Overview
A Disable is an action which allows a hero to temporarily incapacitate an enemy, incurring interruption. Disables are typically active hero spells, such as Storm Bolt, Ensnare, and Voodoo, although passive disables (Bash, Last Word) and Item disables (Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse, Eul's Scepter of Divinity) exist as well. The purpose of a disable to is stop an enemy from taking a certain action, ranging from silencing enemy spells to stopping all movement to preventing any attacks. Heroes with one or more disables are typically played as Support heroes.
Types of Disables
There are numerous ways to disable enemies in DotA, although general opinion differs over exactly which skills should be considered disables. For a detailed explanation and list of all skills that completely disable enemies to the point of interrupting actions, see the Interrupt article. Other skills that severely slow enemy movement speed or attack speed may be referred to as disables, but are not strictly defined as such. The most common types of disables are listed below.
Stun
Stun is arguably the most powerful disable, completely preventing any action taken by the target for the duration of the Stun. When repeated stuns are landed on a single target, the longest remaining stun time overrides. For more information, see the
main Stun article.
Storm Bolt, War Stomp, and Bash are all examples of skills that incur Stun.
Ensnare
Ensnared units have their movement completely restricted, but may still attack and cast spells with the exception of Blink. Even if a unit escapes from the Ensnare via some movement ability, such as Waveform or Time Walk, they will still be unable to move afterwards until the duration of the Ensnare ends.
Ensnare, Earthbind, and Pit of Malice are examples of skills that Ensnare enemies.
Silence
Silenced units cannot cast spells, but can still attack and move. Items may still be used, unless the Silence is from Doom, which is the only skill that silences items as well.
Silence, Global Silence, and Crippling Fear all Silence enemies.
Shackles
Shackled units cannot perform any action at all, similar to Stun. The caster is disabled as well until the spell ends, whether by duration or by command.
Dismember, Shackles, and Fiend's Grip all use Shackles to restrain enemies.
Hex
Hexed units have their base movement speed reduced to 100 and cannot attack or cast spells. For more information, see the
main Hex article.
Voodoo and Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse both inflict Hex on an enemy.