Dota 2‘s complexity seemingly knows no bounds, with Valve constantly reshaping the definition of a MOBA through the game’s features. From a day-night cycle to Runes, Watchers, Lotus Pools, and more, there’s rarely a time when Dota 2 players aren’t learning.
Veteran or newbie, it’s time to crack out the textbook as we delve into yet another added mechanic of the game we all love—Innate abilities. Here’s everything we know about Innate abilities and a list of each hero’s Innate in Dota 2.
What are Innate abilities in Dota 2?
Innate abilities in Dota 2 were introduced in gameplay Patch 7.36 and are abilities that are locked and present on a hero for the entire game, from first spawn to the destruction of a fountain. Each hero has a unique Innate ability; some are familiar to Dota players of old, some are converted passives we all know and love, while others are entirely new.
Some Innates can be activated to grant a significant boost to their effects, while others can be leveled up like regular abilities, with each level providing a bigger bonus. Some are existing passives that apply while the hero is alive, some apply while the hero is dead, and others change the game entirely—like Dawnbreaker’s Innate, which grants map-wide visibility for a short moment whenever the sun rises.
The tooltip for each Innate ability is located on the icon between the Talent tree and the hero’s main abilities.
All Innate ability passives in Dota 2
Below is a list of every Innate ability in Dota 2, ordered alphabetically by hero.
With Dota 2 Patch 7.37, Valve reworked Innate abilities on multiple heroes—42, to be precise. Most old passives that initially became Innates in Patch 7.36 are now back to being basic abilities. Those heroes have entirely new Innates.
Hero | Innate Passive |
---|---|
Abaddon | Withering Mist Damaging enemies applies the Withering Mist debuff for five seconds. Affected enemies have their HP regeneration, healing, lifesteal, and spell lifesteal reduced by 35 percent if they are below 40 percent HP. |
Alchemist | Greevil’s Greed Alchemist receives a buff after killing an enemy unit, granting him bonus gold that can stack. |
Ancient Apparition | Death Rime Abilities now apply Frost stacks that deal 10 damage per second and 1.5 percent movement slow for each stack on a target. |
Anti-Mage | Persecutor Attacks slow enemies based on how much mana they are missing. 12.5/15/17.5/20 percent minimum slow at 50 percent mana, up to 25/30/35/40 percent maximum slow at zero percent mana. Slow Duration: 0.75 seconds. Scales with Mana Void. |
Arc Warden | Runic Infusion After activating any Rune, gain the Regeneration Rune buff for four seconds. Duration is reduced by 34 percent for activating Bounty or Water Runes. |
Axe | Coat of Blood Gains one permanent armor after killing an enemy hero. Kills with Culling Blade give double the amount. |
Bane | Ichor of Nyctasha All attribute gains are evenly distributed across all three attributes (Strength, Agility, Intelligence). |
Batrider | Smoldering Resin Attacks apply a debuff that deals 15 percent of the attack damage every second for two seconds. Damage over time pierces block. |
Beastmaster | Rugged Beastmaster’s melee hero damage block chance is increased from 50 percent to 100 percent versus non-hero units. |
Bloodseeker | Sanguivore Restores 25 health plus one percent of the unit’s max health per Bloodseeker’s level whenever Bloodseeker kills a unit. Restores half the value for denies or if an ally kills an enemy hero within 300 range. Can be amplified by Lifesteal Amplification. |
Bounty Hunter | Big Game Hunter Bounty Hunter gains 10 percent bonus gold when getting a kill or assist on an enemy with a kill streak. |
Brewmaster | Belligerent Whenever Brewmaster respawns or comes out of Primal Split, he gains 20 percent attack damage bonus. Duration when respawning: 30 seconds. Duration after coming out of Primal Split: 15 seconds. |
Bristleback | Prickly Hero has 10 percent damage and debuff duration amplification against enemy heroes that are behind him. |
Broodmother | Spider’s Milk Broodmother and her spiders gain a health regeneration burst after a unit is killed. Can be amplified by Lifesteal Amplification. |
Centaur Warrunner | Rawhide Gains 40 max health every two minutes. |
Chaos Knight | Reins of Chaos 50 percent chance an addition illusion is spawned whenever Chaos Knight creates an illusion. |
Chen | Summon Convert Summon a jungle creep to fight beside you, gaining bonuses from Holy Persuasion. The creep is determined by Chen’s chosen Hero Facet. |
Clinkz | Bone and Arrow Summons immobile skeleton archers after using abilities or dying. |
Clockwerk | Armor Power Outgoing damaged increased by 0.3 percent per point of armor. |
Crystal Maiden | Blueheart Floe Has 50 percent Mana Regen Amplification. |
Dark Seer | Mental Fortitude Gains Intelligence to match his Strength or Agility. His Intelligence cannot be lower than either other stat. |
Dark Willow | Pixie Dust Gains 100 percent health and mana regen when an ability makes her untargetable or hidden. |
Dawnbreaker | Break of Dawn Reveals the entire map to her allies over four seconds whenever the sun rises. Fog of War returns a second later. |
Dazzle | Weave Nearby allies’ armor is increased and enemies’ armor decreased whenever Dazzle uses an ability. |
Death Prophet | Witchcraft Gains 0.5 percent bonus movement speed and cooldown reduction per level. |
Disruptor | Electromagnetic Repulsion Pushes away nearby units whenever Disruptor takes more than 250 damage. |
Doom | Lvl ? Pain Deals 10 percent bonus attack damage to enemies whose level is lower than his. |
Dragon Knight | Dragon Blood Provides bonus health regen and armor, increasing per hero level. These values are amplified while in Dragon Form. |
Drow Ranger | Precision Aura Grants bonus Agility to Drow and nearby allies in 1,200 range. Increases per Drow Ranger level; bonuses are doubled for Drow herself. |
Earth Spirit | Stone Remnant Summons a Stone Remnant that interacts with Earth Spirit’s other abilities. |
Earthshaker | Spirit Cairn When Earthshaker dies, a 75-radius fissure is created where he died. This fissure blocks movement, provides vision, and allows Earthshaker to gain experience around it. |
Elder Titan | Tip the Scales Allied creeps and buildings affected by the Glyph of Fortification or Roshan’s Banner deal 100 percent bonus damage. |
Ember Spirit | Immolation Ember Spirit deals 10/20/30/40 damage per second in a 175 AoE around him at all times. Scales with Fire Remnant.Can be upgraded with Aghanim’s Shard. Increases damage by 10, radius by 175, and grants Fire Remnants the current level of Immolation. |
Enchantress | Rabble-Rouser All neutral camps deal more damage to enemy heroes. Damage increase is 10 percent flat coupled with an additional three percent per Enchantress’s hero level. |
Enigma | Gravity Well Allies near Enigma receive a damage reduction bonus that scales based on distance to the hero. |
Faceless Void | Distortion Field Enemy attack projectiles are slowed when flying near to Faceless Void. |
Grimstroke | Ink Trail Enemy heroes affected by Grimstroke abilities leave a trail of ink behind that grants vision. |
Gyrocopter | Chop Shop Can disassemble most items at all times, and can sell recipes for a full cost. |
Hoodwink | Mistwoods Wayfarer Passive chance to redirect attacks into a tree nearby, destroying it. |
Huskar | Blood Magic Huskar no longer has mana. Mana cost of items and abilities converted into health cost, considered as magical damage and can be reduced with magic resistance. |
Invoker | Mastermind Gains bonus experience when denying a lane creep. |
Io | Sight Seer Io’s team captures Watchers one second faster. All Watchers under Io’s team’s control gain bonus vision range. |
Jakiro | Double Trouble Attacks launch two projectiles at a target with a small interval, each dealing half damage. |
Juggernaut | Duelist 10 percent bonus damage to targets facing him. Damage bonus is always applied during Omnislash. |
Keeper of the Light | Mana Magnifier Allies near Keeper of the Light gain 15 percent more max mana. |
Kunkka | Admiral’s Rum Taking damage from a hero, building, or Roshan that would reduce Kunkka below 65 percent health automatically triggers Admiral’s Rum over 10 seconds, providing 10 percent bonus movement speed and delaying 20 percent of the damage taken. Delayed damage is dealt evenly over 10 seconds once the buff ends. Stacks additively with other sources of Admiral’s Rum. Cooldown: 60 seconds. |
Legion Commander | Outfight them! Attacking an enemy hero that has a higher level than Legion Commander increases her HP regeneration, lifesteal, and incoming heals by 50 percent for four seconds. Always applies when attacking a hero that is at max level. |
Leshrac | Defilement Leshrac’s ability AoE increases by 0.5 units per Intelligence point. |
Lich | Death Charge Lich’s Mana regen is set to zero. Gains a portion of max mana whenever a unit nearby dies, including allies, creeps, and enemy heroes. If the target is a hero, a bonus burst of mana is granted to Lich. |
Lifestealer | Feast Lifestealer’s attacks deal damage and provide heal for a percentage of his target’s max health. Allows Lifestealer to attack allied creeps at 75% health. Lifestealer gains permanent max HP whenever he kills a creep or hero. Scales with Infest. |
Lina | Combustion Every 150 damage Lina does to an enemy hero causes them to overheat, dealing 10/20/30/40 damage to their allies in a 400 radius. Deals 10 damage if the target is an illusion. Dealing over 150 damage can cause this effect to trigger multiple times. Scales with Laguna Blade. |
Lion | To Hell and Back Gains 20 percent debuff duration and 20 percent spell amplification for 90 seconds after respawning. |
Lone Druid | Gift Bearer Lone Druid can re-roll his Neutral Token once per tier. |
Luna | Lunar Blessing Grants one attack damage per level to Luna and allied heroes. Also grants 400 flat bonus night vision and an additional 20 per level to Luna only. Luna receives double the attack damage bonuses. At night, Lunar Blessing is global. |
Lycan | Apex Predator Lycan deals two percent bonus damage to neutral creeps per hero level. |
Magnus | Solid Core Magnus suffers 50 percent less forced movement from enemy abilities or items. |
Marci | Special Delivery Permanently increases the level of all allied couriers by three and hero attacks to kill couriers by one. Marci’s team begins with flying couriers. |
Mars | Dauntless Mars and allies gain a bonus to health regen when outnumbered by the enemy in the same area. Each enemy hero provides 25 percent bonus health regen. |
Medusa | Mana Shield Medusa has a permanent shield that absorbs damage from mana first before health. |
Meepo | Sticky Fingers Meepo receives an additional choice when activating Neutral Item tokens |
Mirana | Selemene’s Faithful Healing Lotuses are 20 percent for effective for Mirana and her allies. |
Monkey King | Mischief Turns Monkey King into a nearby object or tree, dodging incoming projectiles. |
Morphling | Accumulation Morphling receives 50 percent of attribute gain bonuses every half level instead of full bonuses at level up. Increases all attributes bonus gained for skill points in the Talent Tree. |
Muerta | Supernatural Muerta can attack Ethereal units and she can attack while Ethereal. When attacking Ethereal units, her damage is converted to magic damage and can be amplified. |
Naga Siren | Eelskin Bonus six percent evasion for each Naga Siren copy within 900 units. |
Nature’s Prophet | Spirit of the Forest Gains bonus base damage for each nearby tree. Nature’s Call Treants provide a bonus. |
Necrophos | Sadist Killing a unit grants Necrophos a health and mana regen boost for a short duration. Hero kills provide six stacks of the buff. |
Night Stalker | Heart of Darkness Gains bonus movement speed, attack speed, damage, and flying movement while at night. |
Nyx Assassin | Nyxth Sense Nyx Assassin can sense invisible heroes in a short radius. |
Ogre Magi | Dumb Luck Ogre Magi’s max Intelligence is zero. Ogre Magi gains mana and mana regeneration based on the hero’s Strength. |
Omniknight | Degen Aura Slows enemy units that are nearby to Omniknight. |
Oracle | Prognosticate Oracle will predict and announce to allies where the next Power Rune will spawn (top or bottom). |
Outworld Destroyer | Ominous Discernment Gains two extra mana per point of Intelligence. |
Pangolier | Fortune Favors the Bold Enemy units attacking Pangolier have a reduced chance to proc random on-attack effects. |
Phantom Assassin | Immaterial Phantom Assassin begins the gazme with 15 percent evasion, increased by 1.5 percent per level. |
Phantom Lancer | Illusory Armaments Items that grant bonus damage instead grant base damage for 65 percent of the original bonus damage amount. |
Phoenix | Blinding Sun Debuffs from Phoenix’s abilities apply a stackable miss chance debuff per second for five seconds. |
Primal Beast | Colossal Primal Beast deals 40 percent bonus damage to buildings. |
Puck | Puckish Puck restores max health and mana every time it disjoints an attack projectile. Disjointing spell projectiles restore three times the amount. |
Pudge | Flesh Heap Pudge gains Strength points any time he kills an enemy hero or an enemy hero dies within a short radius. |
Pugna | Oblivion Savant Pugna can use spells while channeling, excluding those that require channeling. |
Queen of Pain | Bondage Queen of Pain returns 10 percent of spell damage she receives to enemies. |
Razor | Unstable Current Razor gains bonus movement speed and a passive zap to nearby enemies. Movement speed is increased per hero level. |
Riki | Backstab Riki deals bonus damage to enemies facing away from him based on his Agility. |
Rubick | Might and Magus Spell Amplification increases Rubick’s base attack damage by 100 percent of its value and magic resistance by 50 percent of its value. |
Sand King | Caustic Finale Sand King’s abilities and attacks apply a debuff to units. If an enemy dies while under the effect of the debuff, they explode dealing damage. |
Shadow Demon | Menace Attacks apply a stacking debuff that amplifies damage taken by the target for eight seconds, refreshed each time the target receives an attack. |
Shadow Fiend | Necromastery On unit or hero kill, Shadow Fiend receives a Soul, granting him bonus attack damage. Shadow Fiend can hold up to 20 Souls (25 with Aghanim’s Scepter). |
Shadow Shaman | Fowl Play Whenever Shadow Shaman takes lethal damage, he survives as a one HP chicken with a boost to movement speed. After three seconds, if he survives, he returns. |
Silencer | Brain Drain Silencer permanently steals Intelligence from nearby heroes that die. |
Skywrath Mage | Ruin and Restoration Passively provides 50 percent spell lifesteal to Skywrath Mage. |
Slardar | Seaborn Sentinel Slardar gains bonus movement speed, health regen, attack damage, and armor while in a puddle or river. |
Slark | Barracuda While invisible to the enemy team, Slark gains a massive bonus to movement speed and health regen. |
Snapfire | Buckshot Snapfire’s attacks deal 25 percent bonus damage but have a 25 percent chance of “glancing” at the target, dealing half the damage. |
Sniper | Keen Scope Increases Sniper’s attack range significantly. |
Spectre | Spectral Spectre and her illusions gain phased movement (can move through other units). |
Spirit Breaker | Herd Mentality Provides a buff to Spirit Breaker’s teammate with the least experience points that increases experience gained by 50 percent until they catch up to the next hero. |
Storm Spirit | Galvanized Storm Spirit gains a charge of mana regen each time he kills an enemy hero or whenever an enemy hero dies nearby. Gains five charges when levelling up Ball Lightning. Loses three charges when he dies. Each charge also grants 0.1 mana regen permanently. |
Sven | Vanquisher Sven’s attacks deal bonus damage to stunned enemies. |
Techies | Minefield Sign Plants a sign that makes all mines nearby invulnerable for a minute. |
Templar Assassin | Third Eye Templar Assassin and her teammates can see Roshan’s respawn timer. The indicator appears above the Scan ability on HUD. |
Terrorblade | Dark Unity Illusions near Terrorblade receive a damage bonus, while illusions outside Terrorblade’s range receive a damage penalty. |
Tidehunter | Blubber Removes negative status effects if Tidehunter takes more than 500 damage from player-controlled sources. Damage counter resets after seven seconds. |
Timbersaw | Exposure Therapy Timbersaw restores mana each time he destroys a tree. |
Tinker | Eureka! Tinker gains one percent item cooldown reduction per four Intelligence, up to 60 percent. |
Tiny | Craggy Exterior Enemies attacking Tiny receive a damage debuff per attack. |
Treant Protector | Nature’s Guise Treant Protector receives Treewalking (can walk through trees as if they weren’t there) if he doesn’t take damage for three seconds. |
Troll Warlord | Battle Stance Allows Troll Warlord to swap between melee attacks with 1.4 Base Attack Time or ranged attacks. |
Tusk | Bitter Chill Passively slows enemy units’ attack speed nearby. |
Underlord | Invading Force After an allied hero teleports, they temporarily gain damage reduction and movement speed. Bonuses are doubled when teleporting via Fiend’s Gate. Damage Reduction: 4/6/8/10 percent. Bonus Move Speed: 5/10/15/20 percent. Buff Duration: 5 seconds. Scales with Fiend’s Gate. |
Undying | Ceaseless Dirge On death, Undying automatically respawns in the fountain. This effect begins the game on cooldown (eight minutes). |
Ursa | Maul Ursa gains 1.5 percent of his health as damage. |
Vengeful Spirit | Retribution Vengeful Spirit curses the enemy hero that kills her. Vengeful Spirit deals 10 percent more damage to cursed heroes until they die. |
Venomancer | Septic Shock Venomancer’s attacks deal extra magical damage based on how many debuffs the attack target has. Only counts debuffs from Venomancer and his Plague Wards. Base Damage per debuff: 10 percent. Can be upgraded with Aghanim’s Scepter. Increases Septic Shock base damage per debuff from 10 percent to 20 percent. Plague Wards also deal Septic Shock damage based on their attack damage. |
Viper | Predator Viper’s attacks deal an additional instance of physical damage per missing health percentage of his target, equal to 0.25 + 0.05 per Viper’s level. Only works on heroes. |
Visage | Lurker Visage’s ability cooldown durations are reduced as long as he’s not taking damage. Grants a stack every two seconds when Visage does not take damage. Each stack grants two percent cooldown speed with a max of 10 stacks. Stacks fade after two seconds upon taking any damage. |
Void Spirit | Intrinsic Edge Void Spirit gains 33 percent more secondary bonuses from primary attributes:– Strength: Health regen.– Agility: Attack speed.– Intelligence: Magic resistance. |
Weaver | Rewoven Every time Weaver casts an ability, he gains 50 attack range for seven seconds. This effect stacks independently. |
Windranger | Easy Breezy Windranger’s movement speed cannot be lower than 240 at any time, regardless of negative effects. |
Winter Wyvern | Eldwurm Scholar When an ally picks up a Wisdom Rune, the three heroes that normally wouldn’t benefit receive 20 percent of the experience instead. |
Witch Doctor | Gris-Gris Witch Doctor begins the game with Gris-Gris, a neutral item. When the owner dies, 100 percent of the gold lost from death is added to the item cost, which also passively increases by one gold every three seconds. Gris-Gris can be consumed permanently to remove the item and refund the gold to Witch Doctor. |
Wraith King | Vampiric Spirit Passively provides lifesteal. On death, Wraith King transforms into an untargetable wraith with free pathing and increased attack and movement speed. |
Zeus | Static Field Zeus shocks any enemies he attacks or is hit by his abilities, dealing damage equal to four percent of their current health. |