Dota – IO: do Spirits deal damage to hero without releasing its life energy in a burst during initiation

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I've been playing IO (guradian wisp) for a while. Recently I visited playdota.com and I was quite confused when I found out the mechanism behind its skill Spirits:

  • Io summons 5 ancient Spirits over the course of 4 seconds; the
    Spirits dance around Io in a circle to protect him. If an enemy hero
    moves close enough to touch a Spirit, the Spirit releases its life
    energy in a burst, damaging all enemies in a 300 area of effect. Non
    hero units only take minor damage upon touching a spirit and do not
    cause them to explode.

I remember initiating the spirits when an enemy was quite close to me but

had I actually dealt any damage to the enemy before the 5 spirits were all summoned?

During the 4seconds initiation/summoning time, no spirit seems to "release its life energy in a burst" when encounters an enemy hero.

Best Answer

as soon as the spirit starts hurling around IO, if it hits a hero, it WILL explode and cause damage.