All About Lotus Orb - When to Buy and How to Use It

10 minute read

For an item that was added over 9 years ago, Lotus Orb is still often misunderstood. Is it dispellable? Does it also block spells or only reflect them? How does it interact with Linken's Sphere? Is it purely a support item, and when are you actually supposed to buy it? These are questions I hear all the time as a coach - furthermore, when I tell my students during a live session that it's a good game for them to buy Lotus Orb because they can use it to block Vengeful Spirit's ult, get out of Treant Protector's ult, and reflect Witch Doctor's Paralyzing Cask, they are often surprised that the item can do all of those things. That's what this article is going to change - by the end of it, you'll be aware of all of Lotus Orb's niche interactions, know exactly how it works, and, most importantly, you'll know when buying a Lotus Orb can win you the game!

1. How does Lotus Orb's active ability, Echo Shell, work?

A lot of the confusion around Lotus Orb stems from the fact that its active, Echo Shell, has two effects - both of which can be powerful in the right circumstance, but are entirely different from each other. The two effects are the following:

Upon using the item and placing the Echo Shell, the allied target receives a basic dispel, just like they would if they used Manta Style or Satanic. This happens only once per Lotus Orb cast and is very useful for removing some debuffs like roots and silences.
After the Echo Shell has been placed, it will reflect any incoming single-target spell for the next 5 seconds, with no limit on the amount of spells it can reflect. However, it's important to note that the spells still affect the ally with the Echo Shell - they just also get reflected back to whoever used them. This reflection is:
- Not significant when it comes to some minor spells and items (like Skywrath's Arcane Bolt or a Rod of Atos).
- Quite significant when it comes to bigger spells and items (like Beastmaster's Primal Roar, or a Scythe of Vyse).
- Outright blocks the spell's main effect in some specific cases (like Pudge's Dismember and Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap).

It's important to note that the Lotus Orb buff, Echo Shell, cannot be dispelled by anything, including Nullifier and even Doom (which is why it reflects both Nullifier and Doom).

Next up, we'll take a look at which specific spells and items Lotus Orb is effective against.

2. Which items is Lotus Orb good against?

Using Lotus Orb's active, Echo Shell, on somebody applies a basic dispel - if you use it on somebody affected by any of these items, it will dispel its negative effects. This makes it an effective counter to all of these, especially Spirit Vessel and Orchid Malevolence & Bloodthorn's silence.

If you already have the Echo Shell on you when an enemy uses any of these items (except Dust) on you, you will still receive the debuff but you'll also cast the debuff back at them. In the case of Gleipnir, ever since patch 7.37 you will fire back the Eternal Chains root projectiles in an AoE as well!

3. Which heroes is Lotus Orb good against?

3.1 Blocking & Reflecting

You can effectively block channeled disables such as Pudge's Dismember, Bane's Fiend's Grip, Primal Beast's Pulverize and Shadow Shaman's Shackles if you place the Echo Shell on yourself in advance - this makes you re-cast the disable back at them, immediately interrupting their disable. The interaction with Vengeful Spirit's Nether Swap is essentially the same, as you both instantly swap each other and end up at the same place. Keep in mind these heroes can counter this by building a Linken's Sphere (or a BKB, in the case of Shadow Shaman).

When it comes to Beastmaster's Primal Roar and Winter Wyvern's Winter's Curse, there is no special blocking interaction - the spells just get reflected back while you still get affected, but due to their nature as high-impact disables, this reflection will often save you since the enemy that just ulted you is also disabled themselves and cannot follow it up with anything.

Juggernaut is the more unusual case here, because when you reflect and also cast Omnislash, it turns you invulnerable as well, resulting in a super-saiyan 1 v 1 battle where you bounce around each other but nobody takes any damage, as long as there are no other targets around. If there are other units, you may jump to them and deal damage - keep in mind that you can cast your other spells and items during Omnislash as well, which makes the Omnislash reflection super effective if pulled off during a teamfight!

3.2 Dispelling

The list we see here are some of the more common high-impact debuffs that you want to dispel, mainly roots and silences, but also long-lasting reveal and incoming damage amplification in the case of Bounty Hunter and Slardar's ultimates. There are many more debuffs in the game that you would be happy to dispel, and that's a big part of the reason why Manta Style is so popular on almost any right-click hero (indeed, the illusions are just a bonus while the dispel is the main strength of the active), and it's also why Manta Style got nerfed recently, having its cooldown increased from 30 to 34 seconds.

Long story short:

In most games you will need at least one item that provides a basic dispel, and in some games you'll need more than one.

The list below shows all the items providing a basic dispel sorted by cost, descending:

Wind Waker - 6825g, 16s cd (short cd, 2nd most expensive item in the game, castable on allies: 550 range)
Disperser - 5650g, 15s cd (short cd, suitable only for right-clickers, castable on allies: 600 range)
Satanic - 5050g, 30s cd (fairly long cd, suitable only for right-clickers)
Guardian Greaves - 4950g, 40s cd (long cd, suitable for supports or frontliners)
Manta Style - 4650g, 34s cd (fairly long cd, suitable mostly for right-clickers)
Black King Bar - 4050g, 95s cd (extremely long cd)
Lotus Orb - 3850g, 15s cd (short cd, suitable for supports or frontliners, castable on allies: 900 range)
Eul's Scepter - 2625g, 23s cd (medium cd, suitable for supports or frontliners, disables you).

As you can see, the advantages of Lotus Orb become apparent in the context of this list. Of the three items that allow you to dispel allies, it is by far the cheapest and it has the highest cast range as well - right over the significant 800 range threshold.

Other than that, is the second-cheapest option overall and its active ability has no significant downsides such as a long cooldown (Manta, BKB, Greaves) or a self-disable (Eul's).

If dispelling is so important, and Lotus Orb is one of the best and cheapest items offering a dispel, then what's preventing it from being overpowered and bought on every hero?

As you might've guessed, the answer lies in the item's stats. HP and Mana regeneration is decent on almost any hero (although nowadays it's very easy to come by), but armor and mana pool are things that most right-clickers aren't particularly interested in. As a right-clicker, you're generally looking for either one or all of HP pool, damage, and attack speed - Lotus Orb clearly offers none of those, and that's what's keeping it from being overpowered.

This leads us to the next section - what heroes is Lotus Orb good on?

4. Which heroes should you buy Lotus Orb on?

Lotus Orb is not an item that you buy because your heroes look rad with a glowing circle around them - it's an item you buy to counter specific enemies. So, when choosing whether it'll be a good purchase or not, you need to evaluate not only how well the item's stats fit your hero, but also how effective it would be versus the enemies you're facing in your particular match. In practical terms:

Playing Timbersaw or Centaur, some of the best Lotus Orb users, but there is not a single spell or item worth dispelling or reflecting on the enemy team? No reason to buy the item then.

Playing Ember Spirit, a hero that typically almost never buys Lotus Orb, but there are 2 spells worth blocking, 6 spells and items worth dispelling and 3 spells worth reflecting on the enemy team? You might want to pick up that Lotus Orb after your core items, especially if nobody else on your team is going to.

With all that being said, the 16 heroes shown above are heroes that can and often do comfortably pick up the item if the game calls for it. They either:

Are item independent but also farm fast, allowing them to buy whatever utility the team needs
Benefit greatly from the stats provided by Lotus Orb
Run into the middle of the fight and are a prime target for spells

Or all of the above!

5. Special Interactions

First of all, let's break down the regular interaction of a channeled disable getting "blocked" by Lotus Orb, with the example of a Pudge using Dismember on a Lion with the Lotus Orb buff (Echo Shell) on him.

Pudge uses Dismember on Lion
Lion's Echo Shell causes Lion to cast Dismember back on Pudge
Pudge's Dismember gets cancelled
Lion can choose to channel his own reflected Dismember on Pudge, or to simply cancel it and walk away

A way for heroes whose spells get "blocked" (like Pudge, Venge, Shadow Shaman, etc.) to counteract this mechanic is by getting a Linken's Sphere.

Here's an example of the order of events if a Pudge with Linken's Sphere uses Dismember on a Lion with a Lotus Orb buff (Echo Shell) on him.

Pudge uses Dismember on Lion
Lion's Echo Shell causes Lion to cast Dismember back on Pudge (which would normally cancel or "block" the Dismember)
Pudge's Linken's Sphere triggers, and it blocks the reflected Dismember coming from Lion
Pudge's own Dismember on Lion goes through as normal

Keep in mind that this is the only way for Pudge to deal with an enemy having Lotus Orb; debuff immunity is not an option because Dismember pierces it.

For those of you imagining scenarios where both Pudge and Lion have the Lotus Orb buff: no, spells cannot be reflected back and forth - they can only be reflected once.

An interesting exception to all this is Primal Beast's Pulverize - unlike all the other channeled disables, which the Echo Shelled hero casts back and can actually choose to channel, Pulverize is not cast back onto Primal Beast - it is only cancelled and nothing else happens.

When you reflect a spell with Lotus Orb, you are essentially casting it with your hero - this means that if you have an Aghanim's Scepter or Shard you will cast the upgraded version back, even if you were targeted with a non-upgraded version of the spell. This rarely matters, but there are some notable cases where this interaction can be significant; for example, with single-target spells that turn into AoE spells once upgraded by Aghanim's Scepter, such as:

Storm Spirit's Electric Vortex
Lion's Finger of Death
Tidehunter's Gush
Lich's Sinister Gaze
Doom's Doom
Queen of Pain's Shadow Strike

Note: Sven's Storm Hammer dodging interaction no longer works since the flying component got tied to an alternate cast of the spell that essentially cannot be reflected by Echo Shell - it simply reflects the regular Storm Bolt without dodging Sven's one.

That was all about Lotus Orb! You have now learned:

The two effects of Lotus Orb's active, Echo Shell, and how they work
Which heroes and spells get countered by each effect and why
Which heroes benefit from Lotus Orb's stats and can use the item well
When you should and shouldn't buy Lotus Orb
All the special interactions related to Lotus Orb and Aghanim's Scepter

What's next?

Do Nyx and Viper still have Break mechanics? Do Necrophos and Venomancer still have their Regen Reduction mechanics? Were they built-in, or did they need an Agh's Shard? Or was it a talent? Didn't it become an Agh's Scepter upgrade a few patches ago? Or maybe it's now a facet since the latest patc-

Jeez! You're trying to play Dota here, not read 20 pages of mechanics every other month just so you know which hero does what.

If only there was a single visual board with dependable up-to-date information that you could glance at while playi- hold up, THERE IS!

The Dota2 Almanac by SlashStrike is a continuously live-updated digital whiteboard chock-full of information presented visually using hero & item icons.

In other words, it's the ultimate up-to-date Dota2 cheat sheet that you can easily reference at any time by just zooming into the section that you need.

To improve further, check the following:

Join my discord here
Read my other articles here (if there is any topic you'd like to see, please join my discord and tell me there!)
Take a look at my infographics & hero grids here
Book one-on-one coaching with me here

I hope you found this article informative and I look forward to hearing your feedback! Unfortunately this platform requires you to sign up in order to like & leave a comment, which of course is a hassle, but I would still appreciate it big time. And so, anybody that comments and likes all articles will get a free coaching session - if you do it make sure to hit me up on discord!

Thanks for getting this far, and remember:

Always make the enemy react to you, instead of you reacting to the enemy!