Dota 2 Guide: Defend against Opponent Skills and Skill Interaction

Every hero in Dota 2 have skills, spell, or abilities which makes it unique and different. Function skills each hero is also different, some produce damage, someone gave crowd control, someone gave buff to teammates, and much more.

At the same time, Dota 2 also gives you some tools or abilities to take cover or defend against skills or abilities opponent. For example, by purchasing the Black King Bar, you will get spell immunity alias immune from many skills and abilities opponent for a few seconds.

But the mechanism to defend against skills opponents don’t just come from the Black King Bar. At the same time, one items or defensive ability won’t make you immune from all skills or abilities opponent. There are many unique interactions in each skills heroes who make choices items Your survival becomes very important in the game.

Also read: Know the Types and Differences of Disable in Dota 2, Part I (Stun, Sleep, Cyclone, Root, Banish)

1. Spell Immunity

dota 2 guide defense mechanism and skill interaction bkb

Spell immunity will make you immune from skills and abilities opponent for a while. It covers a lot skills, starting from skills based on unit targets, area of effect or AoE, until skills passive.

The interaction for each skills also different. To skills based on unit targets, if you are in effect spell immunity, the opponent will not be able to click you as a target. To area of effect, you will not receive any effects or damage even though it’s in the area skills the. Then for skills passive, you will not receive the effects of the passive.

One thing that often goes unnoticed is, when you activate effects spell immunity, almost all debuff or disable what you received at that time will be lost. If duration spell immunity exhausted, you are no longer immune and will accept damage and the effect of skills opponent as usual.

All heroes can get spell immunity by purchasing the Black King Bar. On the other hand some heroes have abilities that give spell immunity for himself and/or his teammates. Examples include Juggernaut’s Blade Fury, Lifestealer’s Rage, or Omniknight’s Repel.

2. Spell Block

dota 2 guide defense mechanism and spell block skill interaction

Spell block will cancel skills opponent targeted to your hero, completely cancel damage as well as the effects of skills the. Unlike spell immunity, spell block based cooldown. That is, once it blocks one skills or abilities, spell block will be in cooldown and can’t block skills or abilities next. After cooldownit’s finished then you can block it again skills or abilities opponent.

Skills which can be blocked by spell block limited to skills manifold unit targets or skills which targets the hero to use. Example skills such as Laguna Blade, Magic Missile, Laser, and many more. Spell block won’t be able to block skills other types, from AoE to passive.

There is only one way to gain abilities spell block This is by buying Linken’s Sphere. The only hero who has skills with ability spell block is an Anti-Mage with a Spell Shield, but even that can only be obtained if he buys Aghanim’s Scepter.

3. Magic Damage Barrier

dota 2 guide defense mechanism and magic barrier skill interaction

Unlike magic resistance the one who blocks magic damage based on percentage, magic damage barrier block a fixed amount. So, magic damage barrier of 400 will only block magic damage of 400. Once the limit is crossed, barrier will disappear and you will receive magic damage as usual.

One thing you should pay attention to, magic damage barrier just block damage which you accept. You will still receive all the effects of skills issued by the opponent. Other than that, magic damage barrier just block magic damage. So, everyone skills with damage Physical opponent will not be blocked.

Magic damage barrier can be obtained by purchasing Hood of Defiance or Pipe of Insight. There is only one hero who has skills who gave it magic damage barrier, namely Ember Spirit with Flame Guard.

Also read: Understanding the Differences in Armor, Magic Resistance, Damage Block, and Evasion

4. Dispel

dota 2 guide defense mechanism and skill dispel interaction

Dispel overall is to eliminate the effects of heroes, friends or foes. defensively, dispel will eliminate all negative effects or debuff that you received back then, starting from silence until damage overtime. offensively, dispel can eliminate positive effects or buff owned by the opponent.

Dispel only once, alias will only eliminate buff or debuff target when used. After that, all buff or debuff the new one he received will stay until the duration runs out, once again hit dispel, or the hero dies.

Uniquely, each source dispel in Dota 2 have different abilities. Some can be used only defensively, some can be used only offensively, some can be used for both.

Some examples items which will give you the ability dispel Defensively include Guardian Greaves, Lotus Orb, and Manta Style. When used, the Black King Bar will also give you dispel endure. Some heroes also have skills which gives dispel defenses, such as Abaddon’s Aphotic Shield, Legion Commander’s Press The Attack, and Oracle’s False Promise.

dota 2 guide defense mechanism and different interaction skill interactions

Yup, buy one items will not make you immune from all and completely. Each skills in Dota 2 have different interactions. Here are some examples:

When in effect spell immunity, you will not accept damage from Viper’s Viper Strike. But you will still receive the effect slowhis. But if you use Linken’s Sphere, Viper Strike will be completely blocked.
Skills like Rupture, Duel, and Doom can penetrate spell immunity and cannot be removed with dispel. The only way to ward off skills like this is with Linken’s Sphere.
While in effect spell immunity, you will not accept damage and the effects of Poison Nova. However debuffit will remain until the duration expires. Then if the duration spell immunityyou run out, you will receive damage overtime of Poison Nova as usual.
When in effect spell immunity, you will not get damage from the Ice Blast explosion. However debuffit’s still there and you’ll still receive it damage overtime. Then if your HP is below the minimum, you will still die immediately even though you are in effect spell immunity.

Those are just a few of the many unique interactions on each skills in games this. So, items Which survival is best for you will be different in each game.

The problem is, there is no fixed theory and pattern skills like what penetrates spell immunity, which ones are not, which ones can be blocked with spell block, etc. The only solution for you is to learn and recognize each skills of the heroes you face, or ideally all the heroes in the game Dota 2.