Abaddon in Dota 2: Complete Guide

Abaddon is one of the few heroes with an actual invincibility spell in their kit. While this alone is enough to make him stand out, Abaddon has more to his name than just a strong ultimate. His excellent sustain, adaptability, and easy-to-use abilities make the hero popular with both new players and seasoned pros.

But no matter how simple Abaddon’s kit may look, it isn’t all that easy to master. You’ll need a good build, both in terms of items and spells, and at least some idea of what you’re supposed to do at different stages of the game. Luckily for you, our Abaddon Dota 2 guide has all of this and more.

Who Is Abaddon in Dota 2?

Abaddon first appeared in the original DotA Allstars in November 2005 in patch 6.20. He was also among the first heroes to be ported to Dota 2, making his first appearance on July 10, 2013, a day after the game’s official release. As you can notice, the hero also shared his Allstars model with none other than Warcraft III Arthas/Death Knight. Oh, how time flies.

Lore Overview

Dota 2 Abaddon, who is also known as the Lord of Avernus (no, not that Avernus), is a member of an ancient aristocratic family responsible for the protection of the mystical Font of Avernus (hence the name). This weird source of magical energy turned all of its protectors into something other than human, but Abaddon was a special case. Since his youth, the hero spent days meditating by the Font, bathing in its mist and breathing its vapors until he infused his spirit with dark energy enough to become the living manifestation of the mist.

Hero Type & Primary Role

Abaddon is a melee universal hero with strong defensive abilities. While he’s notably adaptable, his optimal role is offlane tank (position 3). Alternatively, he can be a soft support (position 4), even though Abaddon isn’t the best healer in the game. Finally, you can play him as a carry (position 1) if your team often uses aggressive mid-game tactics and controls the tempo.

Key Gameplay Identity

Regardless of the chosen role, Abaddon has high durability and survivability. With Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time, this hero can sustain way more damage than his opponents expect. After a successful initiation, Abaddon enters the skirmish and fights on the frontline, targeting enemy cores or supports.

Abaddon’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Before we reveal any tips and tricks from our Abaddon Dota 2 review, let’s briefly discuss the hero’s main advantages and drawbacks:

Strengths

Whether you play Abaddon as carry, offlaner, or soft support, this hero will surely please you with the following advantages:

1. High survivability: Borrowed Time allows Abaddon to absorb significant amounts of burst damage while playing aggressively on the frontlines.
2. Strong dispel: Aphotic Shield purges debuffs from Abaddon or his teammates.
3. Flexibility: A unique set of abilities and good base stats make Abaddon a decent pick for almost any role in the game, except as a midlaner, nuker, or initiator.
4. Early laning aggression: Abaddon can get full domination on his lane during the laning phase thanks to his Mist Coil and Aphotic Shield. Whether he’s played as support or carry, he can use these abilities for early harassment and ally protection.

Weaknesses

Our Dota 2 Abaddon guide includes some tips on how to overcome the hero’s shortcomings, but it’s still important to keep them in mind:

1. Limited crowd control: Abaddon has no stuns or roots, so he will struggle to lock down heroes with high mobility.
2. Slow farming: Despite his high dependence on gold, Abaddon can’t efficiently farm lane or jungle creeps in the early game.
3. Low armor: Abaddon’s base agility and armor are poor, which makes him somewhat vulnerable to early-game physical damage.
4. High dependence on his ultimate ability: When Borrowed Time is on cooldown, Abaddon loses his key advantage and will likely die if hit hard and fast enough. Execution abilities (like Axe’s Culling Blade) will also pierce his ult, so be on your guard!

Abaddon Abilities Overview

Abaddon Dota 2 skills may be simple to use, but there’s still a lot of nuance to consider. Here’s a quick review:

Ability Icon	Ability Name	Ability Description	When to use?
	Mist Coil	The ability releases a mist coil that damages an enemy or heals a friendly unit at the cost of Abaddon’s health.	Use this low-cooldown spell to kill an enemy during the chase or save an ally from dying.
	Aphotic Shield	The ability cleanses negative effects and creates a barrier that absorbs a set amount of damage around Abaddon or a friendly unit. Breaking the barrier causes it to burst, releasing the absorbed damage in an AOE.	Use this ability to apply dispel to yourself or your allies and cause burst damage in team fights.
	Curse of Avernus	This passive ability slows down the units attacked by Abaddon. Also, after hitting a target four times in a row, the target receives the Silence debuff and increased incoming damage, while Abaddon gets an attack speed boost.	Since this is a passive ability, you can’t use it manually. Still, try to keep it in mind.
	Borrowed Time	When activated, this ability turns all damage dealt to Abaddon into healing.	Although Borrowed Time activates automatically once you hit 400hp, you can use it manually to survive burst damage and crowd control spells.

How to Play Abaddon

We’ve prepared some tips that will help you learn how to play Abaddon in Dota 2 as an offlaner and create a lot of game impact.

Early Game

You’ll start the match in the hard lane, where you should focus on the following objectives:

1. Zoning your lane opponent: Use Aphotic Shield to trade hits without taking damage and prevent the enemy carry from farming.
2. Applying pressure to the Tier 1 tower: Push your creeps directly under the enemy tower and try to deal as much damage as possible with siege units.
3. Securing Lotuses: Don’t forget to contest the Healing Lotuses that appear after the 3rd minute.

Mid Game

After the 15th minute of the game, Abaddon typically reaches his power spike and can win almost any engagement if assisted by his team. Also, it’s essential to keep in mind these important tasks:

1. Pushing lanes: Since you have the advantage over your enemies, use it to destroy as many towers as possible, scaling your chances of winning in the late game.
2. Map awareness: Whenever you notice enemies planning to attack your teammates, come to help them by absorbing the damage and healing them.
3. Forcing rotations: Attack enemy towers, forcing your opponents to come to stop you. This gives your carry and midlaner a chance to take Roshan or safely farm elsewhere on the map.

Late Game

Although your hero loses a bit of his edge in the late game, he can still be a serious threat to enemy structures and supports. The best Dota 2 Abaddon tips for this phase are:

1. Serving as a bait: You must be in the frontline of your team to bait out the enemy ultimates and damage spells.
2. Proper Borrowed Time timing: In most cases, it’s wise to use your ultimate only once the enemy has cast several disables on your hero.
3. Protect your carry and midlaner: Proper positioning is your key to success. Try to stay close enough to your cores to protect them with your Mist Coil and Aphotic Shield.

Best Skill Build for Abaddon

The Dota 2 Abaddon skill build directly depends on your role. If you play as carry, it’s reasonable to focus on maxing Mist Coil and Curse of Avernus. However, in our guide, we’ll review the most efficient progression in abilities for an offlaner.

Early-Game Skill Order

At the start of the game, it’s a good idea to focus on Abaddon’s defensive abilities to get a comfortable laning phase:

		2	3		5		7
	1			4
						6

Mid-Late Game Priorities

After maxing Mist Coil, your next priority should be Aphotic Shield. Afterward, you can start improving Curse of Avernus while also getting Borrowed Time and talents whenever available:

	8	9
				11	12		14	15
						13					18
			10						16

Talent Tree

As with other heroes, Abaddon can choose talents upon reaching the 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th levels. If you don’t know which one to select, here are the more popular options:

Best Item Build for Abaddon

In this part of our Abaddon Build Dota 2 guide, we’ll review the best items to boost the hero’s potential and address his weaknesses, such as low armor and health regeneration.

Starting Items

As an offlaner or soft support, it’s reasonable to purchase only utility items at the start of the match. Consider buying Clarity and Sentry Ward.

Early-Game Items

Because of the hero’s low farming speed, you won’t have enough gold to buy expensive artifacts. Here’s the best Abaddon item build in Dota 2 for a limited budget:

Item Icon
Item Name	Shawl	Magic Wand	Arcane Boots

Mid-Game Items

In the mid-game, your success will mainly depend on your abilities and reaction time rather than your items. You still may have problems with farming creeps, but you should be able to earn enough gold to buy an Urn of Shadows and start assembling a Holy Locket.

Late-Game Items

As the game enters its final stage, you’ll need to think of increasing your survivability and healing potential to help your allies outplay the enemy team. Consider purchasing the following items:

Item Icon
Item Name	Holy Locket	Spirit Vessel	Blink Dagger	Aghanim's Scepter	Pipe of Insight	Guardian Greaves

Situational Items

Also, we’ve prepared a list of alternative Dota 2 Abaddon items, which you can assemble if you play him as a carry:

Item Icon
Item Name	Phase Boots	Radiance	Harpoon	Manta Style	Blink Dagger	Bloodthorn

Best Counter Picks Against Abaddon

An Abaddon Dota 2 counter isn’t hard to find. Besides execution-style abilities, anti-heal and dispels can quickly ruin his day.

Heroes That Counter Abaddon

A good Abaddon counter in Dota 2 is a hero that can disable his healing, apply a break, or kite him when his ultimate is active. The most dangerous opponents for him are:

1. Chen.
2. Shadow Demon.
3. Gyrocopter.
4. Dark Seer.
5. Enchantress.

Items That Counter Abaddon

Even if your opponents have no heroes that can impair Abaddon’s strengths, you should be ready that one of your opponents may purchase one of the following items to counter you:

1. Silver Edge.
2. Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
3. Spirit Vessel.
4. Orchid Malevolence.
5. Nullifier.

Best Allies & Synergies

Despite the hero’s high adaptability, there are allies with a lot of synergy to offer. As for now, the best Abaddon combo Dota 2 heroes are:

1. Phantom Assassin.
2. Chaos Knight.
3. Monkey King.
4. Axe.
5. Storm Spirit.

Conclusion

The tips in our Dota 2 Abaddon guide will help you play this hero to his full in different in-game situations. Or, you can use this knowledge to create your own strategies and item builds. However, we suggest testing them with your friends in Beginner Mode and custom matches before playing in pubs.