Dota 2 - Tier 5 Neutral Items Overview

Introduction

Dota 2 has many interesting mechanics and elements that differentiate it from the other MOBA games out there. Although every single game from this genre has items, Dota 2 goes one step further by having a special type of item called "Neutral items". Unlike the other ones that you can buy from the shop, these are randomly dropped when you kill Neutral Creeps. However, that doesn't mean that they are bad. In fact, the vast majority of them are very strong and can completely change the course of the game.

With that said, let's take a look and see what do we need to know about them.

Basic information about the Neutral Items

In addition to what we mentioned above, the Neutral Items can't be sold, which means that you can't get gold from them. However, if you don't need the item, you can give it to your team-mate that will benefit from it. This is very important because there will always be a hero from your team that can benefit from them.

The first wave of Neutral Items starts to drop after the 7th minute and they are divided into tiers from one to five. Every single tier has its good and bad items but if one of them stands out, it has to be the tier five items. Literally, every single one of them is broken and can be a life-saver in certain situations.

With that said, the hardest thing about getting the Tier Five items is the timing. In the current meta, most Dota 2 games out there rarely go for that long. As a result, there are players that haven't even seen these items in a real game. 

The situation is the same when it comes down to professional teams as well. Rarely do we see games going for over 70 minutes, even though we saw a couple at the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. In fact, this Minor went one step further because Nigma and Royal Never Give Up played for nearly 81 minutes in the second game of the series. As a result, we saw the first Tier Five items in a competitive match.

Tier Five Neutral Items

Each Neutral Item Tier becomes available after a certain "in-game minute". In the case of the Tier Fives, they start dropping after the 70th minute, which is deep into the late game. Even though nearly every single hero is going to be six-slotted by then, these items are soo good that you can often see players swapping some of the items they've bought just to use the Neutral ones.

Here is a list of all currently available Neutral Items and how they work:

• Apex - this item gives a +80% bonus to your primary attributes. Needless to say, it is awesome for every single hero. However, the Strength-based heroes are the ones that benefit the most.
• Book of the Dead works similarly to Necronomicon but instead of two, you summon six units. In addition, you also receive +35 STR and +35 INT.
• Force Boots is a combination between a Forcestaff and your boots. When used, it forces you towards the direction you're watching. This item has 6 seconds CD and it's absolutely amazing.
• Mirror Shield provides +20 STR/AGI/INT and also has a passive effect that reflects some of the target spells once every four seconds. If you combine it with items such as Linkin's Sphere, for example, you are pretty much bulletproof.
• Pirate Hat provides a flat +250 Attack Speed, which is insane. Also, you will receive a bounty rune for every kill that you make while you have this item on you.
• Stygian Desolator is a damage item that gives +100 damage and reduces the armor of your enemies by 12 for 15 seconds.
• Fallen Sky is basically a better version of the Meteor Hammer. It stuns and does damage to all enemies in a small AoE for a couple of seconds. Also, you receive +20 INT/STR, + 15 HP regen and +10 Mana regen.
• Ballista is an absolutely broken item that provides +400 range and knockback on every single attack. As you can imagine, this work wonders for heroes such as Sniper or Gyrocopter.
• Ex Machina has the same effect as a Refresher Orb but it has a lot shorter cooldown of 30 seconds. In addition, you also get +25 armor, which is pretty good. Keep it in mind that this item can't refresh the cooldown of the Refresher itself. 
• Fusion Rune is an item that has three charges. When used, the player will receive the bonus from each rune for 50 seconds.
• Phoenix Ash is an item that saves you from death. If you are about to receive enough damage to kill you, this item will activate itself and it will bring you to 50% hp while also resetting the cooldowns of your spells, apart from your ultimate of course.
• Seer Stone provides +450 cast range and vision, which makes it insanely good on all spellcasters.
• Trident is an item combination of the following: Yasha, Kaya, Sange. As you can guess, it provides tons of stats, damage, and resistance.
• Woodland Striders is one of the most unique items in Dota 2 right now. It gives you a +50 movement speed and +70 HP/sec regen. Also, when you click it on, it will start to spawn trees behind you for three seconds, which means that your enemies won't be able to go through them.

Conclusion

The Neutral Items were added in the Outlanders Update and since then, there have been a couple of changes. Be sure to check out whether there is something new at the time of reading this because Dota 2 is a very fast-changing game. 

Although many players don't like them, we believe that they add a lot of value to the game. However, the random factor is definitely stronger than before, especially when it comes down to the early game.

Check More of our Dota 2 Guides:

Dota 2 Items Guide: The best survival items

Dota 2 Items Guide: What You Need to Know

Dota 2 Items Guide: Top Six Support Items