| “ | ▶️ You can't fight what you can't see.
— Bounty Hunter
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” |
Invisibility is a status effect that causes the unit to not be seen by the enemy, even when within their range of vision, allowing the unit scout, spy on, and ambush enemies by sneaking through their lines. However, enemies can counter this by acquiring True Sight.
Contents
Mechanics[]
Invisible units appear transparent to enemies with True Sight and to allies.
An invisible unit is unselectable for the enemy team, and also attack immune against them. They are also flagged as invisible, which causes many different interactions with several abilities.
Invisibility always applies a disjoint upon getting applied. This is a one-time event that happens once upon turning invisible, and not periodically over the entire duration. The disjoint is not applied if the enemy has True Sight over the unit.
Appearance[]
Invisible units are not rendered for the enemy team, so that they cannot see them at all. Their minimap icon stops showing up for them as well.
To allies of the unit, and to enemies that have True Sight over the unit, the unit appears transparent, but still visible. They can be selected and attacked normally, and are not treated as invisible by abilities. On the minimap, their marker appears as a ring with a pointer, instead of a full circle with a pointer.
To enemies that have shared vision over the unit, the unit's silhoutte becomes visible, while the model itself is still invisible. The unit can be selected, but still cannot be targeted by abilities and attacks.
Invisible units do not cast shadows, neither to enemies nor to allies.
Fade Time[]
Most sources of invisibility have an initial short time period before taking effect, during which unit is not considered invisible, and therefore still visible and targetable. This period is known as the Fade Time. Sources of invisibility that use a fade time are only applied once. If the invisibility gets broken in any way, the invisibility does not get re-applied.
During the fade time:
- The unit's models gradually gains transparency, until reaching full invisibility at the end of the fade time.
- The unit never attacks automatically, regardless of auto attack settings. Automatically started attacks get canceled.
- The unit can still manually be ordered to attack, and perform attacks without breaking the invisibility. Manually started attacks do not get canceled.
- The unit can also cast abilities and items, neither do already started casts not get canceled.
- The unit is not phased.
These are the default behaviors. Some abilities using a fade time may deviate slightly from this and have unique behaviors.
Fade Delay[]
Some sources of invisibility periodically turn the unit invisible over their entire duration. This means if the invisibility gets broken, they turn invisible again after a time period. This period is known as the Fade Delay. Usually, the fade delay is also applied upon initially gaining the invisibility, taking the role of the fade time.
During the fade delay:
- The unit's model stays completely visibile.
- The unit does not stop automatically attacking nearby enemies when the auto attack option is turned on.
- Casting abilities or items, or performing attacks resets the fade delay again, considering the source invisibility gets broken by casting or attacking.
Unit Behavior[]
While invisible, a unit never automatically attacks any nearby enemy, not even when it is revealed by True Sight and being attacked. ground-targeted order (A+
Left Click), the invisible unit attacks. Generally, the invisibility is lost upon reaching the attack point. For ranged heroes, this is upon projectile launch.
As for casting abilities, the invisibility is lost upon reaching the cast point of the ability. This means that abilities with extended effects i.e. Eclipse or Epicenter do not cancel the invisibility upon each beam or pulse. Channeling abilities do not cancel it either when going invisible after the channeling started.
Sources of Invisibility[]
Fade Time: 1/0.75/0.5/0.25
Duration: 20/25/30/35
Phased: Yes
Affects self.-
Fade Time: 0.6
Duration: 25/30/35/40
Phased: Yes
Affects self. -
Fade Delay: 50%
Duration:
Phased: Yes
Can be cast on self or allied heroes. The target stays invisible for the whole duration. When breaking invisibility, the unit turns invisible again after the fade delay. -
Fade Time: 2
Duration: 45
Phased: No
Affects the hero activating the rune. -
Fade Time: 0
Duration: 100
Phased: Yes
Affects self. -
Fade Delay: 1.7
Duration: Permanent
Phased: No
Affects self. Available for level 4 wolves only. -
Fade Delay: 2.5/2/1.5
Duration: 18
Phased: No
Affects all allied heroes. Affected heroes stay invisible for the whole duration. When breaking invisibility, the unit turns invisible again after the fade delay. -
Fade Delay: 1.2
Duration: Permanent
Phased: Yes
Tree Search Radius: 275
Affects self when nearby tree. Invisibility is broken upon reaching the cast point of abilities or items, or upon launching an attack. -
Fade Time: 0
Duration: 40/50/60
Phased: Yes
Affects self. -
Fade Time: 0
Phased: Yes
Affects self. Stays invisible until unburrowing or death. Invisibility is not lost upon casting spells or items. Immobile and disarmed while burrowed. -
Fade Time: 0.15
Duration: 7/8.5/10 ( 8.5/10/11.5)
Phased: No
Attacking, casting abilities or using items breaks the invisibility and resets the fade delay. -
Fade Time: 0
Duration: 25
Phased: No
Affects self. Invisibility is not lost upon casting abilities or attacking. Invisibility is lost when getting within range of enemy heroes and towers. Immune to True Sight. -
Fade Delay: 4/3/2
Duration: Permanent
Phased: No
Affects self. Invisibility is not lost upon casting spells or items -
Fade Time: 0.7
Duration:
Phased: No
Affects self. The fade delay is not used upon cast. After breaking invisibility, Sand King turns invisible again after the fade delay. The effect ends if Sand King leaves the Sand Storm radius. Invisibility lingers for seconds after the effect ends. -
Fade Time:
Phased: Yes
Can be cast on self or allied heroes. Stays invisible until an attack is executed, a spell or item is cast, or when the hero moves. -
Fade Time: 0.3
Duration: 14
Phased: Yes
Affects self. -
Fade Time: 0.3
Duration: 25%
Phased: Yes
Affects self. Attacking during the fade time breaks the invisibility. -
Radius: 0
Fade Time: 0
Duration: 4/4.25/4.5 ( 5/5.25/5.5)
Phased: No
Affects self. Invisibility is not lost upon casting spells or items or attacking. Immune to True Sight. A smoke cloud is visible at Slark's location. When upgraded, the effect is aura-based, lingering for 0.5 seconds. -
Cast Range: 800
Radius: 300
Affect allies and self. Creates a cloud at the target location based on Shadow Dance values. -
Radius: 1200
Fade Time: 0
Duration: 35
Phased: No
Affects allied player controlled units in the area. Invisibility is not lost upon casting spells or items. Invisibility is lost when getting within range of enemy heroes and towers. Immune to True Sight. -
Fade Time: 0.6
Duration: 20
Phased: Yes
Affects self. -
Fade Time: 0
Phased: Yes
Affects self. Stays invisible until an attack is executed, a spell or item is cast, or when Templar Assassin moves. -
Fade Time: 0.25
Duration: 4
Phased: Yes
Affects self. Turns the caster phased immediately on cast, instead of after the fade time. -
Fade Time: 2.5 ( )
Duration:
Phased: Yes
Affects self.
Permanent Invisibility[]
The following units are permanently invisible.
Notes:
- This unit is invisible once summoned or created. The ability and modifier are not displayed in-game.
- 1 Has a fade delay of 1 seconds.
True Sight[]
True Sight is a negative status effect that renders the effects of invisibility null. A unit affected by True Sight is no longer considered invisible to them, until the True Sight status effect is removed. This means they can be selected and targeted normally, and are not treated as invisible units by abilities anymore.
True Sight is not to be confused with exposure. While True Sight directly works against invisibility, exposure only reveals their silhouette and makes them selectable again. They remain untargetable, attack immune, and are still treated as invisible by abilities.
Sources of True Sight[]
-
Radius: 900
-
-
Radius: 500 ( 640)
Duration: 4/4.5/5 -
Radius: 1200
-
Radius: 900
-
Radius: 1000
-
Radius: 500
-
Radius: 900
Duration: 420 -
Radius: 700
-
-
Radius: 750
Duration: 5 -
Radius: 900
Duration: 3
-
Max Channel Time: 5/5.5/6 ( 10/10.5/11)
-
Detection Radius: Global
Visibility Health Threshold: 80%
Provides True Sight over enemies below the visibility health threshold. -
Duration: 0.5
-
Hero Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3 ( 2.75/3.25/3.75/4.25)
Non-Hero Duration: 10 ( 11.25) -
Duration: 20%
-
Duration: 450
-
Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3 ( 2.5/3/3.5/4)
-
Duration: 2
-
Duration: 4/4.75/5.5 ( 6/7/8)
Provides True Sight over the target for allies, and over the caster for enemies. -
Duration: 1.4/1.7/2.0/2.3
-
Duration: 2
-
Duration: 2.75/3.5/4.25/5
-
Min Duration: 0.5 ( 0.9)
Max Duration: 2.5 ( 2.9) -
Hero Max Channel Time: 3 ( 3.8)
Non-Hero Max Channel Time: 6 ( 6.8) -
Max Channel Time: 10
-
Duration: 2
-
Radius: 800
Duration: 6 -
Max Channel Time: 2.75/3.5/4.25/5 ( 3.75/4.5/5.25/6)
-
Duration: 100
-
Max Duration: 0.01
The debuff is placed upon cast begin, and gets dispelled if the cast gets canceled, and upon projectile hit. -
Hero Duration: 1/1.6/2.2/2.8
Non-Hero Duration: -
-
Duration: 3/4/5
Both the regular Overgrowth and the one applied from Eyes In The Forest provide True Sight. -
Duration: 0.8/1.2/1.6/2
Provides True Sight over rooted enemies. -
Duration: 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8 ( 1.85/2.05/2.25/2.45)
-
Duration: 1.4/1.6/1.8/2
Provides True Sight over the pulled target. -
Duration: 4.5/5/5.5
Provides True Sight over the primary target.
True Sight Immunity[]
Some abilities provide True Sight immunity, which prevents True Sight from revealing the units.p
Invisibility interactions with other spells[]
Targeting invisible units[]
Most spells which affect an area usually affect invisible units as well, with some exceptions. Single target spells cannot target invisible units without the help of True Sight. Although shared vision renders the unit's model visible even during invisibility, it is not enough to allow single target spells to target them.
Spells which choose specific or random targets on cast behave inconsistently with invisibility. This includes all bouncing spells (e.g. Arc Lightning) and multi-target spells like Poison Touch and Heat-Seeking Missile. The following such spells do not target invisible units:
- Abaddon – Aphotic Shield
- Batrider – Flaming Lasso1
- Bristleback – Viscous Nasal Goo1
- Clinkz – Searing Arrows2
- Clockwerk – Battery Assault
- Dark Willow – Bedlam
- Dazzle – Poison Touch
- Death Prophet – Exorcism
- Drow Ranger – Marksmanship1
- Ember Spirit – Searing Chains
- Ember Spirit – Sleight of Fist
- Grimstroke – Soulbind
- Gyrocopter – Rocket Barrage
- Gyrocopter – Homing Missile3
- Gyrocopter – Flak Cannon
- Gyrocopter – Side Gunner1
- Harpy Stormcrafter – Chain Lightning
- Juggernaut – Omnislash
- Leshrac – Lightning Storm4
- Lich – Chain Frost
- Lion – Mana Drain2
- Luna – Moon Glaives
- Luna – Eclipse
- Maelstrom – Chain Lightning
- Medusa – Split Shot
- Medusa – Mystic Snake
- Mirana – Starstorm
- Mjollnir – Chain Lightning
- Morphling – Adaptive Strike2
- Nature's Prophet – Wrath of Nature
- Ogre Magi – Multicast Ignite
- Phantom Assassin – Stifling Dagger1
- Phantom Lancer – Spirit Lance2
- Razor – Eye of the Storm
- Riki – Tricks of the Trade
- Rubick – Fade Bolt
- Shadow Shaman – Ether Shock
- Shadow Shaman – Mass Serpent Ward1
- Skywrath Mage – Arcane Bolt1 2
- Skywrath Mage – Concussive Shot5
- Skywrath Mage – Ancient Seal1
- Skywrath Mage – Mystic Flare6
- Sniper – Assassinate1
- Spirit Breaker – Charge of Darkness3
- Storm Spirit – Electric Vortex1
- Terrorblade – Reflection
- Tinker – Laser1
- Tinker – Heat-Seeking Missile
- Tiny – Toss7
- Treant Protector – Overgrowth
- Undying – Soul Rip
- Undying – Tombstone
- Visage – Soul Assumption2
- Warlock – Fatal Bonds
- Weaver – The Swarm
- Witch Doctor – Paralyzing Cask
- Witch Doctor – Death Ward1
- Zeus – Arc Lightning
1 Requires Aghanim's Scepter. When upgraded, these spells can target secondary units, but ignore invisible ones.
2 Requires a 
talent. When upgraded, these spells can target secondary units, but ignore invisible ones.
3 These spells choose a new target if their current target dies. They do not choose invisible targets.
4 Soulbind does not bind the target to their invisible allies, but keeps the link up if an already bound unit turns invisible.
5 Lightning Storm also includes the single strikes from Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Pulse Nova.
6 Concussive Shot does not seek for invisible units. The area effect does hit nearby invisible units.
7 The secondary Mystic Flare is not created on invisible enemies. The area damage does affect invisible units.
8 Toss does not select nearby invisible enemy units to toss. The area damage does hit invisible enemies.
The following spells have mixed interactions:
-
Always hits the triggering unit, even when invisible. Does not hit other nearby invisible enemies.
-
When choosing the area talent, Shadow Strike does target invisible enemies within the area, but the projectiles get instantly disjointed.
- Techies - [[Techies#|]]Does not trigger on invisible enemies. If triggered by other units, does root invisible enemies within its area.
-
Does target invisible enemies, but the damage and lightning require vision. Therefore, only the vision and true sight is applied around invisible enemies.
Turning invisible after cast[]
For most spells, it does not matter if the target turns invisible after the spell's effect already have begun. Their effects continue normally, regardless of the invisibility. There are exceptions to this.
All sources of invisibility disjoint projectiles. Even a split-second of vision loss caused by invisibility is enough to disjoint projectiles, even when regaining vision of the unit before the projectile reaches it. This disjoint does not happen when having True Sight over the unit.
Besides disjointed projectiles, the following spells behave differently when their targets turn invisible while they are active.
-
When the caster turns invisible, taunted enemies can be given one order until the effect expires. After finishing that order, the unit freezes in place until the effect expires.
-
When an already marked unit turns invisible before it gets slashed, it gets completely skipped if it still is invisible on its turn.
-
When a phantom's target turns invisible, the phantom instantly dies.
-
If the snake's current target is invisible on impact, the snake does not affect it, and does not count the jump.
-
When the zombies' target turns invisible, the zombies instantly die.
-
When a beetle's target turns invisible, the beetle instantly dies.
Version History[]
- Broodmother no longer gains invisibility in her Spin Web.
Patch History[]
- Fixed invisibility being unable to disjoint attack projectiles.
- The following abilities now will damage invisible units that have been revealed:
- Fixed various bugs with True Sight.
- Fixed True Sight being unable to be applied to sleeping and/or invulnerable units.
- Fixed projectile dodging to happen when the invisibility fade time finishes.
- Fixed projectile dodging from invisibility to only happen if you successfully go invisible, as in you do not dodge if the enemy team has True Sight over you.
- Made going invisible inherently do a projectile dodge.
- Fixed where with ◉ Standard auto-attack, you could auto-attack while fading out from invisibility, causing you to break invisibility unintentionally.
- True Sight-sources are now disabled by Hex-sources and Doom.
- Abilities that provides invisibility can now dodge incoming ability projectiles.
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