Break

• Break
• Changelogs

For other uses of the word Break, see Break (Disambiguation).

File:Silver Edge icon.png

Break is a status effect that disables passive abilities. It does not disable passive components from items (i.e. Talisman of Evasion's evasion) and talents (unless stated). Break works completely independent from mute and silence.

Definition

Ability and Item Disables	Disabled Aspect / Definition	Examples
Silence	Fully prevent any active abilities order, except item casts. Autocast abilities that are currently set to Autocast have their functionality disabled. Toggled abilities are stuck in their current On / Off state for the duration, but their functionality is not disabled.	Global Silence
Break	Fully disable passive abilities, does not disable any item passives and Talents (with some exceptions). On-death passives (e.g. Reincarnation) and direct-synergy passives ( Caustic Finale with Burrowstrike) are generally not disabled.	Viper Strike
Mute	Fully prevent item cast orders, except ability casts.	Doom

Mechanics

See also: Silence and Mute

Break disables every aspect of the ability, including proc chances, innate cooldowns, attack modifiers and permanent bonuses. Only abilities with passive components are affected, but not passives components of items and talents. For example, when Blur is disabled by break, but Talisman of Evasion and derived items are not.

If a passive ability places a buff or debuff, those buffs and debuffs already in place are not nullified. For example, if an enemy is affected by Poison Sting, the ability's effects continues even if Break is applied on the caster. Break only prevents the caster's attacks from applying the effect. The same also applies to passive abilities which grants stacks (e.g. Essence Shift), Break just prevent them gaining new stacks, but usually does not disable already existing stacks.

However, the opposite is the case for auras when affected by Break. The aura itself continues to place its buff or debuff on units, but when Break is applied on the source of the aura, the buff or debuff is disabled for the duration. If the aura has a status icon in the HUD, they show 0 when affected by Break.

There is no set rule for which passive abilities are disabled by Break. However, most passive abilities which are dependent on another ability to function are not nullified (e.g. Grow and Divided We Stand).

Sources

Break Sources

• Viper – Viper Strike
• Silver Edge – Shadow Walk
• Phantom Assassin – Fan of Knives
• Hoodwink – Decoy
• Hoodwink – Sharpshooter
• Doom – Doom¹
• Shadow Demon – Demonic Purge^2a
• Shadow Shaman – Hex¹
• Primal Beast – Uproar^2a
• Hill Troll Berserker – Break

¹ Requires Talent.

^2a Requires Aghanim's Scepter.

^2b Requires Aghanim's Shard.

Disabled by Break

The following passive abilities are completely disabled by Break. Unless stated otherwise, this includes passive cooldowns, damage counters, or other small parts of the abilities.

Abilities Disabled by Break

• Warlock Golem – Flaming Fists
• Warlock Golem – Permanent Immolation
• Ancient Frostbitten Golem – Time Warp Aura
• Flagbearer Creep – Inspiration Aura
• Super Flagbearer Creep – Inspiration Aura
• Mega Flagbearer Creep – Inspiration Aura
• Roshan – Bash⁹
• Necronomicon Warrior – Last Will
• Necronomicon Warrior – Mana Break
• Necronomicon Archer – Archer Aura

¹ These abilities have passive components which are disabled by Break.

² Allies do not gain the Curse of Avernus speed buff upon attacking an already cursed enemy.

³ Does not grant stacks while disabled by Break. However, their already existing stacks still fully work.

⁴ Although the ability's particle effects still visually react on enemy presence, all passive components of Marksmanship are disabled.

⁵ Fully disabled by Break, even when using their active component.

⁶ Only disables Natural Order's armor reduction.

⁷ These abilities neither apply new stacks, nor do already existing stacks grant any bonuses during Break.

⁸ Essence Shift still grants permanent bonuses on kill conditions when disabled.

⁹ Break only prevents Greater Bash from proccing on attacks. Still works fully with other abilities.

¹⁰ Plague Ward's Poison Sting is also disabled.

Not Disabled by Break

The following passive abilities are not disabled by Break.

Abilities Not Disabled by Break

• Io – Io Innate (6.83-7.28)
• Mana Break – Mana Break
• Invisibility – Invisibility
• Spell Immunity – Spell Immunity
• Death – Reincarnation
• File:Spell Immunity old icon.png Carrion Flies – Spell Immunity
• File:Spell Immunity old icon.png Carrion Beetle – Spell Immunity
• Tormentor – Reflect
• Tormentor – The Shining
• Tormentor – Unyielding Shield
• Roshan – On The Move
• Roshan – Spell Block
• Roshan – Strength of the Immortal
• Courier – Passive Bonus
• Courier – Phased
• Courier – Spell Immunity
• Necronomicon Warrior – True Sight

¹

²

³

⁴

Trivia

Break as a mechanic did not exist prior to version 6.84, but Doom (required in 6.82/6.83), Hex-sources (until 6.84) and Chronosphere (until 6.82) disabled a small portion of passive spell and item abilities.

The following passive components were disabled by Doom, Hexes or Chronosphere:

By all 3 sources:

• Blur [?]
• Drunken Brawler [?]
• Bristleback
• Shadow Dance [?]
• Vampiric Aura [?]
• Feast
• Bash of the Deep
• Berserker's Rage [?]
• Greater Bash
• Time Lock
• Headshot
• Great Cleave
• Blade Dance
• Chaos Strike
• Coup de Grace
• Jinada [?]
• Mortal Strike
• Shapeshift [?]
• Mana Break

 

• Butterfly's evasion
• [[File:|20px|link=Heaven's halberd|class=noprint]] [[Heaven's halberd|]]'s evasion
• Talisman of Evasion's evasion
• Gem of True Sight's aura
• Radiance's aura [?]
• Vladmir's Offering's lifesteal [?]
• Helm of the Dominator's lifesteal
• Mask of Madness' lifesteal
• Morbid Mask's lifesteal
• Satanic's lifesteal
• Abyssal Blade's bash
• Skull Basher's bash
• Monkey King Bar's mini-bash
• Battle Fury's cleave
• Crystalys' critical strike
• Daedalus' critical strike
• Diffusal Blade's feedback
• Diffusal Blade 2's feedback

Only by Doom:

• Borrowed Time [?]
• File:Backtrack icon.png Backtrack
• Berserker's Blood
• Corrosive Skin
• Dispersion
• Entangling Claws
• Fury Swipes
• Juxtapose
• Kraken Shell
• Linken's Sphere's spell block

Only by Hexes and Chronosphere:

• Stout Shield's damage block
• Poor Man's Shield's damage block
• Vanguard's damage block
• Crimson Guard's damage block

Recent Changes

Main Article: Break/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.32
(2022-08-24)

• The following abilities no longer apply Break:
  • Doom
  • Nether Strike
• ADDED new Decoy ability as a source of Break.

7.28c
(2021-02-19)

• Vendetta no longer applies Break.

7.28
(2020-12-17)

• ADDED new Sharpshooter ability as a source of Break.