What is Dota IMBA? – DOTA 2 Glossary

Dota IMBA is a custom game mode for DOTA 2, which, as the name might imply, forgoes balancing in a normal fashion, trying to “balance heroes and items by making them unbalanced” instead. As the Workshop page puts it, “Dota IMBA is the answer to the question: what would happen if every hero received nothing but buffs for 100 patches straight? Stupidly overpowered heroes? Speed-of-light DBZ-esque fights? Insane abilities which make no sense? IMBA has it all! Come check it out.”

Created in 2015 based off of a Warcraft 3 mod of the same name, Dota IMBA changes many fundamental gameplay facets to make way for a plethora of overpowered heroes. Among other modifications, Roshan and Runes function differently from the base game, towers and buildings are given new abilities, the Attack Speed cap is increased to 800, the maximum hero level is set to 40.

DOTA 2’s heroes are split off into two groups in this custom game mode. Lazy Heroes keep their regular skillset but their stats are improved while IMBA Heroes are given entirely new ones and enhanced mechanics to create a unique gameplay experience. For example, Phantom Assassin’s Phantom Strike is modified to “Teleports to a unit, friendly or enemy, slashing every enemy on the way once, and granting bonus attack speed. Can be cast on towers, structures and magic immune enemies”.

The creator of Dota IMBA is also responsible for Pudge Wars, X Hero Siege and many other custom game modes. You can find its official Steam Workshop page here – at the time of writing, the latest version is 7.09a.