Neutral creeps

Neutral creeps are a type of creep not controlled by any player. They are aligned to neither of the teams, and offer an alternative source of gold and experience. Neutral creeps appear in small camps scattered in the jungle on both sides of the map. They come with different power levels and most of them have unique abilities. Roshan, who sits in his den at the river, is also considered a neutral creep.

Types
There are many different types of neutral creeps which spawn in small groups inside of camps within the jungle. These camps are categorised into small, medium, large and ancient creep camps.

Small camps
Small creeps are the weakest of the neutral creeps. They give little gold and experience, deal low damage and have low health, making them easy to kill for any hero at any time of the game. Usually, jungling heroes start farming these camps before other camps.

There are 6 different types of small camps, consisting of Kobolds, Hill Trolls, Vhouls, Ghosts and Harpies. The sixth camp type is a combination of kobolds and trolls. Besides the kobold camp which consists of 5 units, all small camps consist of 3 units.

Kobolds are the smallest creeps, but come in bigger groups. They are all melee and have no abilities besides one movement speed buffing aura on the biggest Kobold. Hill Trolls are ranged creeps, with one of the 3 having an active Heal ability which it spams whenever an ally is damaged, and a mana regen boosting aura. Vhouls are also ranged creeps and have all poisoned weapons, which afflicts damage over time. The ghost camp consist of 2 melee units and 1 ranged unit, which has a slowing attack. The Harpies are ranged creeps with effectively no ability. Although one of the Harpies has a very potent Chain Lightning, but it never uses it.

Medium camps
Medium creeps are also relatively weak camps, but stronger than the small creeps. They give a bit more gold and experience, deal low to moderate damage and have more health. Some of them can be dealt with early on, but some may be too strong.

There are 5 different types of medium camps, consisting of Centaurs, Wolves, Satyrs, Ogres and Golems. The number of units varies between 2 and 4 based on the camp.

The Centaurs are melee creeps, one of them being small and the other being big. The big centaur has a small area stun, which it only uses when enough enemies are within its range. The small centaur has an aura which makes its allies more resistant against magical damage. The Wolves come in a pack of 3, all of them having Critical Strike. The big wolf also has an attack damage boosting aura, which makes this camp deal the most damage. The Satyr camp consists 2 small satyrs, which are comparable to the creeps in the small creep camp power-wise, are ranged, and have a Purge ability which they never use, and 2 medium Satyrs, which are melee and have a mana burning ability which they also never use. Ogres are melee creeps which come in a group of 3, from which one has the Ice Armor ability which it never uses. Golems come in pairs, but split each into 2 smaller golems on their death. They are melee and have a long ranged stun which they do not use.

1 Values include 4 Shard Golems.

Large camps
Large creeps are the strongest of the regular camps. Their gold and experience bounties per camp are on the same level as the bounty of a lane creep wave. They consist of strong creeps with strong abilities and are very difficult to deal with early on.

There are 5 different types of large camps, consisting of Centaurs, Satyrs, Hellbears, Wildwings and Trolls. Besides the Hellbear camp which consists of 2 units, all large camps consist of 3 units.

The Centaurs of the large camp are the same as the ones from the medium camp, except that the large camp contains two small centaurs and one big one, instead of one of each. The large Satyr is similar to the medium one. It contains the same small and medium Satyr, but one of each instead of two, and has a big Satyr, which is a strong melee creep with a strong long-ranged area nuke which it uses only if enough enemies are within range, and a strong health regen boosting aura. The Hellbears are strong creeps which come in pairs, both being melee. The big one has an area damage and slow ability which it only uses when enough enemies are within range, and an attack speed boosting aura. The small hellbear also has a magic resistance increasing aura just like the small centaurs. Wildwings are 3 melee creeps, two of them being small and relatively weak and one of them being big and able to summon a Tornado which deals area damage over time for a long duration. However it never uses that spell. Besides that, it also has an armor boosting aura. The trolls are ranged creeps, two of them being small and without abilities and the other being big, with two abilities. It can ensnare a target for a short duration, and temporarily reanimate 2 skeletons from a nearby corpse.

1 Values include 2 Skeleton Warriors.

Ancient camps
Ancient creeps are very powerful special creeps. Unlike the regular creeps, these creeps have a special unit type, the Ancient type, which makes them generally immune to many spells, such as dominating spells. They are impossible to deal with early on, and for some heroes even later into the game. They have very high health, deal high damage and have strong auras. They also have spell immunity, making it impossible to clear them with spells.

There are 4 different types of ancient camps, consisting of Dragons, Hides, Prowlers and Golems. All 4 camps consist of 3 units.

The Dragons are ranged creeps but have a short attack range. There are 3 dragons, 2 of them being small and relatively weak and one big dragon. The small dragons are the only ancient creeps without spell immunity. On top of being spell immune, the big dragon has 3 abilities: It is able to spit a fireball which engulfs a target area in flames, dealing damage over time, a passive splash attack which causes each of its attack to deal area damage and an armor boosting aura. The Dragon never uses its Fireball ability. The Hides are, similar to the dragons, ranged creeps with a short attack range. Also similar to the dragons, it consists of 2 smaller Rumblehides, and one bigger Thunderhide. But unlike the dragons, all 3 of them are spell immune. The Thunderhide also has 3 abilities: It can slam the ground, dealing area damage and slowing hit enemies, it can temporarily frenzy an ally, boosting its attack speed significantly and it has an aura which boosts attack damage and attack speed of nearby allies. The Thunderhide never uses the Slam ability, but does cast Frenzy on itself. The Golems are strong melee creeps. One of the three golems is stronger than the other 2, having much more health and a bit more damage. The big golem also has an aura which increases the health capacity of nearby allies, making them the tankiest creeps of all, not only due to their high and boosted health, but also due to their high armor and spell immunity. The Prowlers are melee creeps with special abilities; they can root heroes, have lifesteal, and reduce base armor.

1 Ancient Granite Golem's increases nearby unit's maximum health by 15%.

Roshan
Roshan is a unique creep that spawns near the middle of the map. He also counts as an ancient creep and also has its own unique category. In addition to providing a large experience and gold bounty when killed, Roshan also drops the. The third time he is killed in a single game (and every time thereafter), a also drops from Roshan. Roshan's power increases as time passes.

Roshan has a high respawn timer when killed. He possesses 4 abilities from which one is active. His first ability is an area slam which damages and slows nearby enemies. The damage gets stronger as time passes. His second ability grants his attacks a chance to bash an enemy, stunning and dealing bonus damage. His third ability passively protects Roshan from a single-target spell every few seconds. His last ability grants Roshan permanent bonuses as time passes, increasing his health, armor and attack damage, while also grants him phased movement and also instantly kills any illusion which dares to attack Roshan.

Spawning
The first neutral creeps spawn 30 seconds after the first lane creeps spawn, which is at 00:30 game time. From there on, neutral creeps spawn on every minute mark (01:00, 02:00, 03:00, etc). A creep camp can never spawn the same set of neutral creeps in a row. This means, if for example an ancient camp contains dragons, the next time neutral creeps spawn in there, they cannot be dragons. Besides this, the chances for each type are the same.

A camp does not spawn neutral creeps when there are units within the spawn box of the camp, not even when the unit is invulnerable or hidden. This means if there are neutral creeps already in a camp, new creeps do not spawn on the next minute mark. However, it is possible for multiple neutral creeps to be inside a camp. This can be achieved by aggroing the already existing creeps and make them leave the spawn area. If the area is empty on the next minute mark, a new set of neutral creeps spawns in that camp. The previously aggroed creeps then return to their camp, so that the camp now contains 2 sets of neutral creeps. This can be repeated a finite number of time, because it eventually gets impossible to get all creeps out of the spawn area. The spawn box areas can be seen by holding down the ALT key (if the option is enabled).

Every selectable unit can block a creep camp, except for the following:

Besides units, several spells are also able to prevent neutral creeps from spawning. This is because of the dummy unit used by those spells. Unlike other dummies, this one blocks creep camps. It also provides the vision around the projectiles of these spells. The following spells can be used to block camps:

Behavior
Neutral creeps do not belong to either faction. Most of the time, they just stand in their camps, doing nothing. They only fight when aggroed, which can be done on multiple ways. Neutral creeps can also flee under certain conditions. Once dominated, a neutral creep drops these behaviors completely.

Drawing aggro
The aggro of neutral creeps can be drawn in two ways: By coming within 240 range of them (140 range in Roshan's case), or by dealing damage to or casting a single-target spell on them while within 1800 range of them. Aggroed neutral creeps follow regular auto-attack rules, meaning they prioritise the closest enemies. So if a unit draws aggro and another unit is closer to them, the closer unit gets attacked, and not the unit which actually aggroed them. If multiple heroes are about equally close, the one which attacks them get prioritised, while the one which does not attack, or attacks an enemy from the opposing faction has second priority, and the one who attacks its own allies has least priority. Multiple non-hero units within about equal range have all the same priority, regardless of what they do. The creeps ignore units which attack them from further away, despite them being a bigger threat. They always prioritise closer units. There is one exception to this rule. If a hero within the acquisition range of an aggroed neutral creeps issues an attack order on a hero from the opposing faction, the creeps immediately switch to attack the hero that got the attack order, as if they want to protect the opposing hero, similar to how lane creeps protect their allied heroes. Siege creeps have always a lower priority than heroes and other units, regardless of what they do. Buildings have a lower priority than siege creeps and wards have a lower priority than buildings, also regardless of what they do. Although neutral creeps can attack buildings, they are too far away. They lose aggro before they get within range.

Only units which can be attacked can aggro neutral creeps. Hidden, invulnerable or ethereal units cannot aggro neutral creeps. In these cases, the neutral creeps just stand still and fully ignore the enemy. Invisible units cannot aggro neutral creeps either. However, if a neutral creep takes damage from invisible units, the creep and all other neutral creeps within 500 range of it flee, instead of ignoring it. They move to a random spot 750 range away from their camp spot and walk for up to 5 seconds. If they reach the flee spot earlier, they wait there and return once 5 seconds past. Neutral creeps have shared vision with both teams, so attacking them from the fog of war still draws aggro normally.

Losing aggro
If the neutral creep moves more than 400 range away from its original spot in the camp (called the "guard distance"), it loses aggro 5 seconds later and then returns to its spot. However, if the creep somehow gets within 400 range of its spot again before the 5 seconds elapse, it stays aggroed. The 5 seconds timer gets reset whenever the neutral creep gets 400 range away from its spot. If the timer does not get reset, their chase distance is effectively capped by their movement speed and the 5 seconds chase limit. This results in an avarage chase distance of 1750-2200 (400 base distance + 5*270-360 movement speed), assuming the creeps do not attack but only chase their target. If a neutral creep loses aggro due to the 5 seconds aggro limit, then it can not be re-aggroed by standing too close to them until they return to their spot. It can also not be re-aggroed by damage for 3 seconds, but can be re-aggroed by damaging them or another neutral creep within a 500 radius after 3 seconds past.

If they get re-aggroed within those 3 seconds, they behave exactly like described before, except that now the aggro lasts 3 seconds, instead of 5. Once all (remaining) creeps from the camp fully returned to their spots, they can be aggroed for 5 seconds again.

Neutral creeps also lose aggro when their target turns ethereal, invulnerable or hidden. In this case, aggro is lost immediately, so that they either return to their spot, or attack other nearby enemies. If they return to their spot after losing aggro this way, they still are aggressive while returning, meaning they attack any enemy within 500 range on their way back. This has no effect on their aggro timer limit. If their initial target turns unattackable while more than 400 range away from the camp spot, their 5 seconds aggro timer still runs down and does not reset if they find another target while outside the 400 range.

Disarming
If a neutral creep is disarmed, it cannot be aggroed. It completely stands still, ignoring any damage dealt to or any spell targeted on it or other neutrals. If an already aggroed neutral creep gets disarmed, it either stands still and waits for the disarm to expire after which it then returns, or it returns immediately as soon as disarmed. A disarmed neutral creep also does not cast any spells, even if the conditions are met.