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The hero perk system grants additional passive abilities or bonus skills to heroes based on thematic alignment with the abilities they’ve selected (or simply by virtue of playing a particular hero). It gives each hero a sense of identity even in a fully open ability draft.

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How it works

When you open the skill picker there is a Perks checkbox. Enabling it filters the list to show only abilities that are relevant to your hero’s perk categories, making it easier to build around a theme. hero_perks.kv maps each hero to one or more perk categories or specific ability names. If your picked abilities match those categories, the associated perk passives unlock automatically.

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Perk categories

Perks are grouped into thematic categories. A hero can be tied to one category, multiple categories, or a specific ability name (using | as a separator). Examples:

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Hero perk assignments

Some representative examples from hero_perks.kv: Heroes with an empty perk entry (like Batrider, Warlock, or Pudge) do not have a perk category filter — any ability is equally valid for them.

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The Chen creep perk

perks.kv defines a special sub-system for Chen. When Chen’s perk is active, his Holy Persuasion converts creeps that retain specific abilities. The list of abilities Chen can grant to converted creeps includes:
  • Enchantress Untouchable
  • Faceless Void Time Lock
  • Life Stealer Feast
  • Luna Lunar Blessing / Moon Glaive
  • Anti-Mage Mana Break
  • Heartstopper Aura
  • Axe Counter Helix
  • Phantom Assassin Coup de Grace
  • Juggernaut Blade Dance
  • Ursa Fury Swipes
  • Sven Great Cleave
  • Vengefulspirit Command Aura
  • and many more
Legion Commander shares the same perk definition as Chen, meaning her Duel can also convert creeps with the same ability pool when the perk is active.

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Gender classification

perks.kv also includes a gender map (male / female) used by Queen of Pain’s perk, which has different effects depending on the gender of nearby heroes.