Ability Categories

The bracket system that organises every ability in the skill picker.

All abilities in Legends of Dota Redux are organised into brackets inside abilities.kv. Each bracket controls which abilities appear together in the pick screen, what rules apply to them, and whether they require special game options to unlock.

The top-level structure looks like this:

Abilities
└── skills
    ├── main          ← standard pool, always available
    ├── neutral       ← creep & neutral ability groups
    ├── custom        ← Redux-specific custom abilities
    ├── imba          ← Dota Imba enhanced versions
    ├── superop       ← OP / single-player restricted abilities
    └── heroToSkillMap  ← hero-specific bonus abilities

Brackets at a glance

main — Standard ability pool

The largest bracket. Contains essentially every standard Dota 2 hero ability that works correctly in a custom game context. Abilities in this bracket are always visible in the picker under normal settings.

Includes both original (axe_culling_blade) and custom Redux overrides (bloodseeker_thirst_lod, ursa_fury_swipes_lod, ogre_magi_multicast_lod). Abilities that crash the server or have no effect when used off-hero are commented out.

neutral — Creep and neutral unit abilities

Neutral abilities are subdivided into curated pick groups so players cannot stack multiple copies of the same type. Groups include:

Group	Description
alpha_wolf_group	Non-ancient attack modifier passives
big_thunder_lizard_group	Non-ancient aura passives
black_dragon_group	Ancient-tier aura passives
blue_dragonspawn_group	Offensive single-target actives
centaur_khan_group	No-target / self-cast actives
dark_troll_warlord_group	Point/ground-targeted actives
enraged_wildkin_group	Allied single-target actives
lone_druid_spirit_bear_group	Spirit bear abilities
satyr_group	Non-aura passives
necronomicon_group	On-death passives
roshan_group	Roshan abilities
prowler_group	Ancient attack modifiers
warlock_group	Warlock golem and imp abilities

custom — Redux-exclusive abilities

Original abilities added by the Redux team that do not exist in standard Dota 2 or any imported pack. Sub-groups include:

• flesh_heap — Pudge-themed stat-on-kill stacking abilities (Agility, Strength, Armor, Move Speed, Attack Speed, Evasion, and many more).
• survivor — Abilities that grant scaling bonuses that partially persist through death.
• spell_lab_souls — Soul-stacking abilities from Spell Lab.
• brawler — Brawler pack abilities.
• spell_lab — The Spell Lab custom ability set.
• oneshotonekill — The OneShot OneKill pack (includes jingtong, jingtong_op, zhanhun, etc.).
• overflow — Overflow pack abilities (Chi Strike, Dark Blade, Metamorphosis, Spectral Form, etc.).
• angel_arena_blackstar — Blackstar custom abilities.
• resurgence — Resurgence pack.
• radiant_jungle — Neutral camp spawning abilities.
• life_in_arena — Life in Arena pack (Ancient Priestess, Berserker, Frost Lord, Lord of Lightning, etc.).
• retro_dota — Classic Dota-era abilities (Invoker Retro Portal, Scout, Confuse, etc.).
• angel_arena_reborn — Angel Arena Reborn ability set.
• memes_reborn / patron_abilities — Novelty and patron-exclusive abilities.
• dusk, ebf, oaa, aba, holdout, mercy — Various imported packs.
• basic_abilities — Flat stat bonus abilities (mana, health, move speed, spell amp, tenacity, stat gain, etc.).
• item_abilities — Item-derived abilities (Mjolnir, Wards, Bash Reflect).

imba — Dota Imba enhanced abilities

Enhanced versions of every Dota 2 hero’s abilities from the Dota Imba mod, organised per hero (hero_abaddon, hero_axe, etc.). These are stronger than their standard counterparts and may be restricted depending on server settings.

superop — OP and single-player abilities

Abilities that are too powerful for normal games. They are split further into sub-groups:

Sub-group	Description
singlePlayer_actives	OP active abilities (e.g., Berserker’s Call OP, Rupture OP)
singlePlayer_actives_2/3/4	Additional OP active tiers
singlePlayer_passive	OP passive abilities (Dragon Blood OP, Essence Aura OP, etc.)
singlePlayer_passive_2/3/4	Additional OP passive tiers
memes_reborn_op	OP fruit abilities
survivor_op	OP survivor stack abilities
spell_lab_souls_op	OP soul abilities
basic_abilities (OP)	Stronger stat bonus abilities
mega_ultimates	Mega-tier ultimates (Mega Black Hole, Mega Chronosphere, Floor is Lava, etc.)

These abilities only appear when the OP abilities option is enabled in the game lobby.

heroToSkillMap — Hero-specific bonus abilities

A mapping of hero-to-abilities that unlocks additional skills for certain heroes automatically. For example, Abaddon gets abaddon_the_quickening, Alchemist gets alchemist_transmuted_scepter and alchemist_aghnaim_magic_redux, and so on. These show up alongside the hero’s kit if they are playing that hero.