Blink Dagger in Dota 2: Price, Effect and When to Buy
Contents
Blink Dagger costs 2250 gold, has a 15s cooldown and a 1200 cast range — it’s an active item that instantly teleports the hero to a targeted point within that range. All four numbers come from Valve’s official data feed, not from a build guide or chat advice.
Below is exactly what the official source says about this item, how to read the shop tags, and what’s simply absent from this data.
Everything the feed says about Blink Dagger
| Parameter | Value from the official feed |
|---|---|
| Price | 2250 gold |
| Cooldown | 15s |
| Cast range | 1200 |
| Item ID | 1 |
| Neutral item level | 4294967295 |
| Recommended build | no |
| “Early game” tag | no |
| “Late game” tag | yes |
That’s the full extent of what can be stated from the primary source. Here’s each line broken down.
What the item does
Blink Dagger is an active item. You press the button, target a point on the map, and the hero appears there instantly — no travel time, no animation of moving through the space between the two points.
Two things constrain this.
First, the 1200 cast range. That’s the limit the destination point has to fall within. Beyond that, you can’t use the item.
Second, the 15s cooldown. Use it, then wait for it to come back. It’s not persistent mobility — it’s a one-off action you have to save for the right moment.
What follows from this in actual play isn’t a question the feed answers. How the item behaves in specific situations, whether it has extra conditions for use, and what strong players do with it — the official feed doesn’t describe any of that, and neither will we.
Price: 2250 gold
This isn’t a starting purchase. You have to farm up 2250 gold, and how fast you do that depends on the hero, the position, and how the game itself unfolds.
If you’re still figuring out where gold comes from in the first place and why some players end up with more of it, start with the basics: last hits and denies are the foundation of farming, and the five positions explain why a team agrees on who farms first at all.
How many minutes it’ll take you specifically to reach 2250 gold isn’t a number that exists in any official source, so we’re not going to invent one.
Shop tags: why “late game” and not “recommended”
Valve keeps separate internal flags in the item list — these control which section of the shop an item gets shown in. For Blink Dagger, they read as follows:
- Recommended build — no. The item isn’t part of the set the game suggests as a typical pick.
- Early game — no. It doesn’t land in the cheap starting-purchase section.
- Late game — yes. This is the one positive flag out of three.
Read this literally: the tags describe where the item sits in the shop, not how strong it is. “Not recommended” doesn’t mean “bad” here, and “late game” doesn’t mean “buy strictly after a certain minute.” It’s interface navigation, not advice.
If this is your first time opening the shop and the section logic doesn’t make sense yet, start with what to buy at the start — that’s specifically about the cheap first-round purchases, a category Blink Dagger doesn’t belong to.
The odd line: neutral item of level 4294967295
In the feed, Blink Dagger is listed as a neutral item of level 4294967295. The number looks meaningless — and we’re not going to pretend we know what it means.
What can honestly be said:
- this value sits in a machine-readable feed meant for programs, not players;
- Valve doesn’t explain how to interpret it within the feed itself;
- in the shop, Blink Dagger carries a normal price of 2250 gold, meaning it’s an item you buy with gold.
Any explanation along the lines of “it’s a technical placeholder” or “that’s how non-neutral items get flagged” would be a guess. We’re not making one.
How to check the numbers yourself
This is the most useful thing to take from this article: don’t take anyone’s word for it, including ours.
- Open the item data page for ID 1 — that’s Blink Dagger. The address is in the sources below.
- Look for the price, cooldown and cast range fields in the text. These are the same 2250, 15 and 1200.
- To see the shop tags, open the general item list — each item there has “recommended,” “early game” and “late game” flags.
- Note the language parameter in the address: the feed returns names and descriptions in multiple languages, including English.
The page format is machine-generated and looks like a solid block of text with brackets — that’s normal. It’s inconvenient to read, but there’s no one’s opinion baked into it.
What we’re not claiming
This is the most important section, and it’s short.
- We don’t name “correct” heroes for this item. The feed contains no official data on who it suits.
- We don’t give win rates, popularity stats, or meta advice. We don’t have those numbers, so they’re not in this text.
- We don’t say what minute to buy it on. The “late game” tag is a shop section, not a timer.
- We don’t describe interactions with other items or abilities. The feed is silent on that.
- We don’t guarantee these numbers are permanent. Feed values reflect the game’s current state, and updates change them — worth tracking through updates and patches.
If you come across a text elsewhere that states all of this confidently and without a source, that’s someone’s opinion. It might be right, but it isn’t the same as official data.
In short
Blink Dagger is an active item costing 2250 gold with a 15s cooldown that instantly moves the hero to a point within a 1200 range; the shop doesn’t flag it as recommended or early-game, but it does flag it as a late-game item. Everything else — who needs it and exactly when to buy it — the official data doesn’t say, and we’re not guessing either.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Blink Dagger cost?
2250 gold — that's the exact price listed in Valve's official item feed.
What does Blink Dagger do?
It's an active item: the hero instantly appears at a targeted point within a 1200 cast range, after which the item goes on a 15s cooldown.
What's the cooldown on Blink Dagger?
15s. That's the only cooldown value the Valve feed lists; it names no conditions under which it changes.
Who needs Blink Dagger?
The official data doesn't name specific heroes. In the shop, the item carries no "recommended" tag and isn't flagged as an early-game item, but it is flagged as a late-game item.
Why is Blink Dagger listed as a neutral item of level 4294967295?
That's a field value in the machine-readable feed, not a level you'll ever see in-game. Valve doesn't explain what it technically means within the feed itself, so we don't interpret it either.
Where can I check these numbers myself?
In the Dota 2 site's open data feed — the itemdata page for item ID 1, and the general itemlist. Both addresses are in this article's sources.