Lich
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Version Control
This article is mostly accurate for the latest version of the game (7.38), in which this hero/item was changed.
It has no changes in the current game version — 7.38b.
Lich
20 + 2.1
17 + 2
26 + 3.8
| Grants the following bonuses per level: | |
| +46.2HP and +0.21HP regeneration | |
| +0.33 armor and 2 attack speed | |
| +45.6MP and +0.19MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance +3.8 Main Attack Damage | |
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900 Projectile Speed
| ||
100 (117)
(1.7 BAT) | ||
0.46 + 0.54
| ||
0.7
| ||
Ice
Gib Type | ||
2010-11-01
Released | ||
2004-02-03
(v0.60) | ||
Competitive Span
2011-04-09 — Present |
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| Unleashes a powerful attack that bounces between enemies. | |
|---|---|
| Resurrected by a curious geomancer, Ethreain bewitched his savior with a Sinister Gaze, then promptly made the man his newest sacrifice. Finally freed from the depths of the Black Pool, the Lich returns to wreak icy destruction on the world. Cloaking his followers with a Frost Shield, Ethreain floats across the battlefield to Blast any who cross him. A frozen orb descends on his foes, traveling between foes and Ice Spires until the Chain Frost brings all opposition to their demise. | |
| Roles: | |
| Adjectives | Blue, Flying, Icy, Undead, Nose Legs ( 2 ) |
Facets[edit]
Frostbound
Chain Frost stays dormant and lingers on the current affected enemy unit, until there is another valid unit for the projectile to bounce on.
Growing Cold
Increases the current Frost Shield duration per enemy hero kill.
Increases the current number of Chain Frost bounce per enemy hero kill.
Upgrades[edit]
Aghanim's[edit]
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Adds an area-targeting functionality, affecting enemy units within a radius of the area-targeted location.
Lich can now use his other abilities while channeling this ability.
Lich can now use his other abilities while channeling this ability.
Talents[edit]
| +100 Chain Frost Increment Damage | 25 | +50 Frost Shield Health Regen |
|---|---|---|
| +4s Frost Shield Duration | 20 | Chain Frost Upon Death |
| -3.5s Frost Blast Cooldown | 15 | +0.3s Sinister Gaze Duration |
| +125 Frost Blast Radius/Damage | 10 | +10% Frost Shield Damage Reduction |
| ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All | ||
Bio[edit]
And so the dead will bury the dead.▶️Ethreain, the Lich
Lore:
In life, the frost-mage Ethreain (not yet a Lich) had used the threat of destructive ice to enslave entire kingdoms. His subjects, aided by a few desperate magicians, eventually grew bold enough to ambush him. Armed with enough charmed rope to bind him forever, they tied the frost mage to adamant weights and dropped him in a pool known chiefly for being bottomless. It wasn't.
He only fell for a year or so before an outcrop snagged him. There he rested, dead but undecaying, until the geomancer Anhil thought to verify the legend of the supposedly bottomless Black Pool. Anhil's plumbline snarled with the ropes that bound the drowned magician, and up he hauled an unexpected prize. Thinking that by rendering the dead undead, he could question the Lich about the properties of the pool, he removed the bindings and commenced a simple rite of resurrection. Even the descendants of Ethreain's enemies were long forgotten by time, so there were none to warn Anhil against imprudence. But he learned the error of his judgment almost immediately, as Lich threw off the shackles and consumed him.
He only fell for a year or so before an outcrop snagged him. There he rested, dead but undecaying, until the geomancer Anhil thought to verify the legend of the supposedly bottomless Black Pool. Anhil's plumbline snarled with the ropes that bound the drowned magician, and up he hauled an unexpected prize. Thinking that by rendering the dead undead, he could question the Lich about the properties of the pool, he removed the bindings and commenced a simple rite of resurrection. Even the descendants of Ethreain's enemies were long forgotten by time, so there were none to warn Anhil against imprudence. But he learned the error of his judgment almost immediately, as Lich threw off the shackles and consumed him.
Voice:
Innate[edit]
Death Charge[edit]
Death Charge 
Passive
Affects
Self / Units
The one in the Black Pool neither can utilize nor be affected by any mana regeneration sources on itself.
Set Self Mana Regen: 0
Lich can only regenerate mana when affected by the Fountain's Rejuvenation Aura.
However, it feasts on the remaining arcane energy upon both ally and enemy heroes' death within the radius.
Radius: 
1500
Self Max Mana Restore: 
15%
Creeps' death restores a lesser amount of max mana.
Self Max Mana Restore: 2.5%
Lich is considered a ground unit, despite its hero model showing otherwise.
- Nullifies all
mana regeneration sources, except Rejuvenation Aura.
Hidden modifier
- The ability checks and disables itself whenever Lich is affected by Rejuvenation Aura.
Hero Model[edit]
Details
Hidden Innate Abilities
Tap on the 
innate abilities for more details.
Abilities[edit]
Frost Blast[edit]
Blasts the target enemy unit with damaging frost, dealing area damage and slowing movement and attack speed for a duration.
The primary target receives both base and area damage.
The primary target receives both base and area damage.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0.4
Cast Range: 
575/600/625/650
Effect Radius: 200 (
325)
Base Damage: 40/80/120/160
Area Damage: 80/120/160/200 ( 205/245/285/325)
Move Speed Slow: 25%
Attack Speed Slow: 30/40/50/60
Slow Duration: 4
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Frost Blast has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Frost Blast has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Cast Animation: 
0 + 0
7 (
3.5)
110/120/130/140
Frost-mage Ethreain has not forgotten even the simplest of ice manipulation.
- Can affect enemy units at max
- Can affect enemy units at max
- The ability must be
unit-targeted on an enemy unit.
- Applies two
magical
spell damage instance in the combat log on unit
, the primary unit-targeted enemy.
- Applies two
- Frost Blast has the following ability effects while
channeling Sinister Gaze as long as the target unit is within the
- Has an
- Does not require
facing the target unit to cast.
- Has an
Frost Blast Slow: Movement speed slowed by x%, attack speed slowed by x
- The primary target takes 120/200/280/360 (
- The ability effects are applied as follows:
- The radius
- The
lich_frostnova_slow. - The base
- The radius
- The primary target takes 120/200/280/360 (
Frost Shield[edit]
Applies a shield around the ally target. Deals damage per second and slowing enemy's movement speed within the radius.
Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0.4
Cast Range: 800
Pulse Radius: 600
Damage per Second: 18/32/46/60
Move Speed Slow: 20%/25%/30%/35%
Slow Duration: 0.5
Shield Duration: 4/5/6/7 (
8/9/10/11)
Health Regen Bonus: (
50)
Reduces hero-based attack damage of all damage types for its duration.
Damage Reduction: 
45%/50%/55%/60% (
55%/60%/65%/70%)
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Frost Shield has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Frost Shield has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Cast Animation: 0 + 0
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
Applies all effects of Frost Shield around the Ice Spire and regenerating its health while the ice magic pulsates.
Applies all effects of Frost Shield around the Ice Spire and regenerating its health while the ice magic pulsates.
Hit Count Regen per Pulse: 1
30/25/20/15
100/110/120/130
First conceived of to protect him in his mortal years, the frost magic that Ethreain weaves around himself has only grown colder with time.
Growing Cold
Increases the current Frost Shield duration per enemy hero kill.
Duration Increase per Kill: 4
Creep kills increases the duration as well, albeit being less effective.
Duration Increase per Kill: 1
Doubletap casts the ability on Lich.
- Can be cast on any non-
invulnerable ally unit, including the following units:
- Applies generic
- Stacks additively with other generic incoming damage manipulation sources.
- Affects only hero-based
attack damage, regardless of the damage type the affected ally receives.
- Frost Shield considers attack damage from
clones,
illusions and the Spirit Bear as heroes, attacks from
buildings and other
creep-heroes as creeps.
- Does not reduce the following damage sources:
cleave sources.
HP Removal sources.
- Can be cast on any non-
lich_frost_shield- Pulses in 1-second intervals, starting 0.1 seconds after the buff is applied.
- Reapplying the buff refreshes its duration and resets the pulse intervals.
- Both leveling up the ability and the bonus health regeneration
- The
Fogged units.
Invisible units.
-
Growing Cold considers
- The
- Frost Shield has the following ability effects while
- Has an
- Does not require
- Has an
Frost Shield: Reducing physical attack damage against you.
Frost Shield: Movement speed slowed by x%.
- All pulses together deal up to 72/160/276/420 (
- The ability effects are applied as follows:
- The
- The
movement speed slow
debuff.
- The
- The ability effects are applied as follows:
Sinister Gaze[edit]
Unit / Channeled / Area
Affects
Enemy Units / Self
Hypnotizes an enemy unit, causing it to move towards a point between the Lich and the enemy unit while draining a percentage of its current mana.
Cast Animation: 0 + 0
Cast Range: 600
Max Channel Time: 1.1/1.4/1.7/2 (
1.4/1.7/2/2.3)
Distance Moved: 32%/38%/44%/50%
Current Mana Loss per Second: 15%
Radius: (
400)
Sinister Gaze is more effective on creeps.
Duration Factor: 2
Lich replenishes mana based on the mana drained.
Mana Restore Factor: 1
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Adds an area-targeting functionality, affecting enemy units within a radius of the area-targeted location.
Lich can now use his other abilities while channeling this ability.
Adds an area-targeting functionality, affecting enemy units within a radius of the area-targeted location.
Lich can now use his other abilities while channeling this ability.
24/22/20/18
25
Mind the cold...
- Considers
ancient creeps as heroes.
- Applies the following ability effects on the affected enemy unit while
- A hypnotizing fear, forcing it to
moving toward Lich.
Cannot Act.
Mute
Silence
- Grants
True Sight over the affected enemy.
- Grants
unobstructed movement and does not destroy
trees while moving.
- A hypnotizing fear, forcing it to
- Affects the enemy unit's
- Removes the affected enemy's min and max movement speed limits.
- Then, it sets the enemy's movement speed, and is defined as:
- The set movement speed value is fixed upon cast and does not adapt regardless.
- Moves the enemy unit at
- The affected enemy loses 1.5%
current mana in 0.1-second intervals, and is defined as:
- Hence, the affected enemy may lose up to ≈15.32%/19.07%/22.66%/26.09% (
- Trees within 200-radius centered around the affected enemy unit are destroyed at the end of the
- Trees within 200-radius centered around the affected enemy unit are destroyed at the end of the
- Considers
- Lich can only
- However, if Lich is at full mana, the target still continues to lose mana.
- Sinister Gaze can only be interrupted if Lich's
- The following mechanics on the affected enemy unit that might cancel
Dispel sources.
Hidden sources.
- Entering the
- The following mechanics on the affected enemy unit that might cancel
- Lich can only
-
- Changes the ability targeting functionality from unit-targeted to area-targeted.
- Affects the following units:
Untargetable units.
- Affects the following units:
- Allows Lich to cast his other abilities without interrupting Sinister Gaze's
- All of Lich's other abilities have an
- All of Lich's other abilities have an
- Changes the ability targeting functionality from unit-targeted to area-targeted.
- The
debuff immune units.
- Procs
Spell Block sources.
-
- Morph notes apply.
- Any non-
Sinister Gaze: You are helpless against Lich's Sinister Gaze!
- math
Ice Spire[edit]
Conjures an Ice Spire for his rituals, slowing enemy units around it.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0
Cast Range: 750
Effect Radius: 550
Move Speed Slow: 25%
Hero Attacks to Destroy: 5
Duration: 15
Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
Creeps' attacks are less effective on the Ice Spire.
Creep Attacks to Destroy: 10
Frost Blast of its corresponding level is applied around it when destroyed.
Damage Radius: 200 ( 325)
Damage on Death: 80/120/160/200 ( 205/245/285/325)
Applies all effects of Frost Shield around the Ice Spire and regenerating its health while the ice magic pulsates.
Hit Count Regen per Pulse: 1
Chain Frost can be cast onto or bounces to the spire if there are no other enemies in the bounce radius.
Each successful bounce reduces the unit's current hit count.
Each successful bounce reduces the unit's current hit count.
Hit Count Reduction per Bounce: 1
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Ice Spire has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Ice Spire has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Cast Animation: 0 + 0
25
150
This ability levels up with Frost Blast.
10
-
The Frog grants the Lich a frozen, pointy, immobile permafrost to aid the Lich's rituals. Does this help the Lich? You be creative about it.
-
-
-
Lvl
4
0
0%
800
This unit does not attack.
20
20 (x̄)
This unit does not feel the effects from magical spell damage sources.
- Acquiring
Aghanim's Shard unlocks this ability in the fourth ability slot.
- Applies Frost Blast of its corresponding level within the damage radius centered on the Ice Spire, sourced to Lich, upon destroyed. Has the following properties upon proc:
- Works independently of Frost Blast's
cooldown, and does not cost
- Does not proc on-cast effects.
- Works independently of Frost Blast's
- Frost Shield applies all ability effects on the Ice Spire and heals it for x
health.
- The Ice Spire considers attacks from
- Chain Frost can bounce on, if there are no valid target within its bounce radius, but cannot be directly unit-targeted on the Ice Spire.
- Can only bounce on ally Ice Spires.
- Randomly bounces on one Ice Spire with multiple spires within the bounce radius.
- Ice Spire has the following ability effects while
- Has an
- Does not require
- Has an
- Applies Frost Blast of its corresponding ability level when acquired.
- Requires drafting Frost Blast for its corresponding component to work.
- Acquiring
- Acquiring
Hidden modifier
Spell Immune
Missing tooltip
Ice Spire: Movement speed slowed by x%.
Frost Blast Slow: Movement speed slowed by x%, attack speed slowed by x
Chain Frost[edit]
Releases an orb of frost that bounces between nearby enemy units, slowing and subsequently increasing its damage each time it bounces.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 1.03
Cast Range: 750
Bounce Radius: 550
Number of Bounces: 10
Bounce Delay: 0.2
First Damage: 250/400/550
Damage Increment per Bounce: 15/20/25 (
115/120/125)
Move Speed Slow: 65%
Attack Speed Slow: 65
Slow Duration: 2.5
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Chain Frost has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Chain Frost has an instant cast time while channeling Sinister Gaze.
Cast Animation: 0 + 0
Talent Upgrade
Passively casts an independent Chain Frost of the corresponding level upon Lich's death, excluding Reincarnation sources.
Passively casts an independent Chain Frost of the corresponding level upon Lich's death, excluding Reincarnation sources.
Number of Casts: 1
Search Radius: 750
100/80/60
180/300/420
Almost universally considered the ultimate in frost magic, Ethreain's orb of frozen death strikes fear into those who dare stand against him.
Frostbound
Chain Frost stays dormant and lingers on the current affected enemy unit, until there is another valid unit for the projectile to bounce on.
Search Radius: 550
Dormant Duration: 2/2.75/3.5
Dormant Duration: 2/2.75/3.5
Growing Cold
Increases the number of bounce per enemy hero kill.
Number of Bounce Increase per Kill: 3
Creep kills increases the number of bounce as well, albeit being less effective.
Number of Bounce Increase per Kill: 1
- Leveling up the ability immediately updates all currently active projectiles.
- The ability utilizes two different
projectile speeds:
- The first launched projectile to the first unit-targeted enemy has 1050-
- Can bounce on the same enemy unit, after another enemy unit was hit between bounces.
- Grants a non-lingering
- Stops granting vision and stop playing the ability sound effects upon hitting creeps after bouncing
> 60times.
- Grants a non-lingering
- The first launched projectile to the first unit-targeted enemy has 1050-
- Subsequent bounce projectiles have a 0.2-second delay with 850-projectile speed.
- Bounces to the Ice Spire if there are no other enemy units within the bounce radius.
- Both the primary projectile and subsequent projectiles cannot be disjointed.
- Projectiles can
bounce to and
bounce off units affected by the following sources:
- The
- The
- Does not
- Attack immune units.
- Enemy
Couriers.
Ward-type units.
- Cannot be cast on spell immune units.
- The Chain Frost on Death
talent casts the ability correspondingly on Lich's
death location, prioritizing the nearest enemy unit.
- Grants a permanent
buff on the HUD upon learning the
- Has the following properties upon proc:
- Works independently of Chain Frost's
- Does not proc on-cast effects.
- Works independently of Chain Frost's
- Grants a permanent
- Chain Frost has the following ability effects while
- Has an
- Does not require
- Has an
- The first damage instance is
projectile impact.
- Does not stop bouncing or increase in daamge when blocked.
- The blocked instance still counts toward the number of bounces.
-
Spell Reflection sources.
On hidden entity
On hidden entity
Chain Frost On Death: Will release a Chain Frost orb on death.
Chain Frost Slow: Movement speed slowed by x%, attack speed slowed by x
- Deals up to a total 3575/5500/7425 damage (before reductions) if all bounces hit.
- The ability effects are applied as follows:
- The
attack speed slow
- The
- The
Recent Matches[edit]
Main Article: Lich/Matches
| Date | Tier | Tournament | Picks | Score | vs. Picks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 08, 2025 - 23:30 SAST | Tier 4 | SEL: Major 1 | 0 : 1 | |||||
| Feb 23, 2025 - 18:00 SGT | Tier 3 | EPL World SEA S3 | 1 : 0 | |||||
| Feb 20, 2025 - 15:05 SGT | Tier 3 | EPL World SEA S3 | 1 : 0 | |||||
| Feb 19, 2025 - 12:05 SGT | Tier 3 | EPL World SEA S3 | 0 : 1 | |||||
| Feb 18, 2025 - 20:45 BRT | Tier 4 | Liga dos Ursitos | 1 : 0 |
The International[edit]
- Lich has won the following final matches in The International of the following years:
Recent Changes[edit]
Description
- Frost Shield
- Reduced cast range from 1000 to 800.
- Reduced duration from 5/6/7/8 to 4/5/6/7.
- Sinister Gaze
- Can no longer cast other abilties while channeling.
- No longer deals 250 damage per second to creeps.
- Increased enemy current mana loss per second from 12% to 15%.
- Reduced mana cost from 50/60/70/80 to 25 on each level.
- Reduced Chain Frost bounce radius from 600 to 550.
- Now allows Lich to cast his other abilities ( Frost Blast , Frost Shield , Ice Spire and Chain Frost ) without interrupting channeling.
- Ice Spire
- Now reduces hit count by 1 per Chain Frost bounce.
- Reduced effect radius from 750 to 550.
- Ice Spire
Talents:
- LVL 25 Unlimited Chain Frost bounces ➜ +100 Chain Frost damage increment.
- Chain Frost
Frostbound
- Now is
death dispellable .
- Reduced dormant duration from 2/3/4 to 2/2.75/3.5.
- Now is
- Increased Frost Shield incoming attack damage reduction from 30%/40%/50%/60% to 45%/50%/55%/60%.
Dota Plus Progress[edit]
Main Article: Hero Challenges
Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.
| Lich's Relics | Voice Lines | |
|---|---|---|
Bronze |
||
Silver |
||
Gold |
||
Platinum |
| |
Master |
| |
Grandmaster |
| |
Equipment[edit]
| Sets | |
|---|---|
| Head | |
| Neck | |
| Arms | |
| Taunt | |
| Kinetic Gems | |
Trivia[edit]
- Lich's voice actor, Gary Schwartz also voiced the Heavy and Demoman classes in "Team Fortress 2", another title by Valve.
- Lich's line upon casting Sacrifice, ▶️ "Om nom nom!" refers to a line spoken by the Heavy which he uses upon consuming the Sandvich Edible Device.
- In the first iteration of Invoker's abilities (Pre 6.18), when the order of his three orbs determines the Invoked ability, Frost Nova was one of his abilities and functioned almost identically as the current Frost Blast, and was mapped to Quas Quas Exort.
- Crystal Maiden also had the same Frost Nova ability with small differences in numbers.
- Anatomically, Lich's cranium has no visible sutures, another proof of his age.
- ▶️ "Frost bitten, twice shy." is a reference to Great White albums: Once Bitten... and ...Twice Shy and also to the English idiom.
- ▶️ "And so the dead will bury the dead." is a reference from Bible (Luke 9:59-60), where Jesus said, "Let the dead bury the dead," in response to a disciple who wanted to bury his father before committing himself to the Lord.
- Lich's response ▶️ "Dead man drifting." is a reference to the line "Dead man walking." spoken by the Warcraft 3 hero.[1]
- Warcraft 3 similarities:
- Lich's hero concept is originally based on Kel'Thuzad, a campaign-only variant of the Undead Lich hero.
- In DotA, he was also named Kel'Thuzad. His name was changed to Ethreain in Dota 2 to avoid copyright issues with "Blizzard Entertainment", since the Kel'Thuzad is a well known character within the Warcraft universe.
- He kept his title as the Lich. A Lich as an animated corpse-turned-wizard, commonly related to western mythology.
- "Lich" is an old english word and literally translates to "corpse". It is related to the german "Leiche" and the dutch "Lijk".
- Frost Blast's original iteration is identical to the Lich's Frost Nova, and is named Frost Nova in DotA as well.
- Lich's old ability, Ice Armor, was identical to the Lich's Frost Armor, and is named Frost Armor in DotA as well.
- Lich's old ability, Sacrifice, was identical to the Lich's Dark Ritual, and is named Dark Ritual in DotA as well.
- Lich's hero concept is originally based on Kel'Thuzad, a campaign-only variant of the Undead Lich hero.
Gallery[edit]
Model
Low Violence model
Early concept art
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
Lich illustration
Bone Harvest sprite - alive
Bone Harvest sprite - dead