Monkey King

Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is a melee agility hero, best known for his slippery nature and his ability to do Mischief, deceiving his enemies by turning into trees and other objects. Armed with his magic extending staff, the Monkey King slams the ground with Boundless Strikes, and leaps to the treetops to have advantage over his foes with Tree Dance. Perched on a tree, he gains a clear view of his surroundings, allowing him to jump down on unsuspecting targets, dealing heavy damage and slowing their escape with Primal Spring. As a carry, the Monkey King is granted extra damage and lifesteal from Jingu Mastery after landing consecutive attacks on his opponents. In a teamfight, at Wukong's Command an army of clones is sent out across the battlefield to fight for him, while he himself has his armor increased. Together with the help of his clones and his team, the Monkey King is a force to be reckoned with.

Item Interactions

 * The soldiers copy most of Monkey King's items, and are therefore able to use attack modifiers and bestow auras he had upon cast.
 * On each cast, the soldiers' inventory get updated and adapted to that of Monkey King.
 * The clones do not copy the following items: and.
 * All other items are copied, although some have a slightly altered effect.
 * is copied, but the slow component does not work for the soldiers. While they receive the attack speed bonus, their fixed attack time prevents them from utilizing the increased attack speed.
 * and are copied, but soldiers are unable to bash with them.
 * The soldiers copy, and , but are unable to utilize their passive effects (they can utilise Mind Breaker's magical attack damage though).
 * Only 's toggled status gets copied. If Radiance is  upon summoning the soldiers, they are also toggled off on the soldiers.
 * Other items' toggle status are not copied and are by default.
 * and are copied, but the attribute the main hero had selected is not copied.

Mischief Transformations

 * Mischief transforms Monkey King based on nearby entities, from trees to items, runes, and non-hero units.


 * When cast while within 's pit and while Roshan is dead, Mischief disguises Monkey King as Roshan.
 * After his first respawn, Mischief disguises Monkey King into the when cast inside the pit.
 * After his second respawn, Mischief may also disguise him into, despite Roshan not dropping a Cheese on his second death.
 * After his third respawn, it may also disguise him into.
 * Mischief never disguises Monkey King as or.
 * The Roshan and Roshan-drop disguises have the highest priority.


 * When cast while within range of a rune spot, it disguises Monkey King into a rune based on the rune spot.
 * At the dedicated spots, it always transforms into a Bounty Rune.
 * At the river rune spots, it always transforms into a random power-up rune.
 * Although the river spawns Bounty Runes and on the first spawns, Mischief still disguises into a random power-up rune.
 * It does not matter whether there currently is a rune at that rune spot, Mischief disguises into a rune regardless.
 * The rune disguises have the second highest priority.


 * When cast while within range of a non-hero unit, it disguises Monkey King into that unit. If multiple units are within range, a random one of them is chosen.
 * Can transform into any non-hero unit, including lane creeps, neutral creeps, and summons, excluding wards, Creep-heroes and Roshan.
 * The non-hero unit disguises have the third highest priority.


 * When cast while within range of a tree, it disguises Monkey King into that tree. If multiple trees are within range, a random one of them is chosen.
 * Can transform into planted trees as well, using their model.
 * The tree disguises have the fourth highest priority.


 * When cast while within of a, it disguises Monkey King into that courier.
 * The courier disguises have the lowest priority.


 * When cast without any valid entities within the search radius, Mischief randomly disguises Monkey King into one of the following entities:
 * ,, , , , (new or peeled),.

Gameplay
 Strategy & Tips Counters & Matchups

Audio
 Responses Sounds

History
 Lore Old Abilities Changelogs

Trivia

 * Monkey King's name, lore and abilities are based on Sun Wukong, the legendary hero from the Chinese classic Journey to the West.
 * In the novel, the Monkey King wields the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a flexible magical staff that can change size and length.
 * The name for in Dota 2's Chinese client is "Seventy-two Transformations" (七十二变, Qī shí èr biàn), a reference from the novel to Sun Wukong's ability to change into numerous forms. This is referenced by his voice line, “Lycan’s got one transformation, I’ve got seventy-two.”
 * is based on one of the Monkey King's magical powers from the novel. He creates clones of himself from his hair, which he pulls from the back of his head, and blows into the wind.
 * In the novel he can fly on a cloud, called the Cloud Somersault technique. This is referenced by the names of his 6.80 beta abilities(Nimble Nimbus, Cloud Dance), the cloud riding effect added by Great Sage’s Reckoning, and his voice line: “Where’s my cloud?”
 * Monkey King is the first original hero made for Dota 2. All previous heroes were ported from DotA.
 * Monkey King is based on early concepts developed during the DotA era.
 * An easter egg boss fight versus Monkey King was added to the 6.79 DotA map to hint at his upcoming release.
 * Monkey King's stats were revealed in the version 6.80 beta, but he was never added to the release version.
 * was based off of Monkey King’s 6.80 beta version, his original model was approximately the same as the present Phantom Lancer, as well as his abilities. However, this version was not released and instead was released with some changes as Phantom Lancer.
 * Monkey King's rivalry line against Phantom Lancer, vo_monkey_king_monkey_rival_131.mp3 "Honestly, I don't see the resemblance.", acknowledges this.
 * His beta abilities included much the same mechanics as Phantom Lancer’s current ones: a ranged spell to create an illusion to attack an enemy hero(“Echo Sweep”), temporary invulnerability with illusions created on return(“Cloud Dance”), a dash towards a point(“Flicker”), and a passive to create illusions upon attacking an enemy hero(“Nimble Nimbus”).
 * See Monkey King/Old Abilities.
 * Several early ability concepts were considered for Monkey King's Dota 2 release, including a "pickpocket" ability.
 * The item, which only appeared in private lobbies, may have been an early hint to Monkey King's release. The item was removed on the same patch as Monkey King was released.
 * Monkey King's default weapon is based on the in-game item,.
 * 's lore line Watch out for that tree is a reference to George of the Jungle, a classic comedy film.
 * The Monkey King concept has been widely used throughout the ARTS/MOBA genre, with other Monkey King heroes appearing in League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Vainglory, Strife, SMITE, and Paragon.
 * The emblem on a ground made by is called a bagua, which is a Daoist symbol that represents the fundamental principles of reality.
 * Monkey King's was voiced in his teaser trailer by Matthew Mercer, who also voiced the Monkey King hero from Heroes of Newerth. However, his voice actor was later changed to Bill Millsap.
 * Monkey King's Chinese voice actor is Shihong Li, who also voiced Monkey King in the famous 1986 TV show, Journey to the West.
 * The sound effect played during ( weapons_hero_monkey_king_fur_army.mp3 ) comes from a Balinese music and dance called kecak. Accompanied by male chorus, this ritual song depicts a battle where a group of monkeys (Vanara) helped Prince Rama to fight the evil King Ravana.
 * One of Monkey King's lines directed at Storm Spirit, "I've seen Xin and Kaolin. Where's your other brother?" implies the existence of a fourth spirit, presumably Void Spirit, who was revealed two years later at The International 2019.