Cast Animation

“

▶️ My reach is long. — Shadow Fiend

”

Every unit has unique cast animations for each of its abilities. The cast animation of the ability is enacted as soon as a target for the ability is chosen, if it requires one, or when pressing its Hotkey, if it does not require a target.

The length of the animations varies for each ability as each of them is unique and made for the ability which is usually in the slot the animation is bound to. Although the Cast Animation sounds like a visual part of the game, it does have a mechanical influence on the gameplay.

Definition

Every ability has a specific time frame the casting unit has to go through in order to apply its effects successfully. This time is commonly known as the Cast Point or Cast Time. Cast Point has nothing directly to do with the visual animation of the ability. However, since the cast animation starts playing immediately, it indicates the cast point of abilities.

This means when the unit gets interrupted by disables or by their own actions before reaching the cast point, the cast is canceled, the ability's effects are not applied, the ability will not go into cooldown, and will not use any mana.

The player also can manually stop the ability cast by issuing a Stop (S) or Halt (H) command. When the ability cast gets interrupted during the cast time, the visual cast animation ends as well.

In almost every case, the length of cast animations exceeds the cast point of abilities. Upon reaching the cast point, the animation does not stop immediately but continues playing. For most abilities, the unit keeps on standing still during this part of the animation, and is unable to act until the animation has been completed, if it is not canceled. This is commonly known as Cast Backswing.

Cast Point

No Target abilities with instant cast point applies their effects instantly as soon as Hotkey is pressed. Certain No Target abilities may not interrupt channeling upon cast.

For targetable abilities, its effects are applied as soon as a target is selected for the ability. However, if an ability requires a target, be it a unit, ground-targeting, or area-targeting, it will interrupt channeling, even if its cast point is instant.

Instant Cast

Most items and all toggleable abilities fall under this category, they have neither a cast point nor a backswing, and as such will never interrupt a channel. These abilities can also be cast in-between chain-disables (e.g. Sacred Arrow into Nightmare) or any disable which uses invulnerability into a periodic area disable (e.g. Black Hole) since these abilities have the highest priority of cast order. It can also be cast after an Ancient has fallen, during the scoreboard phase.

This applies to most toggled items too, but some such as Switch Attribute are not considered a toggle and as such can interrupt.

There are a few conditions where an ability can have an instant cast point:

Type	Aspect / Definition	Examples
Zero Cast Point	The ability's cast point is simply set to 0. If the ability has a cast backswing, it will be used.	Homing Missile
Immediate Flag	The ability has neither a cast point nor a cast backswing. The ability activates immediately as the same server tick, if possible.	Borrowed Time
Toggleable Abilities	Toggleable ability has neither a cast point nor a cast backswing.	Pulse Nova
Ignore Channel Flag	The ability simply does not interrupt channeling upon cast. It may or may not have a cast point or cast backswing.

The difference Between Instant Cast Point and 0 Cast Point is as follows:

• Marci with Black King Bar is affected by Disruption and Chronosphere at the same time.
  • Upon the end of Disruption's duration and while Chronosphere is still in effect, she is able to cast Avatar but not Force.
  • This is because Avatar has an instant cast time, but not Force.

• In this next example, she now has Shadow Blade equipped.
  • Marci casts Shadow Walk, then Force. Force will be cast after 0.1 seconds.
  • Since Force is not an instant cast ability, its cast time is equal to one server tick. At the same time, there will be one more server tick between, since there are now two different but consecutive commands.

• Marci now casts Force, then Shadow Walk.
  • Shadow Walk will be instantly cast once Force is cast.

Instant Cast Sources

Instant Cast Abilities

• Abaddon – Borrowed Time
• Alchemist – Unstable Concoction Throw
• Anti-Mage – Counterspell
• Bane – Nightmare End
• Batrider – Firefly
• Bounty Hunter – Shadow Walk
• Bloodseeker – Bloodrage
• Bloodseeker – Blood Mist
• Brewmaster – Drunken Brawler
• Storm – Wind Walk
• Spin Web – Destroy Spin Web
• Bristleback – Viscous Nasal Goo^2a
• Bristleback – Quill Spray
• Clinkz – Skeleton Walk
• Clockwerk – Battery Assault
• Clockwerk – Overclocking
• Courier – Speed Burst
• Courier – Transfer Items
• Courier – Shield
• Crystal Maiden – Stop Freezing Field
• Dark Willow – Bedlam
• Dawnbreaker – Converge
• Dawnbreaker – Solar Guardian Land
• Elder Titan – Return Astral Spirit
• Elder Titan – Move Astral Spirit
• Astral Spirit – Return Astral Spirit
• Enchantress – Sproink
• Gyrocopter – Rocket Barrage
• Gyrocopter – Flak Cannon
• Harpy Scout – Take Off
• Hoodwink – Scurry
• Hoodwink – Decoy
• Hoodwink – End Sharpshooter
• Huskar – Inner Fire^2b
• Invoker – Quas
• Invoker – Wex
• Invoker – Exort
• Invoker – Ghost Walk
• Invoker – Invoke
• Io – Spirits
• Io – Overcharge
• Io – Spirits In
• Io – Spirits Out
• Juggernaut – Blade Fury
• Leshrac – Nihilism
• Leshrac – Pulse Nova
• Lifestealer – Rage
• Lifestealer – Consume
• Lina – Flame Cloak
• Marci – Sidekick
• Mars – Bulwark
• Medusa – Split SHot
• Medusa – Mana Shield
• Monkey King – Primal Spring
• Morphling – Attribute Shift
• Morphling – Morph
• Necrophos – Ghost Shroud
• Night Stalker – Crippling Fear
• Nyx Assassin – Spiked Carapace
• Nyx Assassin – Vendetta
• Pangolier – Shield Crash
• Pangolier – End Roll Up
• Pangolier – Stop Rolling
• Phantom Assassin – Blur^2a
• Phantom Lancer – Phantom Rush
• Phoenix – Stop Icarus Dive
• Phoenix – Fire Spirits
• Phoenix – Stop Sun Ray
• Phoenix – Toggle Movement
• Primal Beast – Begin Onslaught
• Primal Beast – Trample
• Primal Beast – Uproar
• Pudge – Rot
• Pudge – Flesh Heap
• Pudge – Eject
• Pugna – Decrepify
• Razor – Plasma Field
• Razor – Eye of the Storm
• Rubick – Telekinesis Land
• Slardar – Guardian Sprint
• Slark – Dark Pact
• Slark – Shadow Dance
• Sniper – Take Aim
• Spirit Breaker – Bulldoze
• Storm Spirit – Overload^2a
• Sven – Warcry
• Templar Assassin – Refraction
• Templar Assassin – Trap
• Psionic Trap – Trap
• Terrorblade – Metamorphosis
• Terrorblade – Terror Wave
• Timbersaw – Whirling Death
• Timbersaw – Return Second Chakram
• Timbersaw – Flamethrower
• Timbersaw – Return Chakram
• Troll Warlord – Berserker's Rage
• Troll Warlord – Whirling Axes (Melee)
• Troll Warlord – Battle Trance
• Tusk – Snowball
• Tusk – Tag Team
• Ursa – Earthshock
• Ursa – Enrage
• Undying – Flesh Golem
• Visage – Stone Form
• Visage – Silent as the Grave
• Visage – Summon Familiars
• Weaver – Shukuchi
• Windranger – Windrun
• Witch Doctor – Voodoo Restoration

¹ Requires talent.

^2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

^2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Conditional Instant Cast

Certain abilities can be instant cast conditionally, more information can be found in the abilities' notes respectively.

Conditional Instant Cast Abilities

• Bane – Fiend's Grip^2a
• Lich – Frost Blast^2a
• Lich – Frost Shield^2a
• Lich – Ice Spire^2a
• Lich – Chain Frost^2a
• Pugna – Decrepify
• Riki – Smoke Screen

¹ Requires talent.

^2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

^2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Vector Targeting

For Vector Targeting abilities, the cast point starts upon pressing the Hotkey and selecting the direction.

Vector Targeting Abilities

• Broodmother – Spinner's Snare
• Clinkz – Burning Army
• Dark Seer – Wall of Replica
• Gyrocopter – Call Down¹
• Muerta – Dead Shot
• Pangolier – Swashbuckle
• Tusk – Walrus Kick
• Void Spirit – Aether Remnant
• Wildwing Ripper – Hurricane
• Windranger – Gale Force

¹ Requires talent.

^2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

^2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Spell Steal

Main Article: Rubick

For abilities acquired with Spell Steal, if their original cast point is < 0.15, it will be set to 0.15 instead, except for abilities flagged with DOTA_ABILITY_BEHAVIOR_NORMAL_WHEN_STOLEN in the game files, listed below. For these abilities, the original cast time is used.

Abilities Using Original Cast Time

• Dark Willow – Terrorize
• Mars – God's Rebuke
• Meepo – Poof
• Monkey King – Boundless Strike
• Monkey King – Wukong's Command
• Nature's Prophet – Teleportation
• Shadow Fiend – Requiem of Souls
• Sniper – Assassinate
• Techies – Blast Off!

Items

Main Article: Items

Most items with active abilities have a 0 cast point and they do not have a cast backswing, except for the following sources:

Item Abilities with Cast Point Greater than 0

• Blood Grenade – Throw Grenade
• Fae Grenade – Shadow Brand
• Ogre Seal Totem – Ogre Seal Flop
• Pirate Hat – Dig
• Trusty Shovel – Dig

The following item abilities have an instant cast point and do not interrupt the units' animations upon cast.

Instant Cast Item Abilities

• Armlet of Mordiggian – Unholy Strength
• Glimmer Cape – Glimmer
• Mask of Madness – Berserk
• Observer and Sentry Wards – Switch Wards
• Phase Boots – Phase
• Radiance – Burn
• Ring of Aquila – Aquila Aura
• Shadow Amulet – Fade
• Shadow Blade – Shadow Walk
• Shiva's Guard – Arctic Blast
• Silver Edge – Shadow Walk

Modifying Cast Point

There are currently no sources in the game that modifies cast point.

Cast Backswing

The part of the animation which occurs after the ability's cast point is the ability's Cast Backswing, the caster will stand still and is unable to attack or use any other abilities until the remaining animation is played. The cast backswing has no effects on the already cast ability and is purely cosmetic.

The player can cancel the cast backswing by ordering the unit to Stop (S), Move, or simply by casting another ability during the cast backswing. ⇧ Shift-queue does not cancel the cast backswing, the next command in the queue will be executed after the cast backswing ends.

Cast backswing is either bound to the unit or the ability slot, and it is not necessarily the same length even for abilities with the same total animation time. If the ability has a 0.3-second cast point, while the entire animation has a 1-second duration, the cast backswing will have a 0.7-second duration. However, another ability's animation of the same length with a 0.6-second cast point would only have a 0.4-second cast backswing. It is difficult but possible to cancel a short cast backswing. This affects things like acquired abilities from Death Pact, Devour, Spell Steal, Morph or Ability Draft.

Modifying Cast Backswing

For example, Doom uses the same 1.1-second cast animation for both Devoured Ability 1 and Devoured Ability 2, meaning that irrespective of the brevity of the Devoured unit's animation. When Doom casts the acquired ability, the cast backswing will be the difference between the original cast point and the total cast animation for that ability slot.

The cast backswing for the ability cast can be defined as

expr

1.1 - AbilityCastPoint

If Doom casts Chain Lightning, with a 0.3-second cast point, the cast backswing necessarily takes 0.8 seconds, to conform to 1.1's ability total cast animation, even though when cast by the Harpy Stormcrafter itself the ability has a different backswing time. The same goes for Rubick and for both Stolen Spell 1 and Stolen Spell 2, the cast animation will conform to the 1.07-second total cast animation based on the ability slot.

Modifying Cast Backswing

• These acquired neutral abilities uses the original cast point.
• However, the cast backswing can be defined as
  expr
  SlotCastAnimationTime - OriginalCastPoint, 0 when OriginalCastPoint ≥ SlotCastAnimationTime.
• Certain cosmetic items also modify the cast backswing of abilities due to using different animations. These are mostly listed in the ability's respective notes.

Cast Backswing Modifying Abilities

• Doom - Devoured Ability
  
  Slot Cast Animation Time: 1.1
  
• Rubick - Stolen Spell
  
  Slot Cast Animation Time: 1.37
  

Instant Cast Backswing

There are a few conditions where an ability can have an instant cast backswing, other than being a toggleable ability or having an instant cast time:

Type	Aspect / Definition	Examples
Ignore Backswing Flag	The ability's cast backswing is ignored and causes the ability animation to instantly stop once the cast point is reached.	Magnetic Field
Channeling	Channeling abilities start their channel time after reaching its cast point.	Upheaval
Forced Orders	The ability's cast backswing is immediately interrupted by another component of the ability (e.g. transformation or channeling abilities).	Pierce the Veil Burrow
Extended Cast Point	In some rare cases, the used animation is simply too long to have any backswing animation.	Teleportation
Set Cast Backswing	The abilities simply do not have a cast backswing value. This includes all item abilities.	Release Illuminate

Channeling

Main Article: Channeling

Channeling abilities start their channel time after reaching its cast point. If the unit is interrupted before reaching the cast point, the ability neither starts channeling nor goes into cooldown, and consumes mana. Channeled abilities might not have cast backswings, as the channel must follow the cast point where the cast backswing otherwise would.

Channeled Abilities

Talents

Cast Speed

Ability
Passive

Affects
Self

There is no description for this ability.

Cast Speed Bonus: 30%

• Reduces the hero's cast point and backswing.

No hero has this talent.

Version History

Version

Description

6.00

• Updated all of the cast animations so they more fully match the hero models.

Mechanics Main Heroes Unit Type (Heroes / Clones / Illusions) Complexity Attributes Table Buyback Level Roles Gold Experience Animations Stats Armor Attributes ( Strength / Agility / Intelligence) / Universal) Health & Mana (HP Regen & MP Regen) Magic Resistance Movement Speed / Slow Resistance Status Resistance Turn Rate Misc Creep Controling Death / Denying Vision Unit Size (Collision Size / Bound Radius / Selection Box / Model Size) Gib Type / Shades Adjectives Buildings Towers / Barracks / Ancient / Fountain Effigy Neutral Buildings (Outposts / Watchers / Twin Gates / Lotus Pools) Abilities Type Active / Passive / Autocast Aura Accuracy / Evasion Channeling Damage Barrier Damage Block Damage Manipulation Damage Over Time Talents Teleport Targeting Area No Target Point Unit Vector Combinations Casting Cast Range / Motion Buffer Cast Animation (Cast Point + Backswing) Cooldown Reduction (Flat / Current Flat / Percentage) Reset Charge-based Runes Bounty Rune Water Rune Wisdom Rune Power Runes ( Amplify Damage Rune / Arcane Rune / Haste Rune / Illusion Rune / Invisibility Rune / Regeneration Rune / Shield Rune) Misc Random Distribution Transformation Attack Damage Attack Damage Instant Attack Heroes Attack Classes Attack Range (Acquisition Range) Attack Speed (BAT / Interval) Damage Types (Physical / Magical / Pure / Instant Kill) Flags (HP Removal / No-reflection / No-Spell-Lifesteal / No-Spell-Amplification) Projectile Speed Spell Damage (Outgoing / Incoming) Modifiers Bash Cleave / Splash Corruption Critical Strike Lifesteal / Spell Lifesteal Mana Break On-hit Effects Misc Damage Instance Animation / Orb Walking Status Effects Disables Cyclone Disabling Orders Forced Movement (Knockback) / Upward Movement Fear (Hypnosis) Hide Hex Root Leash Stun Sleep Taunt Movement Move Speed Slow Flying Movement Phased / Tree Walk / Unobstructed Movement Other Attack Immune / Non-targetable Attack Speed Slow Debuff Immunity Spell Immunity Invulnerability Invisibility Blind Break Disarm Ethereal Silence Mute Trap Dispels Basic Strong Death Items Mechanics Courier Sharing / Selling Disassemble Recipes Neutral Item Drop