Orbwalking

Orbwalking refers to manually casting an orb skill (Ex: Glaives of Wisdom, Frost Arrows) on a target. A manually cast orb is considered a spell, and does not trigger creep aggression towards the caster. On the other side, autocast orbs trigger creep aggression. This is generally used in harassing, though certain heroes can use it to last hit with better efficiency (Such as Bone Fletcher). Walking while Orbwalking causes the Damage Backswing to be canceled by moving, usually towards the target, and then repeated once the attack or orb has cooled down. This advanced technique is used to effectively chase or flee while continuing to attack.

While the only requirement for Orbwalking is being a ranged hero with an orb skill, some heroes are clearly better than others at using the technique. Some, such as harbinger can not use their orb effectively, due to the weakness of the orb initially, and it's high manacost. The best orbwalkers are those with a low Damage Point, high Move Speed, low orb cooldown, and an orb that slows movement speed (Orb walkers such as Viper, Silencer, Drow Ranger and Huskar are generally effective). A low damage point allows the orbwalker to release a projectile quickly and spend more time walking towards the enemy, whereas high movespeed helps in chasing. Low orb cooldown is only relevant at low levels, but allows for faster attacks while chasing and prevents the orbwalker from having to resort to normal attacks, which attract aggressive response from enemy creeps and are weaker or less effective (Certain orbs, such as Sacred Warrior's Burning Spear attain 0 cooldown at level 1, but the majority only have a cooldown of 0 at levels 2, 3, or 4). An orb that slows movement speed, such as Viper's Poison Attack, also greatly helps in chasing by allowing the orbwalker to actually move faster than the fleeing enemy.

Orbwalking becomes obsolete at higher levels because with high IAS, manually animation canceling is often slower than simply letting the hero autoattack.

A related term is Shadow Walking, which refers to chasing and animation canceling, but with a normal attack.

Orb Walkers

* Silencer
* Viper
* Drow
* Enchantress
* Bone Fletcher
* Huskar
* Harbinger