Have a look at the currently available auto-cast active abilities here:
Historically from memory, for heroes this has been:
Ogre Magi's Bloodlust
- Bloodlust had it due to being native behavior in DotA 1/WC3.
Lich's
Ice Armor (pre v7.20)- Ice Armor had it due to being native behavior in DotA 1/WC3.
- Removed from the remade Frost Shield since I guess the cooldown and duration wasn't long enough to warrant auto-casting.
Puck's
Phase Shift (v6.74)- This was a relic from DotA 1/WC3 but was removed because I suppose they wanted this to be a more skilful/intentional usage.
The rest of them are attack modifiers (e.g. Arcane Orb) or utility modifiers/toggles (e.g. Devour).
This makes me wonder, what is the future of autocasting in general for buff spells? Like, would it make sense for any of the following?
Low CD heals:
- Abaddon's Mist Coil
- Dazzle's Shadow Wave
- Undying's Soul Rip
Low CD spells in general
- Abaddon's Aphotic Shield (either reacts on-damage vs on-debuff)
Longer duration debuffs
- Slardar's Corrosive Haze (the precedent is that
Faerie Fire , an armor reduction spell in WC3, has it) - Bounty Hunter's Track
- Slardar's Corrosive Haze (the precedent is that
Longer duration friendly buffs
- Magnus' Empower
- Treant's Living Armor
- Ursa's Overpower
- Keeper of the Light's Chakra Magic
- Warlock's Shadow Word
Similar to Puck's Phase Shift
- Antimage's Counterspell
Alternatively, the future of auto-cast is to die with Bloodlust and it makes no sense to include more. Thoughts?
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/zk9at2/autocast_buff_spells_and_their_future/