Bots


Info

Bots are computer controlled heroes in Dota 2. They can be found in practice matches, lobbies and co-op bot matches.

Difficulties

Bots come in 5 different difficulties (Passive, Easy, Normal, Hard, Unfair).

  • Passive bots will lane passively, and will not attack players, bot or human, except when they see an allied human player/other bot attack their enemies. They will not try to last hit nor deny, and sometimes will stick to the tower. Passive bots will never use their abilities/items. If an allied human player disconnects, a bot on the opposing team will return to the fountain and stop playing, until the player has returned.



  • Medium bots are almost identical to easy bots in terms of play-style, with a few exceptions. Their reaction time is faster, making their last hits more precise, and if played in practice/single player mode, only the allied bots will deny creeps. Medium bots are also better at detecting whether a hero is an illusion. Medium bots are allowed to use Phase Boots, Force Staff, and Orchid Malevolence.



Videos

Passive

Nothing


Easy

  • Use of Abilities: Enabled
  • Use of Almost All Items: Enabled (exceptions below)
  • Leaving Lane: Enabled


  • Last hitting uncertainty: 400 ms
  • Reaction time: 200 ms
  • Group Formation: 3

Medium

  • Use of Remaining Items: Enabled
  • Illusion Detection: Enabled


  • Last hitting uncertainty: 200 ms
  • Reaction time: 100 ms
  • Group Formation: 4

Hard

  • Avoid Stun Overlap: Enabled
  • Deny Creeps: Enabled
  • Harass: Enabled
  • Gank/Roam: Enabled
  • Channeling Interruption: Enabled
  • Projectile Dodging: Enabled


  • Last hitting uncertainty: 0 ms (Instant)
  • Reaction time: 50 ms
  • Group Formation: 5

Unfair

  • +25% XP & Gold: Enabled at 30 minutes
  • Last hitting uncertainty: 0 ms (Instant)
  • Reaction time: 0 ms (Instant)
  • Group Formation: 5
  • Enemy bots will often `cheat`; for instance, they have knowledge of which spells you want to cast, and can identify you from your illusions.

Bot Names

Different bots have different human names, which are selected randomly in each match, and are always followed by "Bot" (eg: Archy Bot). Here is the list of possible Bot names:

Agnes Alfred Archy Barty Benjamin Bertram Bruni Buster Edith
Ester Flo Francis Francisco Gil Gob Gus Hank Harold
Harriet Henry Jacques Jorge Juan Kitty Lionel Louie Lucille
Lupe Mabel Maeby Marco Marta Maurice Maynard Mildred Monty
Mordecai Morty Pablo Seymour Stan Tobias Vivian Walter Wilbur

Lists of Heroes used by bots

Bots only play certain heroes, most of which are taken from the Limited Heroes pool. Bots can play 39 of the 113 heroes: Axe   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Axe 25 + 2.8 20 + 2.2 18 + dota2 , Bane Not to be confused with Banehallow.   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Bane 22 + dota2 , Bounty Hunter "Bounty" redirects here. For the reward earned from last-hits, see Gold.   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs dota2 , Bloodseeker   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Bloodseeker 23 + 2.7 24 + 3 18 + dota2 , Bristleback   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Bristleback 22 + 2.2 17 + 1.8 14 + 2.8 Level Base dota2 , Chaos Knight   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Chaos Knight 22 + 3.2 14 + 2.1 16 + 1.2 Level dota2 , Crystal Maiden   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Crystal Maiden 16 + 2 16 + 1.6 16 + 2.9 Level dota2 , Dazzle   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Dazzle 16 + 2.15 21 + 1.7 27 + 3.4 Level Base dota2 , Death Prophet   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Death Prophet 17 + 2.6 14 + 1.4 23 + 3 Level dota2 , Dragon Knight   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Dragon Knight 19 + 3.1 19 + 2.2 15 + 1.7 Level dota2 , Drow Ranger For the race in Dota 2 lore, see Drow.   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     dota2 , Earthshaker   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Earthshaker 22 + 3.2 12 + 1.4 16 + dota2 , Jakiro   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Jakiro 25 + 2.6 10 + 1.2 28 + 2.8 Level Base dota2 , Juggernaut, Kunkka, Lich, Lina, Lion, Luna, Necrophos, Omniknight, Oracle, Phantom Assassin, Pudge, Razor, Sand King, Shadow Fiend, Skywrath Mage, Sniper, Sven, Tidehunter, Tiny, Vengeful Spirit, Viper   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Viper 20 + 2.4 21 + 2.9 15 + 1.8 Level Base dota2 , Warlock, Windranger, Witch Doctor, Wraith King, Zeus.

Bots in Limited Heroes

Bots will replace players who leave/abandon the match in a Limited Heroes game.

General

  • All allied bots will go to a location pinged by an allied player, as long as they are not currently doing something, such as farming, moving to a lane, or pushing. They will also follow other allied player pings, such as:
    • If it is on an allied structure, all bots will surround it to defend it.
    • If it is on an enemy structure, they will all group up in that structure`s lane to mass-push it.
    • If it is on an enemy Hero, nearby bots will try to near said enemy and kill them, ignoring creeps, towers, and other enemy Heroes. Bots will even follow the pinged Hero to the enemy fountain, sustaining grievous damage, or getting themselves killed in the process.
    • If it is on Roshan`s pit, all bots will announce "Doing Roshan!" and will all group up to take him down. Sometimes they do not attack and will end up losing health and die. This usually occurs at low levels, when the bots do not have enough farm, or the player merely pinged the ground near Roshan, and not Roshan himself.
  • Bots will always purchase a courier before the match and a flying courier afterward once they gain enough gold, and it is usually the support bot (or the weakest one) who does so, making it useless for the human player(s) to buy a courier themselves (if they`re playing support).
  • Passive bots will either retreat or just stand still at the sight of an enemy, and will never use abilities or fight back.
  • Medium and below bots will try to move away from enemy Heroes that stand too close early game, even if they have an advantage (except if the enemy is at low enough health).
  • If an enemy is pursuing a Medium (or higher) bot and they reach their tower (or fountain), they will try to stun/disable the enemy once they reach the building`s aggro range to let them be bombarded by its attacks.
  • Bots will try to evade delayed spells (or skill-shots such as Sacred Arrow if the caster is visible. Medium and below bots are usually unaware of abilities with hidden delays even when the caster is visible, such as Sun Strike or Torrent, while Hard and above bots will always try to evade all delayed/aimed spells if the caster is visible.
  • Medium and above bots will not bother leaving the AoE of damaging spells such as Midnight Pulse or Acid Spray, unless their health is below 25%.
  • Bots with healing abilities (or Urn of Shadows) will sometimes heal illusions instead of a real Hero in an attempt to trick the enemy, although sometimes this results in having no spell to use in an actual team fight (or running out of Urn charges).
    • They will only heal units that are at or below 50% health. This applies to any healing ability or item, such as Mekansm, Shadow Word, Death Pulse, etc.

Laning

  • At the start of the match, bots will gather at the bounty-rune spots to secure it for themselves (or a nearby human player). Radiant bots will gather at the top Radiant-rune, while Dire bots gather at the bottom Dire-rune. Occasionally, one bot may collect the other bounty rune on the same team`s territory, or move to enemy territory to collect their unguarded bounty rune.
  • Bots will always carry a Town Portal Scroll, regardless of their level. They will teleport:
    • To return to their lane during the laning phase.
    • When a tower is coming under attack.
    • When they assume they are at a safe enough distance to retreat/escape from would-be chasers/gankers.
    • When they are at critical health and nearby enemies do not have any ready disables.
  • Hard and Unfair bots will group up in one lane after the laning phase has ended. They will always stick together as one group and push lanes accordingly, even all teleporting into their base to stop incoming enemies. Although sometimes they will divide into two groups to push two lanes at the same time, if one group is driven off, it will rejoin with the other half instead of continuing to split push.
  • Medium and above bots with spammable abilities like Lightning Bolt or Crypt Swarm (as well as attack modifiers like Poison Attack or Frost Arrows) will always try to use them repeatedly, with the timing, frequency and accuracy of said spells increasing directly with difficulty.
  • If a Dust of Appearance hasn`t been used, Bots will never try to chase enemies that have turned invisible. If an enemy uses Glimmer Cape to run away in plain sight, bots will not go after them, in spite of the fact that they will become visible a few seconds later.
  • Support bots (classified by their in-game roles, regardless of how the community commonly treat said Hero), will always try not to last hit if they are paired with a carry, and will deny the creeps (only Medium and above). They will continue to do so until the laning phase has ended, signaled by the bots` decisions of ganking or mass pushing/defending.
    • While on the other hand, carry bots will ignore their human player lane mate and will try to last hit and deny everything themselves, even if the human player is a support.
    • A team of Medium bots that has no human players, but is facing against one, will not deny creeps in their lane.
  • If an enemy possesses summoned creeps, like Broodmother`s Spiderlings or Enigma`s Eidolons, bots will try to kill them first before any of the lane creeps or the enemy Heroes themselves, sometimes even going through the wave and players just to kill said units.

Combat

  • Bots will usually try to chase low-health enemies for long distances, and will usually not be deterred by defenses such as towers and creeps. The higher the difficulty and their in-game level, the more confident they are in tower and base diving. Despite their resilience, they can be evaded through fog or once their target has moved more than 900 range away from them.
  • Bots usually will not retreat to the fountain even if their health is below half or they have no more mana. They will only do so if they are at critical health or are being chased.
  • Medium and below bots usually do not try to time their disables for maximum efficiency. Be that as it may, Hard and Unfair bots will, meaning they will wait for the initial disable to wear off, then use their own to extend the downtime of their target.
  • Bots prioritize disabling abilities (such as stuns, slows, etc.) over running away from a threat, such that they will halt, turn and use the ability even if they are at a fraction of their health.
    • Bots will treat disabling spells all the same, even if said spell would be more beneficial to use in a team-fight instead on just a lone enemy. An example would be a Tidehunter bot using Ravage just to stop one teleporting Hero or when being chased by a couple of enemies, which is the same way another bot would use their lesser, more expendable disables (such as Ice Path).
  • All bots with channeling abilities will always try to channel for its full duration, even if further channeling will no longer be required (eg. No Heroes to target for Death Ward). They will also ignore incoming enemy units while channeling, making themselves open to being disabled and attacked.
    • Bots that see enemy channeling spells will immediately try to interrupt them, giving them priority over everything else, sometimes even using ultimates (such as Ravage) for the sake of stopping the channel.
  • If there is a nearby allied human player with a spare inventory slot while the team is attacking Roshan, the bots will always confer the Aegis to said human players for several seconds. If no human player takes it, they will, and it will always be one of the highest leveled carries.
  • If bots see the enemy team enter Roshan`s pit, they would immediately try to stop their attempt to kill Roshan, but usually won`t try to do it themselves afterward unless they are of high enough levels.

Hero-specific

Item usage

  • Bots that use Blink Dagger may not use it perfectly, such as blinking into a fight unprepared, or blinking forward and then retreating immediately.
  • Bots that purchase Necronomicon can control the units through basic means, but will not use its active abilities (such as the Archer`s Necronomicon#Mana Burn).
    • Additionally, bots do not take a Necronomicon Warrior backfire damage into account and may even kill themselves with it.
  • Bots with Buckler, Mekansm or Pipe of Insight will only use them once they have decided to be aggressive. This can be used as a signal to find out if a team of bots have detected an enemy Hero.
  • Bots with Force Staff For the cosmetic item equipped by Crystal Maiden, see Force Staff (Equipment)   Item   Changelogs     Force StaffB Allows you to manipulate others, for good or evil. Cost2250 (400) Bought FromCaster Active Force dota2 will occasionally use it offensively, such as pushing an enemy Hero forward into their team to be surrounded, although occasionally they mistime their usage and result in pushing an enemy Hero away from themselves, letting them escape.
  • Bots will use Urn of Shadows on allies regardless of the situation as long as their target meets the criteria (at or below 50% HP). As such, they will use it even if their target is being attacked by an enemy Hero or is already being healed at the Fountain, resulting in a wasted Urn charge. They will also heal illusions or summons (such as a Warlock`s Golem or Spirit Bear) with the same priority.
    • Offensively, they apply the debuff as soon as they get in range, sometimes not even having follow-up for it.
  • Observer Wards will only ever be placed around the rune spots and marked ward locations, or sometimes near shrines. The bot assigned into buying wards will usually stack them up, but never use them all at once, very commonly ending a game with more than 5 wards stacked in their inventory.
    • Bots will also never purchase Sentry Wards, always preferring to buy Dust of Appearance or Gem of True Sight for detection instead (when at Medium difficulty or above). This does also mean they will never do any dewarding.
    • Bots will only use Dust of Appearance once they see an enemy unit (except wards like Psionic Trap or Remote Mines) turn invisible, or if a nearby invisible unit is emitting a negative aura or effect, such as Heartstopper Aura, Radiance or Eye of the Storm, but they will never react to an invisible unit blocking allied units. But if the criteria is met, they will use Dust even if the unit cannot be revealed by True Sight, such as through Shadow Dance.