Auto-cast buff spells and their future

Windranger DOTA 2 Hero Warriors Ice

Have a look at the currently available auto-cast active abilities here: https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Abilities#Autocast (only Bloodlust, really).

Historically from memory, for heroes this has been:

  1. Ogre Magi's Bloodlust

    • Bloodlust had it due to being native behavior in DotA 1/WC3.
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  • 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/

leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *