Dota 2 runes: timings and what to do with them

All timings use the game clock. Hold Alt and the game shows which power rune spawns next and how long until it does.

A bounty rune gives gold to every hero on the team, not just the one who picks it up. Since patch 7.40 the amount is based on when the rune spawned, so picking it up late doesn't reduce the reward. An unclaimed bounty doesn't vanish: the next one spawns next to it, and the enemy can take both at once.

• 0:00 — bounty runes, including the river spots where power runes appear later.
• 2:00 and 4:00 — water runes on both river spots: +40 health and +80 mana, or a Bottle charge.
• 4:00, 8:00, 12:00… — a bounty in each team's jungle.
• 6:00, 8:00, 10:00… — a power rune on one of the two river spots; if nobody takes it, it disappears when the next one spawns.
• 7:00, 14:00, 21:00, 28:00… — Shrines of Wisdom: 200, 500, 800, 1,100 experience.

Power runes fall into two groups: for ganking and for farming. A rune type doesn't repeat until every type has spawned in the cycle.

Bottle

• Haste — maximum movement speed: catch someone far from their tower, or escape.
• Invisibility — walk up to the target unseen. Useless against dust and sentries, so check their inventories.
• Amplify Damage — more attack and spell damage: a gank or a fast push.
• Illusion — two illusions: push the lane, clear a stack, bait in a fight.
• Arcane — lower cooldowns and mana costs: farming and ganking for spell-based heroes.
• Regeneration — refill health and mana quickly and stay in lane.
• Shield — a barrier: survive a trade or a fight.

Your mid should know which spot has the rune 10–15 seconds before it spawns: a ward on the rune, the pos 4 on the other spot, or the Alt hint. Push your wave before you walk to the rune so it doesn't die under your tower.

The 6:00 rune means a gank on a lane where the enemy stands far from their tower, with no escape and no wards. Haste, Invisibility, Amplify Damage and Illusion are gank runes. If 45 seconds after such a rune there's no kill or assist, the rune went into farming — the review flags that separately.

A Bottle stores a rune for 90 seconds; then it activates by itself. Using a stored rune fully refills the Bottle, so with water and bounty runes your mid stays healthy without walking back to base.

BottleTown Portal Scroll

The 0:00 bounty is a river skirmish for everyone, but giving up first blood over it is worse than losing the rune. Your own jungle bounty at 4:00 and 8:00 goes to whoever is closest, usually a support; the enemy one goes to the pos 4 or mid if it's safe.

Water and power runes are for the mid. The pos 4 helps control them between 6:00 and 14:00 by standing on the second spot or warding it. The carry doesn't abandon a wave for a bounty: the wave is worth more.

Wisdom runes were removed in patch 7.38 and replaced by Shrines of Wisdom. They sit in each team's offlane-side jungle between tier 1 and tier 2, on low ground with water, and activate at 7:00, 14:00, 21:00, 28:00 and so on.

To collect, stand within 300 units of the shrine for 3 seconds. Two heroes get the experience: a random hero in range and the teammate with the least experience — almost always a support. Since 7.41 the reward grows: 200, 500, 800, 1,100. Early shrines barely matter; at 14:00 and 21:00 it's a level or two for your lowest hero.

Since 7.41 an enemy in range doesn't just pause the timer — it rolls it back. Your shrine sits next to their safe lane, where their carry and pos 5 are, so don't go for it alone or without vision.

The first-10-minutes review counts how many runes each team took, what your mid did after each power rune (a kill or assist within 45 seconds or not), who took the 2:00 and 4:00 water runes and how many runes your mid bottled.