History Characters / Dota2IntelligenceAToM

* ArmorPiercingAttack: With a level 25 talent, ''Laguna Blade'' deals pure damage (meaning that magic resistance will no longer help) and it becomes able to bypass spell immunity (meaning that activating BKB will not save you).

[[center: [- [[Characters/{{Artifact}} Artifact heroes]] -] ]]

* {{Expy}}: Very obviously to Lina Inverse of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''. In fact, in [=DotA=], she was mean to be '''the''' Lina Inverse.

* MsFanservice: While [=DotA=] is less sexualized for the girls, it's worth noting that Lina used to take the ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'' Sorceress model, which is very sensual. Come Dota 2, Lina is given a rather {{Stripperiffic}} outfit that [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline bare a lot of her shoulders]], and gets a rather sensual voice (toned down from the Sorceress voice set, but still there). Thus if there's a "hottest DOTA girl" topics in the internet, Lina would definitely be mentioned, aside of making "hot" {{Pun}}s with [[PlayingWithFire her powers]]. In fact, [[http://agito666.deviantart.com/art/0427-Dota-2-Boobs-chart-343495727 a boob chart that also gives analysis with the in-game model]] shows that Lina is the ''second'' bustiest DOTA 2 lady just behind Queen of Pain. Ironic, considering [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} her former namesake]] is flat-chested.

* OnlyOneName: Once her full name was [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Lina Inverse]]. To accommodate her rivalry and relation with Rylai, her surname was redacted.

* ShoutOut: Lina's given full name used to be [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Lina ''Inverse''.]] The background information was also written to be as close to the Slayers version of Lina as possible. The spell names are still derived from spells of the show.

* EldritchAbomination: Kaldr represents entropy. The Ancient Apparition you can play as is but a mere shadow of its true form, a being who transcends our dimension and who grows stronger as the universe gets younger. As such, it is inevitable that Kaldr will eventually grow powerful enough to freeze the entire cosmos--much in the same way that the heat death of the universe can never be avoided.

* SpellBlade: ''Chilling Touch'' grants allied heroes in an area bonus magical damage for a set amount of attacks.

* HarmlessFreezing: ''Ice Path'' deals very little damage next to the stun. ''Dual Breath'' as well: the ice breath slows the targets, but deals no damage at all. Compounded by the fact that the ice breath is released a bit before the fire breath, meaning that it's possible to walk away unscathed from ''Dual Breath'' if the former hit but the latter did not.

* ChivalrousPervert: He will hit on any female hero who happens to be on his team, up to and including Broodmother. Makes more sense if you realize [[AnthropomorphicPersonification he's not nearly as human as he looks]]. However, this is only limited to the older heroes with Medusa being the latest; he has none for Legion Commander, Winter Wyvern, Dark Willow, Snapfire, Marci or his own disciple, Dawnbreaker.

* ElementalBarrier: ''Frost Shield'' has Lich place a round, icy barrier around himself or an ally, which lowers all physical damage taken by its target while slowing and damaging nearby enemies.

* SeeTheInvisible: ''Mana Drain'' formerly provided True Sight over the target(s) if Lion has Aghanim's Shard, until the upgrade was reworked.

* MultipleChoicePast: In some of her monologues she states there were many fables and legends as to how she had come about, even to a point where she forgets what her true story is. The only constant is her family is massacred and she was left clinging to life due to sheer rage.

* BadassBaritone: One of the heads has a rather deep voice. If in-game lines and MouthFlaps are to be believed, it's the blue one.

[[folder:Atropos, the '''Bane''' Elemental]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bane_7280.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/1/1e/Bane_kill_11.mp3 "Shut your eyes, and dream of me."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' David Scully

Atropos was born from the nightmares of the goddess Nyctasha. The terrifying visions she saw in her sleep were powerful enough to burst our of her body and obtain a life of their own, and so the Bane Elemental came to be. Crafting a body from the goddess' inky blood, Atropos became fear incarnate, knowing the greatest fears of gods and mortals alike and plaguing them with nightmares.\\

Atropos the Bane Elemental, otherwise known as Bane, is an incredibly powerful disabler generally played as a support, with a repertoire of debilitating spells allowing him to cripple multiple enemy heroes with ease. ''Brain Sap'' is a pure damage nuke that drains the enemy's health and gives it to Bane, making him a powerful harasser who can trade blows quite well. ''Nightmare'' puts the target into a fitful slumber, leaving it completely at the mercy of Bane and his allies. However, the target is briefly made invulnerable, and should anyone other than Bane attack the target, it will be woken up and the Nightmare transferred to the attacker. Not only can this spell be cast on both allies and enemies, but Bane can end the ''Nightmare'' at any time, allowing unusual plays through ''Nightmare'' manipulation. These spells apply ''Enfeeble'', a debuff that lowers magic resistance and status resistance for 8 seconds. Finally, Bane boasts one of the most powerful channeled disables in the game with his ultimate ability ''Fiend's Grip'', which holds the victim helplessly in place while draining mana and inflicting heavy damage for the duration of the channel. This spell can disable enemies even through spell immunity, making Bane a truly fearsome opponent.

* AchillesHeel: While Bane is a great disabler, all his spells are single targeted[[note]]at least until he gets Aghanim's Shard, which gives ''Brain Sap'' an area of effect[[/note]], making him one of the worst pushers in the game.
* AlienBlood: He is continually oozing black blood from various parts of his body, although in this case it's not his own.
* AntiRegeneration: ''Enfeeble'' applies a debuff which, among others, reduces all healing received by the target.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Bane is Nyctasha's nightmares turned reality.
* 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. ''Brain Sap'' also goes through spell immunity if upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In previous versions, Bane could use ''Nightmare'' to deny himself or allies, stopping enemies from getting the kill.
* BlackMage: His entire kit consists of nukes and debuffs designed to screw his enemies up as much as possible.
* CarefulWithThatAxe: When Bane buys a Blink Dagger... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meH9uKpQfzM he has a low chance to spout this line]].
* CombinationAttack: ''Nightmare'''s purpose in a nutshell. As a disable it's rather situational, only really usable on a target which your team don't intend to focus down[[note]]One of its best direct uses is to counter Legion Commander's ''Duel''. Casting it on LC or her target just makes them trade the spell back & forth until ''Duel'' wears off[[/note]]. On the other hand, it's one of the best setup abilities in the game: its long duration gives plenty of time for Bane's teammates to reposition themselves, and if necessary, land a powerful and normally-difficult skillshot (Mirana's ''Sacred Arrow'' being most notable) with zero effort.
* DarkIsEvil: Bane is a living nightmare, delighting in inflicting his enemies with their worst fears. He is a sinister shade of purple dripping with black ichor.
* 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. However, good Bane players can hard-disable two enemy Heroes in a teamfight, greatly reduce the effectiveness of carries' right-clicks, and generally make life difficult for the enemy.
** ''Nightmare'' is a rather complex spell to use: it can be cast on allies, transfers between targets with right-clicks, and has a 1-second invulnerability window. This means that it can completely screw over your team if used the wrong way. One of the harder tricks to pull off is casting it on an ally to take advantage of its invulnerability period; time it perfectly and you can block a nuke spell, saving your friend's life, but if you're off by just a little bit, you'll probably end up just stunning them for no reason, making things worse.
* DreamEater: ''Brain Sap'' deals Pure damage to a targeted enemy, and heals Bane for the amount of damage inflicted.
* 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 the night terrors of a goddess and feeds upon fear is as close as it gets.
* EvilLaugh: Bane loves to laugh as he makes his enemies' nightmares come true.
* EyelessFace: His lack of eyes make him look even creepier.
* FixedDamageAttack: ''Brain Sap'' deals pure damage to a targeted enemy, and heals Bane for the same amount.
* {{Foil}}: To Doom. Doom is a tank/carry who specializes in using ''Doom'' to prevent a caster from casting any spells (which for most, basically means they're out of the fight until they can cast again), while Bane is a caster who specializes in using ''Fiend's Grip'' to disable the tank or carry, letting their teammates freely beat down on them.
* ForcedSleep: ''Nightmare'' and ''Fiend's Grip'' put the target to sleep, preventing it from acting.
* ForTheEvulz: He has no real reason for causing chaos and terror. He's a living nightmare, that's what he does.
* GenderBlenderName: In Myth/GreekMythology, Atropos was a female name. While it's hard to pin down what gender something like [[EldritchAbomination Bane]] would be, he's referred to with male pronouns in his bio.
* IKnowWhatYouFear: And able to turn it against you with ''Nightmare'' and ''Fiend's Grip''.
* JackOfAllStats: Unusually, Bane has completely even stats and stat growth, starting off with 22 points in each category, then gaining 2.4 points with each level.
* MadnessMantra: When casting ''Fiend's Grip''.
-->'''Bane:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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. [[https://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. The Slumbering Terror Immortal item gives him an additional pair.
* NightmareFace: An EyelessFace and a lipless mouth full of sharp teeth certainly don't help him look less horrifying.
* NightmareWeaver: Enemies put to sleep by ''Nightmare'' and ''Fiend's Grip'' do not rest easy, as they are tormented by horrific nightmares that deal damage over time.
* ObviousRulePatch: One of the talents that Bane had during the 7.07 rework was that ''Enfeeble'' could steal damage at level 10. This actually cause a brief influx of solo mid Banes where he maxed Enfeeble as his second skill, skilled the talent at level ten, then used ''Nightmare'' to quickly [=DPS=] them using the Enfeeble talent buff. This was quickly rectified in 7.07b when the talent was moved up to level 15, which killed any viability of core Banes in competitive Dota and relegated him into a pub-only build but even there, it isn't exactly commonplace.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: ''Enfeeble'' was this among Bane's abilities in previous versions. In a vacuum, such a powerful attack debuff sounds pretty powerful, and it definitely would be if it weren't given to a hero with two hard disables. Bane already harasses much better with ''Brain Sap'' and his main job in a fight is to open with either ''Nightmare'' or ''Fiend's Grip'', so he'll rarely be going out of his way to look for a target to ''Enfeeble''.
** The mana drain of ''Fiend's Grip'' sounds great, but it isn't very useful. With it's long cooldown, ''Grip'' is FAR more useful for holding a powerful opponent still while your team beats them down.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Has a distinctively centaur-like body.
%%* OurMonstersAreWeird
* PowerFloats: He floats a short distance over the ground.
* PowerLimiter: ''Enfeeble'' reduces the target's attack damage by a certain amount for 20 seconds, and can't be dispelled by anything. 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: You'd expect the embodiment of nightmares to be colored black, rather than a vivid purple. He does have black blood dripping from his body, however.
%%* PutTheLaughterInSlaughter
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Bane can end ''Nightmare'' whenever he wants to prevent the ability from screwing up his teammates too much. He can also do this while he himself is affected by ''Nightmare'', and can attack ''Nightmared'' enemies without waking them up or transferring it to himself.
* SlasherSmile: His teeth twist into an evil-looking grin.
* SpamAttack: Aghanim's Scepter used to massively reduce the cooldown of ''Brain Sap'', allowing it to be used every other second as long as Bane had the mana to sustain it and giving him a way to deal relevant amounts of damage in the late-game. The Scepter was later changed to buff ''Fiend's Grip'', rather than ''Brain Sap''.
* StatusInflictionAttack: 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.
* TakeThat: Towards VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth in one of his responses.
-->'''Bane (after killing Anti-Mage)''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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: Can [[LifeDrain steal HP]] with ''Brain Sap'' and [[ManaDrain mana]] with ''Fiend's Grip''.

[[folder:'''Batrider''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Batrider_7410.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/f/f0/Bat_kill_15.mp3 "It's not the bat you gotta worry about... she eats fruit."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/DaveFennoy

The Batrider was once a mere farmboy working on his family's fields at the outskirts of the Yama Raskav Jungle, until a carnivorous morde-bat swooped down on him to take him away for dinner. Thinking quickly, he freed himself from the beast's claws and climbed onto its back, where he slashed at it with his farming tools. While his life was spared that day, he left the giant chiropteran's fatal crash site with an adrenaline rush that gave him the yearning to feel the skies once more. Over the years he would dive ever deeper into the treacherous jungle to find the caves his would-be predator roosted in, determined to feel the thrill of his near-death experience once again. Evidently, he succeeded.\\

Batrider is a fearsome and mobile nuker and initiator, capable of quickly burning down enemies' health and forcing them out of position. He also excels at jungling and lane harassment. He can drench his enemy in ''Sticky Napalm'', which slows their movement speed and turn rate while amplifying the damage they take from Batrider's abilities and attacks. The ability has a very short cooldown and its debuff stacks, making prolonged engagements against Batrider a dangerous affair. ''Flamebreak'' hurls a firebomb that explodes in an area, pushing enemies away and burning their health down over time. With ''Firefly'', Batrider takes to the skies, letting him fly and see over all terrain while leaving behind a fiery trail that damages enemies. Batrider's ultimate ability is ''Flaming Lasso'', which binds an enemy and drags them along in his wake, often to a fiery death. The ability has a very short range, forcing Batrider to get up close and personal with his enemy. Batrider lives on the edge, and in the heat of combat, it certainly shows.\\
\\
In ''Dota Underlords'', Batrider is a tier 1 hero. His ability, ''Sticky Napalm'', slows enemies and increases the damage they take from his attacks; this effect can stack.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Was a troll in [=DotA=], but changed to an unidentified species for Dota 2, though he still bears a strong resemblance to a troll. In ''Dota Underlords'', Batrider is part of the Troll alliance.
* AdventurerOutfit: The aviator variety.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: His skin is goldenrod-yellow.
* AnimalMecha: The Burning Iron cosmetic mount looks like a 'bat', but one made from wood and metal.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: Your Black King Bar won't save you from ''Flaming Lasso''; it goes through spell immunity. While Linken's Sphere normally stops it cold, Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade allows ''Flaming Lasso'' to tie a second enemy to the first, and this second lasso ignores Linken's Sphere completely.
* 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: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. His mount is a giant bat which spits fireballs as his right-click attack, though Batrider himself insists that the bat is a frugivore, and the enemy had better be aware of him instead (and indeed, Batrider is not a right-clicker, and his primary contributions to the team lie in his abilities, which are all his own and have little to do with the bat).
* BarrierWarrior: ''Flaming Lasso'' can be used on an ally to reduce all damage they take, if Batrider has Aghanim's Shard.
* BreathWeapon: His standard attack is his mount spitting {{fireballs}}. That's right - a fire-breathing bat!
* CasanovaWannabe: For a moment he even thinks about hitting on the [[GiantSpider Broodmother]]!
-->'''Batrider:''' ''[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/4/46/Bat_rival_14.mp3 Broodmother, if you weren't already--ugh, never mind!]]''
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Sticky Napalm'' increases damage that enemy units take from Batrider over an area, and can scale up to ten times.
* DelayedExplosion: The ''Flamebreak'' grenade takes time to reach its target point, meaning that Batrider has to aim it carefully lest its knockback effect accidentally saves the enemy.
* DifficultButAwesome: On paper, Batrider's signature move, ''Flaming Lasso'', seems pretty simple to use: just click on an enemy and drag them back to your team, disrupting their positioning and possibly taking out a key target just before a teamfight. But without good communication and coordination with your teammates, it's likely that they won't know how to follow up after your initiation, and Batrider himself generally lacks the damage to quickly finish off the victim by himself. Because of this, he has a garbage win rate in low-level games, but can be a real terror in high-level and pro games and has consistently been a first-pick/ban hero at tournaments despite repeated nerfs.
* ExplosionPropulsion: Enemies hit by ''Flamebreak'' are knocked out from the point of impact.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: The mount that come with the Manta Marauder set is a manta ray. Which flies.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: As his name indicates, his mount is a bat. He can also replace the bat with a few different animals by equipping certain items, including an owl, crow, and even a manta ray.
* KillItWithFire: 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 (which he can then light on fire).
* MixAndMatchCritters: Bessy the Batmeleon is a 'bat' with the head of a chameleon.
* 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 was ported to Dota 2.
* NotTheIntendedUse: When Batrider received an Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to let him drag two enemies with ''Flaming Lasso'', it was ostensibly intended to increase his disruptive power while throwing in a bit more damage. However, players quickly found that the true value of the upgrade is that it gives him an answer to Linken's Sphere, which has historically been Batrider's hardest counter. As the secondary lasso ignores Linken's Sphere's Spellblock, it's not unheard of for a Batrider with Aghanim's to lasso a creep in order to get at a target with Linken's.
* 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.
* {{Pyromaniac}}: Batrider seems to be one judging from his responses when he uses his abilities or kills an enemy hero:
-->'''Batrider:''' ''[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/3/3d/Bat_kill_03.mp3 Roasted, toasted and burned to a crisp.]]''
* SpamAttack: ''Sticky Napalm'', with its short cooldown, low mana cost and stacking effect.
* ThroatLight: The mouth of the Ghastly Nocturne Immortal bat glows bright with flames.
* 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.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: In a teamfight, Batrider's primary and often only contribution is to grab an enemy with ''Flaming Lasso'' and pull it into his team; any actual damage he deals is usually negligible. However, ''Flaming Lasso'' is one of the most disruptive abilities out there and also goes through spell immunity, so that's often all he needs to do in order to win a fight.

[[folder:'''Chen''', the Holy Knight]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Chen_7691.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/9/94/Chen_rare_02.mp3 "You can learn faith at the end of a sword."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Eric Newsome

Chen was born into the bandit tribes of the rain-parched Hazhadal Barrens, who have learned to tame the desert locuthi, a type of wingless dragon. The people of the desert quarrelled constantly over its limited resources, and one day, Chen's tribe made the fatal mistake of trying to ambush a caravan of the Knights of the Fold, worshipers of the deity Obelis. The Knights made quick work of the tribesmen and their dragon thralls, and Chen was captured for execution. But Chen faced his death sentence with such fearlessness that his captors instead lowered their blades and let him choose between conversion to the faith of Obelis or death. Chen accepted the conversion without hesitation and joined the Fold with ferocious zealotry, now seeking out non-believers to offer them the same choice.\\

Chen is a support hero that can bend creeps to his cause, and as such plays as an efficient jungler, ganker, and pusher. The crux of his kit is ''Holy Persuasion'', which lets him take control of a target creep and use the jungle creeps' abilities to his benefit. With Aghanim's Scepter, this even extends to the powerful Ancient Creeps. Additionally, using this ability on an allied unit will teleport it to your location after a short delay. He can also use ''Penitence'' to slow an enemy and increase the attack speed of those attacking it, making them more vulnerable to his creeps and teammates. ''Divine Favor'' is an aura which increases allies' health regeneration and damage, and also increases the effect of any healing they receive by 25%. The damage bonus is doubled for Chen's creeps and summons. Finally, Chen can rejuvenate and save his allies from literally anywhere on the map with his ultimate ability ''Hand of God'', which instantly heals all allied heroes and all of Chen's controlled units, with unlimited range. Armed with the power of enthrallment and the magic of the Fold, Chen is prepared to pass judgment on his enemies.\\

In ''Artifact'', Chen is a green hero. He has the Active Ability ''Holy Persuasion'', which allows him to take control of an enemy creep. His signature card, ''Hand of God'', is a spell which fully heals all allied units and grants them one round of damage immunity.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Was an orc riding a wolf in [=DotA=], but changed a human on a boar in 2.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: He is presumably from the Dota 2 equivalent of the Middle East.
* TheArtifact: If you're wondering why Chen is the only "Knight" that isn't a strength hero, it's because he ''was'' a strength hero before patch 6.15 reimagined him from a strength carry that could take over a single wave of creeps as a LimitBreak to a creep control-centered intelligence support.
* TheBeastmaster: He can get creeps, including jungle and Ancient ones, to follow him with ''Holy Persuasion''.
* CantCatchUp: The whole idea behind picking Chen is to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope on enemy heroes by snowballing your own team with ganks, tower pushes and a fast Rosh. However, if enemies can farm back up, Chen himself can be victim to this trope because of the near-total lack of scaling of his converted creeps.
* ChurchMilitant: The Knights of the Fold, a group of which he is a member. Convert to their religion, or Chen will sic his army of jungle creeps on you.
* CombatMedic: ''Divine Favor'' increases the health regeneration of nearby allies, while ''Hand of God'' heals all allied unit on the map.
* CompellingVoice: Chen's signature skill, ''Holy Persuasion'', converts creeps into his loyal followers.
* ContinuingIsPainful: Because neutral camps are randomly generated, losing all of your jungle creeps generally means that you'll be forced to spend a lot of time to recruit all the creeps you need again.
* CoolHelmet
* CrutchCharacter: Early on, Chen and his creeps can gank enemy heroes and push down towers with ease - when most heroes haven't finished their core items yet, a single converted big creep can be nearly as powerful as themselves, and it's hard to resist a tower dive from Chen in this stage. However, the longer the game goes on, the less effective Chen becomes - ''Hand of God'' loses impact as enemies get more HP and damage items, while his creeps, which don't scale at all (aside from a HP boost from ''Holy Persuasion'', which is almost always maxed at level 7), will be dying left and right because their HP are too low to survive teamfights, though this is alleviated somewhat by ''Penitence'' and Aghanim's Shard, which allows him to convert ancient creeps, mainly for their auras.
* DifficultButAwesome: Chen is one of the most micromanagement-reliant heroes in the game (second only to Meepo and Arc Warden). Not only do you need to have a fairly good knowledge of control groups and a fair amount of prior jungling experience (to say nothing of the micromanagement required to actively use your converted creeps), but a good Chen player also needs to know which neutrals are worth converting, based on their various skills and auras, for specific situations. A good Chen, however, is one of the strongest and most versatile supports in the game, as he can rescue allies from ganks, buff teammates with his various monster auras, disable enemies at just the opportune time, or heal his entire team with his ultimate.
* EliteArmy: Even though Chen's creeps are fairly weak and easily killed, they're generally treated as valuable due to being able to give your team additional capabilities (from disables by the Centaur Conqueror and Dark Troll Summoner, to auras and buffs by the Alpha Wolf and Ogre Frostmage, to nuking power by the Satyr Tormenter and Harpy Stormcrafter). On top of that, losing a creep means not only that you just fed the enemy free gold and experience, but also that you have to go back into the jungle to find a replacement. This can be played straight once he gets an Aghanim's Shard, which allows him to recruit Ancient creeps, which are fairly durable and possess useful auras for Chen's team, with a few packing useful active abilities as well.
* FantasticRacism: He's not very fond of Witch Doctor and Shadow Shaman because of their religions.
* FieldPowerEffect: Chen doesn't carry any auras himself, but he can persuade creeps that do, allowing him to grant his team a variety of bonuses.
* FullBoarAction: His default mount is a boar-like creature.
* GlowingEyes: Has glowing white-blue eyes.
* GreatEscape: Casting ''Holy Persuasion'' on an allied hero at low health can save them in a situation where they would otherwise die to the enemy.
* HolyHandGrenade: Previously, he had ''Test of Faith'', which could be cast on enemies to deal damage.
* HorseOfADifferentColour: His mount is one of the Locuthi dragons mentioned in his lore. He can replace it with many different animals by equipping cosmetic items, such as a wolf, pig, tiger, or rat, but none of them are a horse.
* KnightTemplar: Chen believes that his mission is to convert or kill all unbelievers. He himself is a converted infidel who was spared execution due to his conversion.
* LightEmUp: Primarily fights with the power of light.
* LightIsNotGood: He uses holy powers with a light motif, and is also a rather unpleasant zealot.
* MagicStaff: Chen attacks by shooting energy bolts from his staff.
* MindRape: ''Penitence'' slows enemies by testing their resolve.
* MonsterAllies: ''Holy Persuasion'' coverts creeps into Chen's loyal followers.
* NotTheIntendedUse: "Fountain hooking", an [[ObviousRulePatch old]] strategy that involved Pudge hooking an enemy at the same time that Chen recalls Pudge to the fountain, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0tUrfDz6A dragging the target along for the ride and resulting in a free kill]].
* ObviousRulePatch: Holy Persuasion previously allowed Chen to send his own lane creeps back to the fountain after a small delay. Players exploited this during the laning stage by having him repeatedly send lane creeps back to the base to starve the opposing players off their farm and allow the ally to get a head start by pushing the creeps closer to their lane. 7.12 patched this exploit out by disallowing Chen to target non-player creeps anymore meaning that he can no longer send them back to the fountain.
* RandomNumberGod: Various aspects of Chen play revolves around how generous the rolls are to you.
** How well your jungling phase goes can really depend on what camps are spawned every minute, since that will determine the first creep that you convert. For instance, getting an early Wildwing camp can greatly boost your jungling phase since you can use the Wildwing Ripper's ''Tornado'' to quickly clear a large camp that's been stacked a few times.
** Once you get past the laning stage, it can be tricky to get the exact creep that you need for a certain situation, since the only thing that determines which camp will spawn is that it won't be the same as the one that was occupying that camp before. This can be particularly punishing if you lost the Centaur Conqueror that you needed for a reliable 2-second area stun, and none of the camps spawn another Centaur camp for several minutes.
** One of his old skills, ''Test of Faith'', dealt random Pure damage to an enemy or healed an ally by half that number. While Pure damage is nothing to be scoffed at, the variance in damage/healing meant that the maximum amount of damage or healing you could do was ''twice'' the minimum amount.
* TheRedMage: Chen can hinder enemies with ''Penitence'', buff his teammates with ''Divine Favor'', heal them with ''Hand of God'' and teleport them to safety with ''Holy Persuasion''.
* TheRemnant: Chen's creeps can still carry on his work and even kill players when he's dead.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The Royal Mount of the Rat King is a rat big enough for Chen to ride.
* ScaryBlackMan: He's one of the darker-skinned human heroes, and is a ruthless, fanatical zealot.
* ShoutOut: To ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' of all things with one of his [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction death quotes]]:
--> '''Chen''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/6/61/Chen_death_08.mp3 My leg!]]
* SomeDexterityRequired: Controlling Chen? Easy enough. Microing Chen and an army of creeps, all with different abilities, while trying to keep everyone alive and getting maximum mileage out of all those abilities ''and'' keeping an eye on the minimap to decide when to drop ''Hand of God''? Considerably more difficult.
* SquishyWizard: If the enemy can get past his converted creeps, they'll find Chen himself rather fragile and easy to kill.
* StoneWall: After he gets Aghanim's Shard, Chen can control even Ancient creeps with ''Holy Persuasion''. Though by the time window when he can afford it, they can't do much damage anymore, they are still very hard to kill thanks to their huge HP pool (2300 for the Black Dragon and the Granite Golem, 1700 for the Thunderhide) and magic resistance.
* {{Teleportation}}: ''Holy Persuasion'' allows Chen to teleport his creeps or teammates to his location, and ''Divine Favor'' can teleport friendly heroes to the fountain with Aghanim's Shard. This can be used to yank an allied hero away from danger, or bring his creeps back to him when he uses a Town Portal Scroll or Boots of Travel.
* WeaksauceWeakness: While Chen's creeps can be quite powerful in the right hands, they can become easy prey against abilities that can instantly kill creeps. This means that Chen can become helpless against Hand of Midas, Doom's ''Devour'', Enigma's ''Demonic Conversion'', and so on. This weakness can be alleviated by getting Aghanim's Shard, since Ancient creeps are immune to all of these abilities except for Lifestealer's ''Infest'', ''Devour'' and ''Enchant'' with a level 20 talent.

[[folder:Rylai, the '''Crystal Maiden''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crystal_Maiden_4037.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/4/45/Cm_battlebegins_01.mp3 "It's all fun and games until someone's frozen solid."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Gin Hammond (original, ''Underlords''), Creator/MelanieMinichino (''Artifact'')

As a child, in addition to her fierce rivalry with her fiery older sister Lina, Rylai's unconscious use of ice magic brought her family no end of trouble as she inadvertently froze everything around her. In order to prevent further damage, Rylai was sent to the snow-covered northern lands of Icewrack, so she could learn to better control her abilities. Under the tutelage of an Ice Wizard living at the Blueheart Glacier, the Crystal Maiden's mastery over ice deepened, until her teacher pronounced her ready to learn on her own and succeed him. With her mentor now slumbering deep within the glacier, Rylai continues practicing her magic, and her abilities have grown to be fearsome.\\

Crystal Maiden is a ranged intelligence hero often considered the quintessential Support Hero, she's fragile by herself and easily interrupted, but her presence can make the difference between victory and defeat, as well as ensuring lane dominance, and she can deliver a good deal of hurt to the enemies rather than just buffing her allies. Her skills are best used in tandem with other Heroes' and she's less than dependent on items to make her support effective. Her first skill, ''Crystal Nova'', is a simple Area-Of-Effect nuke that has her create a burst of ice explosion that damages and slows all enemies in the area, while her second skill, ''Frostbite'', targets an enemy and encases them in ice, immobilizing them for a short period of time. Both skills can be used in tandem with allied heroes' disables and can decimate a helpless enemy hero in quick succession. Crystal Maiden is also valued for her third skill, ''Arcane Aura'', which gives her allies global mana regeneration bonuses, while the bonuses are doubled for herself. Her ultimate is called ''Freezing Field'', in which Crystal Maiden stands in place, channeling a spell that calls forth a wide-area blizzard surrounding her and damaging any enemies on the field. While a devastating skill on its own, this spell is easily interrupted with other crowd controls, thus the Crystal Maiden needs to prepare herself with proper items to ensure the spell won't be interrupted and to position herself quickly so many enemies will be caught on the blizzard. Luckily, as a Support hero, the Crystal Maiden is usually not very item-dependent, allowing many situational itemization.\\

In ''Artifact'', Crystal Maiden is a blue hero whose ''Arcane Aura'' Continuous Effect restores two Mana to the tower in a lane when an allied spell is played in a lane. Her signature card, ''Frostbite'', deals 2 damage to a unit and disarms it for one round.\\

In ''Dota Underlords'', Crystal Maiden is a tier 2 hero. Her ability, ''Arcane Aura'', passively grants mana to all her allies.

* ActionGirl: Even if she's more a bonafide support hero, she has a lot of damaging utilities and might even score a kill if she's not setting it up herself, especially if she's left alone executing ''Freezing Field''.
* AdaptationalBadass: In the New Bloom comic, she is utterly fearless and confident in her powers, and ready to challenge a dragon for a fight. A far cry to her in-game playstyle where she would try to avoid trouble as much as she can. She's also definitely much less naive, choosing the best artifact among Winter Wyvern's hoard for herself when offered to pick one for herself.
* AdaptationNameChange: In the original [=DotA=], Rylai had the surname 'Crestfall', which was removed in Dota 2 to accommodate how she is Lina's sister. Her third skill was renamed to ''Arcane Aura'' from ''Brilliance Aura'', which originated as the name of the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: Reign of Chaos'' Archmage's third skill.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: A minor version. The citizens of Icewrack, while still interacting with her, show disdain to her in fear of her tremendous power.
* AntiMagic: With a level 15 talent, ''Arcane Aura'' provides all allied heroes with magic resistance.
* BerserkButton: Being called an Ice Witch. Winter Wyvern's servant learned it the hard way.
* BlackMage: Aside from her passive aura, all of her spells deal damage to enemies.
* BlessedWithSuck: In her backstory, Rylai's innate ice affinity caused all sorts of problems for people around her.
* BrainlessBeauty: She has a surprisingly low level of Intelligence for an Intelligence hero, which is partly made up for by ''Arcane Aura''. Notably, both versions of Crystal Maiden are blonde. This is also fitting in lore, as Rylai is the naive sister and lost advantage in the rivalry against the smarter Lina. More likely, however, this is an effect of GameplayAndStorySegregation as by herself, Rylai is pretty smart (just less compared to Lina), it's just that if she were given a higher level of intelligence, she would be [[GameBreaker utterly broken gameplay-wise]], and seeing how Dota 2 really values gameplay balance highly...
* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: If she kills Lina, she could taunt her as "Hell Bitch" or "Hellfire Bitch"... or "Hellfire Hell Bitch"
* CanineCompanion: Aurora, the wolf pup of Icewrack, accompanies Crystal Maiden when she wears the Frost Avalanche Arcana.
* ColorCodedElements: Blue, in her case, as opposed to red for her sister.
* DeathOrGloryAttack: ''Freezing Field'' is tremendously powerful, capable of dominating teamfights by itself; however, it's also a channeling spell, rendering the already-squishy Crystal Maiden completely defenseless for its duration. As a result, when ''Freezing Field'' is cast, it will generally either completely wreck the enemy team or get Crystal Maiden killed immediately.
* DifficultButAwesome: ''Freezing Field'' costs a lot of mana and requires impeccable positioning to be effective: because it's a channelled spell, it can easily be broken with a stun or silence, and since Crystal Maiden is so squishy it might continue to be a problem even after she gets Black King Bar. However, it deals incredibly high damage and has good secondary effects as well, allowing it to absolutely wreck teamfights if pulled correctly.
* DumbBlonde: Crystal Maiden ties with Enchantress for having the lowest base Intelligence among all Intelligence heroes (even Ogre Magi has more), and even being beat by many non-Intelligence heroes. Unlike Enchantress, she has at least two high mana-cost spells that are spammable, meaning that she's unable to do very much casting in the beginning of matches unless she maxes out Arcane Aura first; at level 1, just casting one spell eats up over half her mana, and it's not uncommon for players to delay leveling ''Freezing Field'' so that they don't have to hoard 70% of her mana pool.
* FieldPowerEffect: Her third ability and passive, ''Arcane Aura'', boosts the mana regen of all allied heroes globally, and is doubled on her (although it doesn't stack with percentage-based mana regen items). At max level, it effectively equals using an Arcane Boots on them every time it's off cooldown, globally, which allows all friendly heroes to cast their spells more frequently (particularly non-Intelligence heroes who have small mana pools and low mana-cost spells). Even with only one or two levels, it can give teammates an edge during laning since they'll almost always have enough mana to cast a spell when they need to, meaning they don't have to spend their starting gold on Clarities.
* FreezeRay: While not a gun per se, Rylai's first ability, ''Crystal Nova'', deals area-of-effect damage and slows movement and attack speed.
* FriendlyRivalry: If she's put in the same team with Lina, she will treat her rivalry as a friendly one, instead of an EnemyMine, as they're still sisters.
* GlassCannon: A well-positioned ''Freezing Field'', if left to channel for its full duration, might potentially wipe out the entire enemy team (or at least bring them down to critically low HP) - a remarkable feat for a starved hard support like Crystal Maiden. On the other hand, so much as sneeze on her and she's dead.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Rylai plays the role of "The beautiful sister" while Lina is "The smart sister": her personality is more friendly and naive, and gameplay-wise she has very low intelligence despite it being her main attribute.
* GoodIsNotSoft: The 2015 New Bloom comic, The New Neighbors, shows that Crystal Maiden is friendly and cheerful with the villagers of her realm. She is also known as "The Ice Witch" and has killed several dragons single-handedly.
* HarmlessFreezing: While ''Frostbite'' does deal damage, it's mostly incidental next to the disable, which lets allied heroes wail on the helpless target.
* HostileWeather: Crystal Maiden's ultimate, ''Freezing Field'', creates an explosive hailstorm that damages and slows any enemies within a certain radius of her. While it's channeled and the explosions hit in random places, a total of ''100'' explosions happen over the course of the ulti, and each individual explosion can be as powerful as her ''Crystal Nova'', meaning that if left uninterrupted, almost anything caught within range will die if they don't run for cover.
* HumanSnowman: Her Immortal item Yulsaria's Mantle causes any target of ''Frostbite'' to be encased in some kind of snowman.
* AnIcePerson: All of her abilities involve ice in some form. Even her ''Arcane Aura'', which works by lowering the temperature to stimulate the flow of mana.
* ImpliedDeathThreat: To Winter Wyvern, in the ''New Neighbors'' comic:
-->'''Crystal Maiden''': Sorry, could you repeat all that? I was thinking about all the dragons I've killed.
* InstantIceJustAddCold: Her second ability, ''Frostbite'', instantly freezes an enemy in a block of ice.
* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: With some of the unlockable items.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: The Ice Witch, with a kit consisting of damaging utilities and a kind, graceful demeanor.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: Crystal Maiden's death animation has her turning into an ice statue, which then shatters and crumbles to the ground.
* MagicStaff
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Seems to form a one-sided relation of the trope with, of all people, Sven. She's outgoing, nice and plucky, he's somber and serious (though hammy when it comes to kicking ass). Crystal Maiden also seems VERY curious on him and looking up to Sven like a StalkerWithACrush, but he doesn't treat her with anything special, though he does express regret if he's forced to kill her.
* MoreDakka: Crystal Maiden has a level 20 talent which grants her 250 bonus attack speed. However, due to her lacklustre attack damage, it's more like being tickled super fast from the point of view of the enemy.
* ObliviousAdoption: One of Lina's lines upon being killed by her in Dota 2 claims this. May or may not be true, though their eye and hair colors differ.
* PluckyGirl: Rylai seems to take all the misfortunes of her past with a stride, which includes being shunned by her peers because of her ice powers from her original home, being less smart than Lina and getting beaten in their past rivalry (or bullied), the citizens of Icewrack not fully trusting her and so on... She takes it all with a beaming smile and cheery outlook (though if she wants you dead, she'd be more than eager to.)
* PowerFloats: With the Arcana item Frost Avalanche.
* PowerIncontinence: She herself freezes [[LiterallyShatteredLives and shatters]] in her death animation.
* PreciousPuppy: Her Frost Avalanche Arcana features the Wolf Pup of Icewrack. [[http://www.dota2.com/newbloom/part3 Isn't it cute?]]
* ShipTease: Her announcer pack suggests this. She sounds happy to see someone pick Sven, and during a slow period of the game, she might ask if anyone has seen him around.
* SiblingRivalry: She doesn't get along well with Lina due to obvious incompatibilities. Both she and Lina have numerous dedicated voice lines for meeting each other when on the same team, attacking each other when not, and especially when one kills the other.
* SkilledButNaive:
** Rylai is a skilled frost mage and is also one of the best when it comes to Support roles. However, she's not just sweet-tempered most of the time, she's also ''really'' naive, not just on losing in her rivalry against the smarter Lina, she even innocently asks if Sven is actually blue-skinned beneath his armor. However, see AdaptationalBadass above.
** Although her comment towards Sven can be perceived that Rylai is smarter than she looks: Sven is a Half-Meranth, a race of merfolk like Slardar and Naga Siren. He's not going to have normal human skin beneath the armor, and Rylai is just making a guess under the armor.
** Potentially also a CovertPervert moment as well. After all, she's asking what Sven looks like under his armor... DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything?
* SquishyWizard: Rylai is notorious for being one of the easiest heroes in the game to kill because of her low Strength and Agility, both base and gain per level (meaning very little HP and armor), having no escape abilities, and her awful base 275 movement speed. It's very common to build Strength items like Bracer on her just so that she doesn't (literally) melt in the first two seconds of a teamfight.
* StatusInflictionAttack: Crystal Maiden is notable as one of the more powerful disablers in the game due to having a slow and a root in her basic spells, as well as an ultimate that slows enemies on top of the damage (and which can be stacked with ''Crystal Nova'' and upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter to apply ''Frostbite'' to enemies). She's considered one of the best early-game roamers since she can set up kills for her teammates starting at level 2 and help them regenerate enough mana to set up subsequent kills more quickly.
* WhatTheHellPlayer: In her Announcer pack, she will call out the player if they pick either Lina (her hated sister), or Lich (fellow ice user that she dislikes).
* WinterRoyalLady: She isn't exactly royal but she's close in design. Some of her purchasable equipment takes it further.

[[folder:Ish'Kafel, the '''Dark Seer''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dark_Seer_3281.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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

In an alternate existence known as the Land Behind the Wall, Ish'Kafel was a famous general and military tactician serving under the god-king Damathryx. With his powerful mind, the Dark Seer would create a strategy to win any fight and defend his home. But as the Great Boundaries War reached its end, his army was overwhelmed by the much more powerful opposition. With no options left, Ish'Kafel performed a desperate maneuver. He led the enemy forces into the maze between his realm's eponymous walls before sealing the walls with a magical explosion that trapped the invading army. Although his plan succeeded and made him a hero to his people, Dark Seer was transported to our world, with no way to return home. But even when lost in a strange land, the Dark Seer is still proud of his brilliant intellect and continues develop new combat strategies to prove himself a superior tactician to any in this world.\\

One of the few melee intelligence hero, the Dark Seer's spells are especially powerful in teamfights. His signature ability is ''Vacuum'': by manipulating gravity, enemies in a circular area are damaged and sucked towards a point. This ability synergizes well with other area-of-effect spells, as they will be able to hit all enemies once they're clumped up. Dark Seer's second spell, ''Ion Shell'', creates a bubble of energy around a unit: enemies who stand near that unit will be continuously zapped and damaged. ''Surge'' increases an ally's movement speed, allows them to walk through units, and makes them immune to slows, which is useful for both chasing and escaping. Dark Seer's ultimate ability is ''Wall of Replica''. This powerful teamfight spell creates a long barrier of energy: any enemy that crosses it will be slowed, and more importantly have an illusory copy of themselves summoned. These illusions deal a large amount of damage, meaning that unlike most other illusions, each of them is a serious threat on its own. Thanks to its long duration, ''Wall of Replica'' is a great spell for controlling space in fights. With these abilities in his arsenal, the Dark Seer can devise a plan to win any fight.\\
\\
In ''Artifact'', Dark Seer is a green hero. He has the Active Ability ''Surge'', which lets him move an ally to another lane, and the signature card ''Ion Shell'', which modifies a unit with +3 Retaliate.

* AlwaysAccurateAttack: ''Normal Punch'' causes Dark Seer's next attack on a hero to have True Strike.
* AnotherDimension: The Land Behind The Wall.
* 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 the few melee Intelligence heroes in the game, and is mostly valued for the massive utility provided by his kit, but can also get an Aghanim's Shard to unlock ''Normal Punch'' if he wishes to improve his right-click attack.
* 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):''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/e/e6/Dkseer_level_07.mp3 "Did my head just get pointier?"]]
* ChargedAttack: The stun duration, knockback and bonus damage of ''Normal Punch'' scales with how far Dark Seer has moved in the past 3 seconds.
* 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. In the patches where he's relevant, 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 deal roughly as much damage as the hero they're based on but take twice as much. 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: The God-King Damathryx, whom Ish'Kafel used to work for.
* 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: He comes from another dimension, and has a human-like bodyplan, but differs in his small size, purple skin, pointed head and hooves.
* 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 2250 damage over its 20-second duration. While no hero is dumb enough to stand next to an ''Ion Shell'' for 20 seconds, 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.
* ObviousRulePatch: Originally, Dark Seer's ''Vacuum'' used to be able to pull invulnerable heroes which back then, was used in tandem with Naga Siren's ''Song of the Siren'' where after the heroes are put to sleep by Naga's song, Dark Seer would vacuum them before another hero would use their team-fight ultimate (such as Tidehunter's ''Ravage'' or Enigma's ''Black Hole'') for an easy team wipe of the whole opposition. In fact this tactic is so effective, it allowed the team with such combination to steamroll through the whole tournament. Come 6.75, Dark Seer's ''Vacuum'' can no longer pull invulnerable units, completely neutering this combination from the game.
* PowerGlows: His hands and most of his spells.
* PsychicPowers: All of Dark Seer's abilities rely on mind manipulation.
* PurpleIsPowerful: His main colour scheme is violet, and he was a well-known military tactician back in his homeworld.
* 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. With level 25 talent, he can [=AoE=] cast it.
* SupportPartyMember: Dark Seer has one of the lowest damage outputs in the game: his right-click is extremely weak (although funnily, he has a +120 damage talent), ''Vacuum'' deals almost no damage, while ''Ion Shell'' is very unreliable against heroes. However, his kit offers so much utility and versatility that he's valuable in almost any situation possible.
* TwinMaker: ''Normal Punch'' knocks an illusion out of a hero attacked by Dark Seer, and ''Wall of Replica'' 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. While it rarely gets kills on its own unless slapped onto a high-mobility ally, the high damage it deals in the early game makes it great for deterring melee opponents from trying to last-hit.
* WizardBeard: Though it's more intended to be a Sun Tzu beard.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Ish'Kafel is trapped in this world, unable to return to his home.

[[folder:Mireska Sunbreeze, the '''Dark Willow''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_willow_icon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/8/8e/Sylph_spawn_02.mp3 Jex... are you ready for shenanigans?]]]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/AshlyBurch

Contrary to what children's stories tell, fairies are spiteful, selfish, cruel, and cutthroat beings. But even by fae standards, Mireska Sunbreeze, the daughter of a merchant king, is a vile individual. In her home nation of Revtel, backstabbing is commonplace in both the figurative and literal sense. But despite the constant treachery surrounding her and her skills at maneuvering through it, she couldn't help but feel bored with her life. After burning her estate to the ground, she fled into the wild in search of excitement and swindling, with only her pet wisp Jex by her side.\\

Dark Willow is a heavily area-of-effect intelligence hero who seeks to dictate exactly where enemies can and cannot go if they want to remain unmolested in a teamfight. First of all, ''Bramble Maze'' places a rune over a large area that, after a delay, produces 8 clusters of deadly brambles in a fixed pattern. The first enemy to walk into each cluster is rooted and takes damage over time. ''Shadow Realm'' has Dark Willow fade herself into the shadows, becoming completely untargetable. While this is active, her next basic attack has increased range, deals bonus damage based on how long she has remained in the shadows, and instantly ends the effect. Her third skill, ''Cursed Crown'' is a very unique ability that has Dark Willow place a curse on a targeted enemy that initially does nothing at all. However, after four seconds the curse explodes, stunning the target and all enemies around them for a long duration. Unusually, Dark Willow possesses not one, but two ultimate abilities. While they do not share a cooldown, neither can be used while the other skill is active. The first, ''Bedlam'', releases her pet wisp, Jex, to temporarily patrol around Willow and rapidly attack nearby enemies. The other, ''Terrorize'', instead has her lob Jax at an area. After a short delay, Jex releases a wave of fear around them, sending all enemies in the area uncontrollably scurrying back in the direction of their fountain.

* BlackMage: All of Dark Willow's abilities are offensive to some degree.
* BloodKnight: Dark Willow loves getting into fights for the thrill of it.
-->'''Dark Willow:''' (beginning of game) I don't need a horn to tell me when to fight!
* DelayedExplosion: ''Cursed Crown'' has a delay of 4 seconds before it explodes, stunning all enemies in the area around the victim.
* TheDreaded: She's terrified of Lifestealer.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: While she loves to fight, she [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/c/c8/Sylph_rival_87.mp3 denies being a sadist]].
* TheFairFolk: Most fairies tend to be spiteful jerks, and this is especially true for Mireska. Her green clothing and accent also evoke the image of a leprechaun.
* FightingIrish: Mireska has a heavy Gaelic accent, and she's a ThrillSeeker fond of battle. She's also [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/a/aa/Sylph_ally_24.mp3 fond of drinking]].
* GlassCannon: ''Shadow Realm'' and ''Bedlam'' deal tremendous amounts of magic damage (think Dagon on top of Witch Doctor's ''Death Ward''), allowing Mireska to utterly eviscerate any lone enemies that she comes across, and she also comes packing strong crowd control; however, her own durability and mobility are limited, and ''Shadow Realm'' only does so much.
* GreenThumb: ''Bramble Maze'' creates a maze of thorns to root any enemy that comes inside.
* LukeNounverber: Her last name, Sunbreeze, fits the "Noun-noun" variation of this trope.
* MoreDakka: One of Dark Willow's level 25 talents gave her a whopping ''+200'' attack speed. It got more than a bit terrifying when she received an Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to ''Shadow Realm'' that applies its damage bonus on ''every attack'' while active, letting her burst down enemies so efficiently that the AS talent, the ability itself, and Dark Willow's base attack time were all nerfed.
* NonStandardSkillLearning: Unlike most heroes, Dark Willow has two ultimates ''Bedlam'' and ''Terrorize'', which are levelled at the same time and cannot be simultaneously active.
* NoodleIncident: Apparently, Mireska's had a bad run-in with Tidehunter sometime in the past; this being Tidehunter, [[ArchEnemy Kunkka]] was also somehow involved, and the encounter ended with Kunkka out for Mireska's blood.
* NoSell: Using ''Shadow Realm'' turns Dark Willow temporarily untargetable until she attacks.
* OverprotectiveDad: [[https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Mireska%27s_Father Her father]] seems to be one. Mireska even admits that if it weren't for him, she probably wouldn't have left Revtel.
* PlantPerson: [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/7/7a/Dark_Willow_Preview_2.png?version=1b39b44c4a649295b1e025f30b9b41f6 The back of her head]] appears to be a flower bud, with petals forming her BoyishShortHair.
* PurpleIsPowerful: The primary colour scheme of Dark Willow is purple.
* RebelliousPrincess: A rather extreme case. Not only did she reject her place as a princess, she set fire to the palace before running away.
* RightHandAttackDog: Mireska's pet Jex, which she can use to attack enemies with ''Bedlam'' or force them to run towards the fountain with ''Terrorize''.
* SpellBlade: Using ''Shadow Realm'' boosts the range and damage of Dark Willow's next right-click attack. Aghanim's Scepter instead causes it to boost the damage of all her attacks while it's active, and no longer causes attacking to end the ability prematurely.
* StatusInflictionAttack: Dark Willow comes with no fewer than ''three'' different disables: ''Bramble Maze'' applies root, ''Cursed Crown'' is a stun, and ''Terrorize'' utilises a fear effect.
* StickyFingers: If she wants something, Mireska doesn't let a little thing like it being someone else's property stop her from getting it. Several of her lines for killing enemies have her threatening to take their stuff, such as Earthshaker's totem and Magnus's horn.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: ''Terrorize'' causes all targets to be scared, forcing them to run towards the fountain.
* ThrillSeeker: The reason she burned her home down and ran away? She was bored out of her mind, and even the constant backstabbing around her wasn't thrilling enough to help.
* {{Tomboy}}: Not very girly at all, what with her love of fighting and drinking.
* TheTrickster: A decidedly more malevolent one than most, but this is her overall attitude.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: One of the community's biggest running jokes about Dark Willow is what exactly her accent is supposed to be, since it's ostensibly Gaelic but seems to meander between Scotland and Ireland on a whim; some even interpret the accent as ''Polish''. Granted, it's not like a fairy from a fantasy world would be expected to have a particularly recognizable accent to begin with.
* WingedHumanoid: She looks like a girl with four extra butterfly wings.

[[folder:'''Dazzle''', the Shadow Priest]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dazzle_3264.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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 (original), Creator/DarinDePaul (''Underlords'')

As the youngest ever acolyte of the Dezun order, Dazzle had only one test left to complete in order to become a full-fledged Shadow Priest: the rite of shades. This ritual transported one's soul to the Nothl realm, a capricious and dangerous domain where light and darkness are inverted. Few come back from the journey, and those that do return as changed individuals. Despite their objections, Dazzle eventually convinced the elders to let him down the sacred potion that would transport his spirit to the Nothl realm. There, Dazzle bore witness to the true nature of the Dezun order's brilliant healing light, which in the Nothl realm was a wicked and destructive darkness. Enlightened by his experience, Dazzle successfully returned from the Nothl realm with the greatest powers of any Shadow Priest that his clan had ever seen, powers he uses to both heal and destroy.\\

Dazzle is a hero who comes to his allies' defense, keeping them alive with powerful healing and enchantments, while simultaneously sowing chaos among enemies. His first spell is ''Poison Touch'': this ability splashes poison on and around a targeted enemy, slowing them and inflicting damage over time. This effect can stack with itself, and whenever a target is attacked while under this effect, the debuff duration is refreshed. His next ability is his signature move, ''Shallow Grave'': for 5 seconds, the targeted ally's health cannot go below 1, making them practically invincible for its duration. This powerful spell can single-handedly change the tide of a fight when used properly, as it can buy a carry hero a few more precious seconds to deal their damage. ''Shadow Wave'' is his third skill, which fires a bouncing bolt of energy through allies, healing them while dealing damage to enemies around them. When used on clumped-up allies surrounding an enemy, the damage can be quite powerful. Dazzle's ultimate has two components - ''Good Juju'' reduces the cooldown of all his abilities, letting him put out much more damage and healing, while ''Bad Juju'' shreds the armor of enemies while buffing his allies' as he casts spells, and can be cast for ''another'' burst of heal and damage, making Dazzle much more lethal as a fight drags on. This kit allows Dazzle to keep allies going through any adversity while dooming enemies to a messy end.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Was a troll in [=DotA=], but now can only be described as "the same species as Huskar". Implied to still be some form of troll however, due to comparisons with Troll Warlord.
* BashBrothers: With Huskar, should they be on the same team. Not only are they brothers in-lore, but Dazzle's skills greatly compliment Huskar's playstyle: ''Shallow Grave'' can keep him alive at 1 HP, which Huskar likes since he gains more attack speed the lower his health is, ''Shadow Wave'' keeps him healed up, and ''Bad Juju'' lets him poke people apart even faster.
* 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, as ''Bad Juju'' applies stacking armor shred to his enemies as he casts spells, 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: ''Bad Juju'' 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.
* CooldownManipulation: ''Good Juju'' reduces the cooldowns of all of Dazzle's abilities when he casts an ability. With Aghanim's Scepter, it also reduces item cooldowns and can be used to refresh an ally's item cooldowns.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Bad Juju'' causes enemies in its area to lose armor every time Dazzle casts a spell. It also reduces the cooldown of Dazzle's spells, meaning that you don't want to stand next to him for too long.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Shadow Priests' Order is stated to use magic mainly for healing and self-defense.
* 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.
* DefogOfWar: His old ultimate ''Weave'' granted vision around the targeted point for 3 seconds. With its big [=AoE=] and long cast range it could be used to (somewhat) safely check Roshan's pit from afar or scout high ground, and the cooldown is low enough that it was usually okay to 'waste' it.
* DifficultButAwesome: ''Shallow Grave'' can be a very powerful spell when used correctly, but using it well is much easier said than done. Holding it for too long or being too far away can result in an ally dying before Dazzle can save them, but casting it too early can result in the spell being wasted (and potentially the ally dying anyway). Leveling up ''Shallow Grave'' allows Dazzle to cast it more often and from longer range, giving him more room for error, but the effect remains the same, and taking it early on results in Dazzle's other spells being less effective.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Dazzle runs around completely barefoot. At most, some of his cosmetics give him cloth ankle wrappings.
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Gained great powers over light and shadow following his experience in the Nothl realm.
* 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 healed 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 Dazzle and 8 friendly units are standing next to an enemy, that enemy can potentially take up to ''980 Physical damage from a single cast'' (1400 with the appropriate talent and further increased to ''1700'' with Aghanim's Scepter), before even factoring in ''Bad Juju''. And since it's an [=AoE=] spell, this damage can potentially be applied to multiple enemies, every 4 seconds.
* LastChanceHitPoint: ''Shallow Grave'' places a 5 second buff on an ally that prevents their HP from going below 1. The only thing that can kill a target affected by ''Shallow Grave'' is Axe's ''Culling Blade''.
* LightIsNotGood: As mentioned in his Dota 2 BackStory, his light has inverted properties.
* 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: Dazzle’s weapon is a pink staff with rings that he uses to cast his spells and fling bolts of shadow energy at his enemies.
* 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'', and as a SquishyWizard, Dazzle does not enjoy being caught by ''Berserker's Call'' and ''Counter Helix''. 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''. ''Bad Juju'' also hurts Axe hard, as it reduces his armor, which really hurts his tankiness. 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.
* NiceGuy: Dazzle's one of the most amiable heroes in the game, and is all too happy to share his healing magic with allies.
* PinballProjectile: ''Shadow Wave'' bounces off allies, healing them while dealing damage to nearby enemies.
* PoisonousPerson: With ''Poison Touch'', which paralyses enemies, damaging and slowing them. It also refreshes its duration every time the target gets hit by a player-based attack, meaning it can deal a surprising amount of damage and make it very hard to run away from Dazzle.
* 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 ''Bad Juju'' when good positioning comes to play.
* RunOrDie: ''Bad Juju'''s armor reduction stacks indefinitely; if you can't kill Dazzle quickly in a fight or stop him from casting spells, you ''will'' get ripped to shreds.
* 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''.
* TribalFacePaint: His facepaint looks like a smiling skull.
* VoodooDoll: The Nothlic Burden Immortal item comes with a doll of Axe, Dazzle's most notable counter.
* 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 by spamming out ''Shadow Wave'' and ''Shallow Grave''.

[[folder:Krobelus, the '''Death Prophet''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Death_Prophet_116.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/6/64/Dpro_kill_02.mp3 "Such a beautiful death. I envy you."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/EllenMcLain

Krobelus was a Death Prophet, meaning that she made a living using her precognitive abilities to tell wealthy clients about their deaths. Yet for some reason, she was unable to predict her own fate. Even when she attempted suicide, she found herself thrown back into the land of the living against her will. Frustrated by the afterlife's apparent refusal to give up its secrets or welcome her with open arms, she tried time and time again. But the more Krobelus tried to die, the more she was transformed by the realm of the dead, both in apperance and in ability. Yet despite all this, a part of her still refused to let go of life. Now the Death Prophet wields the powers of the afterlife itself, all while ironically being denied entry. She will not give up her attempts to reach the eternal slumber, throwing herself into suicidal conflicts with increasingly feverish determination to stay dead for good.\\

Death Prophet is a hero whose skills allow her to rapidly push lanes and destroy towers, although she's no slouch in fights either. With her first spell, ''Crypt Swarm'', Death Prophet sends out a wave of bats which deals burst damage to enemies it hits. This spell is one of her pushing tools, as it allows her to damage an entire creep wave, but it's also good against enemy heroes. ''Silence'', her second skill, inflicts silence on enemies inside of a circular area of effect, which is useful against enemy casters in teamfights. ''Spirit Siphon'', Death Prophet's third skill, slows a target and drains a percentage of their health to heal Death Prophet. The spell can amass multiple charges, allowing it to be cast several times in a row to extend its duration or affect multiple targets. Finally, Death Prophet's powerful ultimate ability, ''Exorcism'', is her best tool for pushing and teamfighting. This spell summons a huge swarm of ghosts which attack nearby targets, dealing physical damage. The large number of spirits will rapidly tear down enemy heroes in a fight, but the spell is especially useful at pushing since unlike most spells, the ghosts can damage buildings. Through good use of these powerful abilities, the Death Prophet can ensure that her visions of her enemies' demise will come true.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the transition from the original [=DotA=] to Dota 2, Death Prophet's first skill was renamed ''Crypt Swarm'' from ''Carrion Swarm''.
* AntiStructure: ''Exorcism'' is one of the few abilities in the game capable of harming buildings, making Death Prophet a very strong pusher.
* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Despite being fascinated by death, she always gets kicked back into the mortal plane after dying.
* BatOutOfHell: ''Crypt Swarm'' is a swarm of bat-like winged beasts that savage enemies; creatures from the afterlife according to the fluff text.
* BlackMage: All of her spells are offensive to some degree.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Aghanim's Shard allows ''Spirit Siphon'' to drain armor in addition to HP.
* 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. Also the approach taken by her Aghanim's Scepter upgrade, as having ''Exorcism'' spirits chip away and slow enemies every time Death Prophet tags them with ''anything'' will condemn them to a very protracted demise.
* DeathSeeker: Except, much to her frustration, death ''never sticks''. Which just turns her into an even more determined one and... You get the idea.
* FortuneTeller: Specifically, she foretells death for others. She eventually decided to try find out about her own death.
* GeometricMagic: The icon for her former ability ''Witchcraft'' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/8/84/Witchcraft_icon.png is a pentagram]].
* GhostlyGlide: And the animation actually keeps her head completely level while ''the rest her body'' sways like a windchime.
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple
* HitAndRunTactics: Death Prophet is one of the best kiting heroes in the game thanks to ''Spirit Siphon'' and ''Exorcism'' which slowly wears down enemies near her, and her build which consists of items like Phase Boots and Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Her backstory in a nutshell is that the afterlife booted her out with every attempt she made to enter it.
* LadyOfBlackMagic: An undead female necromancer dressed in a purple dress with all her spells being offensive to a degree.
* 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''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/d/d3/Dpro_respawn_03.mp3 Oh dear. This again?]]
-->'''Death Prophet''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/2/2f/Dpro_respawn_14.mp3 You brought me back again? Again?!]]
* LifeDrain: ''Spirit Siphon'' transfers health from the target(s) to Death Prophet. ''Exorcism'' spirits heal Death Prophet in proportion to the damage dealt when they return to her.
* LightningBruiser: For an Intelligence hero, she is surprisingly tanky with her high Strength growth and healing from ''Spirit Siphon'' and ''Exorcism''. Despite her slow base movement speed (tied for third-lowest, at 285), ''Exorcism'' provides her with a significant speed boost (especially when it's active). With the extra 20% movement speed from ''Exorcism'', and with Eul's Scepter of Divinity and a choice of either Phase Boots or Boots of Travel, she could spend most of the game around 500 movement speed.
* {{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. Not surprising at all, as she was based on the ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'' Banshee unit.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Sort of. She's not entirely ghost.
* PowerFloats
* PowerNullifier: She can use ''Silence'' to prevent enemies from using skills.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Much to her dismay]], she comes back to life every time she dies.
* SicklyGreenGlow: Death Prophet and her spells all have an eerie green glow.
* 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: She's immortal, and not happy about it.

[[folder:'''Disruptor''', the Stormcrafter]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Disruptor_5916.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/9/92/Dis_spawn_04.mp3 "War is an equation, death the solution."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/FredTatasciore

Disruptor is an Oglodi living on the blustery plains of upland Druud. In this unforgiving environment, his people face constant attack from the southern kingdoms and venerate the weather, particularly the harsh summer storms that sustain life and leave devastation in their wake. But long ago, the Oglodi of Druud formed a great civilization that harnessed the power of thunder and lightning through stormcraft, a lost art as much magic as it was technology. Although small by his species' standards, Disruptor was remarkably gifted and insatiably curious. As a youth, he would regularly go out to explore the ancient ruins of his people and take whatever surviving literature and technology he could find. After years of studying and scavenging, he rediscovered the secret of stormcrafting, using it to repair and adapt an ancient power coil he had discovered. Wielding the power of once-forgotten knowledge, Disruptor now defends his ancestral lands against all would-be invaders.\\

Disruptor, as his name implies, excels in disrupting the plans of his opponents. ''Thunder Strike'', his first ability, cause a foe to be repeatedly struck by lightning. Each bolt deals damage in an area around the target, striking those who would stand nearby, and grants vision over the target for the duration. With ''Glimpse'', Disruptor sends an enemy hero back to where they were four seconds ago. This is great for forcing an enemy out of position, or setting up hard-to-land abilities such as his ''Kinetic Field'', which summons an impassable circular barrier after a delay, trapping foes inside or blocking their path. Disruptor's ultimate ability is ''Static Storm'': an area is covered by an electrical storm, silencing foes while inflicting heavy damage over time. The area is just the right size to cover the entirety of ''Kinetic Field'', making for a great combo. With proper positioning, these abilities make Disruptor a fantastic teamfighter.\\
\\
In ''Dota Underlords'', Disruptor is the Ace of Warlocks, causing the Warlock alliance effect to be applied to multiple targets. His ability, ''Static Storm'', silences foes in a large area while dealing damage over time.

* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Two ways. In the old [=DotA=], he was in fact the Orc Warchief Thrall, but of course that would not go well with copyright, so he's changed into an Oglodi (similar to Axe and Warlock, both of them also derived from Orcs). The wolf is also switched to a dinosaur-like creature, or others depending on Disruptor's cosmetic items.
* AntiEscapeMechanism: All of Disruptor's abilities can help prevent an enemy from escaping.
** ''Thunder Strike'' reveals the target for the duration of the spell, making juking through trees impossible, and allowing players to land follow-up spells with ease. Not to mention disables the target's Blink Dagger.
** ''Glimpse'' drags a unit back to where it was four seconds ago, and interrupts channeling. Combined with ''Thunder Strike'', Disruptor can easily prevent any enemy hero within visual range from running away.
** ''Kinetic Field'' restricts the movement of all enemies within, making them easy prey for [=AoE=] spells for up to four seconds. It can't be Force Staffed out of either.
** ''Static Storm'' silences all enemies within its radius, and prevents the use of items if Disruptor has an Aghanim's Scepter. This means that being stuck in a ''Kinetic Field'' + ''Static Storm'' prevents enemies from using escape abilities, and they can't activate their Black King Bars to dispel the silence either.
* ArmlessBiped: Every single of Disruptor's mounts (default or not) has two legs and no other limbs.
* BarrierWarrior: A more offensive variant with ''Kinetic Field'', which traps enemies within it. Although you can still blink out of it.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: The Rage of the Three cosmetic set provides Disruptor with three selectable insectoid mounts, as well as equipment with an insect motif.
* BlackMage: Disruptor's kit revolves around nuking and screwing up with the enemy team's positioning as much as possible.
* BlowYouAway: With ''Kinetic Field'':
--> The stryder is immune to the gale-force winds that will consume its adversaries.
* DefogOfWar: ''Thunder Strike'' reveals its victim over its duration, making it impossible to juke against Disruptor.

** Three of Disruptor's spells are highly situational or rely heavily on positioning. His only real all-around spell is ''Thunder Strike'', his nuke, but everything else relies on the positioning of the enemy, and even their past positioning, so it takes a lot of planning and anticipation to make the most of Disruptor's spells. But a good Disruptor can block an enemy's movements, stop them from escaping a gank attempt (or even prevent reinforcements from teleporting in to defend), silence an entire group of them at the right moment, and generally make teamfights a lot easier for the rest of his team.
** ''Kinetic Field'' has a long (1,2s) delay and is visible to enemies during its formation, so good placement is essential. However, it's also the key to land a good ''Static Storm'' - no competent enemy will stay in the ''Static Storm'' unless you force them to.
* DragonRider: A wingless, dromaeosaurid-esque variety.
* DropTheHammer: Used to throw balls of lightning.

* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: 'Disruptor' is actually his given name in Dota 2, as opposed to the hero class in the original [=DotA=].
* HorseOfADifferentColor: His stryder resembles a small, armless theropod dinosaur. One of his cosmetics is an actual dinosaur called "Gwanji the Thunder Lizard".
* HostileWeather: ''Static Storm'' creates a gigantic thunderstorm that continually damages and silences all enemies in its radius.
* ImprovisedLightningRod: He can turn his enemies into this using his first ability, ''Thunder Strike'', and drop thunderbolts on their heads.
* JustForPun: Which raptor? ''This raptor''.
* LeadTheTarget: Because of ''Kinetic Field'''s very long formation delay, good placement is essential to correctly trap enemies inside one.
* LightningCanDoAnything: Including preventing the use of magic, creating solid force fields, and sending enemies back in time.
* LostTechnology: His electric coils, which are the source of his abilities and were found in ancient ruins.
* {{Magitek}}: His electric coils.
* MonochromaticEyes: As with the other Oglodi of this game. His are pure white.
* PowerNullifier: Should Disruptor buy Aghanim's Scepter, ''Static Storm'' will not only silence the spells enemy heroes in its area of effect, but also prevent them from using items, one of the rare spells in the game with that effect.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: His people the Oglodi, though he wasn't a warrior himself. It is worth noting that all of the currently playable Oglodi (except Lifestealer) were [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] in the original ''Warcraft III [=DotA=]'', another proud warrior race.
* ShockAndAwe: Harnesses the power of electric storms using the ancient power coil he found in a ruin. He can throw electrified orbs with his auto-attack, repeatedly zap an enemy with ''Thunder Strike'', create an electric fence with ''Kinetic Field'', or summon a localized electric storm with ''Static Storm''.
* SquishyWizard: Standard for most Intelligence heroes, don't expect Disruptor to survive in the thick of a teamfight.
* SuperSpeed: When upgraded with Aghanim's Shard and used on an ally, ''Thunder Strike'' briefly boosts their movement speed.
* TeleportInterdiction: ''Glimpse'' can be used on an enemy hero who has just teleported near Disruptor to force them back to where they started (usually either the fountain, or [[OhCrap Disruptor's teammates]]).
* TerrestrialSeaLife: His cosmetic mount Anguilla is a giant electric eel that somehow grew legs.
* WeakButSkilled: According to lore, he's considered weak among the Oglodi (which is justified when you look at another example of the Oglodi, Axe), but his powers come from his knowledge and craftiness.
* WeatherReport: Many of his lines are parodies of such.

* YellowLightningBlueLightning: Blue, like most lightning in the game.

[[folder:Aiushtha, the '''Enchantress''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/enchantress_2543.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/2/2f/Ench_rare_01.mp3 "You know what I love? Everything!"]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Gin Hammond

In a world ravaged by disasters, both natural and man-made, the Enchantress roams about, spreading much-needed joy and healing wherever she goes. As she travels from forest to forest, she brings the stories of their inhabitants with her, acting as nature's messenger to those unaware of its suffering and bearing the gift of friendship to all she encounters. While it is easy to mistake her for little more than a carefree creature of the woods, Aiushtha's greatest desire is to one day see nature bloom again as it did in the past.\\

Enchantress is a hero who excels at pushing and ganking. Strong both in lane and in the jungle, she is a versatile hero who can both carry and support. Her signature ability and namesake is ''Enchant'', a spell whose effect varies depending on whether it's used on a creep, enemy hero: against heroes, it inflicts a powerful slow and purges positive buffs, but when used on a creep, it will fall under Enchantress' command for some time. This is the key to her playstyle, as these creeps can be used to destroy enemies and objectives quickly. ''Impetus'' gives her an orb effect that deals additional pure damage based on the distance between her and the enemy. With this, she can rain death from a distance, taking off surprising amounts of health with each attack. ''Nature's Attendant'' summons several healing fairies which cast their recovery spells on the Enchantress and her nearby allies: the healing is spread randomly amongst nearby targets, making it more effective when fewer heroes are in range. Her ultimate ability ''Untouchable'' wracks anyone who dares physically attack her with guilt, inflicting a massive debuff to their attack speed when they target her. With Aghanim's Scepter, Enchantress also gains the ability to ''Sproink'' away from enemies, disjointing any projectiles coming her way. Though she may be a cute and friendly spirit of nature, the Enchantress is a predator, and she's all too happy to remind you of that.\\

In ''Artifact'', Enchantress is a green hero. Her Continuous Effect, ''Nature's Attendants'', grants her and her neighbors +2 Regeneration. Her signature card, ''Verdant Refuge'', is an improvement which increases the armor of allies by 1.\\

In ''Dota Underlords'', Enchantress is a tier 1 hero. Her ability, ''Nature's Attendants'', creates a cloud of wisps that heal nearby allies.

* AchillesHeel: Though Enchantress is unusually resistant towards physical attacks thanks to ''Untouchable'', a few nukes are often enough to put her down because of her bad Strength growth.
* AllLovingHero: Very friendly and perky, even to the most wicked of allies.
* ApologeticAttacker: Some of her responses for killing heroes make her this... when she's not being a DeadpanSnarker.
* {{Bambification}}: She's part deer.
* TheBeastmaster: ''Enchant'', which lets her control a single creep with boosted health and attack damage. If she can't control the target, the skill heavily slows them down.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Yes, she's a FriendToAllLivingThings, but she can most definitely still bring the pain and convert creatures to do the same.
* BlitheSpirit
* CarnivoreConfusion: She's a doe-centaur, but...
-->'''Enchantress (Killing a creep):''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/5/5a/Ench_lasthit_02.mp3 ''Hey, I'm a predator!'']]
* CombatMedic: ''Nature's Attendants'' summons a cloud of wisps that heal all allied units near Enchantress.
* DevelopersForesight: 6.87 introduced the Hurricane Pike, an item whose active ability gives a ranged hero infinite attack range for a set number of attacks against a single target. Perhaps due to the dev team realizing the amount of damage this could do in the hands of Enchantress, the same patch saw ''Impetus'''s damage cap being reduced by about half.
* FixedDamageAttack: ''Impetus'' deals more Pure damage the farther away the target is. On top of this, the distance is calculated once the spear lands, not when it's thrown, so you can deal extra damage by walking away between each attack, and if you have a Monkey King Bar you can potentially insta-gib someone ''in their fountain'' if they're at low-enough health during an escape teleport.
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Some of the heroes imply that a cheerful doe-centaur isn't her [[NatureSpirit true form and purpose]].
* FragileSpeedster: Enchantress is fairly fast on her hooves (she once had the highest movement speed in the game, meaning an Enchantress with no items could outrun many heroes ''with'' Boots of Speed) and Aghanim's Scepter makes her even more maddeningly hard to catch. However, her Strength stat is pretty poor throughout the game, which means she'll go down quickly to burst damage.
* FriendToAllLivingThings:
** Seems to give off this vibe.
-->'''Enchantress:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/2/2f/Ench_rare_01.mp3 ''You know what I love? Everything!'']]
** Even ''Terrorblade'' is a friend of hers, if his ally line is of any indication.
-->'''Terrorblade:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/c/c5/Terr_ally_22.mp3 ''I'm every demon's worst nightmare, but I'm your best friend.'']]
* GlassCannon: Enchantress can deal ''frightening'' amounts of damage with ''Impetus'', but has absolutely horrid Strength growth. While ''Untouchable'' and ''Nature's Attendants'' do bolster her survivability, she's still very easy to nuke down with spells, and most carries can simply stack enough attack speed (or build a Black King Bar) to make ''Untouchable'' a non-issue.
* HornedHumanoid
* {{Hypocrite}}: Thinks killing people is all good fun, until you hurt ''her'' at which point it becomes a massive crime.
* InASingleBound: ''Sproink'' allows Enchantress to leap a fairly impressive height and distance (''backward'', no less).
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Includes her ''Untouchable'' ability.
* {{Irony}}: In the original ''[=DotA=]'' mod, Enchantress used the character model of the Dryad, a unit that is immune to magic but weak against physical attacks. Enchantress herself is heavily resistant to physical attacks and put down very easily by magic nukes.
* JavelinThrower: Her weapon is a javelin which, when ''Impetus'' is used, absorbs the power of nature during its flight, increasing its power.
* LongRangeFighter: Since ''Impetus'' deals the more right-click damage the farther Enchantress stands from her target, when played as a core she usually builds a Dragon Lance into Aghanim's Scepter, increasing her attack range to a total of 870 - a significant boost to her damage output when combined with ''Impetus''. On the other hand, she can't do much against an enemy hero standing near her, and though ''Untouchable'' gives her some durability, it does nothing against spell immunity or nukes.
* MageMarksman: Early in the game, Enchantress' contribution consists mostly of heals, creep abilities and slows. As she acquires items like Dragon Lance and Aghanim's Scepter, ''Impetus'' empowers her right-click attacks to the point that a well-played support Enchantress can rival her carry teammate(s) in damage output.
* MonsterAllies: ''Enchant'' can control creeps for 80 seconds.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Weaponized with ''Untouchable'': the guilt of attacking someone as beautiful as Enchantress results in a huge debuff to attack speed. Although for some reason, only auto-attacks trigger this effect: blasting her with magic is A-OK in everyone's book.
* NatureSpirit: Aiushtha herself as well as her ''Nature's Attendants''.
* NiceGirl: She's one of the nicest heroes of the game, being so friendly, caring and pure without any mean bones in her body, minus some obligatory snark that comes from being in a game like this (a lot of her meaner streaks tend to be results of GameplayAndStorySegregation or meme), and she even has capabilities of a healer to save her friends. Even when she's ObfuscatingStupidity, she's at worst GoodIsNotNice.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: As described in her bio, she's not as carefree as she seems.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Her lower half is that of a doe.
* SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud
-->'''Enchantress:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/9/9a/Ench_move_19.mp3 ''Sproink!'']]
* SomeDexterityRequired: Good control of the ''Enchant''ed neutral creeps and illusions is crucial to Enchantress' success.
* SparkFairy: The ''Nature's Attendants'' are simply depicted as a cloud of points of light.
* WhyWontYouDie: Due to a combination of ''Nature's Attendants'' and ''Untouchable'', attempting to focus down an Enchantress via auto-attacks will most often fail, because ''Untouchable'' will completely neuter any attempts to attack her, while ''Nature's Attendants'' will quickly heal her back up as she takes any damage that happens to make it through. Once she gets Aghanim's Scepter, Enchantress becomes even harder to bring down since she becomes practically immune to projectile-based spells, and can dodge incoming attacks on an extremely low cooldown.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[AllLovingHero Oddly enough for her,]] when ''Enchant'' ends on a creep or jungle monster, it abruptly and instantly dies. Lore-wise, it's probably meant to represent Enchantress setting it free, with the instant death being a result of game mechanics.

[[folder:'''Enigma''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Enigma_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/e/e6/Enig_ability_black_01.mp3 "If light cannot escape me, what hope have you?"]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/JonStJohn

Enigma is just as mysterious as his name implies, with countless theories as to his past and identity. Some say he was once an alchemist punished for hubris as he attempted to unlock the secrets of the universe, others claim that he is the primordial abyss personified, and the oldest legends claim that he is the sentient remains of the first dying star. What is known, however, is that he wields all the power of a Fundamental - a cosmic force capable of consuming entire worlds.\\

Enigma is a strong initiator and a highly efficient jungler, letting him quickly collect the items he needs to unleash havoc on the enemy. ''Malefice'' holds Enigma's enemies down by repeatedly disabling the target; once every couple of seconds, the victim will be damaged and stunned. ''Demonic Conversion'' will transform a non-hero unit into three Eidolons under Enigma's control. Eidolons will split after attacking six times, returning to full health after doing so. ''Midnight Pulse'' steeps an area in dark energy, destroying all trees in the area and damaging enemies for a percentage of their maximum health every second. Enigma boasts one of the most powerful initiation abilities in the game in his ultimate ability, ''Black Hole''. When the ability is cast, Enigma will channel a vortex that sucks in all hapless enemies within its range, disabling them with its gravitational pull; once caught, there are very few ways for an enemy to escape. Although its long cooldown means that Enigma will have to use it judiciously, a well-timed ''Black Hole'' will crush the enemy into oblivion, giving them no chance to fight back.\\

In ''Dota Underlords'', Enigma is the Ace of Primordials, causing Eidolons to cast ''Malefice'' when killed, periodically mini-stunning their killer. His ability, ''Midnight Pulse'', creates a pool of dark energy, continuously draining a portion of enemies' health while they stand in it.

* 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 catch all enemy heroes who can interrupt him through spell immunity; even if he [[CrazyPrepared purchases a Linken's Sphere on top of Black King Bar and/or Glimmer Cape]], he can still be interrupted by abilities like ''Reverse Polarity'', ''Hookshot'', and ''Berserker's Call''.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: He is a sentient manifestation of gravitational forces.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: ''Black Hole'' will disable spell immune enemies and due to its damage type being Pure, will also damage them, meaning that the only way to dodge it is to become invulnerable.
* ArtEvolution: Received a new hero model in 7.00 with a more well-defined figure.
* 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: Enigma is a purely offensive spellcaster, with none of his abilities having any direct defensive application[[note]]Though if your micro is ''really'' good, you can use Eidolons to get in the enemy's way to slow them down when chasing you[[/note]].
* 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.
* {{Cyclops}}: When wearing the Twisted Maelstrom set, Enigma only has a large glowing eye dominating his forehead, instead of two normal eyes.

** ''Black Hole'' is one of the most fearsome teamfight abilities in the game, disabling the entire enemy team for up to 4 seconds while dealing heavy damage. 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.
** It is possible for Enigma to solo Roshan with his Eidolons, but it takes a good amount of micromanagement and shifting aggro around as neither Enigma nor his Eidolons can stand up to repeated hits, as well as fast enough fingers to cast ''Demonic Conversion'' on an Eidolon before it expires.
* EldritchAbomination: The anthropomorphic personification of gravity and the void, and physically best described as a black hole in human shape.
* 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, since their timer is extended when they multiply). However, you can't use it on higher-level jungle creeps, and you can't use it to deny your own flagbearer creep.
* 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.
* GravityIsPurple: The enbodiment of gravity itself. Naturally, he gives off a purple aura.
* GravityMaster: ''Malefice'' and ''Black Hole'' manipulate the gravity to stun enemies.
* 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?
* InTheHood: The Servants of Endless Stars cosmetic Eidolons wear a black face-obscuring hood.
* 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''.
* MysteriousPast: As befitting of his name.
* TheNameless: Though he was named 'Darchrow' in [=DOTA=].
* PercentDamageAttack: ''Midnight Pulse'', which deals damage based on a percentage of their current HP. [[TooDumbToLive Anyone stupid enough to stand in it for the whole duration will lose almost half their health]]. An upgraded ''Black Hole'' deals 5% of their ''max'' HP per second which stacks with ''Midnight Pulse''. Using both at once can whittle their HP down a fraction of their max HP [[OhCrap Enigma can use a Refresher Orb to reset the cooldown and do it again]].
* PowerOfTheVoid
* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: He is a living black hole that is purple instead of black for some reason.
* 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:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/9/95/Enig_ally_15.mp3 "The four pillars stand together once more."]]
* SpawnBroodling: ''Demonic Conversion'' instantly kills a creep (friendly or enemy) and summons 3 Eidolons at its place.
* SummonMagic: ''Demonic Conversion''.
* TimeAbyss: As a Fundamental, he's literally as old as creation.
* TooAwesomeToUse: ''Black Hole'' has one of '''the''' longest cooldowns in the game (with only a few level 1 ultimate abilities tying, which gain shorter cooldowns when leveled up). 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''.
* 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:'''Grimstroke''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grimstroke_icon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/b/bb/Grimstroke_spawn_08.mp3 "The strokes of my brush mark your fate."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SteveBlum

The people of Ashkavor had long bound their souls to an Ascended guardian wielding the power of ink to keep them safe. Grimstroke was the latest to be chosen for this position, a decision which would be their undoing. Grimstroke had always been obsessed with power, and in violation of a sacred law, he used ichor to strengthen his ink. Unfortunately, the ichor also corrupted the ink, and instead of binding the villagers' souls to him, he was being bound to the ink. As he was being suffocated by the ink covering him, he realized a way to turn this situation to his advantage and further increase his power beyond what he ever thought was possible. Without hesitation, he used all his might to reverse the flow of the corrupted ink, turning it against the townspeople whose very souls they had entrusted him. Everyone in Ashkavor was agonizingly slain by Grimstroke's selfish, twisted sacrifice, transformed into an inky phantom and leaving him as the sole survivor.\\

Grimstroke is a hero who can both support his allies and tear down enemies with his unique spells. ''Stroke of Fate'' unleashes a wave of ink in a line after a wind-up period, slowing enemies from a long range while dealing damage based on the number of targets hit. With ''Phantom's Embrace'', Grimstroke sends out the remnant of his beloved to tear apart an enemy. The target takes damage and is silenced until the phantom is destroyed or expires; if it reaches its full duration, the target also takes a large amount of bonus damage while the spell's cooldown is refreshed. The phantom can make for a potent distraction during fights, forcing foes to choose between turning their attention towards it or allowing their ally to take the full silence and damage. ''Ink Swell'' is a more supportive spell which covers an ally in ink, silencing them but also increases their movement speed. Enemies near the target are struck by tendrils which constantly damage them, and once the effect expires, it explodes, stunning and damaging nearby foes, with the power of the explosion increasing the longer enemies were within its area of effect. Grimstroke's most unique ability is ''Soulbind'', his ultimate, which binds two enemy heroes together. Not only are they prevented from moving apart from each other, but any single-target spell used on one bound enemy will also affect the other, effectively doubling its power. This has tremendous combo potential with powerful single-target spells such as ''Laguna Blade'' or ''Fiend's Grip''. With Aghanim's Scepter, Grimstroke gains ''Dark Portrait'', a spell which summons an illusion of an enemy hero which deals increased damage.

* AmbitionIsEvil: His ambition to reach even greater power than possible to learn from his mentors led Grimstroke to taint the magical ink he uses, ultimately leading to the ink being corrupted and Ashkavor being destroyed by his hand.
* AndIMustScream: The ultimate fate of Grimstroke's people, as phantoms bound to his will that seek to either die or, at the very least, drag him to his fate.
* ArtAttacker: His weapon is a giant paintbrush and magical ink.
* BattleCouple: A particularly twisted example. Grimstroke has his lover fighting alongside him as a phantom thrall bound to his will.
* BlackMage: All of Grimstroke's abilities are used for disabling and nuking down enemies. While ''Ink Swell'' can be used to escape with its speed boost, it's much more effective for getting up in enemies' faces.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: One his few positive traits. When Grimstroke sacrificed his people to harness the corrupted ink's power, it included his lover (now the phantom summoned by ''Phantom's Embrace''). Her fate was the only one for which he showed any resemblance of regret.
* FantasticRacism: Hates the three Spirits (Kaolin, Xin and Raijin) for unknown reasons.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: His eyes glow yellow, and he's most definitely an evil person.
* GutturalGrowler: Grimstroke speaks in a deep, throaty, emotionless growl. He is voiced by Creator/SteveBlum, after all.
* HerdHittingAttack: ''Stroke of Fate'' does more damage the more targets it hits.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He is not concerned about anything beyond increasing his own power, to the point that he sacrificed his own people to do so.
* LongRangeFighter: Grimstroke's offensive abilities have relatively long cast ranges, allowing him to ravage enemies from the sidelines without needing to get up close and personal. And he'll generally want to, as surviving damage isn't his forte.
* MadArtist: An evil calligrapher that uses his brush and ink to channel dark magic, leaving behind destruction in his path.
* NightmareFetishist: Has an interest in the dark and macabre, taking the time to compliment allies like Night Stalker and Shadow Demon.
* PersonalSpaceInvader: ''Phantom's Embrace'' summons a phantom that latches onto the target and doesn't let go until its duration expires, silencing them and dealing damage all the while.
* TheSociopath: Grimstroke cares only for gaining great power, breaking the sacred laws of his people and sacrificing all of them to achieve it with no pity or remorse.
* {{Synchronization}}: ''Soulbind'' links two enemy heroes together, which not only restricts their movement, but also causes single-target spells and item abilities cast on one to also hit the other (with a few exceptions, like ''Omnislash'' and ''Nether Strike''). Because of this, Grimstroke can make good use of items like Rod of Atos and Dagon, and pairs well with heroes who possess powerful single-target skills like Lion and Lich.
* TwinMaker: Aghanim's Scepter gives Grimstroke a new ability, ''Dark Portrait'', which creates a powerful illusion of an enemy hero.
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Grimstroke's backstory and theme are much DarkerAndEdgier than almost every other hero before him, and he has no comedic or whimsical traits whatsoever. Considering that the ''Dota 2'' roster includes things like [[{{Satan}} Doom]] and [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight Night Stalker]], that's saying something.
* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Grimstroke sacrificed the souls of everyone in his town in order to save his own life and increase his power.
* WickedCultured: For all his evil, Grimstroke is surely an art connoisseur, and has the personality of a refined artist. He comments on Monkey King's literary output, among other things.
* YourSoulIsMine: He used the sacred bond between his people's souls and his own to first dump the corrupted ink on them, killing them to the last and leaving only their phantoms behind, and later on a return trip to Ashkavor to enslave those phantoms to his own will. And he's not done adding to his collection yet.

[[folder:Carl, the '''Invoker''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Invoker_5947.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/0/09/Invo_begin_01.mp3 "So begins a new age of knowledge."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Dennis Bateman (original), Jack Fisher (Acolyte of the Lost Arts persona)

In its earliest days, the magical arts required not wands, but great amounts of memorization: each spell had its own unique and complex formula needed to cast it, and as a result it was rare for a single magician back then to know more than three or four incantations. It is hard to imagine then that one person, the Invoker, had the sheer intellect to memorize at least ten different spells, each of which he can cast without much effort. In fact, he has learned many more invocations during his life, which he willingly allows himself to forget in order to save his brainpower for only the best spells. One such spell, the Sempiternal Cantrap, which grants its caster near-eternal life. As a result of this spell, the Invoker has been around for centuries, but unlike most of its users, he proudly flaunts his longevity openly. After all, a genius of his caliber fears no one.\\
\\
The Invoker is an unorthodox Intelligence hero, generally played as a midlane carry and initiator. The abilities he learns by leveling up are simple reagents, manifesting as orbs which grant him control over one of three elements and provide bonuses while active. Invoker can have up to three orbs active at any one time, and activating one reagent adds an orb of that reagent (replacing the oldest if he already has three). ''Quas'' grants manipulation of ice and bonus health regeneration, ''Wex'' allows manipulation of electricity and bonus movement and attack speed, and ''Exort'' gives access to fire and increases attack damage. Invoker's true potential, however, lies in his ultimate ability, which allows him to ''Invoke'' one of ten spells based on the active reagents. These spells are not leveled directly; instead, their power is dependent on the levels of the appropriate reagents. Invoker's arsenal gives him a plethora of options, from debilitating foes with ''Cold Snap'', ''Tornado'' and ''Ice Wall'', to pushing lanes with ''Forge Spirits'' and ''Alacrity'', to devastating enemy teams with ''EMP'', ''Chaos Meteor'', and ''Deafening Blast'', to picking off fleeing enemies with ''Sun Strike'', on top of making a quick getaway with ''Ghost Walk''. While difficult to learn, he is not to be taken lightly, as the only limits the Arsenal Magus's potential knows are the ones imposed by the player behind the controls.

----
* AchillesHeel: Spell 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.
* AdaptationNameChange: In the original ''[=DotA=]'', Invoker's name was Kael, which obviously cannot be ported to ''Dota 2'', as it was also the name of a ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' character, so he was renamed 'Carl', according to several lines of himself, Undying and Mirana.
* AnimeHair: Two of Invoker's Immortals, the Magus Apex and the second style of the Dark Artistry Hair (which is implicitly based on the Magus Apex), are big manes of spiky, blond, glowing, gravity-defying hair.
* TheArchMage: When it comes to the sheer variety of spells known, the Invoker is unmatched, having access to over ten spells when most other magi barely reach four.
* 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:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/8/81/Invo_rare_05.mp3 Behold before you, the illustrious, the imperious, ingenious archmage… CARL.]]
-->'''Undying:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/0/08/Undying_ally_10.mp3 Carl? Is that you?]]
* AwesomeButImpractical: Aghanim's Scepter allows him to cast ''Cataclysm'' instead of ''Sunstrike,'' which automatically calls ''two'' Sunstrikes on ''each enemy hero''. The downside is that the Sunstrikes are randomly cast at two random spots near each enemy, so it's possible that only one of them will hit, and a lot more likely that neither will since it's impossible to LeadTheTarget with this ability. Additionally, using Cataclysm will put Sunstrike on a much longer cooldown than usual. On the other hand, ''Sun Strike'' isn't a terribly good teamfight spell on its own while ''Cataclysm'' can easily incinerate squishier heroes with multiple overlapping ''Sun Strikes'', especially when combined with something like ''Reverse Polarity''. The fact that Invoker generally has a pretty good incentive to grab a Scepter anyway is just a plus.
* BadassBookworm: Invoker is a genius and has the second highest intelligence growth, and it is generally a bad idea to underestimate him in combat.
* BadassLongRobe
* BeamSpam: With Aghanim's Scepter, Invoker can use ''Cataclysm'' to cause 2 random ''Sun Strike''s to fall on all nearby enemies (after the normal delay). In a big teamfight, this can get messy quickly as the enemy heroes try to dodge all the 10 ''Sun Strike''s that are about to fall on their heads.
* BlackMage: Except for ''Ghost Walk'' and ''Alacrity'', 8 out of Invoker's 10 spells are offensive to some degree, and even then, ''Alacrity'' is an offensive buff.
* BoringButPractical: Being able to cast ''Cataclysm'' with Aghanim's Scepter is well and good, but the bonus stats to all his spells is just as much of an incentive for Invoker to grab a Scepter because Invoker is all about scaling his spells into the late-game.
* CallingYourAttacks: In three different ways, no less. He can call out the spell's name, call the spell's ''Invoke'' combination, or use the spell's proper lore name (listed as FlavorText on the spells themselves). For instance, ''Sun Strike'' can be called out as any of the following:
--> "Sun Strike!"\\
"Exort Trionis!"\\
"Harlek's Incantation of Incineration!"
* CanisLatinicus: Some of the responses for his spells.
* CastingAShadow: The Dark Artistry set adds a purplish shadow tint to Invoker's ''Tornado'' and ''Deafening Blast''.
* ChildProdigy: The "Acolyte of the Lost Arts" hero persona turns Carl into a younger version of himself. He's just as powerful and talented as the adult version. In the lore, it's said that he was the star pupil at his academy.
* 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.
* {{Combos}}: 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'' to inflict serious damage, ''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.
* CrosshairAware: When Invoker uses ''Cataclysm'', each ''Sun Strike'' is fully audible and visible to the enemy (as opposed to the normal ''Sun Strike'', which can only be seen and heard by his team), which, combined with the spell's standard delay, provides the enemy with enough time to get the hell away if not prevented from doing so by a disable.
* DeathFromAbove: ''Chaos Meteor'' and ''Sun Strike''. The latter is a beam that [[KillSat can be fired anywhere on the map]] that can be upgraded into ''Cataclysm'', which casts extra 2 ''Sun Strike'' around all heroes.
* DelayedExplosion: ''EMP'' takes some 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, 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.
** However, for the most part, his actual combos aren't very difficult to land, especially when compared to abilities such as Mirana's ''Sacred Arrow''. Most of them just consist of "Shoot these two skills right after each other at the same location", such as his bread-and-butter combos of each build. The difficulty lies in memorizing the combinations for the spells and being able to reliably ''Invoke'' them while under pressure from the enemy.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first version of Invoker had a whopping '''27''' spells, and the order of the reagents mattered for ''Invoke''. This was ultimately scrapped [[CoolButInefficient for being a nightmare to learn, play, code, and balance]], and Invoker was removed from the game entirely for a time before being reintroduced with his current 10 spells.
* ElementalPowers: He is perhaps the most glorious user of such powers; manipulation of each element grants certain spell powers and a temporary buff to a related skill.
** ''[[AnIcePerson Quas]]'' provides extra HP regen while active, and increases the duration and intensity of the debuffs of his spells.
** ''Wex'' (a combination of ShockAndAwe and BlowYouAway) grants extra attack and movement speed while active, and buffs his spells' range or area of effect.
** ''[[PlayingWithFire Exort]]'' increases attack damage while active, and Exort-based spells tend 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.
* FastAsLightning: Having Wex reagents active, which are associated with lightning, grants increased movement speed.
* FinalBoss: A super beefed-up Invoker served as the final boss for the 2017 Dark Moon event.
* FireIceLightning: The basic reagents of his spells are Quas (Ice), Wex (Storm), and Exort (Fire).
* FlamingMeteor: Chaos Meteor deal damage-over-time when a foe touches the meteor. The distance of the meteor and the damage is based on his current power of Wex and Exort, respectively. It takes time for the meteor to land and move, so synergy with his other skills is necessary for maximum damage.
* 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.
* GaleForceSound: ''Deafening Blast'' knocks victims back and temporarily disables their right-click attack.
* 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, but his name of power is... CARL.
* 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''.
* 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''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/2/2d/Invo_death_07.mp3 "All that matters, perishes with me."]]
-->'''Invoker''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/0/02/Invo_rare_02.mp3 "The universe depends on what I can remember of it."]]
* JackOfAllTrades: 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}}: Claims he did all the work after a win, doesn't acknowledge his enemies' existence, and doesn't even ''bother to learn who's on his side''.
* KillItWithFire: Exort, the reagent associated with fire, gives Invoker bonus attack damage while active. Exort-based spells likewise form the bulk of Invoker's damage output, and leveling Exort tends to increase those spells' raw damage.
* KillSat: ''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, his actual intelligence is unremarkable, largely getting by through memorization -- and even that can fail if you mess up the spell combinations. This is ultimately zigzagged: while he ''is'' capable of learning other spells, he prefers not to ''remember'' them (presumably to make space for his own ego) and he does boast the second highest Intelligence growth in the game, after Pugna, although his ''base'' intelligence makes him hard to take seriously.
* KungFuWizard: Gaster, the wizard who invented the ''Alacrity'' spell in-lore, was implied to be one of these by the description of the Magus Accord Immortal item. The spell in question lets Invoker become one as well by giving him a surprising amount of physical damage output, particularly if he also has ''Exort'' orbs active.
* LeadTheTarget: ''Sun Strike'' has a delay before inflicting its damage, requiring a good Invoker player to predict where the target will be in the next few seconds.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: His background story leans heavily on Dota 2's metagame; only a few heroes have more than four abilities, and even then there's usually at least one passive among them. 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. Also, his story mentions him learning and then purging from his mind many spells, possibly as a reference to [[MythologyGag the 27-spell Invoker from the early days of DotA]].
* 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 18 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 1 to 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: Half of the mana destroyed by ''EMP'' is given to Invoker.
* MonochromaticEyes
* MysticalWhiteHair: The Trials of the Blackguard Magus and Dark Artistry sets come with manes of bleached-white hair. He also appears to have platinum blonde hair in his portrait, giving off this effect, though his in-game model is more of a golden blonde.
* {{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. Even in his "Acolyte of the Lost Arts" persona, where he do bother acknowledging certain heroes, his ego is still there.
-->'''Invoker (killing a foe)''': [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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'' (itself an innate ability that is known from level 1 and cannot be put skill points into) them in the correct order to temporarily gain access to that skill.
* PaletteSwap: The cosmetic Forged Spirit [[https://dota2.gamepedia.com/File:Cosmetic_icon_Sentinel_of_the_Blackguard_Magus.png Sentinel of the Blackguard Magus]] bears more than a passing resemblance to Ancient Apparition.
* 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.
* PlanarShockwave: With one of his level 25 talents, ''Deafening Blast'' becomes a massive circular explosion.
* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: The Magus Apex Immortal hair, which looks much more prominent than Invoker's default hairstyle.
--> ''The Sol Apex Incantation, forgotten for [[ShoutOut 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.''
* ThePowerOfTheSun: ''Sun Strike'' focuses the sun's rays into a powerful beam of energy which can be aimed at any point on the map.
* Really700YearsOld: Due to the Sempiternal Cantrap.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness
* ShouldersOfDoom: The rather aptly named cosmetic Heaven-Piercing Pauldrons extend at least half a metre over Invoker's height. Apparently they serve as a reminder that even the depthless celestial realm is vulnerable to being punctured by Invoker's power.
* ShoutOut:
** His death animation is very similar to [[Series/DoctorWho timelord regeneration]].
** The Magus Apex Immortal item gives him [[Franchise/DragonBall Super Saiyan]] hair. Made more obvious by the description, which makes a point of stating that the incantation was forgotten for "over nine thousand years."
* SomeDexterityRequired: Managing Invoker's spells early on can be (comparatively) straightforward once you learn which reagents are required for certain spells, since there's still at least a few seconds' cooldown on ''Invoke'', giving you plenty of time to think about what spell you need next. However, since the cooldown of ''Invoke'' decreases with each level Invoker has in his orbs, a high-level Invoker can essentially cast spells as quickly as he can press the keys (barring their individual cooldowns), as with all orbs maxed out ''Invoke'' has only a ''0.7'' second cooldown; making the most of this requires the player to press ''seven keys per second''.
* SpecialPersonNormalName: His true name of power is ''Carl''.
-->'''Invoker:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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: While Invoker has the second highest Intelligence growth in the game and a very wide array of spells, his Strength and Agility are both fairly lacking. He could counteract this by taking levels in Quas, as it gives him bonus Strength per level.
* StatusBuffDispel: Tornado can remove buffs similar to Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
* SummonMagic: ''Forge Spirits'' summons a minion to fight alongside you. With the appropriate level 15 talent, Invoker will summon two of them instead of one.
* SuperSpeed: Invoker starts out with the lowest base movement speed in the game, 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.
* TimeTravel: The Acolyte of the Lost Arts hero persona represents a version of Carl who learnt a time travel spell when he was a child, and used it to jump into the future and take the place of the adult Invoker.
* TornadoMove: ''Tornado'' throws a tornado at the enemy in a straight line, disabling them for a certain amount of time (based on Invoker's ''Quas'' level). It has an absurdly long range if you level ''Wex'' enough (well beyond visual range starting at 4 levels).
* UnwantedAssistance: ''Tornado'' 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.
* WizardsLiveLonger: Thanks to the Sempiternal Cantrap spell (which Invoker purged from his memories the moment he used it).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:'''Jakiro''', the Twin Head Dragon]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jakiro_icon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/5/59/Jak_kill_19.mp3 "Twin engines of your destruction."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/DaveFennoy

Pyrexae dragons are always born in clutches of two eggs, no more, no less. Vicious even from their first moments, the hatchlings will fight their sibling, with only the stronger surviving and passing its strength on. Jakiro is not like other Pyrexae. Born from a single egg, Jakiro possess two heads and two minds in a single body that wields the power of both ice and fire. Equal parts cunning and rage, the twins are able to unleash the full wrath of the Pyrexae species upon any who dare to oppose them.\\
\\
Jakiro specializes in inflicting heavy damage and powerful disables across multiple enemies, freezing them in place and burning them to a crisp. ''Dual Breath'' combines the two into a single spell, unleashing a blast of ice to slow enemies followed by a wave of fire to burn them over time. ''Ice Path'' creates a long trail of ice that solidifies after a short delay, freezing and stunning enemies within and making them easy prey for Jakiro's other abilities. ''Liquid Fire'' is an attack modifier that causes Jakiro's next attack to burn enemies in an area, inflicting damage over time and greatly slowing their attack rate. This ability even works on buildings, letting Jakiro push down towers with impunity by neutralizing their attacks. Jakiro's ultimate ability ''Macropyre'' sets a long section of ground in front of it aflame, dealing intense damage over time to any enemy standing within; Aghanim's Scepter increases the range and causes the flames to deal more damage and last much longer. Aghanim's Shard unlocks a fifth ability for Jakiro, letting him empower an attack with ''Liquid Frost'' to slow the movement speed of enemies in an area around the target while damaging them for a percentage of their max health every second. Whether in a push or a fight, Jakiro's power over frost and flame make it a significant threat.

----
* AcrophobicBird: In the same vein as Viper, he actually does fly, but is treated as a ground unit in-game and thus can't fly over cliffs and the like.
* AntiStructure: Buildings are fully affected by ''Liquid Fire'' and ''Liquid Frost'', both the damage and attack speed slow, making Jakiro an excellent tower-killer.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: ''Macropyre'' deals pure damage that pierces spell immunity with one of Jakiro's level 25 talents.
* ArtEvolution: The patch 7.03 update gives him a new model.
* BadassBaritone: One of the heads has a rather deep voice. If in-game lines and MouthFlaps are to be believed, it's the blue one.
* BlackMage: All of Jakiro's spells are designed to be used in teamfights, where he can potentially stunlock an entire team, then follow up with ''Macropyre'', which just by itself does almost 200 damage per second over a large area of effect.
* BreathWeapon: All of Jakiro's spells, as well as his right-click attack, have him unleash various projectiles and gases from his mouths.
* CantCatchUp: Like Pugna, Jakiro is one of the least hard carries in the game - because he has a mediocre right-click and his spells don't scale very well in actual damage, he falls off hard around the 25-30 minute mark, so usually he has to end the game before that point.
* ConjoinedTwins: Jakiro is essentially the Pyrexae equivalent of this: unlike others who are born in clutches of two, Jakiro was born from a single egg with two heads and two minds in one body.
* DamageOverTime: While none of Jakiro's abilities do much upfront damage, he's got a lot of ways to chip away at his enemies' health over the course of a longer fight. ''Liquid Fire'', ''Dual Breath'', and ''Liquid Frost'' inflict a damage over time debuff, while ''Macropyre'' constantly damages enemies who stand in its area.
* DiscOneNuke: ''Ice Path'' only costs 90 mana per use, and creates a wall that damages and stuns everyone in its path, with a short cooldown. With Jakiro's high mana pool, it can essentially be cast over and over again in the early game, potentially turning your lane into a complete massacre, and it is still very potent all the way into the inevitable late-game teamfights.
* FireWaterJuxtaposition: One of his head breathes fire, while the other breathes ice.
* FlyingBrick: Jakiro is a dragon and one of the most durable Intelligence supports in the game.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The lore of ''Macropyre'' suggests that it's a combination of ice and fire. Visually as well as in its effect, it seems to be just fire.
* GiantFlyer: Jakiro is a dragon about the size of a person, and who can stay perpetually aloft just by flapping his wings.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom
* HarmlessFreezing: ''Ice Path'' deals very little damage next to the stun. ''Dual Breath'' as well: the ice breath slows the targets, but deals no damage at all. Compounded by the fact that the ice breath is released a bit before the fire breath, meaning that it's possible to walk away unscathed from ''Dual Breath'' if the former hit but the latter did not.
* HerdHittingAttack: His normal ''Macropyre'' + ''Ice Path'' + ''Dual Breath'' + ''Liquid Fire'' combo makes chasing an enemy hero in a tight group a ''very'' bad idea.
* AnIcePerson: His right head has ice breath.
* JackOfAllStats: Because of his slow, stun, generally high area of effect damage with his skills, and relative item- and level-independence, Jakiro is most of the time played as a support that fits well in most teams. On the other hand, he is also a rather potent mid, can survive the offlane due to his tankiness and can even be ran as an early game carry in a trilane as well. Because of the '''4''' second cooldown, 0 mana cost, and tower destruction power, Jakiro's ''Liquid Fire'', which combined with ''Dual Breath'' for quick creep-clearing ability, allows Jakiro to push down towers very quickly and snowball his entire team with tower bounty for early wins.
* KillItWithFire: ''Liquid Fire'' and ''Macropyre'' deal large amounts of splash damage over time. ''Dual Breath'' combines fire and ice to both slow and damage enemies over a large area of effect.
* MightyGlacier: Can do a ''lot'' of damage to groups of heroes, and has good strength growth for an Intelligence hero, the only problem is that his ''cast point'' (0.65 seconds) leaves something to be desired.
* MultipleHeadCase: Both heads appear to think individually, and they seem to get along well. However, they're still not above occasionally bickering among themselves.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: A two headed dragon that breathes ice and fire, but his species is one-headed and breathes either ice or fire. Like traditional western dragons he has a [[TreasureRoom lair]] where he hoards his riches.
-->'''Jakiro (last hitting):''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/5/5e/Jak_lasthit_05.mp3 "Gold for our lair."]]
* PlayingWithFire: His right head has the traditional fire breath.
* ShoutOut: Jakiro's original lore, which described it as having been found gnawing on the roots of the World Tree, was one to the Nidhoggr of Myth/NorseMythology.
* SingleMindedTwins: Jakiro is technically a pair of conjoined twins, as evidenced by his backstory and the heads' tendency to refer to each other as "Brother".
* SpellBlade: ''Liquid Fire'' periodically adds an attack slow and damage-over-time to Jakiro's right-clicks, while ''Liquid Frost'' will periodically add a movement slow and damage-over-time.
* SplashDamageAbuse: He can even hit and disable invisible targets with his AOE spells.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Most of his lines are meant to sound like two people speaking at once. Justified because they ''are'' [[SingleMindedTwins two people speaking at once]].
* VolcanicVeins: His fiery half has red ones and his icy half has blue.
* YinYangBomb: Especially with ''Dual Breath'' and ''Macropyre'', which combine the powers of both heads.
* YouAreAlreadyDead: If Jakiro can apply both his ''Dual Breath'' and ''Liquid Fire'' to a target, he can apply a grand total of ''500'' damage over 5 seconds, which in the early to mid game can end up finishing off an escaping/invisible enemy hero, assuming they don't have a purge, dispel, banish or enough sheer regen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ezalor, the '''Keeper of the Light''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Keeper_of_the_Light_4766.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dota2_gamepedia/images/e/e6/Vo_keeper_of_the_light_keep_rare_04.mp3 "They say t'was I who carried the first light into the universe. They might be right, I can't quite recall."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/NolanNorth

Appearing as a doddering old man who can hardly remember what he's doing, Ezalor is nevertheless one of the Fundamentals of the universe. Breaking free of the Fundamental plane at the dawn of time, he rides forth upon a pale horse, bestowing the gift of light to all planes and always one step ahead of the chaos that pursues him. But when faced with the creatures of chaos and darkness that oppose him, he breaks out of his unassuming disguise to unleash the full might of his brilliant and benevolent power.\\
\\
Keeper of the Light is a potent one-man support team, with powerful abilities for aiding his allies and debilitating enemies. ''Illuminate'' is a channeled ability that, when released, unleashes a wave of light that deals damage to all enemies in its path; the longer Ezalor channels the ability, the more damage it deals. ''Solar Bind'' helps Ezalor lock down enemies, inflicting a slow on the target that intensifies the more they move. Keeper of the Light can keep his allies' mana topped off with ''Chakra Magic''. When cast on an ally, it restores mana and takes a few seconds off their abilities that are currently on cooldown. With his ultimate ability, Ezalor can go into ''Spirit Form'', giving him increased movement speed and cast range, causing ''Illuminate'' to be channeled by a spirit so that Ezalor can do other things, and unlocks ''Blinding Light'', a teamfight-oriented spell that blinds enemies in an area and knocks them away, causing them to miss on a percentage of their attacks. Aghanim's Shard unlocks ''Recall'', which summons an ally to Ezalor's position after a short delay, but is interrupted if that ally takes damage. Aghanim's Scepter unlocks a seventh ability, ''Will-o-Wisp''; with it, Ezalor summons an Ignis Fatuus, a spirit of light which periodically emits a charming glow, hypnotizing enemies and forcing them to look at it.\\
\\
In ''Dota Underlords'', Keeper of the Light is a tier 4. His ability, ''Illuminate'', charges up a blast of energy before releasing it, dealing heavy damage which grows the longer it is channeled.
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* AnimalMotifs: Horses, which show up as part of a charged up ''Illuminate'' and gives it an neighing sound effect.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Ezalor is the humanoid personification of the weak nuclear force.
* ArchNemesis: Chaos Knight, who has pursued him through numerous planes of reality.
* AscendedGlitch: When he was created in ''Dota 2'', ''Illuminate'' had 25% extra range by a glitch. This was eventually removed briefly before being reinstated and extended back to [=DotA=] as well.
* BlindedByTheLight: ''Blinding Light'' blinds its targets with light.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: One of ''Blinding Light'''s secondary effects is a short-ranged knockback based on how close the target is to the center of the blast. However, this can actually displace people up or down terrain, and at least one major game at The International 3 was turned around due to this happening to the other team's core melee carry.
* BoringButPractical: ''Chakra Magic'' is one of the simplest skills in the game, but its ability to replenish mana on demand makes Ezalor one of the deadliest supports in the game since he can keep his whole team in the field for longer without having to return to base.
* CallBack: Ignis Fatuus used to be Ezalor's ultimate in very early versions of ''[=DotA=]'', but with different functionality from the one introduced in 7.20.
* ChargedAttack: ''Illuminate'''s drawback is that leveling it increases its mana cost (which makes it extremely costly to cast in quick succession even with ''Chakra Magic''), and only increases its channeling time, during which Keeper of the Light is forced to remain stationary and vulnerable to attack, and giving his opponents more time to get out of the way. To get the full 500 damage out of the nuke, the spell has to be channeled for the full 5 seconds, which makes it much more likely to miss unless you tag them with ''Solar Bind''.
* ChivalrousPervert: He will hit on any female hero who happens to be on his team, up to and including Broodmother. Makes more sense if you realize [[AnthropomorphicPersonification he's not nearly as human as he looks]]. However, this is only limited to the older heroes with Medusa being the latest; he has none for Legion Commander, Winter Wyvern, Dark Willow, Snapfire, Marci or his own disciple, Dawnbreaker.
* CooldownManipulation: ''Chakra Magic'' takes a few seconds off its target's cooldowns.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Although looking and acting like a stereotypical old coot, Ezalor is really the personification of light, and when danger is afoot, he shows it off.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Solar Bind'' reduces the magic resistance of a targeted enemy.
* DefogOfWar: ''Illuminate'' gradually gives more and more unrestricted vision around [=KotL=] as it's channeled (meaning it sees over trees and hills).
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf]]. The Dota 2 wiki has [[https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Keeper_of_the_Light#Trivia more]] on this.
* GlowingEyes: His eyes glow brightly when ''Spirit Form'' is active.
* GrumpyOldMan: In some of his quotes.
--> '''When denying:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/0/06/Keep_deny_12.mp3 Get off my lawn... eh, what's a lawn?]]
* HolyHandGrenade: ''Illuminate'' is arguably [=KotL=]'s signature ability. It has an extremely long range, wide radius, and at maximum level can deal up to 500 damage to anything caught in its path. It also only has an 11 second cooldown, which ''Chakra Magic'' can easily remove.
* HypnoRay: ''Will-O-Wisp'' summons a wisp that periodically emits a glow that hypnotizes enemies, forcing them to move toward it.
* InTheHood
* LightEmUp: Virtually every single one of his abilities utilizes light in some way or other.
* LightIsGood: The Keeper is the reason why light exists in the first place, having brought it to the realms after his escape from the fundamental plane. Without the light, the world of Dota 2 would have been nothing but a dark hellscape populated by horrific monsters not unlike the Night Stalker.
* MagicStaff
* MixAndMatchCritters: Tendrillar, the mount that comes with the Crucible of Light set, is a horse that has ram's horns.
* MountedCombat: Generally an ordinary white horse, but cosmetic items can change it to creatures like a reindeer or a unicorn.
* NonStandardSkillLearning: ''Blinding Light'' is a skill that is only useable when ''Spirit Form'' is active.
* {{Pegasus}}: His Wings of Daybreak Immortal mount is a winged horse.
* PowerGlows: ''Spirit Form'' causes Ezalor's entire body to glow brightly while active.
* RamblingOldManMonologue: A lot of his lines make fun of this.
* TheRedMage: Ezalor can regenerate his allies' mana with ''Chakra Magic'' and heal them with ''Illuminate'' when ''Spirit Form'' is active. ''Illuminate'' also nukes down enemies, ''Solar Bind'' slows them down and reduces magic resistance, and ''Blinding Light'' cripples their physical attacks.
* RegeneratingMana: ''Chakra Magic'' restores a set amount of mana on a target ally, and can be cast on yourself. In the early laning stage, this allows any lane with a [=KotL=] to constantly harass or gank their opponents without worrying about running out of mana.
* RobeAndWizardHat: His outfit.
* SadisticChoice: The ''Blinding Light'' + ''Will-O-Wisp'' combination can force enemy teams into a tough decision. Trying to run from ''Will-O-Wisp'' will likely get them dragged back due to its large area of effect, but trying to destroy the wisp is difficult at best when they're blinded.
* SentientCosmicForce: Keeper of the Light is the manifestation of light.
* SquishyWizard: All the phenomenal cosmic power of a Fundamental, with all the durability of a fragile old man.
* SuperMode: Ezalor's ultimate, ''Spirit Form'', turns him luminescent, increases his cast range and movement speed, gives him access to ''Blinding Light'', and allows ''Illuminate'' to heal allies without having to be channelled.
* SupportPartyMember: Ezalor is a natural position 5 support, since his spells can cripple enemies in a teamfight and ''Chakra Magic'' gives his team all the mana they need and then some, letting him make a huge impact even with no items other than a pair of Tranquil Boots. The tradeoff is that he is extremely bad at manfighting even for a support, since he's very frail and his only form of damage output has to be channeled outside of ''Spirit Form'', and even then, only an idiot would voluntarily stand in front of it; as such, he has to rely on his teammates in order to actually rack up kills and avoid getting squished.
* {{Teleportation}}: ''Recall'', unlocked by Aghanim's Shard, brings an allied hero to your location from anywhere on the map.
* TemporaryBlindness: ''Blinding Light'' temporarily blinds the affected enemies, causing them to miss 70% of their attacks for 5 seconds.
* TimeAbyss: Being a Fundamental, he is literally as old as creation.
* {{Unicorn}}: Ezalor's One Horn mount. No points for guessing how it differs from a normal horse.
* WhiteStallion: His default mode is a white horse.
* WizardBeard
[[/folder]]

[[folder:'''Leshrac''', the Tormented Soul]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Leshrac_1359.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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 was once a great philosopher who sought the answers to existence itself. To this end, he used the Chronoptic Crystals in order to learn nature's deepest mysteries. However, he was not prepared to see the horrifying truth of the world's order, and was transformed by his discovery into an entity embodying nature's vile and twisted cruelty. Now existing half in our plane, half in another, the Tormented Soul takes great pride in his supreme understanding of the cosmos, holding nothing but scorn towards those who believe goodness holds a special place in the universe.\\
\\
Leshrac is a versatile intelligence hero who can be used as either a core or a support depending on your playstyle. With his first spell, ''Split Earth'', Leshrac causes the ground to explode underneath his opponent's feet, stunning and damaging them in a small area after a short delay. This spell is hard to land due to the delay, but can be very powerful thanks to the long duration of the stun. With ''Diabolic Edict'', his next ability, Leshrac creates countless magical explosions around him over several seconds. The damage is low, but can add up quickly thanks to the large number of blasts; additionally, this spell can affect buildings, making Leshrac a devastating pusher who quickly melts down towers. ''Lightning Storm'' zaps one foe with electricity, damaging and slowing them. The bolt then jumps to other targets, spreading its effect. Finally, his ultimate ability ''Pulse Nova'' is a spell which can be toggled on or off: while it's turned on, Leshrac will continuously summon waves of magical energy which heavily damage all nearby foes at the cost of constantly draining his mana until it's turned off. Aghanim's Scepter unlocks the ability ''Nihilism'', which turns Leshrac ethereal and causes him to project an aura that also turns enemies around him ethereal, rendering all of them unable to attack or take physical damage; enemies caught will also be slowed and take increased magic damage, while Leshrac himself gets a speed boost. All of these abilities make Leshrac into a devastating magical damage dealer who can either assist his teammates with powerful stuns and slows, or dish out the pain himself by building items that improve his health and mana pool so he can stay in the fight for longer while his spells tear down his foes.

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* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of nature's dark side. Primarily shown in-game through ''Lightning Storm'' and ''Split Earth''.
* AntiEscapeMechanism: 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.
* AntiStructure: ''Diabolic Edict'' is one of the very few spells in the game that damages buildings, and in fact gets a damage bonus against buildings specifically. At level 4, a full ''Diabolic Edict'' takes off roughly ''80%'' the health of a tier 1 tower and over half the health of a tier 4... and he gets a talent to double the number of explosions, letting him kill towers by himself. It's not uncommon for teams facing Leshrac to save their Glyph of Fortification just to tank a ''Diabolic Edict''.
* 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.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: ''Nihilism'' turns all enemies around Leshrac ethereal, making them immune to physical damage and turning them more vulnerable to magic damage, which tends to be a very bad thing when standing next to Leshrac.
* DifficultButAwesome:
** Two aspects of Leshrac's playstyle appear to contradict each other: he's a GlassCannon with very little health, but his ''Pulse Nova'' requires him to be in the thick of the fight in order to be used most effectively. A good Leshrac must know when to enter the fray, and when to retreat.
** ''Split Earth'' is a powerful [=AoE=] stun, but has a delay before activating, meaning that it requires either considerable prediction or another stun to set it up.
* 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
* GaiasVengeance: The embodiment of it.
* GlassCannon: He's as [[SquishyWizard squishy]] as they come, with no escape[[note]]Though the combination of ''Diabolic Edict'' and ''Pulse Nova'' can make chasing and catching up to him fairly dangerous for melee heroes[[/note]], 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: Trying to decipher the meaning of existence led to him discovering ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow, leading to this.
* HavingABlast: ''Diabolic Edict'' creates numerous small, single-target explosions around Leshrac, and ''Pulse Nova'' periodically creates a big one that hits everything nearby.
* HerdHittingAttack: All four of Leshrac's skills are AOE nukes; one (''Diabolic Edict'') also affects structures, making him an excellent pusher.
* 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.
* 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: All of the cosmetic items in Leshrac's weapon slot are staves.
* 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: ''Lightning Storm'', as its name would indicate, is a storm that strikes a target enemy and nearby ones.
* ShoutOut: He's named after a TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering character, and his ''Diabolic Edict'' spell was named after a [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=397522 spell]] from the same.
* SpikesOfVillainy: With the Thorns of Sundering and the Twisted Wisdom cosmetic sets.
* SquishyWizard: His Strength and Agility are fairly lacking and he has no escape mechanism,[[note]]though ''Diabolic Edict'' and ''Pulse Nova'', combined with his relatively high move speed, can make chasing him down a painful prospect[[/note]] meaning that he dies relatively quickly under fire, not helped by his item build prioritizing mana over survivability. Of course, that's assuming that the enemy can weather his spells.
* 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, which can easily blast everything around him to bits.
* WasOnceAMan: Used to be a philosopher who used Chronoptic Crystals in order to learn nature's secrets. What he learned transformed him into his current form.
* WeakToMagic: Any enemies caught by ''Nihilism'' will take increased magical damage; given Leshrac's huge magic damage output, this works very well for him.
* WizardBeard
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ethreain, the '''Lich''']]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lich_9417.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/0/05/Lich_rare_01.mp3 "And so the dead will bury the dead."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Gary Schwartz

In life, Ethreain was a fearsome frost-mage whose mastery over ice magic allowed him to conquer many kingdoms. His tyrannical rule was ended when his enemies ambushed him, tied him up with charmed ropes and threw him into the supposedly bottomless Black Pool to sink forever. After approximately one year of sinking, his drowned body was snagged on an outcropping, where it stayed and was preserved. Centuries later, a geomancer named Anhil came to verify the Black Pool's alleged bottomlessness and ended up accidentally reeling Ethreain's body up from the depths. Anhil, unaware of the corpse's identity, used a simple resurrection spell to bring Ethreain back as an undead being in order to ask him about the pool. For this unwitting error of judgement, Anhil was repaid by having his soul consumed by the Lich.\\
\\
Lich is a hero most often played as a support, as he does not require many items to reach his full potential. His first spell, ''Frost Blast'', strikes a target with cold, damaging and slowing them while inflicting lesser damage to nearby units, useful for ganking or harassing foes. With his second spell, ''Frost Shield'', Lich grants a buff to an ally or tower, increasing their resistance to physical damage while constantly striking surrounding foes with waves of cold, damaging and slowing them. This spell can greatly increase the survivability of a hero or building. He can disable enemies with ''Sinister Gaze'', a channeled spell which hypnotizes an enemy and forces them to walk towards him while draining their mana. Finally, his ultimate, ''Chain Frost'', summons a powerful ball of ice which flies towards an enemy, dealing great damage and slowing them. It then bounces between nearby enemies, potentially dealing massive damage to several foes if timed properly. With this arsenal of freezing spells, Lich can chill any foe to the bone.\\
\\
In ''Artifact'', Lich is a black hero. His innate Active Ability, ''Sacrifice'', condemns an ally, then lets you draw one card, or two cards if the victim's Attack was 6 or more. His signature card, ''Chain Frost'', deals 3 damage to a unit, then 3 damage to a random unit to its left or right; this latter effect is repeated 7 times, and you also get Initiative.\\
\\
In ''Dota Underlords'', Lich is a Ace of Mages, increasing his team's mana generation. His ability, ''Chain Frost'', fires a ball of cold which bounces between foes, damaging and slowing them.
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* AdaptationalNameChange: During the switch from the original ''[=DotA=]'' to ''Dota 2'', Lich was renamed from Kel'Thuzad (which is the name of a ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' character) to Ethreain, and his first three skills were renamed from ''Frost Nova'', ''Frost Armor'' and ''Dark Ritual'' to ''Frost Blast'', ''Ice Armor'' and ''Sacrifice'' (although the latter two have since been replaced with new abilities).
* AffablyEvil: Lich has a large amount of dedicated voice lines for support actions, and even for buying wards (which makes him unique among even support heroes). All while being an EvilSorcerer.
* BaldOfEvil: Granted, he's mostly skeletal now, and skeletons don't usually come with hair.
* ChainedByFashion: A leftover from when he was overthrown and tossed into a bottomless pit.
* CombatMedic: The appropriate level 25 talent makes Lich into a serviceable healer by granting targets of ''Frost Shield'' a notable boost to health regeneration.
* ElementalBarrier: ''Frost Shield'' has Lich place a round, icy barrier around himself or an ally, which lowers all physical damage taken by its target while slowing and damaging nearby enemies.
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Ethreain was once a tyrant wielding ice powers. This was all the more fitting following his death and resurrection.
* EvilOverlord: He was one in his past life as the tyrant of many kingdoms.
* EvilSorcerer: In life, Ethreain used his mastery over ice magic to conquer many kingdoms.
* {{Expy}}: Three of Lich's four original spells were lifted directly from the eponymous hero in ''Warcraft III'', with the only real change being his ultimate ability, which was changed from ''Death and Decay'' (effectively a channeled version of Enigma's ''Midnight Pulse'', which also affected buildings) into ''Chain Frost''. The original ''[=DotA=]'' didn't even bother with the pretense and straight-up gave him Kel'Thuzad's name and voice lines. Yes, [[Characters/WarcraftTheScourge that Kel'Thuzad]]. Patch 7.20 diminished this by replacing ''Ice Armor'' and ''Sacrifice'' with new abilities.
* 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: He’s an undead frost mage, and his eyes glow red.
* HumanResources: Lich's ''Sacrifice'' ability in ''Artifact'' condemns an ally, then lets you draw one or two cards. Prior to its replacement by ''Sinister Gaze'' in Patch 7.20, it allowed 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.
* HypnoticEyes: ''Sinister Gaze'' hypnotizes an enemy, forcing them to walk towards Lich while it's being channeled. And with Aghanim's Scepter, he can use it on an area-of-effect, which can really ruin an enemy team's day if he just so happened to ''Chain Frost'' them beforehand.
* AnIcePerson: He was a fearsome frost-mage in life, and death did not do much to weaken his power.
* ItsAllAboutMe: In previous versions, this was how he felt about using ''Sacrifice'' on allied creeps.
--> '''Lich:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/e/e0/Lich_ability_ritual_01.mp3 "For the greater good-- mine!"]]
* ManaDrain: Lich's ''Sinister Gaze'' drains mana based on the percentage of the enemy's current mana, up to 25%. However, ''Sinister Gaze'' drains mana in numerous ticks and checks the target's mana on each tick, meaning the actual mana drained will be slightly less than the stated value.
* MutualDisadvantage: Lich has ''no'' control over ''Chain Frost'' after it launches, so unless he chooses the talent at level 25, heroes with summoned creeps or illusions 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 the talent, 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 continue to bounce. This previously meant that a Lich with an Aghanim's Scepter [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6GYt6aeUM could lock down ancient camps and kill anybody who tries to farm them]]. No longer possible due to the Ancients' spell immunity being replaced with spell resistance, meaning that ''Chain Frost'' will kill them off eventually.
* OurLichesAreDifferent: A sorcerer-tyrant of ice, who was killed untold centuries ago and revived by a curious geomancer.
* PinballProjectile: ''Chain Frost'' hits up to 10 enemies via bouncing if another enemy is close enough to it (take the appropriate level 25 talent, 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.
* PointyEars: Has these, either as a sign that he’s malevolent and evil, or perhaps because he was an elf in life.
* PowerFloats: He commands vast magical power over ice, and always floats a few inches over ground.
* PungeonMaster: The vast majority of his lines reference ice, cold, and death.
* 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; His eyes glow red, and he’s a fearsome, malevolent undead and potent spellcaster, whose ultimate can wipe entire teams.
* TheRedMage: He can both wear down enemies with ''Frost Blast'', burst them down with ''Chain Frost'', hypnotise them and drain their mana with ''Sinister Gaze'', or protect and possibly heal his friends with ''Frost Shield''.
* RunOrDie: If Lich takes the appropriate level 25 talent, ''Chain Frost'' never stops bouncing until there's no one left to bounce to - in other words, until the enemy either scatters or gets annihilated. HilarityEnsues if it's thrown at, say, Meepo or Chaos Knight, as the hapless player desperately tries to micro his many units away from each other.
* SorcerousOverlord: Before he was overthrown, he was a frost mage conqueror and tyrant.
* SquishyWizard: While he can alleviate this somewhat with ''Frost Shield'', Lich has very low Strength gain and can be squashed quite quickly if caught out of position.
* StatusInflictionAttack:
** 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'', ''Frost Shield'' 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). In older versions, he even had a talent that added a slow effect to his auto-attacks - basically a free Eye of Skadi!
** He can charm enemies with ''Sinister Gaze'', forcing them to slowly walk towards him.
* StayFrosty: He says this when casting ''Frost Shield''.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Lich’s chest is completely bare, since he came back exactly as they threw him into the Black Pool. His undead and skeletal nature means he’s not exactly played for fanservice, and he has cosmetics that cover him up completely.
* 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 ultimate, it is necessary to lock down the targets' movement speed and engage in an area without creeps.
** Without any other units in the area to bounce to, ''Chain Frost'' becomes all but useless, just a simple one-time nuke that isn't even that strong, leaving him very vulnerable to a one-on-one situation. This is basically what his Shard upgrade is for, creating an icicle that not only slows the enemy, but provides something for the spell to bounce to, so that attacking him one on one, when Chain Frost could otherwise only bounce once, becomes very dangerous.
* WeirdBeard: Made of frost, apparently.
* YouWillNotEvadeMe: ''Sinister Gaze'' forces a target to walk towards Lich.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:'''Lina''', the Slayer]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lina_2453.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/a/a1/Lina_battlebegins_01.mp3 "One little spark and before you know it, the whole world is burning."]]-] ]]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Creator/JenTaylor

Lina is the older sister of Rylai the Crystal Maiden, and their childhood quarreling was the stuff of legends in their homeland, although the fiery, yet clever and cunning Lina always had the advantage over Rylai's naivete and guileness. However, because of their rivalry, their parents kept losing their homes, one from fire, and one from ice. Eventually, their exasperated parents thought that these troubles would end if the sisters were just separated. Lina was sent to the south to live with her aunt at the blazing Desert of Misrule, a most comfortable place for her and her practice of fire magic. Though she made a great impression on the locals with her arrival, many would-be suitors left with their fingers scorched or eyebrows singed off by her. Lina is a proud fire sorceress and there's nothing that can dampen her flames.\\
\\
Lina is a ranged Intelligence Hero often run as a solo mid due to her exceptional nuke damage and Intelligence growth. She specializes in burst magic damages, thus enemy heroes will be more inclined to buy magic-resisting items to stave her off. Her main first spell is ''Dragon Slave'', and had her channel a breath of a dragon to be launched at the enemy in a line, damaging everyone in sight. Her second spell, ''Light Strike Array'', is more tricky as Lina calls forth a sun ray to blast a circular area stunning everyone caught in the blast. Her third skill, ''Fiery Soul'', is a passive skill that grants her bonus movement and attack speed temporarily after she casts a spell. This bonus stacks, so a Lina that can keep up with the spellcasting will be granted with massive normal attack bonuses. And lastly, her ultimate, ''Laguna Blade'', has Lina shoot out a massive bolt of lightning that strikes the enemy with a powerful blast of damage, able to take out unprotected squishy heroes in one shot.\\
\\
In ''Dota Underlords'', Lina is a tier 3 hero belonging. Her ability, ''Laguna Blade'', deals heavy damage to an enemy.
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* ActionGirl: On both sides, no less. Her nukes and auto-attack can be very potent killing tools, so Lina is often played in the mid lane.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: With a level 25 talent, ''Laguna Blade'' deals pure damage (meaning that magic resistance will no longer help) and it becomes able to bypass spell immunity (meaning that activating BKB will not save you).
* BlackMage: Lina's kit almost completely revolves around raw damage: three of her abilities are nukes, while the final one boosts her right-click attack.
* ColorCodedElements: Her [[ElementalHairColors hair]] and clothes are red, fitting with her fire-elemental powers.
* DifficultButAwesome: ''Light Strike Array'' is very tricky to land for new players, and her skills are almost entirely focused on raw damage, and she's ''very'' mana-hungry in the earlier game before her ''Fiery Soul'' can optimally buff her right clicks. She can be an unholy terror in the right hands, but food in the wrong ones.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Is mostly barefoot, floating around.
* DudeMagnet: Lore-wise, after moving to desert, Lina has gotten so many would-be suitors for her attractiveness... and proudly rejected all of them.
* ElementalHairColors: Even without the [[FlamingHair Fiery Soul of the Slayer]] equipped, Lina is a redhead, fitting with her fire-element powers.
* {{Expy}}: Very obviously to Lina Inverse of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''. In fact, in [=DotA=], she was mean to be '''the''' Lina Inverse.
* EvilCounterpart: Lion is one to Lina. Both are two of the very first heroes in the game (since version 0.60) and fearsome nukers with an ultimate capable of dealing massive damage to a single target. Compared to Lion, Lina is a better carry, has higher damage output and scales better to the late game, but needs more levels and isn't as good of a disabler.
* FieryRedhead: Played with. In her quotes, Lina shows a lot of cockiness, bordering on arrogance, but not necessarily anger or hot-bloodedness. The only thing in game that seems anything close to ruffle her feathers is [[TheGloriousWarofSisterlyRivalry her sister]]. However, in [[FlamingHair her arcana's]] description, it's said that Lina DID have quite the temper when she was younger, and her literal flaming hair was a sure sign of her rage surfaced; she later learned to suppress such display (thus making her hair look normal) as she learned to control her own temper.
* FlamingHair: With the ''Fiery Soul of the Slayer'' item. It also used to be her old Dota 2 model.
* FriendlyRivalry: She will still be friendly on Rylai if they're in the same team. When compared to another bloody rivalry like Kunkka-Tidehunter, it's a big "improvement".
* GenderFlip: Perhaps unknown to most players, she was formerly a male hero named Link Inverse.
* GlassCannon: At max level, her ultimate, ''Laguna Blade'', deals the largest amount of burst magic damage in the game, beating out even Lion's ''Finger of Death'',[[note]]Though ''Laguna'' has the higher base damage, ''Finger'' gains damage for every kill it does, so it often ends up with the higher overall damage[[/note]] and with a level 25 talent can even bypass spell immunity. Combine with her good intelligence growth and attack speed from ''Fiery Soul'', she can tear down enemy heroes quickly if her burst hasn't done so already. On the flip side, she's easy to put down if focused down by the other team.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Lina is the smart and more guile one compared to Crystal Maiden, giving her advantage in parental preference than Rylai. She's more the loner sister lore-wise.
* HotWitch: She's a powerful magic user who's renowned for her good looks even in-universe. Bonus points for living up to the "hot" label [[PlayingWithFire in more ways than one]].
%%* ImpossiblyLowNeckline
* LadyOfBlackMagic: A prideful, evil fire sorceress whose kit is focused on unleashing large amounts of magical damage on enemies.
* MageMarksman: Lina's passive, ''Fiery Soul'', ramps up her attack and movement speed the more spells she casts. This allows her to actually deal a surprising amount of physical damage for an Intelligence hero, so right-click items like Mjollnir and Eye of Skadi aren't uncommon on her.
* MsFanservice: While [=DotA=] is less sexualized for the girls, it's worth noting that Lina used to take the ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'' Sorceress model, which is very sensual. Come Dota 2, Lina is given a rather {{Stripperiffic}} outfit that [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline bare a lot of her shoulders]], and gets a rather sensual voice (toned down from the Sorceress voice set, but still there). Thus if there's a "hottest DOTA girl" topics in the internet, Lina would definitely be mentioned, aside of making "hot" {{Pun}}s with [[PlayingWithFire her powers]]. In fact, [[http://agito666.deviantart.com/art/0427-Dota-2-Boobs-chart-343495727 a boob chart that also gives analysis with the in-game model]] shows that Lina is the ''second'' bustiest DOTA 2 lady just behind Queen of Pain. Ironic, considering [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} her former namesake]] is flat-chested.
* OneHitPolykill: When upgraded with Aghanim's Shard, ''Laguna Blade'' will always travel its full cast length and hit all units along its path.
* OnlyOneName: Once her full name was [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Lina Inverse]]. To accommodate her rivalry and relation with Rylai, her surname was redacted.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: ''Dragon Slave'':
--> ''In the scorched barren of Misrule, Lina learned to manipulate the fiery breath of the Desert Wyrm as a form of entertainment.''
* PlayingWithFire: Nearly all of Lina's abilities involve fire. She can send out a wave of fire with ''Dragon Slave'', smite foes with solar flames by using ''Light Strike Array'', and the more she casts, the more her ''Fiery Soul'' burns, increasing her speed. Even ''Laguna Blade'', which is [[ShockAndAwe lightning-based]], can be seen as an extension of her fire abilities, as its description mentions that the heat surrounding her is what lets her create that bolt of electricity.
* PowerFloats: Fittingly for a powerful sorceress, Lina floats around instead of walking.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: ''Light Strike Array'' burns air with the sun's energies.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: In the original mod, Lina and Rylai had nothing to do with each other lore-wise. The transition to ''Dota 2'' made them into sisters.
* ShockAndAwe: ''Laguna Blade'', which is a blue bolt of lightning.
* ShoutOut: Lina's given full name used to be [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Lina ''Inverse''.]] The background information was also written to be as close to the Slayers version of Lina as possible. The spell names are still derived from spells of the show.
* SiblingRivalry: She doesn't get along well with Rylai due to obvious incompatibilities.
* SpamAttack: ''Dragon Slave'' and ''Light Strike Array'' both have extremely low cooldowns (and the cooldown of the former can be reduced even more with talent), allowing Lina to deal huge amounts of area-of-effect damage the longer she survives.
* SquishyWizard: She can bring a lot of pain with her fire spells, but can't take it in turn.
* SuperPowerMeltdown: Lina goes up in flames when killed.
* {{Tsundere}}: Several quotes directed against her imply that Lina is this, she actually blamed her parents for separating her and actually wanted to apologize and make up with Rylai. Except her excessive pride will not allow her to do any apologizing.
* YellowLightningBlueLightning: ''Laguna Blade'' is blue, like most other bolts of lightning in the game.
%% * WreathedInFlames
[[/folder]]

[[folder:'''Lion''', the Demon Witch]]
[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lion_6539.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/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 (original), Glenn Wrage (''Artifact'')

Lion, as a Grandmaster of the Demon Witch tradition, stood out among his fellow practitioners for being a heroic mage who fought on the side of good. However, the resulting fame, along with his sheer ambition and great power, got the better of Lion, and a demon managed to seduce him to the side of evil by promising even greater prestige at the cost of his soul. But Lion never got what the demon promised him, and after committing countless unspeakably evil deeds, he was betrayed, as the demon abandoned Lion to strike deals with his enemies. In an act of furious revenge, Lion tracked the demon straight to Hell, killed it, and took its arm to replace his own. Although the new graft gave him the demon's powers, Lion was wholly disfigured by the process and soon returned from Hell on a murderous rampage against enemies and former allies alike. Lion is now the only remaining practitioner of the Demon Witch school of magic, taking the lives of all who are foolish enough to come study under him.\\
\\
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'' slows an enemy while sucking away their mana and transferring it to Lion, giving him more opportunities to cast spells without worrying about running out 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. If the target dies within 3 seconds of being his by this spell, ''Finger of Death'''s damage is permanently increased. 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 a 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'' (as well as the target being slowed, making it decent if not outstanding at preventing a hero from running from your partner), and immediately kill or weaken anyone with a well-placed ''Finger of Death''.\\
\\
In ''Artifact'', Lion is a black hero. His Active Ability is ''Finger of Death'', which deals 8 piercing damage to a unit, and his signature card is ''Mana Drain'', which steals 2 mana from the enemy tower and grants it to yours.

----
* AdaptationNameChange: Lion's first skill was renamed from ''Impale'' to ''Earth Spike'' during the switch from ''[=DotA=]'' to ''Dota 2'', presumably to avoid confusion with Nyx Assassin's skill with the same name.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Lion's ambition led to him making a deal with a demon, and one thing led to another from there.
* AntiEscapeMechanism: 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. ''Mana Drain'' also inflicts a low-level slow during the channel - only 35% at most, but even the lowest level (20%) can be the difference between escape and death for an opponent if your allies are chasing them. Most other heroes in the game will have only one reliable disable.
* AntiMagic: With Aghanim's Shard, Lion becomes spell immune while channeling ''Mana Drain''.
* AppendageAssimilation: Creatively referred to as "demonoplasty".
* ArtEvolution: Prior to a redesign, Lion used to look [[https://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.
* BeamSpam: Aghanim's Scepter drops the cooldown on ''Finger of Death'' down to twenty seconds at max rank, 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 inside out. In other words, if he kills someone with the spell - it ''succeeded in doing so!''
* CrutchCharacter: Once he hits level 6, Lion becomes a powerful nuker that can reliably remove any hero from the map. However, ''Finger of Death'' falls off in the late game (unless if Lion's team has stomped and he managed to accumulate many charges of bonus damage), and his lack of anything that goes through spell immunity means that he's powerless against a carry with a Black King Bar. Being a support hero, Lion isn't going to accumulate enough money for durability items, meaning that in the late game he will outright melt if the enemy carry so much as looks at him funny; although if said carry's BKB duration is reduced to 5 seconds, Lion does regain some usefulness, as being hexed for 4 seconds and stunned for 2.6 seconds can be devastating.
* CycleOfHurting: He's one of the few handful of heroes with 2 hard, reliable Disables (others include Shadow Shaman and Bane Elemental). Getting hit by ''Earth Spike'' followed by ''Hex'' means you're getting disabled for a ''very'' unhealthy 6 seconds, not to mention his ''Earth Spiike'' has the potential to hit multiple targets.
* 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 (''1000'' with a talent), 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 can't be played as a carry and scales to the late game worse than Lina.
** To Shadow Shaman: both are extremely squishy Intelligence casters with a relatively spammable nuke and the honour of having more than one non-ultimate hard disable, as well as an ultimate with the potential of dealing massive damage. Compared to Shadow Shaman's ''Mass Serpent Wards'', Lion's ''Finger of Death'' does its job faster and has a shorter cooldown at higher levels, but only works against a single hero, is of doubtful usefulness against Roshan and completely useless against towers.
* EvilSorcerer: Though he used to be the only good practitioner of his art.
* FaceHeelTurn: Once a respected archmage, now an EvilSorcerer.
* FallenHero: Remember kids, when a demon offers to [[DealWithTheDevil make a deal with you]], just say no.
* FinishingMove: ''Finger of Death'' is often used to finish off enemies, as it permanently gets more powerful if an enemy dies to it (or shortly after it hits).
* ForcedTransformation: He can do this to his enemies with ''Hex'', turning them to a frog (or fish, with a cosmetic item).
* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Usually accompanied by said someone evaporating.
* GlassCannon: His health pool is pathetically small, but ''Finger of Death'' is one of the most powerful burst-damage spells in the game.
* {{Gonk}}: The demonoplasty certainly didn't improve his looks.
* HerdHittingAttack: While only ''Earth Spike'' can hit multiple enemies by default, all of Lion's other spells can be upgraded to affect multiple enemies: ''Hex'' can be talented into a ground-targeted area-of-effect ability, Aghanim's Shard lets him ''Mana Drain'' up to three units at once, and ''Finger of Death'' hits enemies around the target if Lion has Aghanim's Scepter. This can make Lion a very dangerous late-game disabler, as he can potentially hex, stun, and nuke an entire enemy team at once.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Units hit by ''Earth Spike''.
* 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'' and ''Finger of Death'', or preventing them from casting spells with ''Mana Drain'' and ''Hex''.
* MagicStaff
* ManaDrain: His third ability, named this. Used properly, Lion can maintain his mana pool without having to go back to base by siphoning mana off creeps (including the ranged lane creeps, which possess a mana pool that they have no use for), 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.
* NonIndicativeName: Lion's name is very bizarre for a squishy burst mage support that one would think that he'd be more of an aggressive melee carry. In the original [=DotA=], the only allusion to his name is his backstory which compares him to a predator. Meanwhile, in ''Dota 2'', his current model strongly resembles a feline in comparison to his other models which are more of a fat man/demon.
-->'''Monkey King:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/9/90/Monkey_ally_93.mp3 Lion, your name is very misleading.]]
* TheRightHandOfDoom: His demon arm, which is the source of his hideous appearance and ''Finger of Death''.
* SeeTheInvisible: ''Mana Drain'' formerly provided True Sight over the target(s) if Lion has Aghanim's Shard, until the upgrade was reworked.
* SpikesOfVillainy: On his face.
* 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.
* SquishyWizard: His spells are extremely powerful, being able to inflict massive amounts of damage or disable an enemy, but he has very low health and is one of the squishiest heroes in the game.
* ToHellAndBack: Judging by Visage's surprised reaction, he did it multiple times already.
--> '''Lion:''' [[https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/dota2_gamepedia/4/4a/Lion_respawn_01.mp3 "I've been to hell and back, and back to hell… and back."]]
* TranquilFury: For a guy who mentions a lot about wrath and vengeance in his lines, he's quite held back when he speaks.
* VampiricDraining: His third skill, ''Mana Drain''.
* VolcanicVeins: His stolen demon hand.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: He never wears anything on his top half barring a mantle, although his flabby appearance means he doesn't look any better for it.
* WasOnceAMan: His background lore makes it clear that he was ''something'' else before his transformation, though it's unclear how 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:'''Muerta''']]
->'''Voiced by: ''' Margo Rey
Many different tales surround one named "Muerta", and the many graves she has left in her wake. What these stories have in common, is a woman so consumed in hatred of the one who took her life, she refuses to die. So much so, that Death himself took interest in this poor woman, making her his subservient. With a pair of ghostly guns handed to her, she hunts every soul whose time has come to its end, bringing them to their final fate.
\\
Muerta is a ranged Intelligence hero, who has the rare opportunity to be played as a carry, scaling well with damage items. ''Dead Shot'' has her fire a bullet that ricochet off trees or enemy targets, damaging them and everything the ricochet shot passes through, stopping at the first enemy hero, inflicting fear upon them. ''The Calling'' applies an area of effect slow with the rotating spirits silencing and damaging units that are hit by one. ''Gunslinger'' passively grants Muerta the opportunity to attack a second random unit near her, prioritizing heroes. Her ultimate ''Pierce the Veil'' renders Muerta immune to all physical damage, alters her basic attacks to deal magic damage and even attack ethereal enemies, and gives her phased movement for the duration, while also providing a basic dispel upon cast. It does, however, prevents her from damaging buildings and magic-immune targets.
----
* AllYourPowersCombined: The lore of ''The Calling'' states she calls upon the spirits of her deceased family in order to slow and silence her enemies.
* ArmorPiercingAttack: When ''Pierce the Veil'' is active, Muerta's right-click attacks can target ethereal enemies, rendering defensive abilities like Ghost Scepter or Necrophos' ''Ghost Shroud'' useless against her.
* BackFromTheDead: Her lore states she was so consumed by hatred in her final moments that Death itself was so impressed with her refusal to die that he struck a deal with her; she can cross between the worlds of the living and dead to see her family in exchange to carry out Death's work. She gladly accepted and was gifted a pair of ghostly weapons.
* BloodKnight: Despite her disdain for taking part in the War of the Ancients, she nonetheless revels in the destruction it brings.
---> '''Muerta:''' Ahh, I love a good battle. Who am I kidding, I love a bad one too.
* BoringButPractical: Her third ability ''Gunslinger'' gives her the chance to attack a random enemy whenever she makes a basic attack. A rather mundane ability compared to the flashy ImprobableAimingSkills of her first ability or the whirlpool of spirits she summons with her second.
* {{Calacas}}: Her aesthetic as a whole, with a full-on skeletal appearance as well as a fitting background.
* ChessWithDeath: Supplementary material released with her update reveals that, InUniverse, Chess is by default the game played against Death. However, Muerta discovers while combing through Death’s legal paperwork that she’s allowed to pick the game…and she picks none other than ''{{VideoGame/Artifact}}'', a game considered [[SelfDeprecation so confusing and obtuse]] that she beats Death ''over nine times in a row!''
* GratuitousSpanish: Other characters may have foreign languages thrown in for fun, but her lines have a ''lot'' of Spanish added in, as a nod to her aesthetic.
* TheGunslinger: A Trick Shot type of gunslinger, able to ricochet a spectral bullet off a tree or enemy.
* GunsAkimbo: Dual wields a pair of pistols, and her passive ''Gunslinger'' gives her a chance to shoot two enemies at once.
* ICallItVera: Her pistols are named Mercy and Grace.
* MageMarksman: Muerta is one of the few Intelligence heroes who scale well as a right-click attacker, with ''Gunslinger'' allowing her to shoot two enemies at the same time and ''Pierce the Veil'' providing physical damage immunity.
* MultipleChoicePast: In some of her monologues she states there were many fables and legends as to how she had come about, even to a point where she forgets what her true story is. The only constant is her family is massacred and she was left clinging to life due to sheer rage.
* SupernaturalFearInducer: Befitting her scary nature, her Dead Shot will cause heroes to run the opposite direction the ricocheting bullet hits them, allowing her to put them in undesirable spots.
* VengefulGhost: Her ultimate allows her to transform into one, rendering her immune to physical damage, like an Ethereal hero, without the limitation of being unable to right-click enemies.
* YouKilledMyFather: Interactions with Mortred and Asan implicate the Sisters of the Veil has the ones responsible for her family's massacre. She also has a particular hatred for Oracle as well, as she claims he was the one who ordered their deaths so to have her participate in the War of the Ancients years later.
[[/folder]]

* AchillesHeel: While Bane is a great disabler, all his spells are single targeted[[note]]At least at the start - ''Brain Sap'' can be upgraded with Aghanim's Shard to have an [=AOE=] effect, and Aghanim's Sceptre upgrades ''Fiend's Grip'' to create two "clones" of him that can maintain the channel while he does something else[[/note]], making him one of the worst pushers in the game.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the original [=DotA=], Rylai had the surname 'Crestfall', which was removed in Dota 2 to accommodate how she is Lina's sister. Her third skill was renamed to ''Arcane Aura'' from ''Brilliance Aura'', which originated as the name of the ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'' Archmage's third skill.

* MagicKnight: Early in the game, Enchantress' contribution consists mostly of heals, creep abilities and slows. As she acquires items like Dragon Lance and Aghanim's Scepter, Enchantress' regular attacks with ''Impetus'' are strong enough to kill most heroes with a couple of attacks, if they stand far enough, and make her a semi-carry.

* 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, since their timer is extended when they multiply). However, you can't use it on higher-level jungle creeps, and you can't use it on your own flagbearer creep to deny them.

* 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. Additionally, ''Invoke'' only has one level and is known automatically at level 1, making it more of an innate ability than an actual ultimate.

* ShouldersOfDoom: The rather aptly named cosmetic Heaven-Piercing Pauldrons, which extend at least half a metre over Invoker's height. Apparently they serve as a reminder that even the depthless celestial realm is vulnerable to being punctured by Invoker's power.

* TimeTravel: In the lore for the "Acolyte of the Lost Arts" hero persona, it is explained that one version of Carl learned a time travel spell when he was a child, and used it to jump into the future and take the place of the adult Invoker.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Of light.
* AntiEscapeMechanism: When used on an enemy, ''Chakra Magic'' drains the target's mana as they move, heavily punishing them for casting escape spells.

* ElementalEmbodiment: Of light.

* MagicKnight: Lina's passive, ''Fiery Soul'', ramps up her attack and movement speed the more spells she casts. This allows her to actually deal a surprising amount of physical damage for an Intelligence hero, so right-click items like Mjollnir and Eye of Skadi aren't uncommon on her.

* MagicKnight: As an Intelligence hero some of Muerta's kit leans towards crowd control however the other part of her kit has the potential to be a devastating late game carry because of passive multiattacks and immunity to physical damage.

* PowerNullifier: Her ultimate ''Pierce the Veil'' is able to attack ethereal units, causing abilities like Necrophos' ''Ghost Shroud'' or Ghost Scepter's active ability to lose their defensive capabilities against her.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the original [=DotA=], Rylai had the surname 'Crestfall', which was removed in Dota 2 to accommodate how she is Lina's sister. Her third skill was renamed to ''Arcane Aura'' from ''Brilliance Aura'', which originated as the name of the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' Archmage's third skill.

* 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. Not surprising at all, as she was based on the VideoGame/Warcraft3 Banshee unit.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: His people the Oglodi, though he wasn't a warrior himself. It is worth noting that all of the currently playable Oglodi (except Lifestealer) were [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] in the original Warcraft III [=DotA=], another proud warrior race.

* MsFanservice: While [=DotA=] is less sexualized for the girls, it's worth noting that Lina used to take the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' Sorceress model, which is very sensual. Come Dota 2, Lina is given a rather {{Stripperiffic}} outfit that [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline bare a lot of her shoulders]], and gets a rather sensual voice (toned down from the Sorceress voice set, but still there). Thus if there's a "hottest DOTA girl" topics in the internet, Lina would definitely be mentioned, aside of making "hot" {{Pun}}s with [[PlayingWithFire her powers]]. In fact, [[http://agito666.deviantart.com/art/0427-Dota-2-Boobs-chart-343495727 a boob chart that also gives analysis with the in-game model]] shows that Lina is the ''second'' bustiest DOTA 2 lady just behind Queen of Pain. Ironic, considering [[LightNovel/{{Slayers}} her former namesake]] is flat-chested.

* YourWorstNightmare: Enemies put to sleep by ''Nightmare'' and ''Fiend's Grip'' do not rest easy, as they are [[MindRape tormented by horrific nightmares]], dealing damage over time.

* BareYourMidriff: Her [=DotA=] character model ([[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Jaina Proudmoore]]) and Dota 2 concept art both had this, though this trope is absent on the final in-game Dota 2 model.

* BareYourMidriff: The Ghastly Matriarch and Secrets of the Merqueen cosmetics feature a midriff-baring outfit.

* BareYourMidriff: The belly of Aiushtha's humanoid half isn't covered.

* PowerNullifier: Her ultimate ''Pierce the Veil'' is able to attack ethereal units, rendering abilities like Necrophos' ''Ghost Shroud'' or Ghoster Scepter's active ability lose its defensive capabilities against her.

* BackFromTheDead: Her lore states she was so consumed by hatred in her final moments that Death itself brought her spirit back and even equipped her with a pair of ghostly weapons for her to help carry out Death's work.

* BackFromTheDead: Her lore states she was so consumed by hatred in her final moments that Death itself brought her spirit back and even equipped her with a pair of ghostly weapons to carry it out.

There are as many stories about Muerta as there are graves in the Carrion Fields of Gorm. Some tell their children ghost stories of a young peasant girl returned from the dead to punish the bandits who killed her family. Others, drunk in dark taverns, slur conspiracy theories about kidnappings and phantom guilds of killers. One constant bleeds through every tale: of a woman so consumed by hate for those who killed her that she refused to die. And of Death, so impressed by whatever hate-filled engine that drove this woman that he gave her Mercy and Grace — twin ethereal pistols — and made her his second in command. Now she hunts down wayward souls whose last grains have tumbled from their hourglass, and drags them kicking and screaming to their eternal reward.

Muerta is a newly released ranged Intelligence hero. ''Dead Shot'' has the unique ability to ricochet off trees or targets, dealing damage and inflicting fear on everything the ricochet shot passes through. ''The Calling'' applies an area of effect slow with the rotating spirits silencing units that are hit by it. ''Gunslinger'' passively grants Muerta the opportunity to attack a second random unit near her. Her ultimate ''Pierce the Veil'' renders Muerta immune to all physical damage, alters her basic attacks to deal magic damage and even attack ethereal enemies, and gives her phased movement for the duration.

* GunsAkimbo: Dual wields a pair of pistol, and her passive ''Gunslinger'' gives her a chance to shoot two enemies at once.

* VengefulGhost: Her lore states she was so consumed by hatred in her final moments that Death itself brought her spirit back and even equipped her with ghostly weapon to carry it out.

* VengefulGhost: Her lore states she was so consumed by hatred in her final moments Death itself brought her spirit back and even equipped her with ghostly weapon to carry it out.

* TheChick: Rylai is often considered one of the best early game support heroes in the game, and an all-around good support, due to being ranged, having two soft disables, and an underestimated but powerful passive. Properly played, a Crystal Maiden can maintain ward vision throughout the map, protect her carry in the safe lane, greatly increase the chances of a successful gank happening, and perform support duties better than most other supports in the game. Her normal outlook and personality also adds up to this: She's cheery and naive, and often really underestimated due to being a fragile hard support who's slow as molasses, making her an easy target if caught while isolated. Give her enough assistance and follow-up and... well, look above on what she can do.

* YellowLightningBlueLightning: ''Laguna Blade'' is blue, like most other lightnings in the game.

* 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.

* CycleOfHurting: He's one of the few handful of heroes with 2 hard, reliable Disables (others include Shadow Shaman and Bane Elemental). Getting ''Impaled'' followed by ''Hex'' means you're getting disabled for a ''very'' unhealthy 6 seconds, not to mention his ''Impale'' has the potential to hit multiple targets.

* MagicStaff: Dazzle’s WeaponOfChoice is a pink staff with rings that he uses to cast his spells and fling bolts of shadow energy at his enemies.

* CombinationAttack: ''Nightmare'''s purpose in a nutshell. As a disable it's rather situational, only really usable on a target which your team don't intend to focus down. On the other hand, it's one of the best setup abilities in the game: its long duration gives plenty of time for Bane's teammates to reposition themselves, and if necessary, land a powerful and normally-difficult skillshot (Mirana's ''Sacred Arrow'' being most notable) with zero effort.

* AchillesHeel: While Bane is a great disabler, all his spells are single targeted[[note]]At least at the start - ''Brain Sap'' can be upgraded with Aghanim's Shard to have an [=AOE=] effect, and Aghanim's Sceptre upgrade's ''Fiend's Grip'' to create two "clones" of him that can maintain the channel while he does something else[[/note]], making him one of the worst pushers in the game.

* AchillesHeel: While Bane is a great disabler, all his spells are single targeted[[note]]At least at the start - ''Brain Sap'' can be upgraded with Aghanim's Shard to have an [=AOE=] effect, and Aghanim's Sceptre upgrade's ''Fiend's Grip'' to create two "clones" of him that can maintain the channel while he does something else[[/note]], making him one of the worst pushers in the game. Bane players were encouraged to build a Necronomicon on him because of this, until it was removed from the game.

* CooldownManipulation: ''Good Juju'' reduces the cooldowns of all of Dazzle's abilities (including items if Aghanim's Scepter is bought) by up to 50% at maximum level.

* StatusBuffDispel: With Aghanim's Scepter, ''Shadow Wave'' removes any debuffs from its targets.

* LightningBruiser: For an Intelligence hero, she is surprisingly tanky with her high Strength growth and healing from ''Spirit Siphon'' and ''Exorcism'', and both past and previous versions have had options for seriously boosting her movement speed:
** Up until version 6.86 (December 2015), Death Prophet had a much lower base movement speed (tied for second-lowest at the time, at 280), but could level up ''Witchcraft'' to gain a significant speed boost. With the extra 20% movement speed from ''Witchcraft'', and with Eul's Scepter of Divinity and a choice of either Phase Boots or Boots of Travel, she could spend most of the game around 500 movement speed at a time when the cap was 522.
** Version 7.07 (October 2017) gave her a Level 25 talent: Hasted movement speed (now capped at '''550''') while Exorcism is active.

* PercentDamageAttack: The damage dealt by ''Spirit Siphon'' scales with the target's max HP.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: His stryder resembles a small, armless theropod dinosaur. One of his cosmetics is an actual dinosaur called "Gwanji the Thunder Lizard".

* PsychoElectricEel: His cosmetic mount Anguilla is a giant electric eel that somehow grew legs.

* GlowingEyes: His eyes glow brightly after he gets Aghanim's Scepter.

* YouWillNotEvadeMe: Between ''Frost Blast'' slowing its target's movement speed, ''Frost Shield'' slowing all enemies hit by its AOE pulses, ''Chain Frost'' bouncing between enemies and slowing them, and ''Sinister Gaze'' forcing a target to walk towards Lich, he's excellent at chasing and catching enemies. If he builds Agahnim's Shard, the icicle he summons with his bonus spell slows people in an AOE, too.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: With Aghanim's Scepter, ''Laguna Blade'' deals pure damage (meaning that magic resistance will no longer help) and it becomes able to bypass spell immunity (meaning that activating BKB will not save you).

* GlassCannon: At max level, her ultimate, ''Laguna Blade'', deals the largest amount of burst magic damage in the game, beating out even Lion's ''Finger of Death'',[[note]]Though ''Laguna'' has the higher base damage, ''Finger'' gains damage for every kill it does, so it often ends up with the higher overall damage[[/note]] and with Aghanim's Scepter can even bypass spell immunity. Combine with her good intelligence growth and attack speed from ''Fiery Soul'', she can tear down enemy heroes quickly if her burst hasn't done so already. On the flip side, she's easy to put down if focused down by the other team.