Roshan: A Guide to Your New Best Friend

A hunchback with scaled skin, big demonic yellow eyes and two long horns sticking out of his face. He’s like some hideous mixture of satan and a forklift. Can you guess who it is? No, not your ex-girlfriend. It’s Roshan.

Yes, Roshan, the toughest neutral in the game by a wide margin. Killing the old fella nets a significant number of rewards that can pull a team back from the brink of defeat if done correctly, but whether or not you should try to take him down isn’t always clear cut.

First off, let’s get a basic idea of what you’ll be up against.

Roshan has 7500 health, deals 65 damage in melee hits and has 20hp regen. These stats will increase gradually right up until the 45-minute mark at the rate of +500 hp, +10 damage and +0.5 armour every 5 minutes. These stats are sung to the tune of 4 skills that he’ll dish out during the fight.

Spell Block
Roshan will block one spell every 15 seconds

Bash
Roshan has a chance to stun on attack

Slam
Roshan slams the ground, damaging and stunning nearby enemies

Strength of the Immortal
Roshan possesses numerous protective abilities, including 75% magic resistance, the ability to instantly purge attacking illusions and a scaling armour bonus.

None of these abilities are truly noteworthy,  and there’s nothing during the fight that needs to be dodged or paid particular attention to. However, this doesn’t mean Roshan is easy by any means, as his spell block can waste a lot of mana from your casters, the minibash chance will slow the kill considerably and give Roshan lots of free hits, and his pretty huge amounts of health will remain a consistent challenge throughout most of the game.

Overall, Roshan isn’t joking around, and it’ll take a while for a group to kill him. So, when should you Rosh?

Roshan can take anywhere close to half a minute to kill, depending on the number of heroes and their level. The opposition will likely check the Roshan “pit” if they think something’s up, and if they do, they’ve got you at a choke point with the element of surprise and a rather irritated demon on their side.

The team fight victory
The first good Roshan situation would be following a successful team fight. You don’t have to wipe them completely, but if you take out enough enemy heroes, you’ll be able to Rosh safely, because the remaining heroes on the other team won’t have the fire power to stop you. This could equally apply to any situation in which your team has a number or power advantage over theirs. There is a disadvantage to this however, as going for Roshan will likely mean forfeiting the chance to take a free tower.

The right choice is very specific to your situation. If taking a barracks seems to be a possibility, it may be better to ignore Roshan for now, however if it’s just a tier 2 tower that won’t turn into anything better, it’s almost always better to seize the initiative and cook yourself some Roshan stew.

The other team are out of position
Another situation in which it may be possible to Rosh may be when the other team are too far away to properly deal with it. However, this isn’t an ideal or safe time to Rosh. Imagine being on the opposing team, when suddenly everybody on the map has gone conspicuously missing, where would they all be if all of a sudden none were in lane? It only takes a second or two for the bad guys to swipe victory from under you feet, and even if they’re far away, a few simple teleport scrolls may be enough for them to catch you.

It’s also worth considering that they may have wards up around the Roshan pit, which wouldn’t be uncommon, as the riverside cliff right next to the pit is a popular ward spot. Going for Roshan without any numerical advantage is highly risky, and is far too dangerous to try in most situations. It’s possible, but generally, not advisable.

Solo Roshan
A few certain heroes with certain items can mop the floor with Roshan all by themselves, and it doesn’t even take too much farm to make it work. An Ursa with a Vladamir’s Offering for example, can kill Roshan without any help any time they please, and will probably attempt to do so every time Roshan spawns. Any hero with sufficient lifesteal or tanking capabilities can usually bring him down if they’ve got the damage to follow it up. This strategy has many advantages. Firstly, the issue of being caught out by the opposing team is severely reduced, as only one person needs to go missing to pull it off, making this Roshan tactic much easier to cover up.

Furthermore, all the experience points from the Roshan kill will go directly towards the solo player, giving them quite a large experience advantage that can make up for a bad early game or extend your advantage into an excellent late game. This works best on carry heroes, as they benefit the most from gaining the solo experience, as well as the aegis of the immortal that drops from the Roshan kill. The only major risk is that there may be wards blocking the Roshan pit, and higher level players will likely have the knowledge and game sense to know when to ward it up. The solution to this is either to have your supports deward by placing sentry wards in the area, or to buy a smoke to cloak yourself as you run into the pit. A successful solo Roshan will pay for either of these precautions, so don’t try to be stingy.

Level 1 Roshan
This is perhaps the most risky, but simultaneously the most rewarding of all the listed strategies. A full team of level 1 heroes, if they’re fast, can storm into the Roshan pit and kill him just as the creeps are spawning with the right item build and line up of heroes. In this situation, it helps to have the more tanky members of the team buy some extra healing salves, as opposed to their regular item build. The reason for this is that the best way to take a level one Rosh is to take it in turns to tank.

Run up to Roshan, start the fight, and back away to use a salve when you get low. The next person to begin tanking should do the same, handing Roshan over to you as they heal, and so on, until you secure the kill. This gives a massive level and gold advantage that can tip the balance of lanes to your favour and give you a free head start. Alternatively, you could try using a wisp to heal up the tank with tether, or benefit from Skeleton King’s passive aura lifesteal to do the trick.

Hopefully this'll give you some guidance for a level 1 Roshan. There are annotation links to other hero combinations at the end.

What are the benefits of a Roshan kill?
Roshan will give 1789 experience to any hero in experience range upon death, as well as giving 200 gold to all players on the team and anywhere between 105-600 gold for the player that lands the last hit. This amount of experience and gold means that a successful Roshan can extend your teams advantage almost as much as a successful team fight, making it a worthwhile spend of time.

Additionally, it’s also possible to have the supports or non-carries leave the area just before Roshan goes down, giving more of the experience points to the carry and boosting their level up to help them reach the raid boss levels of health and damage every Anti Mage or Phantom Lancer aspires to.

These benefits are nice, but the really unique part of a Roshan kill is the “Aegis of the Immortal”.

The Aegis of the Immortal is a consumable item that Roshan drops on the ground as he dies. Any player with a free inventory slot can pick up the Aegis. Upon death, the player holding the Aegis will automatically come back to life after a 5 second delay exactly where they stood, consuming the Aegis in the process. This essentially gives the holder of the Aegis two lives. Usually this item is given to the carry, giving them the power to come back from beyond the grave to wreak havoc with the enemy team. The Aegis gives you more freedom in a team fight, as a carry with an Aegis has more potential to dominate their opponents with an extra life under their belt, giving their team a huge advantage.

However, the Aegis of the Immortal is a one time use item that expires after 6 minutes, so make sure to you make the most of its benefit before the timer runs out, and don’t haphazardly throw your extra life away simply because you can. On his third death, Roshan will also drop an item called the “Cheese” which is an active consumable that restores 2500 hp and 100 mana when used. This item can also give the carry great sustain in a fight, even if it’s not as game changing as the Aegis.

Hopefully the contents of this mini guide gave you an insight into the benefits and risks of Roshan, as well as arming you with a few Roshan strategies of your own.

Good luck on your demon hunting endeavours!