What is Roshan in Dota 2? What’s his deal and why is it so important?

Roshan is Dota 2's boss, and one of the most important objectives in the game. Taking down the behemoth that is Roshan can change the momentum of a game or allow you to finally push your opponent's high ground.

But what is Roshan? What can he do and where do you find him? Look no further, as we have all the answers you seek!

Well to put it simply, Roshan is the most important neutral objective in Dota 2. This neutral creep is essentially the boss of the map. The equivalent to Baron Nashor from League of Legends or Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon Unite.

Bosses in MOBA type games provide a significant advantage for taking them down. Whether that be a buff, a ally to siege or in Roshan's case invaluable items. However, Roshan isn't easy to take down. The beast conquers almost every hero without the right items or levels.

As previously mentioned, Roshan drops some pretty important items. Roshan drops single use items with some of the most powerful effects in Dota 2. Currently, Roshan has five items that he can drop depending on the amount of times and what time they are taken down throughout a match. The full item list and when they drop is below:

The most important of which is the Aegis of the Immortal. An item that once picked up, stays in your inventory until it's consumed or Roshan reclaims it. The Aegis essentially is a second life. If the holder of the item dies in game, they'll respawn after five seconds with full health and full mana. However, Roshan reclaims the Aegis after five minutes.

Roshan has two homes where you can find him. Depending on the time of day, you can find him at different spots. Both are at the safe lane corner of each side of the map. During daytime, Roshan will be in the Radiant pit, and at night they'll be on the Dire side pit. When day switches to night and night switches to day, Roshan will take a stroll to the nearby Twin Gate and swap to his other pit.

Roshan's pit is its own little area, with a watcher and Twin gate nearby, all on low ground. Additionally while inside the pit, you can't see outside the pit (without a ward or vision from allies) and vice versa. While outside the pit, you can't see into the pit. Typically, a couple heroes take down Roshan while others stand outside the pit to provide support and vision.

In terms of abilities, as of the current Dota 2 version, Roshan has six. Although four are passive and one doesn't really affect when you fight Roshan. So outside of his auto attacks, Roshan has one active damaging ability. So let's break them down:

Roar of Retribution is Roshan's first ability, but it's the newest ability of Dota 2's boss. When Roshan falls below 80% health when facing the same team that last killed him, Roshan will let out a mighty roar. This roar can be heard by both teams, and gives Roshan a 25% damage amp and 50 damage to every hero in a 900 unit area.

Next up is Slam, the first and only real active ability that Roshan uses. Rosh slams the ground, damaging and slowing all enemies in the area of effect. The base damage of the effect is 70 which is quite low for Dota 2's boss.

However, this damage increases by 10 every minute, which by the time teams typically take rosh, can do a good amount of damage. Additionally, Slam slows movement speed by 50% and attack speed by 50 for two seconds.

Bash is the most notorious ability of Dota 2's big boss Roshan. The passive ability gives Roshan a 15% chance to stun on attack for 1.65 seconds, and deal an additional 50 damage. This bash has traumatized many players with unlucky bashes.

Another iconic passive ability of Roshan is Spell Block. Essentially, the passive works exactly like Linken's Sphere which blocks one targeted spell. However Roshan's is a little stronger. Although the cooldown is one second longer than the item at 15 seconds, the Spell Block also reduces all status effects by 25%.

What makes Dota 2's boss so hard to take down is his next passive, Strength of the Immortal. This undispellable passive gives rosh a lot of benefits. So let's go thorough the buffs:

So, suffice to say, Roshan has earned the title of Dota 2's big boss.

Another new ability of Roshan is the On The Move passive. This ability is simply when the day/night cycle changes, Roshan moves to the other side of the map to his other pit.

While on his stroll, Roshan gains phased movement and knockback to any hero that crosses his path. The video below highlights Roshan's stroll through the Twin Gates.

Hopefully with this knowledge, you can now take Roshan down with ease!

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