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Gold

From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
This article may be outdated due to metagame or patch changes. Help us by revising it.
Coin of the realm.

Gold can used to purchase items and buyback after death. It is received when last hitting creeps, hero kills/assists, destroying buildings, and more. It is also passively gained periodically throughout the game.

When spending gold the game will spend Unreliable Gold first before spending Reliable Gold, except in the case of buybacks where reliable gold will be deducted first.

Starting Gold[edit]

Heroes are given 600 gold to start with.

Gold Loss[edit]

Unreliable gold is lost on death. The formula for gold lost is the following:

Unreliable Gold Lost = Net Worth/40

Reliable Gold[edit]

Reliable gold cannot be lost on death. You can gain reliable gold from the following:

Unreliable Gold[edit]

Only unreliable gold is lost on death. You gain unreliable gold from the following:

Kill Bounty[edit]

A bonus of 150 gold is awarded for making the first kill in a game. This is known as First Blood.

When you kill an enemy hero, you earn reliable gold. The amount is calculated by the following formula:

125 + (Killed Hero's Level × 8) + Streak Bonus = Kill Bounty

The streak bonus gold is based on the number of kills the enemy hero had before being killed:

Streak Gold Consecutive Kills Streak
0
2 or fewer kills None
60
3 kills Killing Spree
100
4 kills Dominating
150
5 kills Mega Kill
210
6 kills Unstoppable!
280
7 kills Wicked Sick
360
8 kills Monster Kill!!!
450
9 kills Godlike!
550
10 or more kills Beyond Godlike!

The following deaths do not stop kill streaks or count as first blood:

The following kill streak modifiers do not grant any bonus:

  • 5 or more kills by allies in a row without any allies dying (Ownage)
  • Getting 5 kills with less than 18 seconds between each kill (Rampage!!!)

Assist Gold[edit]

Heroes that have recently applied damage or a debuff on an enemy hero that dies earn assist gold (also known as AoE gold) even if they are no longer alive or in that area. The hero that made the kill also earns assist gold, even if they killed the enemy hero alone with no assistance. If lane creeps or towers make the kill, the kill gold is spread evenly among the assisting heroes.

The amount of assist gold earned depends on the number of assisting heroes and the level of the killed hero:

Number of Killers:

  • 1 Killer: 126 + (4.5 × VictimLevel) × (NetWorthFactors) = Assist Gold
  • 2 Killer: 63 + (3.6 × VictimLevel) × (NetWorthFactors) = Assist Gold
  • 3 Killer: 31.5 + (2.7 × VictimLevel) × (NetWorthFactors) = Assist Gold
  • 4 Killer: 22.5 + (1.8 × VictimLevel) × (NetWorthFactors) = Assist Gold
  • 5 Killer: 18 + (0.9 × VictimLevel) × (NetWorthFactors) = Assist Gold

Comeback Bonus[edit]

If the team that made the kill has lower total net worth than the other team, they gain a comeback bonus based on the killed hero's net worth:

Comeback Bonus = VictimNetWorth × 0.038 + 30/Number of Killers

Buyback[edit]

A dead hero can respawn instantly by choosing to buyback. Buyback cost is calculated by the following formula:

Buyback Cost = 100 + NetWorth/13
  • This will spend from your reliable gold pool first
  • Has a cooldown of 8 minutes
  • 25 seconds of respawn time will be added to the next death

Respawn Time[edit]

The duration a hero is dead scales with their level. Respawn time does not increase past level 25.

Level Time Diff
1 5 0
2 7 +2
3 9 +2
4 13 +4
5 16 +3
6 26 +10
7 28 +2
8 30 +2
9 32 +2
10 34 +2
11 36 +2
12 44 +8
13 46 +2
14 48 +2
15 50 +2
16 52 +2
17 54 +2
18 65 +11
19 70 +5
20 75 +5
21 80 +5
22 85 +5
23 90 +5
24 95 +5
25 100 +5
26 100 +0
27 100 +0
28 100 +0
29 100 +0
30 100 +0

There are other effects that can affect respawn time. They are listed below in order of calculation priority.

1. After using Buyback:

Respawn Time + 25 = Total Respawn Time

2. After being killed by Neutrals:

Minimum Respawn Time is set to 26 seconds (This only affects respawn time from levels 1-5)

Version History[edit]

Version Balance Changes
7.32
  • Nerf Passive Gold per minute decreased by 15%
7.31
  • Buff Base hero gold bounty increased from 120 + L*8 to 125 + L*8 where L = hero level
  • Rework Reworked bounty gold streak formula
    • Old: Streak gold = (35x-5) where x = current streak
    • New: Streak gold = (5x^2 + 5x) where x = current streak
7.29
  • Rework Bounty runes reworked
    • Bounty Runes after the initial set are reduced by 10%
    • Bounty Runes no longer spawn in the river. The amount these runes gave is now provided automatically over time through GPM.
  • Rework Hero kill assist gold now adjusted based on the relative NW difference between the two teams. For example, if your team is down 5,000 gold and the enemy has 50,000 total net worth, your assist gold will be worth 10% more.
7.28
  • Nerf Neutral creeps no longer increase their bounty over the course of the game
  • Nerf Neutral stacked gold bonus reduced from 40% to 30%
7.27
  • Buff Hero kill last hit gold increased from 99 + 7.2 * Level to 120 + 8 * Level
  • Rework Assist gold rescaled from 45 + 0.033*NW to 30 + 0.038*NW
  • Buff Passive gold income increased from 85 to 95
  • Buff Bounty Runes are now reliable gold
  • Nerf Tower last hit bounty from 180 for T1/2/3/4 to 120/140/160/180
  • Buff Neutral stacking support bounty increased from 35% to 40%
7.26
  • Nerf Gold bounties reduced by 10% (affects buildings, lane creeps, neutrals and heroes)
  • Nerf Kill streak gold is reduced by 50%
7.23
  • Buff Heroes that have recently applied damage or a debuff on an enemy hero that dies are now considered part of the area assist gold
    • (even if they are no longer alive or in that area)
  • Buff Assist gold distribution multiplier for Net Worth ranking factor in the area is changed from multiplying based on the heroes in the area to globally
  • Rework Net Worth Ranking factor for Gold changed from 1.3->0.7 to 1.6->0.4
7.22
  • Buff Death cost changed from 50 + NW/40 to NW/40
7.19b
  • Nerf Buyback respawn time penalty changed from +25% of remaining time to +25s always
7.13
  • Rework Rescaled Level 12➜25 respawn time curve to be slightly less early and the same later on
    • (Changed from 48/52/54/56/58/60/70/74/76/78/82/86/90/100 to 44/46/48/50/52/54/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100)
7.11
  • Rework Buyback cost changed from 100 + (Level2 × 1.5) + (Time × 0.25) to 100 + NetWorth ÷ 13
  • Buff Buyback no longer reduces gold earned after respawning
  • Rework AoE gold for the losing team no longer scales with the overall team net worth difference, just the individual net worth of the dying hero
    • Previously, a core on your team doing really well meant that a support on your team dying gave an increasing amount of gold to the enemy
  • Rework The comeback component is now just: (DyingHeroNetWorth × 0.026 + 70) ÷ # of killers
  • Rework The gold multiplier based on the dying hero's net worth rank changed from 1.2/1.1/1.0/0.9/0.8 to 1.2/1.05/0.9/0.75/0.6
7.09
  • Nerf Starting gold reduced from 625 to 600
7.07c
  • Nerf Hero Respawn timer for level 12-20 increased from 46/48/50/52/54/56/66/70/74 to 48/52/54/56/58/60/70/74/76
7.07
  • Rework Randoming no longer gives bonus gold:
    • It instead selects a hero from the set of bonus heroes and grants an extra iron branch (in addition to the mango)
  • Rework Net worth Ranking Factor (how much the richest vs poorest heroes get from assist gold) changed from 0.75➜1.25 to 0.7➜1.3
  • Buff Hero Respawn timer for level 1-5 rescaled from 8/10/12/14/16 to 5/7/9/13/16
7.06
  • Buff Death cost from 100 + NW ÷ 50 to 50 + NW ÷ 40
  • Nerf Buyback cooldown increased from 7 minutes to 8 minutes
7.03
  • Nerf AoE hero kill Gold and XP bounties reduced by 10% (including comeback gold and XP)
  • Nerf Passive gold income reduced by 10%
7.00
  • Buff Talents added to game: Some Talents increase passive gold or reduce respawn time
  • Rework Gold lost on death changed from 30 × Level to 100 + Net Worth ÷ 50
  • Buff Respawn time follows new formula (reduced for all levels except 25)
  • Nerf Hero Kill bounty reduced from 110 + Streak + Level × 9.9 to 110 + Streak + Level × 8
  • Nerf Assist Gold reduced
6.87c
  • Nerf AoE Bounty Gold based on level reduced from 8/7/6/4/4 to 6/5/4/3/3 per level
6.84c
  • Buff AoE Gold Bounty, for teams that are behind, now has a small additional component that doesn't fully scale with net worth
    • (100/75/50/35/25 for 1/2/3/4/5 heroes, scales linearly from 0 to 4k net worth difference)
  • Rework Small adjustments to AoE Gold (non-networth component)
6.84
  • Nerf AoE Bonus Gold component based on Team Net Worth difference reduced by 25%
  • Buff Hero kills (the non-net worth portions) are worth 10% more
  • Rework Reduced the direct hero last hit bounty by 100 and redistributed that gold into AoE gold
    • (In ratio of 100/75/40/25/20 for 1/2/3/4/5 heroes)
  • Rework AoE Bonus Gold is now distributed based on the relative net worth amongst the heroes involved in killing the hero by +/- 25%
  • Buff The amount of AoE Bonus Gold given is now increased/decreased by up to 20%
    • (Based on the dying hero’s relative rank in net worth among all the enemies on that team)
  • Buff Instead of Buyback temporarily preventing unreliable gold gain, it now reduces all gold gained by 60%
    • (Including hero and AoE gold)
6.83b
  • Nerf Respawn time rescaled from 4 × Level to 5 + 3.8 × Level (total is still 100 at level 25)
6.82c
  • Nerf AoE Gold NWFactor reduced from 0.06/0.06/0.05/0.04/0.03 to 0.05/0.05/0.05/0.04/0.03
  • Nerf Buyback cooldown increased from 6 to 7 minutes
6.82b
  • Rework Reworked how the AoE bonus Gold calculation is done slightly:
    • NWDifference variable is now (EnemyTeamNW ÷ AlliedTeamNW) - 1 [Min 0, Max 1]
  • Rework Rescaled the AoE Gold constant multipliers from 0.26/0.22/0.18/0.14/0.1 to 0.06/0.06/0.05/0.04/0.03
    • (In part to account for the formula tweak)
  • Nerf Kill Streak Bounty from 100➜800 to 60➜480
  • Rework Adjusted bonus area of effect Gold and XP
6.82
  • Nerf First Blood bonus gold decreased from 200 to 150
  • Rework Reworked bonus area of effect Gold and Streak ending
6.79
  • Nerf Buyback prevents gaining unreliable gold (creeps, neutrals, etc.) until your normal respawn time finishes
  • Nerf When buying back, 25% of the remaining respawn time will be added to your next death

See also[edit]