Abaddon
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Abaddon, the Lord of Avernus, is a melee strength hero known as one of the most versatile characters in Dota due to his rather low mana dependence, short spell cooldowns and a large number of viable item choices. His ability to help sustain his allies and himself plus his strong tower diving capacity give him solid lane presence. Many of his abilities offer a large sum of utility, which makes him a strong support hero. Mist Coil serves as both a single target nuke and heal that helps shift the sustainability of both allied and enemy heroes in a lane at his will, though sacrificing a portion of his own health. Aphotic Shield holds as one of the most useful abilities in the game, able to shield a target from some damage while also able to reflect said damage to a huge area. The most important aspect is how it is able to dispel many status effects such as slows and stuns. His other abilities allow him to become a mix between a semi-carry and tank. Abaddon's passive, Curse of Avernus, allows his attacks to not only slow down his enemy, but also increase the attack speed of any ally attacking the same target while also silencing the target after a set of attacks. With his ultimate, Borrowed Time, Abaddon is able to shift all non-HP-removal damage he receives into health. When not on cooldown, Borrowed Time may activate passively when his health falls under a certain threshold, even under the most dire situations. Due to his powerful spells and versatility, Abaddon is an excellent addition to any team.
Contents
Bio[edit]
When the infant Abaddon was bathed in the Font, they say something went awry. In the child's eyes there flared a light of comprehension that startled all present and set the sacerdotes to whispering. He was raised with every expectation of following the path all scions of Avernus took—to train in war, that in times of need he might lead the family's army in defense of the ancestral lands. But Abaddon was always one apart. Where others trained with weapons, he bent himself to meditation in the presence of the mist. He drank deep from the vapors that welled from the Font, learning to blend his spirit with the potency that flowed from far beneath the House; he became a creature of the black mist.
There was bitterness within the House Avernus—elders and young alike accusing him of neglecting his responsibilities. But all such accusations stopped when Abaddon rode into battle, and they saw how the powers of the mist had given him mastery over life and death beyond those of any lord the House had ever known.
Abilities[edit]
Notes:
- The projectile travels at a speed of 1300.
- The self-inflicted damage is applied instantly upon cast and never lethal, so it cannot be used to deny oneself.
- If the target ally turns invulnerable or hidden before projectile impact, it still gets healed by it.
- The heal and damage increasing
talent immediately upgrades all of Abaddon's currently flying Mist Coil projectiles.
- The level 25
talent adds a 500 radius to this ability. The ability must be centered over a unit still.
- Upon cast, Abaddon sends coils towards every ally and enemy within the radius, excluding himself.
- These behave just like a regular cast, and can be disjointed normally.
- Also targets units inside the Fog of War and invisible units. However, invisible targets instantly disjoint it.
- The self-damage stays the same, regardless of how many targets got coiled.
- With Aghanim's Shard, Mist Coil first applies its damage, then the Curse of Avernus stack based on its current level.
Notes:
- Applies a strong dispel on the target upon cast.
- ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically targets self.
- Aphotic Shield fully negates damage (after all reductions), causing several on-damage effects to not trigger.
- Aphotic Shield has the second lowest priority in the group of damage negating spells.
- This means when combined with e.g. Borrowed Time or Refraction, the shield does not absorb any damage until the other sources are gone.
- Does not deal damage to invisible units or units in the Fog of War.
- Losing the Aphotic Shield buff always causes it to burst and deal area damage, no matter how the shield was lost.
- The area damage is independent from the amount of absorbed damage. It always deals the full 110/140/170/200 (
290/320/350/380) damage.
- The shield capacity and damage increasing Lua error in Module:Symbol at line 24: No input given. talent does not affect any of the current active Aphotic Shields.
- Increases both shield capacity and burst area damage despite the talent description stating it increases the shield capacity only.
- Successive casts on the same unit do not stack. Upon recast, the previous shield gets destroyed (dealing area damage) and a new one gets applied.
- With Aghanim's Shard, Aphotic Shield first applies its damage, then the Curse of Avernus stack based on its current level.
Passive
Allies / Enemies

Notes:
- Each successful attack done on an enemy unit without the curse debuff, places the initial debuff, or increases its counter if it already has the debuff.
- The initial debuff's duration gets refreshed on each hit. The 4 hits need not all happen within 5 seconds.
- When the initial debuff's counter reaches 4, it gets removed and replaced by the curse debuff.
- Any allied heroes attacking the cursed enemy gets the speed buff. The buff is granted upon successfully landing an attack on the cursed target.
- This means missed attacks do not grant the buff. For ranged heroes, this also means they gain the buff only on projectile impact.
- The speed buff only works when attacking cursed targets. When executing an attack against a unit that is not cursed, the buff gets removed.
- The speed buff is only granted to allied heroes, illusions and clones. Non-hero units do not get the buff. Treats creep-heroes as creeps.


The ability to fire Mist Coils at allies is not disabled.
Notes:
- Interrupts Abaddon's channeling abilities upon cast. Does not interrupt channeling abilities when passively activated.
- Borrowed Time can be manually activated even while stunned, cycloned, slept, taunted, hidden, or during Forced Movement.
- It cannot be manually activated, but can passively activate while silenced, hexed or prevented from acting.
- Abaddon is unable to ⇧ Shift-queue this ability.
- Applies a strong dispel on Abaddon upon activating, be it manually or passively activated.
- Activates automatically when a damage instance (without the HP Removal flag) drops Abaddon's health below 400, or hits Abaddon while already below 400 health.
- The damage is dealt before Borrowed Time is activated, meaning if the damage instance exceeds Abaddon's current health, he dies without Borrowed Time activating.
- This also means that it does not save Abaddon from instantly killing effects like Culling Blade and Ice Blast
- Borrowed Time fully negates damage (after all reductions), causing several on-damage effects to not trigger.
- Borrowed Time converts damage into healing after reductions.
- Borrowed Time has the highest priority in the group of damage negating spells.
- This means when combined with other damage negating effects (e.g. Aphotic Shield or False Promise), Borrowed Time negates the damage while the others do not.
- For False Promise, this means that Borrowed Time first turns damage into heals, and then it is registered by False Promise as a heal and not as damage.
- As with all damage manipulating effects, Borrowed Time only negates and heals from the 3 damage types. It does not heal from HP Removal.
- The only exceptions are Heartstopper Aura and False Promise, which it does heal from. However, it does not passively activate from them.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Borrowed Time provides a 1600 radius aura, its buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- Places a damage counting buff on allies within the radius, counting any damage the ally takes after all reductions.
- The counted damage is checked on each damage instance. This means only one coil may be released per damage instance, no matter how big it was.
- If the counted damage is higher than the 525 health trigger threshold, the threshold value gets substracted from it, and a Mist Coil gets released.
- Since the threshold value gets substracted from the counted damage, excess damage of big damage instances are not lost, and directly count towards the next possible trigger.
- This means a single 1575 damage instance (3 times larger than the trigger threshold) triggers one Mist Coil, but the next two damage instances are guaranteed to trigger a Mist Coil each.
- The damage counter does not react on damage flagged as HP Removal.
- The damage counter has no reset timer. It only resets when the ally loses the buff in between damage instances.
- The released Mist Coils cost health as well, like a regular cast, but do not cost mana, and are independent from the cooldown.
- The coils are based on Mist Coil's current level, so when it is not learnt, no coils are released.
- The aura does not affect invulnerable or hidden units.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
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500 AoE Mist Coil | 25 | +180 Aphotic Shield Health |
+9 Armor | 20 | 15% Cooldown Reduction |
+55 Mist Coil Heal/Damage | 15 | +65 Damage |
+8 Strength | 10 | +15 Movement Speed |
- The strength talent effectively grants Abaddon 160 health, 0.8 health regeneration, and 8 attack damage.
- This attack damage talent is added as raw attack damage, so it does not benefit illusions, and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
- The cooldown reduction talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources cooldown reduction.
Recent Changes[edit]
- Increased turn rate from 0.5 to 0.6.
- Increased health regeneration from 0.5 to 1.
- Mist Coil
- Changed self damage from a fixed 75/100/125/150 to 50% of the enemy damage values.
- Reduced cast backswing from 0.67 to 0.4.
- Rescaled damage/heal from 120/165/210/255 to 110/160/210/260.
- Aphotic Shield
- Reduced cast backswing from 0.5 to 0.33.
- Increased mana cost from 100/105/110/115 to 100/110/120/130.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Increased Borrowed Time duration from 6/7/8 to 7/8/9.
- Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Now also reduces Mist Coil and Aphotic Shield cooldowns by 1.
- Talents:
- Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Increased Curse of Avernus initial movement speed slow bonus from 6% to 10%.
- Reduced Aphotic Shield cast time from 0.4 to 0.3.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Increased Borrowed Time duration from 5/6/7 to 6/7/8.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Abaddon:
- Increases Curse of Avernus initial movement speed slow by 6% and causes Mist Coil and Aphotic Shield to apply a single Curse of Avernus stack on all hit enemies.
- Talents:
- Level 15 left talent: +48 Mist Coil damage/heal increased to +50.
- Level 15 right talent changed: +6 armor ➜ +65 attack damage.
- Level 20 left talent changed: +80 attack damage ➜ +8 armor.
- Level 25 left talent: 375 AoE Mist Coil increased to 425 AoE.
Recommended Items[edit]
Starting items:
- Tango regenerates health so Abaddon can stay in lane.
- Healing Salve also restores health to Abaddon.
- Clarity fuels Abaddon's powerful Aphotic Shield in the laning stage of the game, so he can get last hits and damage the enemies at the same time.
- Iron Branch gives Abaddon cheap attributes. It builds into Magic Wand, or combines with Tango to heal him more.
- Enchanted Mango increases health regeneration, gives burst mana to use Aphotic Shield.
Early game:
- Magic Wand provides Abaddon increased attributes and burst health and mana restoration, giving him much more survivability and allowing him to use his abilities more.
- Boots of Speed give Abaddon movement speed bonus, as he needs good positioning in order to make use of his abilities. It also allows him chase down enemies with Curse of Avernus easier.
Mid game:
- Phase Boots give great movement speed and armor so Abaddon can run at the enemies.
- Blade Mail can be a powerful semi-carry item that fills in several of Abaddon's deficiencies. The bonus armor increases his tankiness and the bonus damage increases his damage output for fighting and farming. The active can allow Abaddon to use his HP pool offensively during fights, discouraging the enemy from focusing him down when he does not have Borrowed Time activated.
- Solar Crest's armor and mana regeneration give Abaddon survivability and mana sustain, and the active allows Abaddon to either enhance a teammate's survivability against physical attacks, or induce an armor debuff and slow on enemies to reduce their ability to fight.
- Radiance increases Abaddon's attack damage and gives him a burn aura that forces the enemy to engage him. The aura also inflicts a blind debuff on the enemy, causing them to miss attacks directed at any friendly units so long as Abaddon is nearby.
Late game:
- Assault Cuirass greatly increases Abaddon's armor and attack speed, giving him physical survivability and increased damage output to allow him to carry effectively. The aura also greatly benefits teammates, and reduces enemy armor, allowing Abaddon and his team to deal more damage.
- Shiva's Guard increases Abaddon's armor and intelligence, improving his tankiness and mana pool. The passive aura greatly reduces enemy attack speed, which stacks with Curse of Avernus, and the active ability inflicts minor damage and slows enemy movement speed as well.
- Guardian Greaves boost Abaddon's survivability and support his team. The health and mana replenishment bring amazing sustainability, and the dispel allows Abaddon to remove debuffs from himself that may be preventing him from participating effectively in fights. The aura also gives Abaddon and his teammates enhanced survivability especially when they are running low on health.
Situational items:
- Orb of Venom allows Abaddon to apply a slow with his attacks, and stacks on top of Curse of Avernus. The item fits an aggressive Abaddon who prefers to gank regularly in the early game.
- Tranquil Boots increase movement speed to give Abaddon better positioning, allowing him to get his abilities off more easily. The health regeneration allows Abaddon to recoup the health cost of Mist Coil, ensuring that he never puts himself at too much risk when using it.
- Soul Ring adds strength and health regeneration, as well as mana at the cost of health; the item synergizes well with Tranquil Boots which pay for the health cost.
- Urn of Shadows gives Abaddon a way to heal allies and himself after using Mist Coil. It also sustains him with mana regeneration so he can use his abilities more.
- Drum of Endurance gives Abaddon attributes and mana regeneration, as well as blessing his team with movement speed and attack speed, giving them an edge in ganks and pushes.
- Heaven's Halberd's increased strength, status resistance, and evasion give Abaddon much more survivability; and, the active allows him to disarm an enemy carry during a fight, preventing them from contributing.
- Vladmir's Offering is a solid item on Abaddon, no matter what role he takes. Its aura grants armor, mana replenishment, lifesteal, and bonus damage to Abaddon and all nearby allies, making it a powerful item to have present in any fight.
- Pipe of Insight gives Abaddon greatly increased magic resistance and HP regen, allowing him to shrug off magic nukes and vastly increasing his survivability. The active allows Abaddon to further protect his teammates through shielding them from the enemy's magic nukes for a short time, synergizing with Aphotic Shield.
- Crimson Guard is a powerful utility item that benefits Abaddon both as a carry and a support. The damage block, increased HP and bonus armor make Abaddon much harder to bring down with physical damage, and the active gives all nearby allies enhanced damage block and armor, increasing their resistance to physical damage for a short duration.
- Lotus Orb can be a very powerful utility support item that further allows Abaddon to keep his teammates alive. The item gives Abaddon increased armor for tankiness and mana and HP regen for self-sustain, allowing him to always be ready to participate in fights. Using the active on himself or a teammate discourages the enemy from casting single-target spells on them, as they can be turned back against the enemy; if Abaddon is not the target of the Echo Shell, he can also remove any disables placed on the targeted ally with Aphotic Shield, effectively using the enemy's disables against themselves with no effect on Abaddon's team.
- Aghanim's Scepter extends the duration of Borrowed Time and allows Abaddon to shield his allies from damage. The reduced damage can also force the enemy to heal Abaddon as it is redirected to him during the ultimate.
- Heart of Tarrasque grants massive bonus to strength and health, ensuring Abaddon can survive against the heaviest damage. By staying alive, he can deal sustain damage with Radiance and Aphotic Shield in fights.
- Octarine Core bolsters Abaddon's survivability by giving him a larger health and mana pool. The cooldown reduction allows him to cast more Mist Coils and Aphotic Shields during fights, especially when paired with his level 20 cooldown reduction talent. Spell Lifesteal is also strong on Abaddon, as his Coil and Shield both frequently deal magic damage, allowing him to heal when these abilities are used offensively, keeping his Borrowed Time from proccing and allowing him to stay alive longer in fights.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Support Carry Durable |
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Complexity: | ★☆☆ |
Playstyle: | Unlike the other scions of his house, Abaddon drank deeper than any from the prophetic vapors that flowed from the Font of Avernus. Now a being of unnatural powers, Abaddon releases deathly Mist Coils to damage adversaries and heal allies. The black mist swirls around his compatriots, forming an Aphotic Shield that absorbs attacks before bursting in a wide radius. But the Font's greatest gift is revealed only in the desperation of battle. Bestowed with Borrowed Time, Abaddon charges the enemy ranks, riding down foes with his cursed blade, his health returning with each welcoming blow. For all that was meant to kill did nothing but make the Lord of Avernus even more formidable. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- Abaddon's title, Lord of Avernus, is a reference to the famous crater in Italy, which was, in ancient times, believed to be the entrance to the underworld.
- In DotA, Abaddon's third ability was originally called "Frostmourne." It was changed in the transition to Dota 2 due to copyright reasons, since Frostmourne exists as a famed weapon in the Warcraft universe. When using Curse of Avernus, Abaddon says 'The mistblade bites', which is similar to Arthas's Quote: 'Frostmourne hungers'. Similarly, his first ability was originally named "Death Coil", but was likely changed to differentiate it from the ability used by death knights in the Warcraft universe; one of his responses when using Mist Coil references the original name.
- In the Christian Bible, Abaddon is the name of an angel who rises from the Abyss and commands an army of locusts. Abaddon in Hebrew means "Destroyer".
- Abaddon's response to killing Phoenix "That Phoenix flew too close to the mist." is a reference to the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus where Icarus flew to close the sun and crashed to the sea when his wax wings melted.