Disable

Disables (also called crowd control, or CC) refer to any abilities or status effects that prevent, impede, or otherwise inhibit a Hero from acting. Disables come in many different varieties, and most Heroes have access to some form of disable. Sometimes "disabled" or "fully disabled" refer to stun.

Mechanics Interaction[]

Disable	Target's Interaction with the Disable
	Movement	Attack	Ability Usage	Item Usage	Vulnerable
Stun	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented 2	Prevented
Sleep / Cyclone	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented	Situational
Move Speed Slow	Slowed	-	-	-
Attack Speed Slow	-	Slowed	-	-
Silence	-	-	Prevented	-
Break	-	-	Disables Passives	-
Mute	-	-	-	Prevented
Forced Movement	Forced	Situational	Situational	Situational
Root	Prevented 1	-	Situational	Situational
Leash	Confined	-	Situational	Situational
Hex	Reduced	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented
Trap	Confined	-	-	-
Taunt	Forced	Forced	Prevented	Prevented
Fear	Forced	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented
Hide	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented	Prevented
Ethereal	Situational	Prevented	-	-	to Abilities
Disarm	-	Prevented	-	-
Blind	-	Misses	-	-

¹ Does not prevent turning.

² Certain abilities can still be cast while stunned if stated in ability notes, e.g. Enrage.

Stun[]

Stuns are the most common and most dependable kind of disable. Upon getting stunned, the unit stops its current order and stands still until the effect expires. While stunned, the unit cannot move, attack, cast abilities or use items.

It also interrupt all channeling abilities, such as using Teleport. In general, stuns can be categorized into three types, with each using a different modifier to stun the target(s). Stuns from the same group use the same modifier, therefore they refresh each others' duration based on when they affect the target and do not extend its stun duration.

Stun Modifier Type	Definition	Example
Stunned	Do not place their own individual modifiers, but refresh each other.	Magic Missile (Regular Stun) Lightning Bolt (Mini-Stun)
Bash	Do not place their own individual modifiers, but refresh each other.	Infernal Blade
Unique	Uses a custom modifier, meaning each of them place their own modifiers on their targets.	Shackles

Certain stun abilities requires the caster to channel the ability in order to stun the affected target(s), or it applies negative effects onto the caster themselves. These abilities mostly use the Unique Modifier (e.g. Black Hole and Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fiend's Grip".).

Sleep[]

Sleep is a rare status effect that completely disables those affected for the entire duration. However, units affected can be awaken by dealing damage to them. Some sources of Sleep provides invulnerability (e.g. Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Nightmare".), while some do not (e.g. Echo Stomp).

Cyclone[]

Cyclone is a status effect that causes afflicted units to be lifted up, completely disabling them, but also rendering them invulnerable. Some cyclone sources also apply a basic dispel on the target. While being lifted up into the air, other units can pass below it. Sources of Cyclone are Tornado and Eul's Scepter of Divinity.

Slow[]

A type of status effect that reduces the afflicted units movement speed by a percentage, and/or attack speed by a flat value of their current speeds. In general, slows from different sources stack with each other, but multiple of the same instance do not, but refresh their duration instead. There are some exceptions to this.

Slow	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Move Speed Slows	Reduce a unit's movement speed by a percentage of its speed. Currently, there are no sources of movement speed slow which reduce a unit's movement speed by a fixed value. A unit affected by a haste is immune to movement speed slowing effects.	Thunder Clap
Attack Speed Slows	Reduce a unit's attack speed by a fixed value and stacks additively. Currently, there are no sources of attack speed slow which reduce a unit's attack speed by a percentage value. There is no effect which grants a unit immunity to attack speed slows either.	Liquid Fire

Ability and Item Disables[]

Ability and Item Disables	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Silence	Fully prevent any active abilities order, except item casts. Autocast abilities that are currently set to Autocast have their functionality disabled. Toggled abilities are stuck in their current On / Off state for the duration, but their functionality is not disabled.	Global Silence
Break	Fully disable passive abilities, does not disable any item passives and Talents (with some exceptions). On-death passives (e.g. Reincarnation) and direct-synergy passives ( Caustic Finale with Burrowstrike) are generally not disabled.	Viper Strike
Mute	Fully prevent item cast orders, except ability casts.	Doom

Hex[]

Hex applies multiple types of disables – silence, mute and disarm on the affected target and set its movement speed to a fixed value. All sources of hex instantly destroy illusions except strong illusions. Hexed heroes are still treated as heroes by abilities. Sources of Hex are Hex and Scythe of Vyse.

Forced Movement[]

Forced Movement is a status effect that changes a unit's position. This movement is completely unrelated to the unit's movement speed and works on them while disabled. Most forced movement abilities prevent the affected unit from acting during, but some still allows the unit to attack, turn and cast abilities (and items).

Forced Movement	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Fully Disabling	Behaves like a stun, preventing the unit from performing any action, but continuing with them once the effect expires.	Meat Hook affecting enemies
Non-disabling	Allows the affected unit to still perform any action, except for moving. The unit can still turn, attack (depending on situations), cast abilities and items.	Meat Hook affecting allies
Upward Movement	Move a unit upwards, changing their Z-position.	Cyclone Sources
Pulling	Allows the affected unit to move normally.	Gale Force

Root[]

Root (formerly known as Ensnare) is a status effect that prevents affected units from moving, and from casting most mobility abilities. However, it does not prevent the affected units from turning, casting other abilities or using most items. Some root sources also disarm the affected units (and disarming roots were formerly known as Entangle).

Root Types	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Conditional True Sight	Provides True Sight over the target for the duration of the root as long as, at the time the root is applied conditionally. Certain root sources disarms as well for its duration.	Fortune's End
Regular Root	Allows the affected unit to still perform any action, except for moving and casting mobility abilities. The unit can still turn and attack (depending on situations).	Bramble Maze
Ally-Root	Roots and disarms the caster upon cast.	Rolling Boulder

Leash[]

Leash disables casting several mobility abilities (e.g. Blink-based abilities) and it shares a few interactions with the Root mechanic. Although, Leash prevents casting certain abilities, it does not cancel them when getting leashed while the ability is cast. Leash also does not interrupt channeling, but it always cancels Town Portal Scroll's teleport.

The mechanics for Leash sources works differently depending on the ability, and are detailed in its respective ability notes. For example, affected heroes leashed within Dream Coil duration are stun if they move too far from the leashed point; Pounce heavily slows the leashed hero when it tries to move away from the leashed point etc.

Trap[]

A trap hinders a unit from moving, similar to how cliffs hinder a unit from moving. These abilities either create an impassable obstacle, or create a barrier or a leash which prevent units from passing by heavily slowing the unit if it tries to pass through.

Trap Types	Aspect / Definition	Examples
Pathing Blocker	An invisible entity with a collision size that physically block other units walking against them, unless the caster has unobstructed movement.	Fissure
Barrier	A barrier is a force field that prevents a unit from moving out of or into the affected area, by drastically slowing their movement speed towards 0 when close to the edges of the field. This movement speed slow is not shown in the HUD.	Kinetic Field

Taunt[]

Taunt forces the affected unit to drop any of its current order, and start attacking the taunting unit instead. This means it fully cancels attack orders against other units, ability cast orders and channeling. If the taunted unit is out of attack range, it moves towards the taunt source until within attack range. The unit only uses regular movement to get closer to the taunting unit, it does not utilize abilities to close the gap.

Mechanic Type	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Taunt	Forces the affected unit to drop any of its current order, and start attacking the taunting unit instead. If the taunted unit is out of attack range, it moves towards the taunt source until within attack range.	Winter's Curse

When affected by Taunt and Fear, Taunt takes priority.

Fear[]

Sub-Types	Definition	Examples
Fountain Fear	Units are forced to flee towards their own fountain.	Terrorize
Caster Fear	Units are forced to flee from the source of the fear debuff.	Requiem of Souls
Hypnotising Fear	Units are forced to slowly move towards the hypnotising unit at a given movement speed.	Sinister Gaze

Hide[]

Hide renders the unit unable to move, attack, cast abilities and items. All Hide sources also turn the affected unit invulnerable. Hidden units still gain Experience_XP and Gold . While hidden, a unit cannot be affected by any abilities, with very few exceptions (e.g. Shadow Poison). For example, a Meat Hook would just fly through and possibly hit a unit behind the hidden unit.

Disarm[]

Disarm prevents the afflicted unit from attacking, although they can still cast abilities. When a disarmed unit is ordered to attack, they will attempt to stay within attack range of their target but will be unable to act. After the disarm's duration is over, they will resume attacking normally. A disarm prevents the affected unit from attacking. It still can be attacked by other units. Sources of Disarm are Deafening Blast and Heaven's Halberd.

Ethereal[]

Ethereal, sometimes referred to as ghost form, is a type of status effect that makes affected units immune to all physical damage, grants them attack immunity, while also disarming them. It also usually - but not always - reduces their magic resistance, causing them to take additional magical damage. Affected units are able to control every other aspect of their character.

The magic resistance reduction of multiple ethereal effects does not stack, the one with a higher value takes priority, and it is defined as:

Ethereal Magic Resistance Reduction = (1 + MAX Ethereal Magic Resistance Reduction) Sources of Ethereal are Ghost Scepter and Decrepify.

Blind[]

Blind is a debuff that makes a unit miss upon attacking other units and sources of blind effects stack additively with each other, rendering an affected unit unable to land any attack. Blinds work fully independently from evasion. Sources of Blind are Blinding Light and Laser.

Disabling Orders[]

Stuns (including Shackle, Sleep and Cyclone), Forced Movement, Hide and Taunt effects do not prevent the player from giving orders to their units. The given order is executed by the unit as soon as the disable expires. There are only very few abilities which can be cast normally while affected by these disables:

¹ Requires talent.

^2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

^2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

However, some disables prevent giving orders to units. They also prevent casting the aforementioned abilities.

When an order is prevented, the player cannot even select a target in case of targeted orders like a unit-targeted ability. In such case, the order remains selected (i.e. a unit-targeted ability stays selected when attempting to cast it while silenced, and the player has to manually deselect it).

When giving orders is disabled, a red on-screen error message appears, telling the player why the order cannot be given. The text is usually accompanied by an error sound. The message and sound varies based on the disable.

The following status effects disable giving orders:

Status Effects	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Ethereal	Fully prevent ordering attacks on the Ethereal Unit.	Decrepify
Fear	Runs away from caster towards a certain direction and fully prevent any orders.	Requiem of Souls
Hypnosis	Pulled towards caster and fully prevent any orders.	Sinister Gaze
Leash	Limited movement capabilities and fully prevents ordering certain abilities.	Pounce
Mute	Fully prevent item cast orders, except ability casts.	Doom
Root	Rooted on spot and fully prevents ordering certain abilities.	Frostbite
Silence	Fully prevent any abilities order, except item casts.	Global Silence

Besides the named disables, the prevention of giving orders is also partly a disable on its own. Several abilities completely prevent the player from giving the affected units any order, while the disable the ability uses does not. The following abilities fully prevent giving orders:

Trivia[]

Pause was an effect that completely rendered the target unable to move, attack, cast spells or items, disabled most passive abilities and caused buffs and debuffs to not tick down for the duration. It also prevented it from gaining experience.

• Examples of pause were Chronosphere, Astral Imprisonment, and Disruption.

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