Invisibility

Invisibility plays an important role for many heroes in SMotA. It is used typically to hide, scout, or launch sneak attacks. After becoming invisible, a unit will stay that way until it 1) attacks, 2) casts an ability, or 3) expires the duration. The only exception to (1) and (2) is the Mutation hero, whose ultimate allows it to temporarily be able to attack and stay invisible. The Ghost is able to bypass (3) and remain indefinitely cloaked, that is, until it carries out (1) or (2).

Invisibility Options

Several heroes in SMotA have the ability to use the Invisibility mechanic. Note that nearly all are agility heroes.

Lurker: Burrow (innate) - Goes underground, becoming invisible when not attacking, and also gives enhanced hp regeneration and attack ability



Desert Advocate: Sand Slide - Slides to a target point, dealing damage along the way, then becomes invisible




Elven Ranger: Natural Concealment (ultimate) - Gives a passive invisibility that breaks upon attacking or casting an ability



Ghost: Cloaking Field - Becomes invisible indefinitely until an attack is made or a spell is cast




Gnoll Assassin: Camouflage - Becomes invisible, slowing down movespeed, but dealing a high amount of bonus damage on the next attack



Harpy Stormwitch: Turbulence - For a short amount of time becomes invisible and gains maximum movespeed




Hydra Hatchling: Play Dead - Becomes invisible, gaining movespeed and leaving behind an illusion of a dying Hydra



Mutation: Invisibility - Becomes invisible, moving slightly faster and dealing bonus damage on the next attack; Spontaneous Mutation - Activateable buff, has a chance upon being attacked to turn invisible and damage and slow nearby enemies; Kyriaki (ultimate) - For a short amount of time, becomes truly invisible, as not even attacks or abilities will reveal himself

Nerubian Lord: Wind Walk - Becomes invisible, moving faster and dealing bonus damage on the next attack



Invisibility Detection

Some general guidelines for playing against invisibility heroes:

Towers: All attacking towers in SMotA have the Truesight ability, allowing them to see invisible units near their radius. If you think or know an invisible hero is nearby, retreat to a nearby tower.


Sentry Wards: Considering the vast size of the map, one Sentry Ward alone cannot cover a sufficient area. Consider buying several and setting them up in critical locations such as ramps, teleport spots, etc. Sentry Wards themselves are invisible.


Crystal Ball: A typically underused item in "pub" games, the Crystal Ball is a powerful asset when it comes to fighting invisibility heroes. For zero mana cost, a fairly wide area can be revealed, anywhere on the map!


Radiant Shard: The preferred method by experts of dealing with invisibility heroes, the Radiant Shard orb causes attacks to land a short lasting Faerie Fire debuff on the enemy, both revealing them and lowering their armor! Since nearly all invisibility heroes are agility, they will probably have low hitpoints but high armor. The Radiant Shard, by reducing their armor, allows the user to exploit the low hitpoints of the agility heroes. Of course this will only work once the enemy has revealed himself first, but with proper use, this orb can prevent them from effectively going invisible again. Plus, stacking this orb will not only increase the amount of armor reduction, but also increase the duration.

Hero Counters

Normally one hero shouldn't be a direct counter to another and render it useless, but in this case these invisibility counters are still "soft counters," i.e. it is still questionable whether one of the heroes below could defeat an invisibility hero played in the hands of an expert.

Far Seer: Omniscience (ultimate) - What could counter invisibility more than revealing everything on the entire map at the press of a hotkey? Well, Far Seer's weak but long-ranged spells do not exactly spell disaster for an invisibility hero, but his combo can easily finish off a hero on low health who has just vanished to escape. This ability also has a long cooldown, and good players on the other team will wait for this duration to expire and then strike again.

Helicopter: Lift Off - Gives the Helicopter increased movement speed and Truesight temporarily, as well as making him invisible on the "radar" or minimap. This is very dangerous for an invisibility hero as they might not even notice the Helicopter coming until it is too late. Plus, the invisibility hero tends to be alone, and the Helicopter's Auto Gunships are a perfect match for that.

Huntress: Sentinel - Creates a scout owl to reside on the target tree. This can be painful in the long-term for invisibility heroes because the sentinels last forever, that is, until their tree is destroyed. Unfortunately, most invisibility heroes do not have spells that can destroy trees, but they can normally deal with Huntress just fine, as she does not have any escape spells.

Shaman: Mass Purge (ultimate) - A double ouch for invisibility heroes, but not as bad as on clearly visible targets. On normal targets, this deals damage equal to 5x the Shaman's intelligence, which can become pretty high, as well as causing a purge effect, rendering them nearly immobile for a short time. Fortunately, invisibility heroes will "dodge" the purge effect but not the damage, or the reveal! Once the target is revealed, the Shaman may be able to finish off the target with other spells or attacks, so it is best to try to kill the Shaman as quickly as possible to avoid future risk. However, this is easier said than done.

Troll Batrider: Echo Location - Gives increased movespeed and reveals current aoe. Troll Batrider is a true nuissance to invisibility heroes, but can be countered nonetheless. Although Echo Location has the shortest cooldown of all the revealing abilities, it also has the shortest duration, allowing the invisible one to run out of the aoe for the duration and then sneak back in. Interestingly, Echo Location's reveal does not actually follow the Troll Batrider, but this does make him hard to follow.