, though.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Diffusal Blade was previously this, as it used to kill Warlock's golem ''instantly'' with its active ability.

%%* HornedHumanoid
%%* HornyDevils

* MutualDisadvantage: Against Axe. On one hand, Axe is the only hero in the game that can forcibly ignore Dazzle's ''Shallow Grave'' with his ultimate ''Culling Blade''. On the other hand, Dazzle can crush Axe in the lane, and Axe is very susceptible to ''Shadow Wave'' because of his playstyle, which involves blinking or rushing into a group of enemies and pin them down with ''Berserker's Call'' - the perfect opportunity for a ''Shadow Wave''. ''Weave'' also hurts Axe hard, as it boosts enemy armor, weakening ''Counter Helix'', while reducing his armor, which really hurts a tanky hero like him. In a game with both Axe and Dazzle, Axe can't aggro out a lane and Dazzle has to juggle more variables in mid-late game team fights. Axe has to jungle or even safe/mid and starts being a bully much later then he would like to. However if you're Dazzle and Axe safely jungles a Blink Dagger then its still tough for Dazzle, so he doesn't straight up win because his kit becomes slightly diminished in that scenario for nought. A well played Axe can make Dazzle useless and a well played Dazzle can really make Axe cry.

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Though it's rare, heroes with a higher Intelligence than OD are completely unaffected by ''Sanity's Eclipse''. The heroes with the biggest shot at this are Pugna, Invoker and Skywrath Mage, with a higher intelligence gain, and Silencer, who gains intelligence for every kill.

* ManaBurn: ''Sanity's Eclipse'' removes 408 of its victims' current mana.

* BeamSpam: Aghanim's Scepter drops the cooldown on ''Finger of Death'' down to twenty seconds, an extremely short cooldown for such a damaging spell.

* [[NonFatalExplosions Non-Fatal Fire]]: ''Flaming Lasso'', despite being [[CaptainObvious flaming]], doesn't deal any direct damage.

* ManaBurn: ''Sanity's Eclipse'' removes 75% of the current mana of its smarter victims.

* EvilGenius: He has ''the'' highest per-level intelligence in the game, and an appropriately enormous mana pool. Just a few levels in, he can spam spells with impunity.

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Though it's rare, heroes with a higher Intelligence than OD are completely unaffected by ''Sanity's Eclipse''. The heroes with the biggest shot at this are Pugna, with a higher intelligence gain, and Silencer, who gains intelligence for every kill.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Diffusal Blade is this, as it kills Warlock's golem ''instantly'' with its active ability.

* ObviousRulePatch: During the 6.84 era, Necrophos received a buff to his Heartstopper Aura that makes it affect creep-heroes such as Spirit Bear and Ancient creeps. Once a Redditor mod named Leafeator posted a video on how to jungle ancient creeps, many low-level pub players began picking Necrophos for the sole purpose of [=AFK=] jungling causing many facepalms, rage and colorful languages to the point that by 6.85, Icefrog immediately patched it out so that now it no longer affects Ancients.

* SoftSpokenSadist: Not only does he rarely raise his voice, but Enigma is notably one of the few heroes who doesn't have a laughing response for killing an enemy, giving him an air of seriousness in a game where most characters has a tendency to laugh at their enemy's demise. Even for his actual laughter lines, he keeps his voice down.

** GreatEscape: Similarly, the extremely low cooldown on her ''Blink'' ability, on top of being able to slow pursuers with ''Shadow Strike'', means that she can escape engagements that go sour fairly reliably.

* GlassCannon[=/=]FragileSpeedster: Akasha can deal massive amounts of [=AoE=] damage and has a built-in ''Blink'' ability, which allows her to engage and escape as she pleases. But with a pitiful 1.7 Strength gain per level, she's easy to kill if she's stunned at the wrong moment and focused down.
* HornedHumanoid
* HornyDevils
* KillStreak[=/=]TimedMission: Queen of Pain is notable among mid heroes for being reliant on getting early kills and snowballing with them in order to be effective. She has some of the best early game harassing abilities and can get kills with her nuking abilities at a time when the enemy has few ways to counter her, and then use those kills to buy items to increase her ability to kill enemies even more. But if she fails to snowball, then she has a much harder time since it's more difficult to get kills against farmed enemies who have ways to disrupt her chain attacks, can simply become immune to her damage or simply have too much HP, on top of her not having a hard disable ability and thus being reliant on buying an Orchid or Scythe with the gold from her kills.

** FragileSpeedster: They also are fairly fast, and can bypass obstacles as they are flying units.

* LightningBruiser: Visage can dish out great damage with ''Soul Assumption'' and his familiars; ''Gravekeeper's Cloak'' makes him extremely resistant to burst damage; and he can also move very fast with ''Grave Chill''.

* GoofyPrintUnderwear: He is actually [[http://www.cyborgmatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Dota2_Dazzle_Base02.jpg wearing pink underwear with a heart]] under his clothes.

* DarkIsNotEvil

* GoofyPrintUnderwear: He is actually [[http://www.cyborgmatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Dota2_Dazzle_Base02.jpg wearing a pink underwear with a heart]] under his clothes.