When and How to Break in Dota 2 and everything else there is to know about it

Dota 2 has a handful of unique mechanics that other MOBA games simply don't offer, making Dota widely considered as one of the hardest games out there on the market. One interesting mechanic that you can find Dota is called the Break. In this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about Break in Dota 2.

What is Break in Dota 2?

In Dota 2, a "Break" refers to a status effect that will disable most passive abilities in the game, but does not disable any passive abilities or stats from items.

Break Mechanics

When passive abilities are under the status effect of a Break, then everything about that passive ability will not work. This includes percentage chance procs, innate cooldowns, all attack modifier effects, and also permanent bonuses for the duration of the Break.

However, interesting interactions with Break can happen, in instances such as Essence Shift. For the case of Essence Shift, applied Essence Shift stacks before the Break effect will still remain, but new Essence Shift stacks won't be granted post-Break.

It's also important to note that a Break will not disable the passive abilities given by items. So, for example, a Break on Phantom Assassin's Blur will completely disable the evasion chance, but a Butterfly's evasion will still apply despite being Broken, as it is an item, not an ability.

Exceptions from Break

Break will disable most passive abilities, meaning that some passive abilities won't be affected by Break, notably ultimate abilities. Here are some abilities that don't care about Break.

• Tiny - Grow (Ultimate Ability)
• Meepo - Divided We Stand (Ultimate Ability)
• Wraith King - Reincarnation (Ultimate Ability)

Sources of Break in Dota 2

Now that we've understood the general use of a Break in Dota 2, let's further understand the mechanic by figuring out the different sources of Break available in the game.

Silver Edge

Currently in Dota 2, the only item that offers a Break is the Silver Edge. This makes the Silver Edge the only item choice possible if your team requires Break items.

Unfortunately, Silver Edge is up on the list for one of the most expensive items in the game, so it may be difficult to obtain, and is not a viable option for Support heroes to buy. This shows that the Dota 2 developers really value the use of Break.

Though a Break can be extremely useful at times, you have to remember that you are investing a lot of gold in this item. So, you will need to buy this item on heroes that can benefit from the stats, attack speed, and Shadow Walk ability that the Silver Edge provides. Here is a list of certain heroes that prefer buying a Silver Edge, mostly consisting of Hard Carry Dota 2 heroes.

• Chaos Knight
• Kunkka
• Sven
• Tiny
• Wraith King
• Drow Ranger
• Monkey King
• Shadow Fiend
• Slark
• Sniper

However, not all heroes will need to purchase a Silver Edge to Break an enemy hero, as some heroes have built-in abilities that offer a Break.

Hero Abilities

If you're not familiar already, the drafting phase and hero picks are incredibly important in a Dota 2 game. That is why there are more sources of Break from hero abilities compared to items. Here is a table consisting of hero abilities from certain heroes that apply Break:

It will be a really good idea to pick one of the heroes listed above if you see the need of a Break for an enemy hero. There are only two heroes who can naturally use Break, while the rest of the heroes will need requirements such as Talents, Aghanim's Shards, or Aghanim's Scepters.

When Should You Use Break?

We've covered what a Break is and the sources in the game that provide a Break. Now all that's left to know is in which situations will you need a Break item or ability? Here are a list of heroes that hate playing against a Break:

There are definitely more heroes that don't feel good getting Broken, but the table above covers some of the most relevant situations on when you should purchase or pick a hero that provides a Break. 

If you haven't noticed, a Break can be a really good solution to killing off tanky heroes such as Tidehunter, Huskar, Bristleback, and Timbersaw, as these heroes rely on their passive abilities to help them become more durable in fights. But with one Break, you can create a window of opportunity to quickly burst these heroes down in team fights.

We hope that this article has taught you enough about Break to hop into ranked or unranked Dota matches. If you're looking for more concepts about Dota 2, consider checking out our article on Stacking Neutral Camps, the most expensive skin items, and how you can disable auto attack.