Ask yourself this: What is the most basic way of inflicting damage in Dota 2? My first answer to that question would obviously be Sniper. My close second would be the Auto-Attack. Casting spells interacts with the mana mechanic and spells also have different ways of dealing damage through their damage type. Each spell is unique and has a different twist to it. In short, spells are hard. Auto attacks, on the other hand, are literally just hitting a hero in the face. However, you would be mistaken if you think that Auto-Attacking is not convoluted – this is Dota, after all. Much like a martial arts, simply hitting someone in the face can become complicated very quickly.

To best understand the ancient art of Kung-Dota, I will try to break it down in following three sections: 1) attack time, 2) the relationship between attack speed and damage, and crits and bashes. We’ll only briefly touch on orb attacks, because they are slowly getting phased out of Dota. Armor is also hugely important but luckily that topic was already explained in detail by your favorite Coffee-Grinder. Since you now know that a load of mechanics is coming right at you, now is your last chance to run. For everyone remaining, stand tall, and let’s start learning some martial arts.

Attack Time

The attack time consists of the actual attack animation (also referred to as attack point), the so-called attack back-swing, and an idle period so the system can’t be abused (more on that shortly). Let’s take these one by one. The attack animation, according to Dota 2 Wiki, is the delay between when an attack command is issued and the damage is dealt. Let’s pretend we’re everyone’s favorite Ogre, Alchemist. If our theoretical alchemist decides to get punchy, . the animation is his arm punching right up to the moment the actual damage is inflicted. The ogre returning his arms to their original position is the back-swing, and the period between the end of the back-swing and the launching of the next attack is the idle period. Check out the picture below: