Hex

[Black Isle]

There are 3 Hex based abilities in DotA.

Rhasta - Voodoo
Lion - Voodoo
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse - Hex

Hex is a spell that turns the target unit into another creature that is set in the skill's properties. This unit determines following properties of the morphed unit:

• Movement Speed (Unless the target has 0 base movement speed.)
• Turn Rate
• Unit Model ( Scaling Value and Selection Circle Properties )

Hex spells in DotA turns the target into critters and all of them have movement speed of 100. Which is the minimum movement speed in DotA. They have a Turn Rate value of 0.5.

When multiple Hexes are cast on same unit the the remaining duration is compared with the targeted spells duration, if last casted Hex has lower duration from the other one, current Hex continues. Otherwise it is replaced by the new one.


Properties of Hex

• Changes unit model into a critter.
• Sets base movement speed of the unit to that of the critter which is 100.[/SIZE]
• All orders will be canceled, unless the target is already hex'd.
• Hex'd units cannot attack, cast spells and use items.
• Hex'd heroes can't gain experience. Experience is still distributed to them however.
• Units' Armor Value, Armor Type, Hit Points, Mana, Collision Size, Vision, Icon, Portrait, Soundset, Tint are not effected.
• Hex ignores the cast point of the casting unit.
• Hex will freeze the duration of Chemical Rage and Metamorphosis based spells.
• Dispels Sorceress' Invisibility. ( Doesn't dispel it if unit is not faded yet or already hex'd )
• Hex'd units are normally affected by auras but cannot bestow them.
• Instantly destroys illusions when casted upon them.
• Cannot be casted on summoned units.
• Illusion Interaction is explained at the bottom of the guide.
• Hex can be blocked by Linken's Sphere and Roshan's Spell Block.
• Hex is an Hardcoded magical effect thus it can be dispelled by, purge, dispel and cyclone and it's duration will be freezed when unit is paused.
• Units with Ghost ability [Agho] are immune to Hex.

Abilities that Hex Disables

Attention! Do not skip this part as the general behaviour of abilities versus Hex are explained here.

Apart from that Hex prevents usage of all active skills and items, it also disables many passive abilities. Hex disables almost all Hero and Unit abilities but there several exceptions done by Blizzard and doesn't disable any Item abilities. But it isn't matter if the ability is acquired through an item or a skill, but what matters is the ability is really an item ability or not. Assume that you created an ability based on Hardened Skin of Mountain Giant, set it's Item Ability value to True, and put it on an Item. But as the ability is derived from a unit, it will still be disabled by Hex, as in the case of Vanguard's damage block. Even it seems a bit absurd it is obvious that Blizzard made it on purpose, when you think on it. As disabling Item Abilities like Health, Armor bonuses would be weird and even abusable.

To sum up, all Unit & Hero abilities are disabled like Permament Invisibility, Evasion or Auras regardless of how you acquire them, via Items or Skills. But Item abilities are not disabled. Usually recognized with their bonuses to various statistics like Armor, Damage, HP, Mana or Attributes. Again, they are not disabled regardless of how you acquire them.

Aura effects fade after 2-4 seconds, as Hex based abilties in DotA have relatively low duration, it won't be easily observed unless you chain multiple casts.


Exceptions & Special Situations

Unit and Hero Abilities which are specifically set to not be disabled

• Reincarnation
• Resistant Skin
• Spiked Carapace
• Magic Immunity
• Invulnerablity
• Ethereal
• Engineering Upgrade

Abilities that are gained through level up but not disabled because they are based on Item abilities

• Marksmanship
• Attribute Bonus
• Great Fortitude
• Corrosive Skin
• Spell Shield
• Flesh Heap
• Phantom Edge
• Gravekeeper's Cloak

Special Situations

Some effects of abilities show different behaviours because of various reasons, here be some examples.

• Dragon Blood - It's bonuses are granted by Upgrades, so it isn't disabled.
  
• Feral Heart - It is an aura but it's effects are granted by a dummy unit, so Hexing Lycanthrope won't disable it.
  
• Triggered Effects - Some abilities' effects are done by triggers. These effects triggered via events like "unit has learned the ability" or boolean checks like "unit has X ability, true", so abilities like Dispersion, Counter Helix, Bristleback are not disabled, they work properly.
  
• Rot, Pulse Nova, Voodoo Restoration are disabled ( If you cast Hex while they are activated ) but they won't drain mana or health. Pulse Nova and Vodoo Restoration are also deactivated.

The unit abilities that are acquired through items in DotA, thus are disabled:

• Hardened Skin aka Damage Block
• Building Damage Aura
• Evasion
• True Sight
• Auras

I have written some extra information here about abilities mentioned above.

Sorceress' Invisibility: Sandstorm, Invisibility Rune, Nature's Guise ( Not self )
Reincarnation: Skeleton King and Aegis.
Resistant Skin: This ability allows normal units to use Hero Duration of certain abilities and makes them immune to some spells, used by Infernal, Spirit Bear, HotD Dominated Creeps etc.
Ethereal: This ability is added to you when you use Ghost Scepter.
Engineering Upgrade: Witchcraft, Synergy, Aghanim's Scepter
Building Damage Aura: Radiance
Auras, not obvious ones: Yasha, SnY, Manta Style Speed bonuses.

Illusion Interactions

Assume that our Hex spell turns the target into unit X, when reading following explanation.

When an illusion created from an hex'd hero, it will be based on X, as if the Illusion is created directly from X. So it will have X' abilities, armor value, attack type etc. But it takes it's HP and Mana values from Original unit.

So if you cast hex on Mortred and cast Replicate afterwards, the critter illusion will move randomly around the place because critters have Wander ability, and it will have Normal armor type with 0 armor value. But it's HP and Mana will be same as Mortred's.

This interaction is not same on non-hero units, their illusions will be based on themselves even when they are hex'd.

[Black Isle]

Log

2010

February 20
Sorry for wall of text.

February 21
Various grammar corrections.
Added Illusions part.

February 22
Some info added.
Improvements made.
Added a Changed the title with a Hex Icon.

February 23 to March 3
Various typos fixed.
Rephrased some sentences.
Added a property.

August 10
Removed some unnecessary information.

2012

Updated my journal.

[SNOW37]

yay new guide froom phthalo!

maybe add some information about the interaction with hex and triggered passives like counter helix.

[Black Isle]

Originally Posted by Phthalocyanine

• Triggered Effects - Some abilities' effects are done by triggeres. These affects goes into effect with events like "unit has learned the ability" or boolean checks like "unit has X ability, true", so abilities like Dispersion, Counter Helix, Bristleback are not disabled, they work properly.
  

Something like this?

[SNOW37]

ya, where is that in the guide?
I looks twice but find it noooone times.

[Black Isle]

Are you joking or is there a problem with the 1st post?

[Robzor]

Voodoo ignores the cast point of the casting unit.

Immolation based abilities needs to be reactivated after that the unit has been affected by Voodoo.

Attached special effects will be removed when the target is hexed.

[Black Isle]

Originally Posted by ACtn

Voodoo ignores the cast point of the casting unit.

Adding.

Originally Posted by ACtn

Immolation based abilities needs to be reactivated after that the unit has been affected by Voodoo.

I wrote that but Rot doesn't show that behaviour.

Originally Posted by ACtn

Attached special effects will be removed when the target is hexed.

It's about model change. All buff effects will be removed and reapplied again as model changes, some of them cannot be applied because critters doesn't support all attachment points. Triggered attachments won't be reapplied, as they are not associated with buffs.

Thanks for feedback.

[BorisPeace-]

Lol when did you write this damn I was gathering info on this!

[SNOW37]

Dam phthalo it would appear that my skills at skim reading are now at an all time low...
Good guide btw.

[Black Isle]

Hey, don't skim read. This shit involves some serious knowledge. I learnt things which I didn't expected at all when testing.

V edit: Fixed, thanks.

[Yoyo Cream]

Gread Fortitude = Great Fortitude?

[SNOW37]

but skimming is so much mor fun and beside and I have other things to do than look at how smart you are

edit: I found it Phthalo I'm so happy now. I'm still gona skim read your guides though.

[Robzor]

Abilities that are not disabled because they are based on Item abilities:

The unit abilities that are acquired through items in DotA, thus are disabled:

I find these headlines to be very misleading, or at least they appear to not say anything. Just make it "Abilities which are disabled" and "Abilities which are not disabled", in case it matters if the ability is a unit, hero or item ability you could use some form of notes in parenthesizes to accomplish that.

It might also be good to mention that since the duration of the Voodoo's in DotA aren't particularly long you will ofttimes not notice that the auras stops being provided due to the fade time.

Oh, and invulnerability is not an ability (`-')

[random.org]

Good one, keep on going!

[Black Isle]

All units and hero abilities disabled anyway, including auras. I have made that list to show which abilties granted by items are actually unit abilities, and disabled. I don't know, should I change to template for the sake of consistency? Any suggestions are welcome. The guide will lead people wrong if they approach parts individually and just look at the lists instead of reading explanations, which holds the main importance. I'll try to make it more consistent.

Oops, I forgot the mention fade time, thanks.

I'm referring to Avul, which is an ability as ACtn is, in my opinion.

[BorisPeace-]

Originally Posted by ACtn

Oh, and invulnerability is not an ability (`-')

How is it not an ability o.O it's an ability in WE o.O

[mDREAMm]

I read the whole guide from the beginning till end and I also support the opinion that it's necessary to read everything rather than skim over,otherwise one may get confused from certain statements.
Great job for the guide

[Elements-]

This guide is awesome.

Reincarnation is not disabled when hex. Right?

[Black Isle]

It isn't, It's written. Thank both of ye for yer kind words.