abilities.kv

Master list of all selectable abilities and their bracket categories.

abilities.kv is the authoritative list of every ability that can appear on the Legends of Dota Redux skill-select screen. It is loaded at game start and drives what players can choose when drafting their build.

Top-Level Structure

The file has two top-level blocks inside the root "Abilities" key:

Block	Purpose
skills	All ability brackets — the main pickable pool, neutrals, OP abilities, single-player abilities, etc.
heroToSkillMap	Optional per-hero starting ability overrides (most entries are commented out).

Ability Brackets

Brackets are named sub-blocks inside skills. Each bracket groups abilities that share a category or restriction.

Bracket	Description
main	The primary pool. All standard and custom abilities available in normal games.
neutral	Neutral creep abilities, further sub-divided by creature archetype group (e.g. alpha_wolf_group, black_dragon_group).
brawler	Brawler-class abilities (melee-only reversed Marksmanship variants).
spell_lab	Spell Lab custom abilities.
oneshotonekill	One-shot/one-kill combo abilities.
overflow	Overflow custom abilities from the Overflow ability pack.
angel_arena_blackstar	Angel Arena Blackstar abilities.
resurgence	Resurgence abilities.
radiant_jungle	Radiant Jungle abilities.
overflow_ult	Overflow ultimate abilities.
mercy	Mercy abilities.
holdout	Holdout abilities.
item_abilities	Abilities derived from items.
cherub_abilities	Cherub hero abilities.
uther_abiliites	Uther hero abilities.
proteus_abiliites	Proteus hero abilities.

The numbers assigned to each ability entry ("1") are used internally for network-encoding ability selections and for the encryption layer — they are not ability levels.

File Format

"Abilities"
{
    "skills"
    {
        "main"
        {
            // Custom redux ability
            "morph_int_str_redux"                 "1"  // custom

            // Standard Dota ability
            "pudge_flesh_heap"                    "1"

            // Commented-out sub-ability (excluded from picking)
            //"alchemist_unstable_concoction_throw"  "1"  // sub-ability of Unstable Concoction
        }

        "neutral"
        {
            "alpha_wolf_group"
            {
                "alpha_wolf_critical_strike"      "1"
                "berserker_troll_break"           "1"
                "ghost_frost_attack"              "1"
                "gnoll_assassin_envenomed_weapon" "1"
                "kobold_disarm"                   "1"
            }
        }
    }

    "heroToSkillMap"
    {
        // "npc_dota_hero_abaddon"
        // {
        //     "1"  "abaddon_aphotic_shield"
        // }
    }
}

Sub-abilities (e.g. alchemist_unstable_concoction_throw, the throw sub-ability of Unstable Concoction) are intentionally commented out. Showing them on the pick screen would allow players to select a sub-ability without its parent, causing broken behaviour.

Real Snippet

The following is taken directly from the top of the main bracket:

"main"
{
    "morph_int_str_redux"                 "1"  // custom
    "morph_str_int_redux"                 "1"  // custom
    "morph_agi_int_redux"                 "1"  // custom
    "morph_int_agi_redux"                 "1"  // custom
    "keeper_of_the_light_innate_redux"    "1"  // custom
    "night_stalker_innate_redux"          "1"  // custom
    "skywrath_mage_concussive_break"      "1"  // custom

    "abaddon_aphotic_shield"              "1"
    "abaddon_borrowed_time"               "1"
    "abaddon_death_coil"                  "1"
    "abaddon_frostmourne"                 "1"
    "abyssal_underlord_atrophy_aura"      "1"
    "abyssal_underlord_dark_rift"         "1"
    "abyssal_underlord_firestorm"         "1"
    "abyssal_underlord_pit_of_malice"     "1"
    ...
}

Abilities marked // custom are Redux-specific Lua implementations. Unmarked abilities are standard Dota 2 abilities that work as-is.

Adding an Ability

1. Define the ability — either add a KV entry to npc_abilities_custom.txt (for a Lua-backed ability) or confirm it already exists in the base game.
2. Add the line to the appropriate bracket in abilities.kv:
   "my_new_ability"    "1"
   
3. Comment out sub-abilities if your ability spawns sub-abilities that should not be independently selectable.
4. Restart the server (or reload KVs via the dev console) so the updated file is loaded.

If an ability crashes the server or has known bugs, comment it out with a descriptive note rather than deleting the line — this makes it easy to re-enable once the bug is fixed.