A Dota 2 bug that leaves Keeper of the Light's Illuminate standing still instead of sweeping across the map has spread through the game's Reddit community, Esports.gg reports. Players have been using it in matches to thin out enemy creep waves before those creeps reach their own.
Illuminate normally fires a wave of light horses that deals more damage the longer Keeper of the Light channels it, up to 500 damage. At that maximum it is usually enough to kill a ranged creep outright and take a large share of a melee creep's health in one hit. In its bugged state the ability does not disappear after firing. It stays put and behaves like a wall, damaging anything that passes through.
How players trigger it
According to Esports.gg, the interaction needs a Largo teammate carrying Phase Boots. With Phase Boots active, the Largo has to get its model stuck against Keeper of the Light while using Catchy Lick on him, which produces a visual glitch on Keeper of the Light's model. Illuminate cast from that state is the one that stays in place.
The effect on a lane is straightforward. Ranged creeps can arrive at the opposing wave with most of their health gone, or not arrive at all, and Keeper of the Light can farm gold by leaving Illuminate effects scattered around the map.
Mixed reaction, and no fix
Reaction to the reports has been split, Esports.gg says. Some players have suggested Blade Mail as a counter. Others have argued that using it deliberately against human opponents makes it an exploit rather than a bug.
Valve has not made any announcement about the interaction, and no fix had been released at the time of the report. Dota 2 has a long history of similar faults, among them the 4-vs-6 bug that placed a player on the enemy team and the fountain hook that Natus Vincere used to beat TongFu at The International 2013.
