Gold

File:Goblin's Greed icon.png

“

▶️ Now that's how you make gold. — 'Alchemist'

”

Gold is the currency used to buy items or instantly revive your Hero. Gold can be earned from killing Heroes, creeps, or buildings.

Reliable & Unreliable Gold

A player's gold is split into two categories:

• Reliable gold - Any bounty you get from Hero kills, Roshan, couriers, Hand of Midas, and global gold from towers is added to your reliable gold pool.
• Unreliable gold - Everything else (starting gold, creep kills, neutrals, etc).

The only other difference between the two is how each one is spent:

• Dying only takes away gold from your unreliable gold pool.
• Buying items uses up your unreliable gold first before using your reliable gold.
• Buyback uses reliable gold first.
• Buyback will cancel only unreliable gold gain.

Hovering your mouse over the amount of total gold shown in the HUD will show your reliable and unreliable gold totals.

The purpose of separating gold into these two categories is to encourage ganking and tower pushes, which give reliable gold, rather than passive farming, which grants unreliable gold.

Acquiring gold

Starting gold

Each player begins with 625 gold. Players that random will begin with 825 gold. Players who swap their random hero with another player will start with 725 gold. Re-picking a Hero will leave you with 525 gold, regardless of whether or not you randomed.

Periodic gold

Each player receives 1 unreliable gold every 0.6 seconds, which results in 100 gold every minute.

Rune of Bounty

Activating a Rune of Bounty gives the player unreliable gold depending on the length of the game (50 File:Gold icon.png + (2 File:Gold icon.png * minute)), except for the first Rune of Bounty, which provides (100 File:Gold icon.png + (2 File:Gold icon.png * minute)).

Abilities

There are a few items and abilities in Dota 2 which allow you to boost your gold income, namely: Template:Img table start |Template:SkillboxMinimal |Template:SkillboxMinimal |- |Template:SkillboxMinimal |Template:SkillboxMinimal Template:Img table end

Hero kills

Hero kills grant reliable gold to the killer. Bonus gold is awarded for stopping kill streaks. The first Hero that is killed in a match will give a bonus 200 reliable gold to the killer; this is called first blood.

When a Hero dies to creeps or a tower and is assisted by only one enemy, the enemy is credited with the kill. When there are multiple enemies within 1300 range, the gold is split equally amongst all Heroes that assisted.

Every time a Hero kills an enemy Hero, the killer is awarded reliable gold using the following formula:

200 + streak value + (killed Hero level * 9)

Streak length	Streak value
Zero, one, or two kills in a row	0 File:Gold icon.png
Killing Spree (3 kills in a row)	60 File:Gold icon.png
Dominating (4 kills in a row)	120 File:Gold icon.png
Mega Kill (5 kills in a row)	180 File:Gold icon.png
Unstoppable! (6 kills in a row)	240 File:Gold icon.png
Wicked Sick (7 kills in a row)	300 File:Gold icon.png
Monster Kill!!! (8 kills in a row)	360 File:Gold icon.png
Godlike! (9 kills in a row)	420 File:Gold icon.png
Beyond Godlike! (10 or more kills in a row!)	480 File:Gold icon.png

The following deaths do not stop kill streaks or count as first blood:

• Deaths to neutral creeps or Roshan
• Deaths to enemy towers with no assisting Heroes
• Suicides
• Denies
• Deaths with Reincarnation
• Deaths with Aegis of the Immortal

Assists

All allied Heroes that are in a 1300 radius of a killed enemy, including the killer, will be granted a certain amount of reliable gold and experience, depending on the amount of allied Heroes in that area. Note that the assist counter on the scoreboard only counts assists that you dealt damage to, but gold and experience are awarded independently of your "assist" counter.

Assisting heroes	Gold awarded
1 Hero	40 + (7 × Dying Hero's Level) + (0.05 × Dying Hero's Net Worth × Net Worth Difference) File:Gold icon.png
2 Heroes	30 + (6 × Dying Hero's Level) + (0.05 × Dying Hero's Net Worth × Net Worth Difference) File:Gold icon.png
3 Heroes	20 + (5 × Dying Hero's Level) + (0.05 × Dying Hero's Net Worth × Net Worth Difference) File:Gold icon.png
4 Heroes	10 + (4 × Dying Hero's Level) + (0.04 × Dying Hero's Net Worth × Net Worth Difference) File:Gold icon.png
5 Heroes	10 + (4 × Dying Hero's Level) + (0.03 × Dying Hero's Net Worth × Net Worth Difference) File:Gold icon.png

Net Worth Difference is defined as (Enemy team net worth / Allied team net worth) - 1 and has a minimum of zero and a maximum of one.

Buildings

When an enemy Tower is destroyed, gold is awarded to each player on your team. The player that got the last hit on the building is credited with destroying it and receives some bonus unreliable gold. If an enemy tower is denied, a reduced amount of gold is awarded to your team. If no player gets the last hit and the tower instead dies to lane creeps, no player gets the extra bonus gold.

Building	Bounty	Total Bounty awarded
Tier 1 tower	160 File:Gold icon.png to each player 150–250 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	950–1050 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 2 tower	200 File:Gold icon.png to each player 150–250 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	1150–1250 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 3 tower	240 File:Gold icon.png to each player 150–250 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	1350–1450 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 4 tower	280 File:Gold icon.png to each player 150–250 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	1550–1650 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 1 tower (denied by enemy)	80 File:Gold icon.png to each player	400 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 2 tower (denied by enemy)	100 File:Gold icon.png to each player	500 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 3 tower (denied by enemy)	120 File:Gold icon.png to each player	600 File:Gold icon.png
Tier 4 tower (denied by enemy)	140 File:Gold icon.png to each player	700 File:Gold icon.png
Melee Barracks	175 File:Gold icon.png to each player 100–150 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	975–1025 File:Gold icon.png
Ranged Barracks	100 File:Gold icon.png to each player 100–150 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	600–650 File:Gold icon.png
Subsidiary Buildings	102–120 File:Gold icon.png to killing player	102–120 File:Gold icon.png

Roshan

Roshan

200 File:Gold icon.png to each player on team 150-400 File:Gold icon.png to killing player Aegis of the Immortal dropped Cheese dropped

Selling

Items can be sold for 50% of the price they were bought. Items can be resold within 10 seconds of the purchase for full price. Items that have been purchased while dead can be sold if that item was bought during the same death, otherwise items cannot be sold while dead, even within the grace period. Selling items gives unreliable gold, even if they were bought with reliable gold.

Spending (or losing) gold

Picking a Hero

All players start off with 825 gold. Picking a Hero in any mode will cost you 200 gold, leaving you with 625 gold. If you should decide to re-pick it will cost you an extra 100 gold, thus leaving you with only 525 gold to start off with. Should you decide to random (or play All Random), receiving a Hero will cost you no gold. You will lose two gold per second if you haven't picked a Hero after the selection timer runs out in All Pick.

Swapping

Swapping a Hero that you picked costs 0 gold, leaving you with 625 gold. Swapping a Hero that you randomed costs you 100 gold, leaving you with 725 gold.

Items

The main purpose of gold is to purchase items. The player with the most gold will be able to buy the most items and will therefore have a very strong Hero. The items each player buys depends on their role in the team and many other factors. Items can be sold back to the shop for half price, unless it is sold within ten seconds of being bought, then it is sold for full price.

† Item cannot be sold.

• Cheese cannot be purchased, but can be sold for 500 gold.

Dying

Every time a Hero dies, they lose 30 × (Hero Level) unreliable gold. Dying does not take away reliable gold.

Respawn Time

The respawn time uses the following formula: 5 + 3.8 × (Hero Level). Respawn times may be affected by Reaper's Scythe, Divided We Stand, Suicide Squad, Attack! and Bloodstone

Buying Back

While your Hero is dead, you have the option of "buying back" and respawning instantly in exchange for a gold fee. The cost of buyback is based on your Hero's level, and also increases fifteen gold per minute since the starting horn, or one gold every four seconds. Buying back takes away from your reliable gold pool first, and the cost uses the following formula:

Buyback Gold = 100 + (Level² × 1.5) + (Game Time In Minutes × 15)

After buying back, 25% of your Hero's remaining respawn time will be added to your next death. Additionally, Heroes are unable to gain unreliable gold until their respawn time would have finished. The gold icon on the HUD will flash red when this time finishes. Buyback has a cooldown of 7 minutes.

A hero killed by Reaper's Scythe upgraded by an Aghanim's Scepter cannot buy back.

• The sound played when buying back.

Abandoning the Game

After being disconnected from the game for more than 5 minutes, all of your gold is equally divided between the remaining players on your team, including your 1.67 gold/sec passive gold gain. If 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 players have abandoned, the remaining players will receive 2.08 / 2.78 / 4.17 / 8.33 gold/sec. The passive bonus gold gain is restored once you reconnect to the game, but any gold that was distributed is not reimbursed.

Efficiency

Main Article: Gold efficiency

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Mechanics Main Heroes Unit Type (Heroes / Clones / Illusions) Complexity Attributes Table Buyback Level Roles Gold Experience Animations Stats Armor Attributes ( Strength / Agility / Intelligence) / Universal) Health & Mana (HP Regen & MP Regen) Magic Resistance Movement Speed / Slow Resistance Status Resistance Turn Rate Misc Creep Controling Death / Denying Vision Unit Size (Collision Size / Bound Radius / Selection Box / Model Size) Gib Type / Shades Adjectives Buildings Towers / Barracks / Ancient / Fountain Effigy Neutral Buildings (Outposts / Watchers / Twin Gates / Lotus Pools) Abilities Type Active / Passive / Autocast Aura Accuracy / Evasion Channeling Damage Barrier Damage Block Damage Manipulation Damage Over Time Talents Teleport Targeting Area No Target Point Unit Vector Combinations Casting Cast Range / Motion Buffer Cast Animation (Cast Point + Backswing) Cooldown Reduction (Flat / Current Flat / Percentage) Reset Charge-based Runes Bounty Rune Water Rune Wisdom Rune Power Runes ( Amplify Damage Rune / Arcane Rune / Haste Rune / Illusion Rune / Invisibility Rune / Regeneration Rune / Shield Rune) Misc Random Distribution Transformation Attack Damage Attack Damage Instant Attack Heroes Attack Classes Attack Range (Acquisition Range) Attack Speed (BAT / Interval) Damage Types (Physical / Magical / Pure / Instant Kill) Flags (HP Removal / No-reflection / No-Spell-Lifesteal / No-Spell-Amplification) Projectile Speed Spell Damage (Outgoing / Incoming) Modifiers Bash Cleave / Splash Corruption Critical Strike Lifesteal / Spell Lifesteal Mana Break On-hit Effects Misc Damage Instance Animation / Orb Walking Status Effects Disables Cyclone Disabling Orders Forced Movement (Knockback) / Upward Movement Fear (Hypnosis) Hide Hex Root Leash Stun Sleep Taunt Movement Move Speed Slow Flying Movement Phased / Tree Walk / Unobstructed Movement Other Attack Immune / Non-targetable Attack Speed Slow Debuff Immunity Spell Immunity Invulnerability Invisibility Blind Break Disarm Ethereal Silence Mute Trap Dispels Basic Strong Death Items Mechanics Courier Sharing / Selling Disassemble Recipes Neutral Item Drop