Dota Thought of the Day: A Dark Matter

Hey all!

Black Hole.

What makes this spell create one of the biggest, if not, the biggest crowd reaction of all spells in dota?

Is is the way it can turn the game around?
Is it Tobiwan screaming his head off?
Is it because of the graphic?
Or is it because of the risk / reward that comes to play when it's casted?

Regardless, a good Black Hole is almost always a teamfight win.

But what exactly does Black Hole do?

Let's begin with the basics.

Upon cast, Enigma creates a spherical zone 420 in radius. Enigma then channels for up to four seconds. The zone is kept up for as long as Enigma channels.

So what does this zone do?

First, it silences all units affected. No casting abilities.

Second, it disables all units within using a disable called "Forced Movement". These units move at 40 movement speed toward the center of the zone and are given free pathing. This disable comes from an aura of the zone - which means it lingers for 0.5 seconds. However, Black Hole is hard coded to stop immediately upon channelling end. I'm not sure how this interaction works.

Third, this zone provides 800 ground vision upon cast. Note that the zone is only 420 units in radius- the vision is almost 3 times the size! (800 is the radius of the vision)

Fourth, it deals damage in one second intervals, starting 1 second AFTER cast. Which means Black Hole will deal no damage if casted and cancelled before channelling time reaches 1.

Fifth, everything above is un-dispel-able.

Sixth, people caught in the zone cannot be saved by Geometric Grip and Force Staff (for those who did the quiz yesterday, this may sound familiar), or even Snowball.

Cheers!
Sofa

P.S. Should I do more of these?

so is the zone 420 in diameter or in radius?????

also do u mean that the radius of the vision is 800 units or do u mean diameter????

Fixed. Thanks!

It's the hardest disable in the entire game. You can't escape it, 4 seconds is an eternity in Dota, and the only way to stop it is to stun or kill Enigma. Graphically, it's one of the most impactful and instantly recognising spells in the game, from the sound effects to the actual visuals of the hole itself and Enigma's iconic channeling animation (remember that guy who mimicked it at TI one time?). The fact that it's a spell which directly translates skill, timing and risk into a huge, massive reward makes it such a crowdpleaser. I mean, when's the last time you heard somebody complaining about an Enigma pick? The hero just excites a game.

It's interesting because, a level 3 Reverse Polarity comes pretty close to Black Hole in terms of disable - it affects a 410 radius compared to 420 of BH, it lasts for 3.75 seconds compared to the 4 seconds of BH, however, the biggest difference is that, it is not channeled, which is a big deal. I would consider RP a more reliable disable compared to BH for this reason.

I think a lot of the hype around Black Hole revolves around Tobi Wan's cast, and the fact that Enigma is played more as a support than a core, which means that a similar impact on a game by a lesser important hero means more. Add in the flashy looking graphics and you have a crowd pleaser.



@OP: I really liked reading through the post though. I would definitely like to see more of these.

So tell me.
I am puj.
My carry is blackholed. Can i hook him out?

And thats why folks, pudge 4 second aghs hook is op as **** and totally unwarranted; discourages all enigma picks. He can even interrupt a BKB enigma

Gosh where's hamster when you need him.

If you think this scenario makes pudge OP, let me throw you an even more bizarre idea..

You have both enigma and pudge on your team.. Your pudge has aether lens.. The enigma jumps in and gets a 3 man black hole.. But the enemy team has a venge that wasn't caught in the BH..She is moving in to swap out the Enigma to break the channeling.. Now your pudge hooks the enigma out from the fog, while the BH continues channeling.. How's that for OP?

Yes, KCAF, you can hook him out. But why would you hook him and not Enigma?

Thats even better. I mean ti say in places where you dont have a clean shot. Better hook the carry out.

But this things for sure, meat hook trumps every black hole ever.

@ashwin: Thays because meta hook doesn't intwrrupt friendly channeling. I know if it and thats why hook needs nerfs not buffs. Correction: it needs fixing

Reverse Polarity is almost certainly a better skill...no channelling, instant grouping, lower cooldown. Chronosphere too.

But there's just something about Black Hole that makes it so much fun - as you've mentioned above. The epic 3 minute+ cooldown is also part of it. The fact that casting, or not-casting BH might make or break the game, and that you can be counterd so easily if you get it wrong.

There's also the idea that one day, you might land the "golden" Black Hole. With Midnight Pulse doing it's thing, maybe an Aghs...into Refresher for 8 seconds of glorious 5 man destruction which totally wipes the entire opposition. It could happen...