After the release of Dota 2 patch 7.36, we take a look at the best Innate Abilities the patch has brought with it.
The talk of the town after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.36 is Innate Abilities and Facets. The introduction of these two abilities for all 124 heroes has completely changed the game. There are two different ways to play every hero now because of the facet options, and the innate ability is an additional parameter to consider while picking a hero.
In the last few days, we looked at the top 10 core and support heroes with the best facets in the game. Here, we look at the top 15 heroes with the best innate abilities. Innate abilities differ from facets in that they don’t offer different road maps to play a hero. But they can have a significant impact on the way the game shapes up.
When looking at the best innate abilities, one of the main factors considered is the novelty and uniqueness of what it can bring to the game. A lot of innate abilities are skills repurposed with an additional skill point. Those are avoided for the most part, and new skills introduced to the game are prioritized.
Chaos Knight
REINS OF CHAOS
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Whenever illusions of Chaos Knight are created, there is a 50% chance that an additional 1 illusion will spawn
The additional illusion works for illusions not from Phantasm, like Illusion Rune and Mata Style as well. With his facet ‘Phantasmagoria’, all illusions are strong illusions. ‘Reins of Chaos’ can add to a lot of additional damage potential to that facet.
Chen
SUMMON CONVERT
- New Innate ability. Active, levels up with Holy Persuasion and improves with Chen's level
- Chen summons a convert to fight for him. The convert gains bonuses from Holy Persuasion, with the exception of Health, which is set to 220 + 80 x Chen's Level. Only one convert can be summoned at a time, and it dies if Chen dies. Mana Cost: 50, Cooldown: 30s. Cooldown starts once the convert dies and automatically refreshes on Chen's respawn
- Which creature is summoned is dependent on the chosen Facet
Chen’s innate ability has the same benefits as the facet. The best thing is, he can pick the facet based on the type of game. He can get Wolf Convert for damage, Centaur Convert or Troll Convert for lockdown along with the ability to summon the creep in the middle of a fight if it dies.
Dark Seer
MENTAL FORTITUDE
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Dark Seer's Intelligence cannot be lower than either his Strength or Agility. If any of these attributes are higher, he gains Intelligence to match them
Dark Seer can now go absolutely crazy increasing either strength or agility and intelligence will follow. It’s two for the price of one. The smart money is on increasing strength, as it gives him a lot of tankiness as well.
Dawnbreaker
BREAK OF DAWN
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Whenever the sun rises, Dawnbreaker gradually reveals the entire map to allies over 4 seconds. Fog of War returns in 1 second after that
‘Break of Dawn’ is one of the most unique abilities in the game. Vision is a massive part of Dota 2, especially as you go higher up the ranks. Having a fully revealed map, even for a few seconds, can thwart enemy plans and give you a lot of information to plan your moves. The innate ability also works with Phoenix’s Supernova, so if Phoenix uses his ultimate at night and brings on day time for a few seconds, that will reveal the map as well. This can be an absolute game changer for Roshan fights.
Io
SIGHT SEER
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Io's team takes 1s less to channel Watchers. When Watcher is under their control, its vision radius is increased by 300
Like Dawnbreaker, Io’s innate ability makes the top 15 because of the vision benefits. Increase in vision radius takes it to 1100 vision, which is more than the night time vision for most heroes (which is 800).
Legion Commander
MOMENT OF COURAGE
- Now is an Innate ability. Passive, can be leveled up with skill points
- Lifesteal rescaled from 55/65/75/85% to 40/60/70/80/90%
- Cooldown rescaled from 1.9/1.5/1.1/0.7s to 2.3/1.9/1.5/1.1/0.7s
Legion Commander’s innate ability is a basic ability with five skill points, but it makes the top 15 because of how strong it is. Legion Commander is one of the strongest heroes in the game right now, and her innate ability is one of the reasons why. She is extremely strong in lane with ‘Moment of Courage’ and Overwhelming Odds for the first few levels, and can snowball off a strong lane.
Marci
SPECIAL DELIVERY
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Permanently increases the level of all allied couriers by 3 and hero attacks to kill by 1
- This means Marci's team starts with flying couriers
Marci has been blessed with an extremely unique innate ability, which may not seem like a lot at first, but it can be a massive boon in the laning stage. Having items delivered quicker can tilt a lane, especially the mid lane. Also, if there are annoying courier killing heroes in the enemy team, they will have a hard time trying to get flying couriers early on in the game.
Muerta
SUPERNATURAL
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Muerta can always attack Ethereal targets, and can attack when she herself is Ethereal. When attacking ethereal targets, all of her attack damage is dealt as magical damage
Muerta is an anti-carry hero, in the sense she is the perfect counter to right clickers because of her ultimate, Pierce the Veil. But in case the right click damage is too high in a game, she can opt for a Ghost Scepter and continue to do her dirty work. Ghost Scepter’s Ghost Form combined with Pierce the Veil is 12 seconds of immunity from physical damage. ‘Supernatural’ could make Muerta a good pairing with Pugna! Build magic damage favoring items on Muerta like Mjolnir, Shivas Guard and Yasha Kaya and have Pugna Decripfy you to dish out heaps of magic damage.
Oracle
PROGNOSTICATE
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Oracle will predict and announce to allies, where the next power rune will spawn (top or bottom).
‘Prognosticate’ can have massive implications during the laning phase. For a mid player to know where the rune is coming up is huge deal! Even later on in the game, it can be used to the team’s benefit by planning ganks according to the prediction.
Pugna
OBLIVION SAVANT
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Pugna can use any spells and items while channeling, with the exception of ones that also require channeling
The channeling is not limited to using Life Drain, it includes using a Teleportation Scroll as well. Now, Pugna can start with Life Drain and use the rest of the abilities as he is transferring HP from an enemy hero to himself. This is great against invisible heroes, as Life Drain gives true sight of the enemy it is being used on. Even something like using Decrepify as you are teleporting out can help with survival. The only thing that doesn’t work is two channeling abilities/items together – you cannot use Life Drain while you are teleporting.
Shadow Shaman
FOWL PLAY
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Whenever Shadow Shaman takes lethal damage, he survives as a 1 HP chicken with movement speed increased by 10%. Applies Strong Dispel upon transformation and provides 0.75s protection from all damage. Hex Duration: 3s. Cooldown: 90s. Cooldown is reset upon dying
Extremely frustrating innate ability to play against. ‘Fowl Play’ is basically a built in Aeon Disk from the beginning of the game. With a hero like Shadow Shaman, getting away even on 1 HP can be consequential for a fight as he can turn and disable enemy heroes.
Spirit Breaker
HERD MENTALITY
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Provides the hero in your team with the least Experience points with a buff, that increases their Experience gain by 50% until they reach the level to match the second least. Can apply to Spirit Breaker as well
Great innate ability to have for the entire team, irrespective of whether you are ahead or being. Of course, the best use of the ability will be when a hero is lagging significantly behind the herd, but even in games when that is not the case, it can help supports get levels much quicker than usual.
Tiny
CRAGGY EXTERIOR
- Ability returns as an Innate. Passive, levels up with Grow
- Enemies that attack Tiny get a stacking debuff that decreases their attack damage by 2/3/4/5% per stack. Max Stacks 10. Debuff Duration: 5s. Each stack refreshes duration. Debuff Immune enemies aren't affected and don't receive stacks
Physical heroes will find Tiny almost impossible to kill in a 1 v 1 scenario, unless he can be brought very low in the first 2-3 hits. A fully stacked Tiny can take 85 right clicks from a fully stacked Drow Ranger (no talents skilled for either) because of Craggy Exterior.
Undying
CEASELESS DIRGE
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- When Undying dies he will automatically respawn in the fountain. Begins the game on cooldown. Cooldown: 480s
‘Ceaseless Dirge’ gives Undying two lives in the laning stage, and three lives later on in the game (with buyback). In any skirmishes, Undying can play a bit extra aggressive as long as he has a way to get back to the fight after respawning immediately.
Winter Wyvern
ELDWURM SCHOLAR
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- When an allied hero picks up a Wisdom Rune, the 3 heroes that would not benefit from will gain 20% of the experience instead
‘Eldwurm Scholar’ is an amazing innate ability to stay ahead of the opposition heroes on levels. The only catch is that your team needs to be aware of Wisdom Rune timings. If you are able to secure both the 7 minute Wisdom Runes for your team, it can be extremely impactful, especially for a snowball lineup.
Honorable Mentions
Death Prophet
WITCHCRAFT
- Ability returns as an Innate. Passive, improves with Death Prophet's level
- Death Prophet's occult knowledge deepens with experience, gaining 0.5% movement speed per level, and reducing cooldown of abilities by 0.5% per level
Nyx Assassin
NYXTH SENSE
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Nyx Assassin can sense invisible heroes in a 400 radius
Skywrath Mage
RUIN AND RESTORATION
- New Innate ability. Passive, levels up with Mystic Flare
- Passively provides Skywrath Mage with 20/30/40/50% Spell Lifesteal
Ursa
MAUL
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Ursa gains 1.5% of his current Health as damage
Witch Doctor
GRIS-GRIS
- New Innate ability. Passive, can't be leveled up
- Witch Doctor starts the game with Gris-Gris, a Neutral item that cannot be dropped or placed in the backpack. When the owner dies, 100% of the gold lost from death is added to the item cost, which also passively increases by 1 gold every 3s. Can be consumed to permanently remove the item and refund the gold to Witch Doctor. For that, press right-click on the item and select the "Consume Item" option
