Illusions


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Phantom Lancer   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Phantom Lancer 21 + 2 29 + 2.6 21 + 2 Level dota2

Illusions (also commonly called illus) are imperfect, weaker copies of heroes, created by spells 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 mostly incapable of casting spells or using active item abilities and also have some passive abilities disabled. They also may not drop or pick up items or runes For the runes that come with cosmetic items, see Inscribed Gem.   Main   Changelogs     Runes are special boosters that spawn on the game map. They come in two categories. Bounty Runes can dota2 . Illusions yield a little gold and experience based on the hero`s level. They do not soak up any AoE experience   Main   Changelogs     “ Play I grow stronger! Click to listen— Storm Spirit ” Experience allows heroes to level up, which makes them stronger and allows them to learn new abilities. Experience is earned dota2 and gold “ Play Now that s how you make gold. Click to listen— Alchemist ” Gold is the currency used to buy items or instantly revive your hero. Gold can be earned from killing heroes, creeps, or buildings. Contents dota2 (they cannot level up, and 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, copying its appearance, level, attributes, attack values, defensive values like base armor and base magic resistance and their abilities on their current level. All items owned by the 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 Buildings are special units that are immune to most spells, use structure armor, and are immobile. Destroying a building rewards you with a bounty, similar to most creeps or heroes. Destroying towers rewards the entire dota2 , making them weaker in pushing. This reduction stacks multiplicatively with the outgoing damage reduction which most illusions have, and also multiplicatively with the damage reduction hero damage Attack damage is the amount of damage a unit is dealing with an unmodified basic attack; the base values are different for every hero. The total attack damage of a unit is the sum of dota2 does against structure armor Armor is an attribute shared by all units. Armor is used to determine the amount of damage reduction (or amplification if an armor value is negative) a unit takes from physical damage sources. Higher armor dota2 type. Be that as it may, 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 Default buff iconPlay Error soundInvulnerability is a status effect that renders the target completely immune to all status effects and damage, except for most damage flagged as @@@#@@@HP(hp.com)###@### Removal. Most friendly effects, such as healing for one server tick (0.03 seconds) as they spawn. It does not matter which ability spawns them, this goes for all of them. Illusions also always play the same birth sound (which is only audible to allies) upon spawning, and the same death sound upon dying in any way, including upon expiring.

Visual appearance

Blue illusions as they appear to allies and enemies. Enemy illusions use a hero health bar and display the player names, while allied illusions have a creep health bar and a circle indicating their duration.

All illusions have an extra texture layer, which makes them distinguishable from the original hero. There are 5 different types of textures which can be seen below.

To allies, illusions always appear with the texture layer, making them always look different than the original hero. For enemies, illusions which 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 or third texture appear like illusions to the enemy, meaning enemies do see their illusion textures. Be that as it may, despite this, the portrait of illusions always appears like the original hero to the enemy.

Illusions do not show damage numbers.

Appearance Illusion skin 0.png Illusion skin 1.png Illusion skin 2.png Illusion skin 3.png Illusion skin 4.png Illusion skin 5.png
Portrait Illusion portrait 0.png Illusion portrait 1.png Illusion portrait 2.png Illusion portrait 3.png Illusion portrait 4.png Illusion portrait 5.png
Abilities Default Phantasm   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Chaos Knight 22 + 3.2 14 + 2.1 16 + 1.2 Level dota2 , Mirror Image,
Manta Style   Item   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Manta Style An axe made of reflective materials that causes confusion amongst enemy ranks. Cost5000 (900) Bought FromArmor Active Mirror Image Bonus +10 Strength+26 Agility+10 Intelligence+15 dota2 , Replicate   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Morphling 19 + 2.3 24 + 3.7 17 + dota2 ,
Illusion Rune   Double Damage   Haste   Illusion   Invisibility   Regeneration   Bounty   Arcane     See more: Runes#List Illusion Play AbilityNo Target AffectsSelf Conjures 2 illusions of your hero which deal 35% damage. dota2 , Disruption   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Shadow Demon 19 + 2.2 18 + 2.2 23 dota2 , Haunt   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Spectre 19 + 2.3 23 + 1.8 16 + dota2
Wall of Replica   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Dark Seer 22 + 2.6 12 + 1.2 23 + 2.7 Level dota2 ,
Hybrid   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Morphling 19 + 2.3 24 + 3.7 17 + dota2 , Nether Swap   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Vengeful Spirit 18 + 2.9 27 + 3.3 13 + 1.5 Level dota2
Conjure Image   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Terrorblade 15 + 1.7 22 + 3.2 19 + 1.75 Level Base dota2 ,
Reflection   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Terrorblade 15 + 1.7 22 + 3.2 19 + 1.75 Level Base dota2
Doppelganger   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Phantom Lancer 21 + 2 29 + 2.6 21 + 2 Level dota2 Spirit Lance   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Phantom Lancer 21 + 2 29 + 2.6 21 + 2 Level dota2 , Doppelganger   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Phantom Lancer 21 + 2 29 + 2.6 21 + 2 Level dota2 ,
Juxtapose   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs     Phantom Lancer 21 + 2 29 + 2.6 21 + 2 Level dota2
Camouflaged - Yes No No Yes Yes

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, as it is only visible when having a hero or creep-hero health bar. 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 when an enemy Shadow Demon creates illusions of allies, the illusions carry Shadow Demon`s player name. The only exception to this is Morphling`s Replicate   Hero   Strategy   Counters   Equipment   Gear   Responses   Sounds   Lore   Old Abilities   Changelogs   Known Bugs     Morphling 19 + 2.3 24 + 3.7 17 + dota2 , which displays the targeted allied hero`s name, unless he targets an enemy, in which case it displays Morphling`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.

Videos

Illusions creating abilities

These are all abilities which create illusions of heroes:

Stats

All 3 attributes of illusions ( strength Strength is the attribute that grants health and health regeneration. For each point of strength a hero gets: 20 Health 0.06 Health regeneration Additionally, strength heroes also get 1 attack damage per strength point. To dota2 , agility Agility is the attribute that grants armor and attack speed. For each point of agility a hero gets: 0.14 (1/7) Armor 1 Attack speed Additionally, agility heroes also get 1 attack damage per agility point. dota2 and intelligence Intelligence is the attribute that grants mana, mana regeneration and spell damage amplification. For each point of intelligence a hero gets: 11 Mana 0.04 Mana regeneration 0.07% Spell damage Additionally, intelligence heroes also get 1 dota2 ) are based on the original hero. They copy their base attributes, the attributes gained from levels, and all item bonuses. They fully benefit from every trait of attributes, health, health regen, mana, mana regen, armor, attack speed, and attack damage. They also copy the hero`s movement speed, main attack damage, attack animation (and projectile speed), base attack time, attack range, base magic resistance, main armor, base health and mana regen, vision, collision size and turn rate. An illusion`s stats, level, ability levels and items are all set upon spawn and do not adapt to the original hero.

Besides copying all the base stats of heroes, these bonus stats (from items or passive abilities) are also copied:

These bonus stats are not copied and thus do not work for illusions (although some of them are displayed in the HUD still):

And at long last, these bonus stats are inconsistent; some sources work, some do not:

Magic resistance

Magic resistance reductions are inconsistent with illusions. They either do, or do not affect them. Be that as it may, in the HUD, magic resistance is always displayed as if they were fully affected.

Magic resistance increasing effects do not affect illusions at all. Only reducing effects are inconsistent.

The 100% magic resistance granted by any source of spell immunity and from Fate`s Edict fully works for illusions.

Magical damage barriers fully work for illusions.

These abilities do reduce the magic resistance of illusions:

Working magic resistance sources

These abilities do not reduce the magic resistance of illusions:

Not working magic resistance sources

Bounties

Illusions have a gold and experience bounty equal to their level times 2.

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
Bounty 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

The following illusions grant 5 gold and experience, regardless of their level:

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

The following illusions do not grant any bounty:

  • Hybrid
  • Nether Swap

Copying buffs or debuffs

Usually when an illusion spawns, it does not copy the buffs and debuffs the original hero has. There are some exceptions with buffs though. Be that as it may, they do copy toggle statuses of items and of some abilities.

The following buffs are copied by illusions:

Buffs copied by illusions

1 Although an infused Scepter`s buff is copied, the attributes, health and mana bonuses are not. Only the upgrade effects are applied.

2 The Armlet buff gets copied and applies all its effects (as according to the stats section details), except for the health loss.

3 The wolf form is copied, but the aura is not, so once Lycan returns to his default form, the Shapeshifted illusions no longer move at max speed and no longer crit.

Attack modifiers

These attack modifiers fully work for illusions:

Working attack modifiers

1 Battlefury`s Quell is the only attack damage bonus which fully works for illusions. The reductions of Split Shot and Marksmanship are the only reductions which affect illusions.

2 Diffusal Blade burns less mana for illusions than for real heroes.

3 All 3 modifiers of Elder Dragon Form work for illusions, be that as it may, the poison debuff placed by illusions deals no damage, the slow debuff doesn`t actually slow target (though the speed on the HUD is decreased).


These attack modifiers do not work for illusions:

Not working attack modifiers

Passive abilities illusions can use

  • Most hero and item passive abilities
  • Auras that the original hero has, with the exception of some effects
  • Evasion
  • Critical Strike (the red number is before the illusion reduction however)
  • Diffusal Blade`s Manabreak
  • Movement Speed bonus
  • Attack Speed bonus
  • Attribute Bonus (Strength, Agility, and Intelligence)
  • Movement Speed bonuses from Yasha, Sange and Yasha and Manta Style
  • Health or Mana
  • Radiance`s Burn (does not stack with other Radiance auras)
  • Quell
  • Attack range changes
  • Damage Block (Vanguard, Poor Man`s Shield, etc)

Passive abilities illusions cannot use

  • Raw Damage or Armor or increase
  • Health or Mana regeneration, including Lifesteal (regardless of what the animation may show)
  • Most Unique Attack Modifiers
  • Cleave
  • Bash, including Monkey King Bar (regardless of what the animation may show)
  • Magic Resistance from abilities, from base Magic Resistance, and from items (Cloak, Glimmer Cape, Hood of Defiance, or Pipe of Insight)
  • Greater Maim from Sange and Yasha and Lesser Maim from Sange and Heaven`s Halberd
  • Greevil`s Greed from Alchemist

Illusion Abilities

These illusions are spawned at a point next to the hero or illusion being copied. There is no invulnerability or buff removal provided when casting these abilities.
Hero Abilities
Hero Ability Illusions Duration Damage Taken Damage Dealt
Phantom Lancer Spirit Lance 1 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 400% 20%
Juxtapose 5 / 7 / 9 maximum illusions 8 when created by Phantom Lancer
4 when created by his illusions
500% 16%
Dark Seer Wall of Replica 1 per enemy hero 45 maximum
(Illusions last as long as the wall does)
400% 60% / 75% / 90%
100% / 120% / 140% (Aghanim`s Scepter)
Morphling Replicate 1 30 / 45 / 60 100% 80%
Hybrid 1 20 100% 50%
Shadow Demon Disruption 2 8 / 10 / 12 / 14 200% 30% / 45% / 60% / 75%
Spectre Haunt 1 per enemy hero 5 / 6 / 7 200% 30%
Terrorblade Reflection 1 per enemy hero 2.5 / 3.5 / 4.5 / 5.5 N/A 40% / 60% / 80% / 100%
Conjure Image 1 34 400% 30% / 40% / 50% / 60%
Vengeful Spirit Nether Swap (Aghanim`s Scepter) 1 Until Hero Respawns 150% 50%
Item Abilities
Item Ability Illusions Duration Damage Taken Damage Dealt
Rune of Illusion Illusion 2 75 200% (Melee Illusion)
300% (Ranged Illusion)
35%

Mirror Image

Mirror Image type illusions are created at the caster`s location and are mixed up with the hero so that enemies will not know which is which. These skills also provide a short period of invulnerability and dispel most debuffs.

Hero Abilities
Hero Ability Illusions Duration Damage Taken Damage Dealt
Chaos Knight Phantasm 1 / 2 / 3
50% chance bonus illusion
42 200% 100%
Phantom Lancer Doppelganger 2 8 100% (Illusion 1)
600% (Illusion 2)
0% (Illusion 1)
20% (Illusion 2)
Naga Siren Mirror Image 3 30 600% / 500% / 400% / 300% 25% / 30% / 35% / 40%
Item Abilities
Item Ability Illusions Duration Damage Taken Damage Dealt
Manta Style Mirror Image 2 20 350% (Melee Illusion)
400% (Ranged Illusion)
33% (Melee Illusion)
28% (Ranged Illusion)