[GUIDE|Need HELP!] Skill categorisation

[JJE92]

Skill Categorisation

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INTRODUCTION

This is a guide that compares skills by their general concept and show which skills are kind of overused and thus less original and which are not.
In general, this is meant to categorise skills, so that suggestors can look up quickly whether a combination of certain effects is unique.
You can use these things to create original skills in a simple way, I've made an essay about this published in doomed2die's guide on originality.

Now, I can't do this all by myself, I've made a start, but I simply don't have the time. Therefore, I need your help. It would be great if you can make/finish certain categories, or if you can treat one hero's abilities and categorise them. Ideas and improvement suggestions are always welcome. Any kind of help is appreciated and will be credited
Last but not least, I might be absent once in a while, so I hereby allow NoThlnG or other suggestion mods to edit this guide if they like to

Take a look at my general guidelines, though.

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CHANGELOG

July 11, 2010

• Posted this list in blog

March 01, 2011

• Updated it to use the usual template of my guides.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Coming soon.
Nukes

Single Targeted Nukes
Targeted AoE Nukes
Targeted Missile AoE Nukes
Targeted Delayed AoE Nukes
Instant AoE Nukes
Line Targeted Nukes
Cone AoE Nukes
Single Target Bouncing Nukes
Single Targeted AoE Nukes
Multiple Instance Nukes With Higher Efficiency Against Single Enemy
Traps Dealing Damage
Closest Enemy Nukes

DOTs

Single Targeted DOTs
Instant AoE DOTs
Targeted AoE DOTs
Targeted AoE Debuff DOTs
Self Line AoE DOTs
Stackable DOTs

Effect Power Mechanisms

Physical Damage By Skills
Magical Damage By Normal Attacks
Pure Damage
Mixed Damage
Damage Type Mixes
Direct HP Removal
Universal Damage
Power Based On Targets' HP
Power Based On Your HP
Power Based On Number of Units
Power Based On Time
Power Based On Mana
Power Dependent On Another Skill
Power Based On Distance
Power Based On Distance Towards the Center of an AoE
Power Based On Stat
Random Power
Power Based On Enemies' Movement
Power Based On Self Movement
Power Changing With Each Unit Hit
Power Based On Daytime
Power Based On Trees
Power Based On Enemies Killed
Stackable Effects
Power Based On Level
Power Based On Corpses
Power Based On Angle
Power Based On Damage Dealt Previously

Heals

Single Targeted Heals
Instant AoE Heals
Heals Dealing Damage
HOTs and HP-regens
Heal Auras

Stuns

Single Targeted Stuns
Single Targeted Missile Stuns
Instant AoE Stuns
Targeted AoE Stuns
Targeted Delayed AoE Stuns
Point Targeted AoE Stuns
Line Targeted AoE Stuns
Single Targeted AoE Stuns
Bouncing Stuns
Repetitive Stuns Over Time
Other Stuns

Other Disables

Sleeps
Entangles
Ensnares
Hex
Cyclones
Silences
Shackles
Banishes
Disarms
Knockups

Slows

Single Targeted Slows
Single Targeted AoE Slows
Instant AoE Slows
Targeted AoE Slows
Cone AoE Slows
Slow Auras
Other Slows

Auras

Ally Buff Auras
Enemy Debuff Auras

Attack Modifiers

Cleaves
Blinds
Crits
Evasions
Bashs
Feedbacks
Lifesteals
Maims
Attack Range Modifiers
Autocastable Normal Attacks
Orb Effects
Other Effects Proccing On Attacks
Cumulative Effects On Attacking Same Target
Normal Attack Damage Increases
IAS
Normal Attack Damage Decreases
Minus IAS
BAT Modifiers
Attackspeed Damage Traders

Position Modifiers

Displacements
Blinks
Blinkstrikes
Teleports

Unit Creations

Summonings
Creep Conversions
Illusions
Wards
Traps
Untargetables

Mana Modifiers

Manaburns
Mana Replenishments

Vision Modifiers

Invisibility
Sight
Sight Range Modifiers

Backfires

Self Backfires
Skill Cast Backfires
Ally Backfires

Damage Reductions and Increases

Defense Self Buffs
Magic Immunity Skills
Physical Immunity Skills
Armor Reductions
Armor Buffs
Magic Resistance Reductions
Magic Resistance Buffs
Damage Delays
Damage Reductions
Damage Increases
Damage Blocks

Stat Modifiers

Permanent Self Stat Buffs
Temporary Stat Modifiers

HP Cost Skills
Path Blocking Skills
Normal Attack Self Buffs
Transformations
Instant AoE Allied Buffs
Money Makers
Overall Self Buffs
Hastes
Effects On Self Skillcasts
Effects On Another Unit's Skillcasts
Globals
Chain Lightnings
Shockwaves
Links
MP Percentage Cost Skills
Nukes Or Heals
Reincarnations
Effects Stopped by Attacks
Effects Stopped by Skillcasts
Projectiles With Special Hero Effects
Effects In Line Between Target And Caster
Tower Killers
Channeling Skills
Casting Time Skills
Casting Delay Skills
Skillshots
Skills Granting Multiple Skills
Instances
Swaps
Passives With CD
Effects Upon Mana Depletion
Tree Creators
Tree Destroyers
Single Target AoE Skills
Skills With Effects On Units Behind the Target





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SKILLS

Need help, trying to make something which helps suggestors to quickly look up if their skill and their combination of effects is original or used already.

Nukes

Definition:

Nukes are the term describing skills that deal a significant amount of burst damage to enemy targets. Obviously, many disables - especially slows - or skills with other effects can be used as nukes as well, due to their damage output. Therefore, this will be differentiated here. Following types of nukes will be regarded:

• Nukes that deal only damage and have no other effects
• Nukes dealing so much damage that their side-effects are negligible
• Nukes with side-effects which would not be powerful enough on their own (to rule out all sorts of disables, ...)

DOTs

Single Targeted DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time to a single targeted enemy.

Burning Spear, Ignite, Battle Hunger, Doom, Bloodrage, Poison Attack, Viper Strike, Shadow Strike, Shadow Word, Poison Touch,

Single Targeted AoE DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time to units in an AoE around a single targeted enemy.

Thunder Strike, Ignite (Multi Cast),

Instant AoE DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time to nearby enemies around yourself.

Supernova, Blade Fury, Freezing Field,

Targeted AoE DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time at the targeted area.

Acid Spray, Shrapnel, Static Storm,

Targeted AoE Debuff DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time to units that stood in the targeted area when the skill was cast.

Curse of the Silent

Self Line AoE DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time in a line in front of your hero.

Sun Ray

Stackable DOTs

These are skills, that deal damage over time to nearby enemies that stacks if cast more than once.

Burning Spear

Effect Power Mechanisms

Definition:

An effect power mechanism is a mechanism that changes the power of a skill's effect.

• Effects: These effects can be direct damage or basically any other effect that can be changed in strength (e.g.: slow percentage) or duration (e.g.:stun duration). Damage is the most common effect however. In Dota, there are different damage types for this. Usually, skills deal magical damage and normal attacks deal physical damage. These regularities won't be listed, instead I will only point out when magical skills deal physical damage or when skills applied through normal attacks of some sort deal magical damage. Furthermore, any skills with a completely different damage type will be listed here.
• Power Mechanisms: The most common power mechanisms are static numbers. These won't be listed here, only variable power mechanisms that depend on something else in the game are going to appear in this list.

Editor's Note: I could also add Enhanced Damage here, but as of now, I don't. Enhanced Damage is similar to Universal Damage, but doesn't go through Ethereal. You can count most cleaves to this and skills like Earthshaker's Echo Slam and Tinker's Heat Seeking Missile.

Heals

Single Targeted Heals

These are skills, that heal a single targeted ally.

Purification

Instant AoE Heals

These are skills, that heal in an AoE around your hero.

Hand of God,

Heals Dealing Damage

These are skills, that both heal and deal damage at the same time.

Purification, Leech Seed, Shadow Wave

HOTs and HP-regens

These are skills, that heal an ally over time or improve his HP-regeneration.

Guardian Angel, Tether, Chemical Rage, Inner Vitality, Nature's Attendants,

Heal Auras

These are skills, that heal in an aura.

Healing Ward

Stuns

Single Targeted Stuns

These are skills, that stun a single targeted enemy instantly.

Primal Roar, Dragon Tail, Adaptive Strike, Chaos Bolt, Fireblast

Single Targeted Missile Stuns

These are skills, that shoot a missile at a single targeted enemy and stun as an effect.

Storm Bolt, Snowball, Unstable Concoction, Hellfire Blast, Homing Missile, Magic Missile

Instant AoE Stuns

These are skills, that stun units in an AoE around your hero. In DotA, we currently have 5 such skills, all of them not only stun, but also deal damage:

Hoof Stomp is basically the ladder type of such skills. It's a simple small AoE stun with some damage.

Aftershock is unique, since it is a passive that makes all other skill casts of the hero an AoE stun. It's not an AoE stun itself, but makes all of Earthshaker's other skills have an AoE stun as a bonus effect.

Reverse Polarity is not only a very powerful AoE stun, but as well a displacement skill that sucks all enemy heroes in front of Magnataur. As such, it's unique and different from all other skills in this category.

Ravage's difference in mechanics might only be that it's a wave and not an instant effect, so the stun travels outwards and needs some time to reach the full range. But to be honest, the real difference from other AoE stuns is its huge area of effect and this is what makes the skill unique.

Slithereen Crush is not so different from Hoof Stomp, so that these two skills can be said to lack of some uniqueness. The differences are that Slithereen Crush also has a short slow after the stun, is more spammable, has a worse stun (especially at early levels) and slightly worse damage.

Discussion: Uniqueness of Hoof Stomp and Slithereen Crush:

In general, their idea is pretty much the same: instantly stunning foes in a relatively small aoe around you. In the usage, such skills always have the similarity of being used as initiation tool with a Blink Dagger in ganks or team-fights.
However, these two skills have some differences determined by the heroes' different concepts. Centaur Warchief is an early-mid game tank that needs some advance and good items to transition well into the late-game. As such, his stun is designed powerful from the first level on, so that he can be aggressive during laning-phase already. Slithereen Guard is a tank-carry hybrid with a relatively poor early-game. As such, it's not necessary to be powerful from level 1 on, but it provides a solid escape-mechanism combined with Sprint and due to its low CD can in some situations be used more than once in both offensive and defensive ways.
Moreover, it has to be acknowledged that such instant AoE stuns are basic skills and therefore are bound to be used more than once in a similar way.

So overall, it's a tough choice. Their basic idea is similar, their usage in ganks and teamfights is similar. The differences are mainly adjustments to the hero's concept and the role the skills play in it.
Since the skills are slightly different and very hard to remake without destroying parts of the heroes' concepts, I guess it's fine that they are like this. If there turns out to be a viable possibility to make them more unique, however, then why not.

Targeted AoE Stuns

These are skills, that stun enemies in a targeted AoE.

Dream Coil,

[nqb]Targeted Delayed AoE Stuns

These are skills, that stun units in a targeted AoE after a short delay. In DotA, we currently have 3 such skills, all of them not only stun, but also deal damage:

Light Strike Array is the standard version of such skills. After a short delay, all units in targeted area are stunned and receive damage.

Split Earth is basically the same skill as Light Strike Array. Only differences are some balance changes of numbers and workout differences to adapt the skill into the skillset.

Avalanche is a targeted delayed AoE stun, despite its misleading animation. The main difference compared to the other skills in this category lies in its mechanics, however. The damage is actually dealt in four instances every 0.25 seconds. Besides, enemies can be damaged twice by this skill if Tiny's Toss is used.

Torrent is a unique version of such skills in many aspects. First of all, it's not even a real stun, but a pause, like all knockup skills, so it's not only the animation that makes it look differently already. But that only results in small technical and minor gameplay varieties. The true uniqueness of this skill lies in its huge casting range that is balanced with a comparably long delay. Also, in contrast to the other skills of this type, it has a slow added.

Rain of Chaos is not only such a type of stun, but also summons an infernal.

[Straight Flush]

Are you aiming to put spells in one category only?

[JJE92]

^ No, I've put most skills already in more than one category. I personally think that it's impossible to put many skills in one category only, just look at Puck's Orb, it's often used for the shockwave-type damage only, but as often used for the blink effect.
I strive to put them in any category where they make sense and where they are comparable.

[Captain Planet]

Holy mother of god! This is an incredible effort =O

Hell, this puts my Spotlighted Witch Doctor guide to shame in terms of effort D=

Dude you are a force of nature

[JJE92]

^ Actually it goes quite quickly if you know how to use the hero page and if you have some good knowledge already. In the last 30 minutes I did all the manaburns, replenishments and all of the position modifiers except for displacements ^^

[Unan1mous]

Effort bomb right here.

Maybe add a category called "Globality" (Thunder God's Wrath, Wrath of Nature, Teleportation, Haunt...)

I'd also like to hear your thoughts on Orb-Effects please. Would you just through them in "Autocastable Normal Attacks"? Though, I think they deserve they're own category or sub category at the very least; E.g: I saw Mana Break in "Mana Burns" section but it didn't fit anywhere in the attack modifiers section - which feels kinda weird.

Where would you place Hunter in the Night? Conditional Haste?
What about Darkness?

[JJE92]

Autocastable Normal Attacks aren't Orb Attacks, I'll do a seperate category for orb effects.

I'll do the Global category in the next update, I think this is a good and useful idea

I'll add a day/night-time dependent effects category as well, I think with Balanar's skills will fit there quite well ^^
But Hunter in the Night is definitely also a Haste, so it will be added there as well.

Thx for the input

[Nicolback]

Umm, sorry really blind right now, but there is no Lifesteal category.

Nice effort you put in this though

[Lill]

CM's Frostbite = Entangle

[doomed2die]

Damaging Heal: Dazzle's Shadow Wave

Summonings: Summon Infernal, Necromoncion(?), Spirit Bear

Repetitive Stuns over Time: Malefice

Instant AoE Nukes: Scream of Pain

Shockwave: Sonic Wave

There's some others but here you go. Wow, this is a huge effort but good job so far

[AKBu3nY]

^Scream of pain isn't instant. It uses missiles.

[JJE92]

^ Instant cast doesn't mean that it's instant. Instant cast means that you don't have to target anything, but it casts the skill just right away.

Updated all other disables, added way more summonings than doomed2die told me to ().
Edit: Added summonings into a category of unit creations along with newly added illusions, wards and traps
Edit 2: Major update on Attack Modifiers.
Edit 3: Added Globals and Time of Day Dependent Skills.
Final Edit: Added Chain Lightnings und Shockwaves.

About to update more.

[Wrooks]

wow goodjob so far

[AKBu3nY]

Originally Posted by JJE92

^ Instant cast doesn't mean that it's instant. Instant cast means that you don't have to target anything, but it casts the skill just right away.

Than I misunderstood him. "Instant AoE Nuke" sounded like the damage comes instantly.

[JJE92]

Another huge update: Updated Invisibility and Sight under the new category Vision Modifiers, added category backfires, added category Damage Reduction and Increases.
Last but not least, I added the skill names below the icons, so that you can search for the skills manually.

[L|Enzo]

Awesome I must say.

[Cereal_Killer]

- Position Modifiers, Displacement
I think you should put Earth Splitter too..

- Transformation Skills
Shapeshift? Flesh Golem? True Form?

- Moneymakers
I think you should also put Devour in that...

Great guide and great effort!

[JJE92]

Question: Where should I put Guardian Wisp's Spirits?

Originally Posted by Cereal_Killer

- Position Modifiers, Displacement
I think you should put Earth Splitter too..

- Transformation Skills
Shapeshift? Flesh Golem? True Form?

- Moneymakers
I think you should also put Devour in that...

Great guide and great effort!

Thx, I totally forgot about Earth Splitter.

I haven't updated Transformation skills and moneymakers yet, did it now.

Edit: Finished STR-Sentinel Tavern.

[doomed2die]

I think Spoilers are called for.

You're doing well I love the combo between our posts :P


Defense Self Buffs: I think Evasion type skills and Spectre's Dispersion should be included in there. Or at least Dispersion since that reduces the damage you take.

Effects on Skillcast: Zeus: Static Field

IAS: N'aix: Rage. Terrorblade: Zeal.

[JJE92]

^ I won't do spoilers for now, otherwise it would be troublesome to search for skill names. Perhaps, I'll add some as soon as I've finished, but I'm not even sure about that.

Anyway, I'll add these as soon as I treat the specific heroes, I've finished until Drow Ranger so far.