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This article documents changes that have been noticed from the original DotA.
It may contain inaccurate information or changes that have been fixed.
You can help improve it by editing this page to include new or more accurate information.

DotA, or Defense of the Ancients, is a custom map created for the Blizzard game, Warcraft 3 and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. Many elements were borrowed from the game and it is based on its engine. Dota 2 is a complete game created by Valve on the Source Engine, however, and many differences exist due to copyright concerns, engine disparities as well as various bugs or intended changes to Dota 2.

Hero gameplay changes[]

Fog of War changes[]

  • Losing sight of the enemy in the fog no longer "stops" your unit. Instead it will keep following them to the last seen location, it will keep using basic attacks without any additional input if you regain vision of it. If the unit is ranged, any projectiles in the air will follow them through the fog, allowing you to track the location (although the models of these projectiles sometimes stop rendering after entering the fog).
    • To DotA players, this means you are often better off leaving your hero on auto-attack rather than clicking ahead. After you cast a spell, reclick to keep your hero "locked" on. This also means juking is harder to perform.

Item changes[]

Misc. changes[]

  • The original teams names have been changed, the Sentinel has been changed to the Radiant and the Scourge has been changed to the Dire.
  • Individual heroes are no longer affiliated with Radiant or Dire. (Refer to these pages for lists of heroes formerly affiliated with each faction.)
  • All changes from patches 6.82 onward were not applied to DotA (except for 6.83c and 6.83d).
  • Neutrals spawn 1 second later rather than exactly at the full minute mark like in DotA. (Spawn triggered at end of full minute mark rather than beginning)
  • Each tree has its own timer as to when it'll grow back as opposed to having a global timer for all trees.
  • Bonus gold is no longer granted to assisting heroes if First Blood is taken by a tower or creep.
  • Casting backswing animation no longer occurs when auto attacking. (e.g. heroes will now ignore their backswing animation if an enemy hero is in attack range and will immediately start auto attacking or running towards them. Most noticeable on heroes with long animations are Crystal Maiden minimap icon Crystal Maiden in DotA.)
  • You can pick up runes while Doom ability icon Doomed.
  • Cleave works against flying units (except Visage minimap icon Visage's Familiars).
  • You cannot cancel attacks while under Berserker's Call icon Berserker's Call and Duel icon Duel.
  • You are no longer blocked by items while invisible.
  • You cannot cancel Meld icon Meld with X Marks the Spot icon X Marks the Spot, Sprout icon Sprout or Fissure icon Fissure.
  • Spirit Bear Entangling Claws (Spirit Bear) icon Entangling Claws does 60 more damage than DotA, also occasionally does 4 ticks instead of 3 for additional damage. Damage also bypasses damage block reduction.
  • Damage block procs when damage source is invulnerable (it doesn't in DotA), making Omnislash icon Omnislash less effective against Living Armor icon Living Armor, Refraction icon Refraction and Vanguard icon Vanguard (and other like items).
  • Using Burrowstrike icon Burrowstrike, Pounce icon Pounce or Leap icon Leap across certain map areas have been removed, while Batrider minimap icon Batrider can go out of the map boundaries.
  • Teleports (notably that of Boots of Travel icon Boots of Travel) will be broken if the unit being teleported to has been dominated by the enemy.
  • Projectiles are coded to take effect when it hits rather than when its cast, so you could have things like a ranged Troll Warlord minimap icon Troll Warlord triggering bash or cleaving with Empower icon Empower or using Lifesteal auras by switching it to melee before it hits.
  • If somebody is marked by X Marks the Spot icon X Marks the Spot and returns, it always cancels channeling spells, even if they didn't move. This is useful if you have to interrupt something like an Epicenter icon Epicenter where Torrent icon Torrent would be too slow.
  • Right click follow on your allies' heroes does not auto attack the target of the followed unit (where as they did in DotA).
  • Sounds from different lanes outside of screen range can be heard occasionally.
  • All Neutral Creeps now spawn with full mana, though the creeps that started with 0 mana (Satyr Banisher, Satyr Mindstealer, Ogre Frostmage, Harpy Stormcrafter) will still not cast their abilities unless player-controlled.
  • Creeps will not run while under effect of the Wildwing Ripper's Tornado.
  • Dark Troll Summoner can raise Skeleton Warriors from ability kills that normally don't produce corpses (eg Devour icon Devour, Caustic Finale icon Caustic Finale, Hand of Midas icon Hand of Midas, illusions).
  • The Ghost's Frost Attack is now a passive ability instead of an autocast attack modifier that costs 12 mana on each attack.
  • The Ancient Black Dragon and Ancient Black Drake are no longer classified as flying units.
  • The Dragonspawn Camp has been reworked into the Prowler Camp, and the Jungle Stalker Camp has been removed.
  • You can't tell when Roshan has respawned with the neutral green indicator anymore as in DotA.
  • Roshan's Spell Shield doesn't trigger on Untouchable icon Untouchable or Headshot icon Headshot.
  • There are no messages to tell when the Aegis of the Immortal icon Aegis of the Immortal will expire.
  • You can now see the cooldown timers, mana bars and abilities of your allies.
  • Hotkeys are customizable without custom keys or 3rd party programs
  • Abilities can be leveled up while dead.
  • Circles of Power have been removed.
    • Glyph of Fortification can be accessed directly from the UI, as can your item stash while it contains at least one item.
    • Disassembly of items is now done from the player's inventory, through the drop-down menu accessed by right-clicking the item.
  • Glyph of Fortification now properly makes buildings immune to damage instead of granting +9999 armor and spell immunity.
  • AI practice bots are implemented natively.
  • You can resell items within the first ten seconds for full price, if they were not combined or activated.
  • The Fountain is now invulnerable.
  • Hero can no longer be deselected (except for selecting other controllable units, such as Couriers or pets)
  • Observers and replays will show a circle indicating when Roshan will respawn.
  • Item shops are condensed (there are now only the main shop, side lane shops, and secret shops)
  • Orb Effects are called Unique Attack Modifiers.
  • Control Groups now save between summons for summoned units (even when they die) and are retained between games.
  • Heroes and items now have entirely new lore.
  • Most abilities now stack. For example, abilities that apply the common 30% MS 20% AS slow: Crystal Nova icon Crystal Nova, Frost Blast icon Frost Blast, Dual Breath icon Dual Breath; also with Penitence icon Penitence and Crippling Fear icon Crippling Fear.
  • Extending the previous point, many ability and item interactions that existed due to its hard-coded nature don't exist anymore. For example, Ghost Scepter icon Ghost Scepter does not remove Poison Nova icon Poison Nova.
  • Damage and stun types of bashes now depend on the source of the bash instead of the range of the hero (used to be magical damage / physical stun on melee and the opposite for ranged). Abilities from heroes work like in DotA, Monkey King Bar icon Monkey King Bar gives magical stun and damage, and Skull Basher icon Skull Basher works like melee.
  • Damage from multiple Monkey King Bar icon Monkey King Bars stack if they proc at the same time. It doesn't override any other on-hit effect either.
  • There is no text above Spell Steal icon Spell Steal's projectile displaying which spell was stolen in Dota 2.
  • Most healing/mana regeneration sources (such as Bottle icon Bottle, Fountain regeneration, and the Regeneration Rune minimap icon Regeneration Rune) now restore health and/or mana in the form of HP/mana regeneration (with 10 regeneration instances per second) instead of applying a single instance every second.
  • Fountain regeneration now lingers for a full 3 seconds after leaving the fountain area.
  • Abilities based on Chain Lightning do not have effect delay anymore. (Except for Laguna Blade icon Laguna Blade and Finger of Death icon Finger of Death)
  • Lane creeps now spawn facing east, instead of south.
  • Various ability renames: most Wind Walk abilities were given alternative names, and a few ability names were changed to make their effect more obvious (Lion minimap icon Lion's Impale became Earth Spike, for example).
  • Due to different engine and ability interactions you may find the gameplay and power of different heroes very different to DotA!

Items name changes[]

Due to copyright concerns (or for other reasons), some items and heroes in Dota 2 have different names from their DotA equivalent.

Hero name changes[]

  • Aggron Stonebreaker the Ogre Magi is now simply Aggron Stonebreak the Ogre Magi.
  • Alleria the Windrunner is now Lyralei the Windranger.
  • Anub'arak the Nerubian Assassin is now simply the Nyx Assassin.
  • Anub'seran the Nerubian Weaver is now Skitskurr the Weaver.
  • Aurel Vlaicu the Gyrocopter is now simply Aurel the Gyrocopter.
  • Azgalor the Pit Lord is now Vrogros the Underlord.
  • Cairne Bloodhoof the Tauren Chieftain is now Elder Titan, the Worldsmith.
  • Centaur Warchief is now the Centaur Warrunner.
  • Clockwerk Goblin is now simply the Clockwerk.
  • Darchrow the Enigma is now simply the Enigma.
  • Daelin Proudmoore the Admiral is now Kunkka the Admiral.
  • Doom Bringer is now simply the Doom.
  • Dwarven Sniper is now simply the Sniper.
  • Eredar the Shadow Demon is now simply the Shadow Demon.
  • Furion the Prophet is now simply the Nature's Prophet.
    • Formerly had the name Tequoia. It has since been omitted from Nature's Prophet's bio.
  • Goblin Techies are now simply the Techies.
  • Icarus the Phoenix is now simply the Phoenix.
  • Jin'Zakk the Batrider is now simply the Batrider.
  • Kael the Invoker is now simply the Invoker.
  • Kel'thuzad the Lich is now Ethreain the Lich.
  • Leoric the Skeleton King is now Ostarion the Wraith King.
  • Lina Inverse the Slayer is now simply Lina the Slayer.
  • Luna Moonfang the Moon Rider is now simply Luna the Moon Rider.
  • Lycanthrope is now simply the Lycan.
  • Magnus the Magnataur is now Magnus the Magnoceros.
  • Magina the Anti-Mage is now simply the Anti-Mage.
  • Mirana Nightshade the Priestess of the Moon is now Mirana the Princess of the Moon.
  • Necrolyte is now the Necrophos.
  • Nessaj the Chaos Knight is now simply the Chaos Knight.
  • Obsidian Destroyer is now the Outworld Destroyer.
  • Pandaren Brewmaster is now simply the Brewmaster.
  • Pugna the Oblivion is now simply Pugna.
    • Although "oblivion" is still referenced in his lines and lore, he possesses no title in Dota 2.
  • Rexxar the Beastmaster is now Karroch the Beastmaster.
  • Rikimaru the Stealth Assassin is now Riki the Stealth Assassin.
  • Rizzrak the Goblin Shredder is now Rizzrack the Timbersaw.
  • Rylai Crestfall the Crystal Maiden is now simply Rylai the Crystal Maiden.
  • Shendelzare Silkwood the Vengeful Spirit is now Shendelzare the Vengeful Spirit.
  • Slark the Murloc Nightcrawler is now simply Slark the Nightcrawler.
  • Syllabear the Lone Druid is now simply Sylla the Lone Druid.
  • Terrorblade the Soul Keeper is now Terrorblade the Demon Marauder.
  • Thrall the Disruptor is now Disruptor the Stormcrafter.
  • Tuskarr is now simply the Tusk.
  • Vol'Jin the Witch Doctor is now Zharvakko the Witch Doctor.
  • Zeus the Lord of Olympus is now Zeus the Lord of Heaven.

While not as noticeable of a change as the rest, Dragon Knight minimap icon Dragon Knight's name in DotA changes from "Knight Davion" to "Arc Honist" during his Elder Dragon Form icon Elder Dragon Form. This has been scrapped in Dota 2.

Buff placers[]

Buff Placers refer to a group of Items in DotA that applied a buff to a hero's attacks. Typically, they were also Orb Effects. Unlike Orb Effects, which do not stack for balance reasons, the Warcraft 3 engine was limited in that it only allowed one buff to be applied per attack. This meant that Buff Placers did not stack. In Dota 2, however, Buff Placers will now stack with each other. For example, Venomancer's Poison Sting will now stack with Desolator, even though both of them were Buff Placers in DotA.

See also[]

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