Time of Day

Time of Day is a gameplay element in Dota 2 that operates alongside the game's clock. Certain mechanics behave differently depending on the time of day.

Day and Night
Each day in Dota 2 is 8 minutes long, divided evenly between night-time and daytime. The game time of 0:00 is dawn, the first night begins at 4:00, the second day starts at 8:00, and so on. Nighttime is announced with a wolf's howl, while daytime is announced with a rooster's crow. At night, the map is darker and most heroes experience reduced vision, as detailed below. Additionally, the hero Night Stalker's spells are greatly improved at night.

Two abilities in the game force night to fall: Night Stalker's Darkness and Luna's Eclipse. These abilities effectively pause the day/night cycle for their duration; for example, if Night Stalker uses level 1 Darkness during the first night, the next day will start at 8:25 instead of 8:00 and the next night will begin at 12:25 instead of 12:00.

Vision
Most heroes have a vision during the day of 1800 units and a night vision of 800 units, although many exceptions exist.

Neutral Creeps
Note: this mechanic has not been implemented in Dota 2

During night time neutral creeps go to sleep. When neutral creeps are asleep, they will not acquire targets unless they are attacked by a unit they have vision over.