Illusions

Illusions

 

Changelogs

 

Default buff icon
▶️ Spawn sound
▶️ Death sound

“

▶️ One of me ain't enough. — Windranger

”

Illusions (also commonly called illus) are imperfect, weaker copies of heroes, created by abilities or items. They look like and are mostly treated like a hero, but are impaired, as they usually have incoming and outgoing damage penalties, dealing less damage and taking more damage than heroes. They are incapable of casting abilities or using active item abilities, and also have some passive abilities disabled. They also may not drop or pick up items or runes. Illusions yield a little gold and experience based on the hero's level. They do not soak up any experience and gold. Illusions cannot level up, the gold from last hits they make goes to their owners, and do not interfere with kill streaks or counters.

Illusions can be created from an allied, enemy, or the own hero. The illusions copies its appearance, level, all attributes, attack values, defensive values (e.g. base armor and base magic resistance) and abilities on their current level. All items owned by the main hero are copied as well, including all their stats (although some effects of abilities and items are disabled for illusions).

All illusions deal 60% less damage against buildings, making them weaker in pushing. This reduction stacks multiplicatively with the outgoing damage reduction values most illusions have, and also multiplicatively with the damage reduction hero damage does against structure armor type. However, due to the fact that illusions are based on heroes, their damage scales together with the heroes, making them still a significant pushing tool, especially in later phases of a match.

All illusions are invulnerable for one server tick (0.03 seconds) as they spawn, regardless of which ability that spawns or creates them. Illusions also always play the same spawn sound upon spawning, which are only audible to allies, and the same death sound upon dying in any way, including upon expiring.

Visual Appearance

Illusions as they appear to allies and enemies.

All illusions have an extra texture layer, which makes them distinguishable from the original hero. There are currently 6 different types of textures which can be seen below.

Allied illusions always appear with the texture layer, making them always look different than the original hero.

Enemies illusions use the blue or the yellow textures appear like the original hero, making it difficult to tell them apart from the real hero. Illusions with the second, third, or seventh texture appear like illusions to the enemy, meaning enemies do see their illusion textures. However, despite this, the portrait of illusions always appears like the original hero to the enemy.

Illusions do not show damage numbers.

Appearance
Portrait
Abilities	Default	Blink Fragment1 Fiend's Grip2 Phantasm Chaos Bolt2 Decoy2 Illusionist's Cape Manta Style Illusion Rune Mirror Image Disruption Haunt Shadow Step1 Dispersion2	Wall of Replica Vengeance Aura1	Reflection Conjure Image	Doppelganger	Spirit Lance Doppelganger Juxtapose	Dark Portrait1	Normal Punch2
Camouflaged	-	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No

¹ Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

² Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Besides their skin and portrait, their health bar also differs based on whether the illusion is allied or not. Allied illusions have the same health bar as creeps. This also means their mana bar is not visible. Besides this, illusions also have a circle on the left side of the health bar, which indicates their duration.

Enemy illusions use a hero health bar to not make it obvious that they are illusions. They also display the player's or hero's name above them like regular enemy heroes (if the player has the name display toggled on player name or hero name). The player name is based on the owner of the illusion, not of the hero the illusion is based on. This means if an enemy Shadow Demon creates illusions of allies, the illusions carry Shadow Demon's player name. When hero names are chosen, instead of player names, it shows the name of the hero the illusion is based on, and not the owner's hero.

Illusion Creating Abilities

These are all abilities which create illusions of heroes:

• Anti-Mage - Blink Fragment
  
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration:
  Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
  When targeting an enemy, the illusion attacks that enemy.
  When targeting the ground, the illusion relies on ◉ Standard auto attack rules.
• Bane - Fiend's Grip
  
  Number of Illusions: 2
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration:
  Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
  Upon cast, creates 2 uncontrollable illusions that are also channeling Fiend's Grip on the target. Bane can now act freely during this.
• Dark Seer - Normal Punch
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Spawn Delay:
  Illusion Duration:
  Requires Aghanim's Shard.
  Passive with cooldown. Causes Dark Seer's next attack on a hero to knock an illusion out of the hero.
• Dark Seer - Wall of Replica
  
  Number of Walls: 1 ( )
  Number of Illusions per Enemy: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Wall Duration: 30
  If an enemy passes through the wall, an illusion of it is created. If the illusion gets killed, the wall may create a new one if the enemy walks through again. The illusions' duration is based on the remaining duration of the wall from which they originate.
• Grimstroke - Dark Portrait
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration:
  Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
  Creates 1 illusion of the target enemy hero. The illusion is spell immune.
• Hoodwink - Decoy
  
  Number of Illusions: 0
  Illusion Damage Dealt: 1000
  Illusion Damage Taken: 250
  Illusion Duration: 0.6
  Requires Aghanim's Shard.
  Creates illusions of the caster. When the illusion is attacked or hit by a targeted ability, it is destroyed and plants a tree in its place that applies a lesser Bushwhack to enemy heroes around it.
• Illusionist's Cape - Create Illusion
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt: 50%
  Illusion Damage Taken: 200%
  Duration: 30
  Creates an illusion of the caster. Illusion's and caster's positions are shuffled upon casting.This is an old ability.
• Manta Style - Mirror Image
  
  Number of Illusions: 2
  Melee/Ranged Illusion Damage Dealt: /
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration:
  Creates illusions of the caster. Illusions' and caster's positions are shuffled upon creation.
• Naga Siren - Mirror Image
  
  Number of Illusions: 3 ( 4)
  Illusion Damage Dealt: ( )
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Duration:
  Creates illusions of the caster. Illusions' and caster's positions are shuffled upon creation.
• Phantom Lancer - Spirit Lance
  
  Number of Illusions per Lance: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt: ( )
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration:
  Creates an illusion of the caster at the target, if the projectile successfully hits the target.
• Phantom Lancer - Doppelganger
  
  Number of Illusions: 2
  First/Second Illusion Damage Dealt: /
  First/Second Illusion Damage Taken: /
  Doppelganger Illusion Duration:
  Creates illusions of the caster. Illusions and caster appear at a random location within the targeted area.
• Phantom Lancer - Juxtapose
  
  Max Illusions: 6/8/10
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration (from Hero/Illusion): /
  Active Spawn Radius:
  Active Illusion Duration:
  Has a 40%/45%/50% chance to create an illusion of the hero upon attacking. Illusions of the hero have an 8% chance.
  Aghanim's Scepter turns Juxtapose into an active ability, while the passive component is still present. Upon cast, creates 6/8/10 illusions.
• Illusion Rune - Illusion
  
  Number of Illusions: 2
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Melee/Ranged Illusion Damage Taken: /
  Illusion Duration:
  Creates illusions of the user.
• Shadow Demon - Disruption
  
  Number of Illusions: 2
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Illusion Duration:
  Creates illusions of the targeted ally or enemy. ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically targets self. Illusions' and hero's positions are not shuffled.
• Spectre - Haunt
  
  Number of Illusions per Enemy: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt: ( )
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Haunt Duration:
  Creates illusions of the caster next to enemy heroes for each enemy hero on the map. Haunt illusions cannot be controlled and do nothing but attack their assigned hero.
• Spectre - Dispersion
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Recent Damage Timer:
  Requires Aghanim's Shard. The ability values of Shadow Step scales with the values of Haunt.
  Upon cast, creates an illusion of the caster to attack the most recent hero that damaged Spectre in the last seconds anywhere on the map.
• Spectre - Shadow Step
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Requires Aghanim's Scepter. The ability values of Shadow Step scales with the values of Haunt.
  Creates an illusion of the caster next to the target enemy hero anywhere on the map. Shadow Step illusions cannot be controlled and do nothing but attack their assigned hero.
• Terrorblade - Reflection
  
  Number of Illusions per Enemy: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt: 15/20/25/30
  Duration:
  Creates an invulnerable, untargetable and uncontrollable illusion of each enemy hero within range on cast that attack their assigned target.
• Terrorblade - Conjure Image
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Duration: 34 ( 44)
  Creates an illusion of the caster that is visually distinguishable from the hero for the enemies.

Strong Illusions

Strong Illusions behave the same as regular illusions but cannot be instantly killed by abilities as listed here.

• Chaos Knight - Chaos Bolt
  
  Number of Illusions: 1
  Illusion Duration:
  Requires Aghanim's Shard.
  Creates 1 Phantasm illusion upon projectile impact.
• Chaos Knight - Phantasm
  
  Number of Illusions: 1/2/3 ( 2/3/4)
  Number of Illusions From Each Ally: Global
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Duration: ( )
  Creates illusions of the caster. Illusions' and caster's positions are shuffled upon creation.
  With Aghanim's Scepter, creates a Phantom illusion of every allied hero upon cast. Does not interrupt allies. Chaos Knight player controls the allied hero illusions.
• Vengeful Spirit - Vengeance Aura
  
  Number of Illusions on Death: 1
  Illusion Damage Dealt:
  Illusion Damage Taken:
  Requires Aghanim's Scepter.
  Spawns a Vengeance illusion upon death. The illusion lasts until respawning. Illusions do not spawn a Vengeance illusion upon death.

Stats

An illusion's stats, level, ability levels and items are all set upon created and do not adapt to the original hero.

The following traits are copied from illusions based on the original hero:

• all attributes, attribute gain and the hero's Primary Attribute.
  • Health, Mana and their regeneration values.
  • Base Armor
• Attack (Range/Speed)
  • Base Attack Time
  • Attack Animation/Projectile Speed
• Base Attack Damage
• Base Magic Resistance, Status Resistance and Spell Damage Amplification
  • Magical Damage Barrier
• Damage Block
• Movement Speed
• Collision Size
• Turn Rate
• Evasion
• Vision
• Talents, items and passive abilities that provides the bonuses above.

These trait are not copied and thus do not work for illusions, but their values are displayed in the HUD for camouflaging purposes.

• Attack Damage bonuses or raw damage increase
• Magic Resistance bonuses
• Armor bonuses

Magic Resistance Bonuses

Some sources of magic resistance work with illusions and some do not. Magic resistance increasing abilities do not affect illusions, except for Fate's Edict and magic resistance increasing talents. However, in the HUD, magic resistance is always displayed as if they were fully affected.

The following magic resistance sources affect illusions:

Magic Resistance Sources Affecting Illusions

• Elder Titan – Natural Order
• Astral Spirit – Natural Order
• Ethereal Blade – Ether Blast
• Ghost Scepter – Ghost Form
• Leshrac – Nihilism¹
• Necrophos – Ghost Shroud
• Pugna – Decrepify

The following magic resistance sources does not affect illusions:

Magic Resistance Sources Not Affecting Illusions

• Ancient Apparition – Ice Vortex
• Grove Bow – Magic Amp
• Keeper of the Light – Solar Bind
• Nyx Assassin – Vendetta²
• Skywrath Mage – Ancient Seal
• Viper – Poison Attack

¹ Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

² Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Bounty

Illusions have a gold and experience bounty equal to two times of their level. The gold bounty is granted to the player killing the illusion, while the experience is shared within the default experience area. However, the experience is only granted when the illusion is killed by a player. Expiring illusions, or illusions dying to lane creeps, towers, fountains or neutral creeps do not grant any experience.

The following table shows their bounties on each level:

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Gold	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42	44	46	48	50	52	54	56	58	60

The following illusions grant a fixed 5 and 5_XP, regardless of their level:

• Spirit Lance
• Juxtapose (created by Phantom Lancer and from his illusions)
• Wall of Replica

Copying Buffs and Debuffs

Usually when an illusion is created, it usually does not copy the buffs and debuffs the original hero has.

There are some exceptions, however, Illusions copy the toggled On / Off statuses of items and of some abilities.

The following buffs are copied by illusions:

Buffs Copied Upon Illusion Creation

• Alchemist – Chemical Rage
• Alchemist – Aghanim's Scepter Synth¹
• Armlet of Mordiggian – Unholy Strength³
• Dragon Knight – Elder Dragon Form
• Lone Druid – True Form
• Lycan – Shapeshift²
• Lycan – Wolf Bite¹
• Moon Shard – Consume⁴
• Morphling – Attribute Shift
• Terrorblade – Metamorphosis⁵
• Troll Warlord – Berserker's Rage
• Undying – Flesh Golem

¹ Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

² The Shapeshift form is copied, but the aura is not. Once Lycan returns to his default form, the Shapeshifted illusions no longer move at haste speed and no longer crit.

³ Unholy Strength buff and all its effects are copied (as according to the stats section details), except for the health loss.

⁴ The buff is copied, but illusions are not granted the attack speed bonus. Only the bonus night vision is copied.

⁵ Illusions do not revert to melee form upon Metamorphosis expiring.

Attack Modifiers

Main Article: Attack Modifiers

Attack modifiers are modifiers which apply an effect to a unit's basic attacks. These effects can widely vary, from healing, to damaging or even disabling effects. Most of these modifiers have their own rules. Some attack modifiers work with illusions and some do not, while some of them work partially or have their values decreased for balancing purposes.

The following attack modifiers fully work for illusions:

Attack Modifiers Copied Upon Creation

• Abaddon – Curse of Avernus
• Brewmaster – Drunken Brawler
• Chaos Knight – Chaos Strike
• Crystalys – Critical Strike
• Daedalus – Critical Strike
• Dragon Knight – Elder Dragon Form³
• Drow Ranger – Marksmanship Split Shot^{1 2}
• Juggernaut – Blade Dance
• Legion Commander – Moment of Courage
• Luna – Moon Glaives
• Lycan – Shapeshift
• Lycan – Wolf Bite¹
• Mask of Madness – Lifesteal
• Medusa – Split Shot²
• Monkey King Bar – Pierce⁴
• Morbid Mask – Lifesteal
• Orb of Venom – Poison Attack
• Phantom Assassin – Coup de Grace
• Phantom Lancer – Juxtapose
• Satanic – Lifesteal
• Sniper – Take Aim
• Spectre – Desolate
• Templar Assassin – Psi Blades
• Troll Warlord – Fervor
• Venomancer – Poison Sting
• Vladmir's Offering – Vladmir's Aura
• Wraith King – Mortal Strike
• Wraith King – Vampiric Spirit

¹ Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

² The damage reductions of Marksmanship and Split Shot are the only reductions which affect illusions.

³ All 3 modifiers of Elder Dragon Form (Corrosive Breath, Splash Attack and Frost Breath) work for illusions. However, the Corrosive Breath debuff placed by illusions deals no damage, the Frost Breath slow debuff doesn't slow the target (although the speed on the HUD is decreased).

⁴ Only the accuracy works for illusions.

Mana Break

Mana Break abilities or talents are copied by illusions from the original hero, illusions with Mana Break burns less mana than real heroes.

Not Copied

These attack modifiers are not copied upon creation and do not work for illusions:

Attack Modifiers Not Copied Upon Creation

• Abaddon – Curse of Avernus¹
• Abyssal Blade – Bash
• Battle Fury – Cleave²
• Battle Fury – Quell
• Blight Stone – Lesser Corruption
• Bounty Hunter – Jinada
• Desolator – Corruption²
• Echo Sabre – Echo Strike
• Eye of Skadi – Cold Attack²
• Faceless Void – Time Lock
• Gleipnir – Chain Lightning
• Javelin – Pierce
• Kunkka – Tidebringer^{2 3}
• Lifestealer – Feast
• Maelstrom – Chain Lightning
• Magnus – Empower
• Meepo – Ransack
• Monkey King Bar – Pierce
• Mjollnir – Chain Lightning
• Monkey King – Jingu Mastery
• Quelling Blade – Quell
• Riki – Cloak and Dagger Backstab
• Sand King – Caustic Finale
• Skull Basher – Bash
• Slardar – Bash of the Deep
• Slark – Essence Shift
• Sniper – Headshot
• Spirit Breaker – Greater Bash
• Sven – Great Cleave
• Tiny – Grow
• Troll Warlord – Berserker's Rage Bash
• Troll Warlord – Fervor
• Lua error: Found no Cargo data for "Ursa - Fury Swipes".
• Winter Wyvern – Arctic Burn
• Weaver – Geminate Attack

¹ Places buff on the illusions on each attack, but does not apply the debuff on attack targets.

² The particle effects of these attack modifiers appear and their sounds play, but their effects are not applied.

³ Tidebringer is always on Autocast for illusions, so they proc whenever off cooldown, but none of its effects are applied.

Active Abilities

Illusions may not use active abilities and items, but they might inherit ongoing abilities from the original hero if the ability was cast before creating the illusion. Only a few abilities have different effect when the cast is an illusion.

Notable Differences

• Abaddon - Borrowed Time
  
  Even when the illusion is allowed to cast abilities, Borrowed Time still does not auto-activate when below 400 health.
• Batrider - Firefly
  
  When the casting illusion dies, the fire trail immediately disappears, instead of staying for its remaining duration.
• Chen - Holy Persuasion
  
  All persuaded units die instantly when the illusion dies.
• Doom - Infernal Blade
  
  Cannot be used by illusions at all. Attempting to cast this makes the illusion perform a regular attack.
• Earth Spirit - Enchant Remnant
  
  Illusions cannot cast this ability.
• Elder Titan - Astral Spirit
  
  When the illusion dies while having the Astral Spirit out, the Astral Spirit dies as well. It does not return.
• Enchantress - Nature's Attendants
  
  When the illusion dies, Nature's Attendants ends immediately, instead of continuing to heal nearby allies for the remaining duration.
• Leshrac - Diabolic Edict
  
  When the illusion dies, Diabolic Edict ends immediately, instead of continuing to damage nearby enemies for the remaining duration.
• Leshrac - Lightning Storm
  
  When the illusion dies, Lightning Storm immediately stops bouncing.
• Medusa - Mana Shield
  
  Although it can be toggled, Mana Shield does not work for illusions at all.
• Mirana - Moonlight Shadow
  
  Since the ability does not affect illusions, the casting illusion is not turned invisible.
• Nyx Assassin - Burrow
  
  Illusions cannot cast this ability.
• Ogre Magi - Unrefined Fireblast
  
  Illusions cannot cast this ability.
• Phantom Assassin - Stifling Dagger
  
  Only attack modifiers which work for the illusion can proc. This means Stifling Dagger cast by illusions can, for example, never bash.
• Phoenix - Supernova
  
  When the illusion dies or expires during Supernova, the Supernova does not end, continuing to damage and then stun enemies at the end.
• Rubick - Fade Bolt
  
  When the illusion dies, Fade Bolt immediately stops bouncing.
• Sand King - Epicenter
  
  When the illusion dies, Epicenter ends immediately, instead of continuing to release its pulses.
• Spirit Breaker - Charge of Darkness
  
  Even though Greater Bash does not work for illusions, Charge of Darkness still applies the bash radius.
• Spirit Breaker - Nether Strike
  
  Even though Greater Bash does not work for illusions, Nether Strike still applies the bash radius.
• Timbersaw - Chakram
  
  Illusions cannot cast the blue Chakram.
• Treant Protector - Eyes In The Forest
  
  Illusions cannot cast this ability.
• Tusk - Walrus Kick
  
  Illusions cannot cast this ability.
• Visage - Soul Assumption
  
  Illusions do not have the charge meter above them.
• Zeus - Arc Lightning
  
  When the illusion dies, Arc Lightning immediately stops bouncing.

Casting Fake Abilities

Within a certain conditions, some abilities causes all illusions owned by the illusion creator within certain range from the target will also fake cast the ability, while the real hero casts the ability.

This is mainly for camouflaging the real hero and their illusions. The illusions still cannot use any active abilities.

These illusions have the following behavior:

• The illusion play the whole cast animation and cast the fake ability at the same time the real ability is cast.
• When illusions currently are not having any order and are standing still, they all turn to face the target and cast the ability.
• When canceling the cast (S), the illusions still play the full cast animation, but do not release the fake ability.
• When illusions are moving or attacking, they continue to do so and do not turn to face the target. They still play the cast animation, overriding their move or attack animations.
• They play the whole cast animation and release their fake ability at the same time the real ability is released.
• These fake abilities do not interact with anything.

Fake Abilities Cast by Illusions

• Chaos Knight – Chaos Bolt
• Naga Siren – Ensnare
• Naga Siren – Rip Tide
• Phantom Lancer – Spirit Lance

Passive Abilities

These passive abilities are fully functional for illusions:

Functional Passive Abilities

• Abyssal Blade – Damage Block
• Aether Lens – Aethereal Focus
• Axe – Counter Helix
• Bristleback – Warpath¹
• Crimson Guard – Damage Block
• Earthshaker – Aftershock
• Enchantress – Untouchable
• Faceless Void – Chronosphere²
• Medusa – Split Shot
• Naga Siren – Rip Tide
• Night Stalker – Hunter in the Night
• Octarine Core – Cooldown Reduction
• Ogre Magi – Multicast
• Phantom Assassin – Blur
• Phantom Lancer – Phantom Rush
• Shadow Fiend – Necromastery
• Storm Spirit – Overload
• Treant Protector – Nature's Guise
• Vanguard – Damage Block
• Visage – Gravekeeper's Cloak

¹ Warpath does proc when illusions cast abilities. Also, since Warpath always applies a stack on all owned illusions by default, illusions casting abilities get 2 stacks per cast.

² This is an innate ability. All illusions owned by Faceless Void are not frozen in time during Chronosphere.

Partially Functional Passive Abilities

• Bloodseeker – Thirst¹
• Bristleback – Bristleback²
• Dragon Knight – Dragon Blood³
• Tidehunter – Kraken Shell²
• Timbersaw – Reactive Armor³
• Viper – Corrosive Skin⁴

¹ The health restore and max movement speed limit works, but not the movement speed bonus, hero detection and vision

² Only the damage block/reduction works.

³ Only the health regeneration bonus works.

⁴ Only the damage per second and slow bonus works.

These passive abilities do not work for illusions:

Not Functional Passive Abilities

• Abaddon – Borrowed Time¹
• Alchemist – Greevil's Greed
• Anti-Mage – Counterspell¹
• Lua error: Found no Cargo data for "Bloodstone - Mana Battery".
• Centaur Warrunner – Retaliate
• Drow Ranger – Marksmanship
• Gyrocopter – Side Gunner
• Infused Raindrops – Magical Damage Block
• Linken's Sphere – Spellblock
• Meepo – Divided We Stand
• Pangolier – Lucky Shot
• Pudge – Flesh Heap
• Razor – Storm Surge
• Shadow Fiend – Requiem of Souls¹
• Slark – Shadow Dance¹
• Spectre – Dispersion
• Wraith King – Reincarnation

¹ The passive components of these active abilities do not work for illusions.

Aura

These auras are bestowed by illusions upon creation:

Bestowed Auras Upon Creation

• Assault Cuirass – Assault Aura
• Beastmaster – Inner Beast
• Buckler – Buckler Aura²
• Centaur Warrunner – Retaliate Aura
• Crystal Maiden – Arcane Aura
• Elder Titan – Natural Order¹
• Guardian Greaves – Guardian Aura
• Headdress – Regeneration Aura
• Luna – Lunar Blessing
• Lycan – Feral Impulse
• Mekansm – Mekansm Aura
• Necrophos – Heartstopper Aura
• Lua error: Found no Cargo data for "Omniknight - Degen Aura".
• Pipe of Insight – Insight Aura
• Radiance – Burn^{2 3}
• Ring of Basilius – Basilius Aura
• Shadow Fiend – Presence of the Dark Lord
• Shiva's Guard – Freezing Aura
• Underlord – Atrophy Aura⁴
• Undying – Plague Aura
• Vengeful Spirit – Vengeance Aura
• Lua error: Found no Cargo data for "Veil of Discord - Basilius Aura".
• Vladmir's Offering – Vladmir's Aura

¹ Despite the illusions not having an Astral Spirit, their Natural Order always bestows the armor reduction and the magic resistance reduction aura.

² Illusions copy the toggled On / Off status of these auras.

³ Burn is weaker on illusions, dealing 1.5 damage per second, instead of 60.

⁴ Illusions bestow the Atrophy Aura. When an enemy dies within aura range of an illusion, Underlord gets the damage bonus, if he owns the illusion, otherwise the illusion itself gets the damage.

These auras are not bestowed by illusions upon creation:

Not Bestowed Auras

• Drow Ranger – Marksmanship Agility Aura
• Gem of True Sight – True Sight
• Lycan – Shapeshift Speed and Crit Aura
• Terrorblade – Metamorphosis Aura
• Wraith King – Wraith Delay Aura¹

¹ Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

Ability Interactions

Most abilities treat illusions like regular heroes. However, some abilities have a different effect or interact in a different way with illusions. A few abilities do not affect illusions at all.

Instant Kill

These abilities instantly destroy illusions when used on them:

Instant Kill Abilities

• Dagon – Energy Burst
• Dazzle – Poison Touch¹
• Disruptor – Glimpse
• Lion – Hex
• Lion – Mana Drain²
• Pugna – Life Drain²
• Scythe of Vyse – Hex
• Shadow Shaman – Hex

¹ Requires Aghanim's Shard.

² Kills illusions on the first tick, not upon cast.

Creep Duration

These abilities uses the non-hero or creep duration on them, instead of hero duration:

Treats Illusions as Non-Hero Units

• Abaddon – Borrowed Time Aura¹
• Ancient Apparition – Ice Blast
• Bloodseeker – Thirst
• Lua error: Found no Cargo data for "Bloodstone - Mana Battery".
• Chen – Hand of God
• Dark Seer – Wall of Replica
• Earth Spirit – Rolling Boulder
• Enchantress – Enchant
• Guardian Greaves – Guardian Aura
• Lua error: Found no Cargo data for "Invoker - EMP".
• Io – Spirits
• Kunkka – Ghostship
• Mirana – Moonlight Shadow
• Nature's Prophet – Wrath of Nature
• Pudge – Flesh Heap
• Riki – Tricks of the Trade
• Skywrath Mage – Concussive Shot
• Skywrath Mage – Mystic Flare
• Slark – Essence Shift
• Slark – Pounce
• Smoke of Deceit – Disguise
• Spectre – Haunt
• Spectre – Dispersion²
• Spectre – Shadow Step¹
• Undying – Decay
• Urn of Shadows – Soul Release
• Visage – Soul Assumption
• Witch Doctor – Paralyzing Cask

¹ Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

² Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Ward Units

These ward units require the creep amount of attacks to destroy them, instead of the hero amount when attacked by an illusion.

Treats Illusions as Non-Hero Units

• Phoenix – Supernova
• Pugna – Nether Ward
• Undying – Tombstone

No Effect

These abilities do not affect, cannot target, or do not work against illusions:

No Effect On Illusions

• Alchemist – Greevil's Greed¹
• Alchemist – Aghanim's Scepter Synth²
• Broodmother – Spin Web²
• Necrophos – Heartstopper Aura
• Observer and Sentry Wards – Share Wards²
• Rubick – Spell Steal
• Shadow Fiend – Necromastery¹
• Tango – Devour²
• Templar Assassin – Psi Blades
• Underlord – Atrophy Aura¹
• Viper – Nethertoxin

¹ These abilities ignore the death of illusions, so killing them does not make these abilities apply their effects.

² These abilities do not have a target or do not place their buffs or debuffs on illusions.

Other Interactions

These abilities have different interactions with illusions. They either do not treat them as heroes, or apply different effects on them.

Other Interactions

• Bounty Hunter - Track
  
  Illusions do not provide any bounty when dying while tracked.
• Bristleback - Warpath
  
  Warpath places its buff/grants a stack to the caster and all illusions under the caster's control.
• Buildings - Backdoor Protection
  
  Illusions deal 75% less damage against protected buildings, instead of 25% like any other unit. They also deal 60% less damage against unprotected buildings.
• Elder Titan - Astral Spirit
  
  Damages illusions, but does not count them for the damage and speed buff.
• Legion Commander - Overwhelming Odds
  
  Deals additional damage based on current health to illusions. Illusions are treated as creeps.
• Legion Commander - Duel
  
  Does not grant victory damage when defeating an illusion in a Duel.
• Medusa - Mystic Snake
  
  Does not drain mana from illusions.
• Roshan - Strength of the Immortal
  
  Grants 20 damage resistance against attacks from illusions.
• Silencer - Glaives of Wisdom
  
  Does not steal intelligence from illusions, neither when they are attacked nor when they die.
• Storm - Dispel Magic
  
  Deals damage against illusions on top of dispelling.
• Tusk - Snowball
  
  Allied illusions cannot enter a Snowball. Only Tusk's own illusions can. Added illusions do not increase the damage.

Recent Changes

Main Article: Illusions/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.34

• U
  The Spirit Bear is no longer restricted from having illusions.

7.30c

• The Vengeance Illusion now uses a hero health bar, instead of the regular unit health bar.

7.20

• Illusions incoming damage amplification is now calculated as very last, after all other damage-based calculations are done.

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

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