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IntelligenceIntelligence · Ranged

Lich

Unleashes a powerful attack that bounces between enemies

SupportNukerSimple to play
Lich portrait

Win rate

52.5%

S across all ranks

Pick rate

11.1%

of public matches

Public picks

375.1K

in the sample

Pro scene

7

1 bans · 43% win rate

Win rate by rank

  • Herald1Herald51.4%
  • Guardian2Guardian52.4%
  • Crusader3Crusader53.1%
  • Archon4Archon52.9%
  • Legend5Legend52.5%
  • Ancient6Ancient52.4%
  • Divine+7Divine+51.6%

Bars start at 50%. Sample sizes: Herald 6.9K · Guardian 24.5K · Crusader 48.3K · Archon 81.8K · Legend 102.2K · Ancient 64.9K · Divine+ 46.6K.

Last 6 days

52.1%

Popular item build

Starting items

Bought before the horn

  1. 1

    Iron Branch

    55g
  2. 2

    Tango

    90g
  3. 3

    Blood Grenade

    50g
  4. 4

    Observer and Sentry Wards

    50g
  5. 5

    Enchanted Mango

    65g
  6. 6

    Smoke of Deceit

    50g

Laning

The first minutes

  1. 1

    Boots of Speed

    500g
  2. 2

    Tranquil Boots

    900g

Mid game

Core items

  1. 1

    Aghanim's Shard

    55%1,400g
  2. 2

    Blink Dagger

    62%2,250g
  3. 3

    Glimmer Cape

    52%2,150g

Late game

The full build

  1. 1

    Aghanim's Scepter

    4,200g
  2. 2

    Blink Dagger

    62%2,250g
  3. 3

    Aeon Disk

    3,000g
  4. 4

    Glimmer Cape

    52%2,150g
  5. 5

    Force Staff

    48%2,200g

Most-bought items for Lich in OpenDota’s sample of parsed public matches (1,163 purchases counted). Bars compare each item with the most-bought one in its phase. The percentage is the win rate in games where Lich bought the item by minute 30 (green or red when it is clearly above or below Lich’s average). Teams that are ahead buy items sooner, so a high number shows the item goes with winning games, not that it causes the win. Items with fewer than 100 games show no percentage. Cheap components are hidden from the mid and late game.

Best win rate by purchase time

Bought 12–15 min

  1. Blink Dagger

    89 games

    71%
  2. Aghanim's Shard

    68 games

    60%
  3. Glimmer Cape

    65 games

    52%

Bought 15–20 min

  1. Blink Dagger

    299 games

    62%
  2. Aghanim's Shard

    448 games

    58%
  3. Force Staff

    65 games

    54%

Bought 20–30 min

  1. Aether Lens

    62 games

    66%
  2. Blink Dagger

    612 games

    61%
  3. Aghanim's Shard

    698 games

    52%

Final items compared within the same purchase window (at least 60 games each), so they are not simply ranked by how late or expensive they are. Still a correlation: a team that is far ahead can buy anything sooner.

What these items do

  • Iron Branch

    55

    • +1 All Attributes

    Use: Plant Tree: Targets the ground to plant a happy little tree that lasts for 20 seconds.

  • Tango

    90

    Use: Devour: Consumes a target tree to gain 7 health regeneration for 16 seconds. Consuming an Ironwood Tree doubles the heal duration. Comes with 3 charges.

  • Blood Grenade

    50

    • +50 Health

    Use: Throw Grenade: Throw a grenade at the target area. Enemies in the area will take 50 damage on impact, and be slowed by -15% and take 15 damage every 1s for 5…

    Full description

    10s

    Use: Throw Grenade. Throw a grenade at the target area. Enemies in the area will take 50 damage on impact, and be slowed by -15% and take 15 damage every 1s for 5 seconds. Radius 300.

  • Observer and Sentry Wards

    50

    Use: Plant: Plant the currently active ward. Double-Click to switch the currently active ward.

    Full description

    Use: Plant. Plant the currently active ward. Double-Click to switch the currently active ward.

    • Hold Control to give one ward to an allied hero.
  • Enchanted Mango

    65

    • +0.4 Health Regen

    Use: Eat Mango: Instantly restores 100 mana.

    Full description

    Use: Eat Mango. Instantly restores 100 mana.

    • Hold Control to use on a nearby allied hero.
  • Smoke of Deceit

    50

    Use: Disguise: Turns the caster and all allied player-controlled targets in a 1200 radius invisible, and grants 15% bonus movement speed for 45 seconds.

    Full description

    1s

    Use: Disguise. Turns the caster and all allied player-controlled targets in a 1200 radius invisible, and grants 15% bonus movement speed for 45 seconds. While the caster is still disguised, any allies that come within 300 range of them will also get the buff applied to them. Each smoke can only be applied once to allies. Attacking or moving within 1025 range of an enemy hero or tower, will break the invisibility. Disguise grants invisibility that is immune to True Sight. Smoke of Deceit is usable from the backpack and has no cooldown when swapped into the main inventory.

  • Boots of Speed

    500

    • +45 Move Speed

    Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

  • Tranquil Boots

    900

    • +65 Move Speed
    • +14 Health Regen

    Passive: Break: Whenever you attack a hero or are attacked by any unit, the bonus 14 HP regen is lost and the movement speed bonus is reduced to 40 for 13 seconds.

    Full description

    13s

    Passive: Break. Whenever you attack a hero or are attacked by any unit, the bonus 14 HP regen is lost and the movement speed bonus is reduced to 40 for 13 seconds. Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

  • Aghanim's Shard

    1,400

    Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades an existing ability or adds a new ability to your hero.

    Win rate when bought54.8% · 1,242 games

    • ≤ 12 min–28
    • 12–15 min60%68
    • 15–20 min58%448
    • 20–30 min52%698
  • Blink Dagger

    2,250

    Active: Blink: Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. Blink Dagger cannot be used for 3 seconds after taking damage from an enemy hero or Roshan.

    Win rate when bought61.9% · 1,019 games

    • ≤ 12 min–19
    • 12–15 min71%89
    • 15–20 min62%299
    • 20–30 min61%612
    Full description

    15s

    Active: Blink. Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. Blink Dagger cannot be used for 3 seconds after taking damage from an enemy hero or Roshan.

    • Self-casting will cause you to teleport in the direction of your team's fountain.
  • Glimmer Cape

    2,150

    Active: Glimmer: After a 0.5 second delay, grants invisibility, 20 movement speed and a magic damage barrier that absorbs up to 375 damage to you or a target allied unit…

    Win rate when bought52.0% · 974 games

    • ≤ 12 min–20
    • 12–15 min52%65
    • 15–20 min54%366
    • 20–30 min51%523
    Full description

    15s125

    Active: Glimmer. After a 0.5 second delay, grants invisibility, 20 movement speed and a magic damage barrier that absorbs up to 375 damage to you or a target allied unit for 5 seconds. Can be cast while channeling.

  • Aghanim's Scepter

    4,200

    • +10 All Attributes
    • +175 Health
    • +175 Mana

    Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades the ultimate, and some abilities, of all heroes.

  • Aeon Disk

    3,000

    • +250 Health
    • +300 Mana

    Passive: Combo Breaker: When you take damage and your health falls below 70%, a strong dispel is applied and you gain a 2.5 second buff that provides +75% Status…

    Full description

    105 / 125 / 145 / 165s

    Passive: Combo Breaker. When you take damage and your health falls below 70%, a strong dispel is applied and you gain a 2.5 second buff that provides +75% Status Resistance and causes all damage you deal and are dealt to be reduced to zero. Only triggers on player based damage. Cooldown increases every time it triggers. Dispel Type: Strong Dispel

  • Force Staff

    2,200

    • +10 Intelligence
    • +175 Health

    Active: Force: Pushes any target unit 600 units in the direction it is facing.

    Win rate when bought47.9% · 309 games

    • ≤ 12 min–2
    • 12–15 min–11
    • 15–20 min54%65
    • 20–30 min45%231
    Full description

    19s150

    Active: Force. Pushes any target unit 600 units in the direction it is facing.

    • Self-cast will cause you to use Force on yourself.
    • Force Staff doesn't interrupt the target's actions.
    • Will not work on a unit inside Chronosphere, Duel, or Black Hole.
    • Force Staff has 850 cast range when cast on enemies.

Abilities

Frost Blast

7s110 / 120 / 130 / 140

The primary target receives both base and area damage.

RADIUS
200
MOVEMENT SLOW
-25%
ATTACK SLOW
-30 / -40 / -50 / -60
BASE DAMAGE
40 / 80 / 120 / 160
AREA DAMAGE
80 / 120 / 160 / 200

Frost Shield

30 / 25 / 20 / 15s100 / 110 / 120 / 130

Applies a magical frost shield around the target, reducing damage from attacks against it. While the shield is active, ice magic will affect nearby enemy units every 1 seconds, dealing minor damage and slowing them.

DAMAGE REDUCTION
45 / 50 / 55 / 60%
SLOW
20 / 25 / 30 / 35%
SLOW DURATION
0.5
DAMAGE
18 / 32 / 46 / 60
BUFF DURATION
4 / 5 / 6 / 7
  • Spell-immune enemies are not affected by the damage or slow.
  • Frost Shield can be cast on buildings.

Sinister Gaze

24 / 22 / 20 / 18s25

CHANNELED - Hypnotizes an enemy unit, causing it to move towards a point between the two of you and drains a percentage of its current mana.

DISTANCE MOVED
32 / 38 / 44 / 50%
MANA DRAIN PER SECOND
25%
DURATION
1.1 / 1.4 / 1.7 / 2

Aghanim’s ScepterSinister Gaze becomes an Area of Effect ability, affecting units within a radius of 400 in the target area. Sinister Gaze allows Lich to cast other abilities while channeling it.

Ice Spire

Granted by Aghanim’s Shard25s150

Creates an Ice Spire at the target spot, slowing enemies around it. Can take 4 hero hits or 8 creep hits and when destroyed it will create a Frost Blast around it. Chain Frost can be cast on the Spire and can bounce to the Spire and damage the spire by 1 hero attack if there are no other enemies in range. Lich can cast Frost Shield on the Spire. Each Frost Shield tick will heal the spire by 1 hero attack.

MOVEMENT SLOW
-25%
EFFECT RADIUS
550
DURATION
15

Sacrifice

Innate

Sacrifice an allied creep to convert its current health into mana for Lich and give Lich its experience bounty. Begins the game on cooldown and with no charges.

CURRENT HEALTH CONVERTED
42%
EXPERIENCE BOUNTY
69%
  • Cannot sacrifice ancients or creep-heroes.
  • Sacrificed creeps count as denies and can give experience to enemy heroes. Lich's experience bounty and enemy heroes' deny experience are independent.

Chain Frost

Ultimate100 / 80 / 60s180 / 300 / 420

Releases an orb of frost that bounces between nearby enemy units up to 10 times, slowing and damaging each time it hits. Each bounce increases the damage for the subsequent bounces. Chain Frost lingers on its last target if it fails to bounce and can bounce again if new targets become available.

DAMAGE EACH BOUNCE
250 / 400 / 550
INCREMENTAL DAMAGE
15 / 20 / 25
BOUNCE RANGE
550
MOVEMENT SLOW
-65%
ATTACK SLOW
-65
SLOW DURATION
2.5
LINGER DURATION
2
  • Chain Frost cannot be disjointed.
  • Chain Frost has a movement speed of 850.
  • Chain Frost doesn't bounce to Zombies.

Talents

Frost Shield Provides +50 HP Regen

25

Chain Frost Unlimited Bounces

2 Frost Shield Charges

20

Chain Frost on Death

+0.3s Sinister Gaze Duration

15

-3.5s Frost Blast Cooldown

+10% Frost Shield Damage Reduction

10

+125 Frost Blast Radius and Area Damage

Base stats

Attributes

  • StrengthStrength20+2.1/lvl
  • AgilityAgility17+1.7/lvl
  • IntelligenceIntelligence28+3.4/lvl

At level 1

Damage
52–61
Attack time
1.7s
Attack range
550
Move speed
290
Armor
1.8
Magic resistance
25%
Health
560 (+2.5/s)
Mana
411 (+0.4/s)
Vision day / night
1800 / 800

Recent changes

latest 12 patches
  1. 7.41c
    • Sinister Gaze:Mana Drain per second increased from 20% to 25%
  2. 7.41
    • Base Mana Regen decreased from 0.75 to -1
    • Intelligence gain decreased from 3.8 to 3.4
    • Removed Death Charge innate ability
    • Sacrifice:New Innate ability. Active
    • Lich can instantly kill an allied creep to gain mana relative to its current health and earn experience bounty for it. Health to Mana: 42% + 3% per level. Experience Bounty: 69% + 6% per level. Cast Range: 700. No Mana Cost. Cooldown: 120s
    • This ability starts on extended cooldown and with no charges, making the first cast possible only at 2:00 mark
    • Sacrificed creeps count as denies, providing experience to enemy heroes. Lich's experience gain is independent from experience enemies gain
    • Talents:Level 20 Talent +4s Frost Shield Duration replaced with 2 Frost Shield Charges
    • Level 25 Talent +100 Chain Frost Incremental Damage replaced with Chain Frost Unlimited Bounces
  3. 7.40b
    • Agility gain decreased from 2.0 to 1.7
  4. 7.39e
    • Base Intelligence increased from 26 to 28
    • Damage at level 1 increased by 2 (from 50–59 to 52–61)

Lore

In life, the frost-mage Ethreain (not yet a Lich) had used the threat of destructive ice to enslave entire kingdoms. His subjects, aided by a few desperate magicians, eventually grew bold enough to ambush him. Armed with enough charmed rope to bind him forever, they tied the frost mage to adamant weights and dropped him in a pool known chiefly for being bottomless. It wasn't. He only fell for a year or so before an outcrop snagged him. There he rested, dead but undecaying, until the geomancer Anhil thought to verify the legend of the supposedly bottomless Black Pool. Anhil's plumbline snarled with the ropes that bound the drowned magician, and up he hauled an unexpected prize. Thinking that by rendering the dead undead, he could question the Lich about the properties of the pool, he removed the bindings and commenced a simple rite of resurrection. Even the descendants of Ethreain's enemies were long forgotten by time, so there were none to warn Anhil against imprudence. But he learned the error of his judgment almost immediately, as Lich threw off the shackles and consumed him.

Win rates come from public Dota 2 matches (OpenDota), 3.4M matches counted, refreshed Oct 24, 2026. Tiers use the win rate in the chosen rank: S 52.5%+, A 51%+, B 49%+, C 47.5%+, D below; heroes with too few games are left unrated. Hero data and patch notes are Valve’s. Builds Forge is an unofficial fan site, not affiliated with Valve.