Dota 2 Calculator: The Item Timing Calculator Tool for Dota 2

The Item Timing Calculator Tool

The Item Timing Calculator Tool shows the minute your items are done in a real game: with your starting items, the Tangos and TPs you eat on the way and the gold you lose when you die. Next to it: when players really buy that item in public matches. Axe once planned a Divine Rapier at minute 10. Then he died three times. Plans are hard.

1. Set your gold per minute and your deaths. Typical core (573) or support (346) are one click away.
2. Count your consumables (Tango, Healing Salve, Clarity, TP Scrolls, wards …) and add up to 6 items in buying order: search by name or short names like BKB, Midas or Aghs.
3. Read the timeline: the minute each item is done, the green band where most players buy the item in real games, and the same build at other GPM values.

Axe explains

Item timings in 10 seconds

1. 600starting gold, spent on lane items.
2. ÷40of your net worth lost per death.
3. 2%of early BKBs come before 15:00.
4. +100GPM saves minutes on every big item.

Farm, do not die, stop eating so many Tangos. Axe fails at the last one.

How item timings really work

An item timing is the minute a key item is done: your Black King Bar, your Blink Dagger, your Battle Fury. The simple formula says cost ÷ gold per minute. That would put a Black King Bar at 6:01 for a core, and nobody has one that early. In a real game you pay for much more first:

The tool uses the real gold curve of cores and supports from recent public matches: a typical core earns only 3,473 gold in the first 10 minutes, but 6,421 between minute 20 and 30. Your gold per minute scales that curve. Example: a core with 573 gold per minute buys Magic Wand, Bracer, Power Treads, Black King Bar, eats 2 Tangos, a Healing Salve, a Clarity and 3 TP Scrolls (640 gold) and dies 2 times (about 169 gold lost). Magic Wand 1:52, Bracer 3:26, Power Treads 7:35, Black King Bar 16:24. Without the deaths the Black King Bar would come at 16:08.

Your items are not your only timings: neutral items open at fixed game times (Neutral Item Timer), and gold you keep for a buyback is gold you do not spend (Buyback Calculator).

Dota 2 item timings in real games

When do players really finish their items? These are purchases in public matches parsed by OpenDota, all heroes together. The data covers the first 30 minutes, so items bought later are not counted. Each bar shows how the purchases in those 30 minutes spread out:

Itemby 10:0010–1515–2020–2525–30

Power Treads1,400 g · 46,528 buys84%

Phase Boots1,450 g · 27,056 buys80%16%

Hand of Midas2,200 g · 3,686 buys19%32%25%18%

Battle Fury3,900 g · 4,974 buys59%33%

Radiance4,700 g · 8,037 buys29%54%12%

Blink Dagger2,250 g · 56,690 buys22%35%26%14%

Desolator3,500 g · 4,371 buys26%39%22%

Manta Style4,650 g · 14,122 buys39%35%17%

Force Staff2,200 g · 14,498 buys21%40%34%

Glimmer Cape2,150 g · 11,328 buys22%40%33%

Aghanim's Scepter4,200 g · 26,021 buys22%36%34%

Black King Bar4,050 g · 25,907 buys40%52%

Boots come early: most Power Treads are done by 10:00. Big items do not: 52% of the Black King Bars bought in the first 30 minutes come between 25:00 and 30:00, and many more come even later. If your timing is well ahead of these bars, you are farming better than most players.

Source: OpenDota item timings (public matches, time buckets up to 30:00), updated with our data refresh. Cheap items like Magic Wand or Bracer are not tracked there.

Not sure which boots to rush? The Boots Comparison compares every pair and shows what pros buy on your hero.

Already holding a few parts? The Item Component Finder shows what they build into and how much gold is still missing.

Bored of the same build? Let the Random Build Generator pick six items, then check here how long they take.

Which GPM should you type in? The GPM & XPM Calculator shows what is normal for your hero, from the worst 10% to the top 1%.

Items · Dota2FreaksAll Dota 2 items and recipesEvery item with its cost and recipe. Plan your build, then put it in the timing calculator.→

How to hit your item timings faster

• Do not die. Every death costs gold and farming time. Move the deaths slider in the tool from 2 to 0 and see how much earlier your item comes. The Buyback Calculator shows the gold you lose.
• Farm stacked camps. A stacked camp gives the gold of several camps in one go. Your support can pull them for you with the Stack Timer.
• Buy what you need, in the right order. Every item before your key item pushes it back. Move it up in the tool and see how much time you win.
• Take the free gold. Bounty runes give gold to your whole team. The Rune Timer tells you when they spawn.

Axe farms fast: he hits everything. Creeps, towers, the courier. Then he dies. Then his timing is late. Axe is learning.

Gold per minute explained

Gold per minute (GPM) is all the gold you earn divided by the minutes played. The tool uses 573 for cores and 346 for supports as the typical value: the median of the three richest and the two poorest players per team in 60 recent public matches on OpenDota (normal games of 25+ minutes, no Turbo).

• It is a game average. Gold comes slowly in the lane and faster later. The tool follows the real gold curve, so a core at 573 GPM has 3,473 gold after 10 minutes and 8,689 after 20 (plus the 600 starting gold).
• Starting gold counts: you begin with 600 gold and spend it on lane items. The tool adds it and counts the lane items as consumables.
• Unplanned buys like extra wards, Smoke or a buyback push your timings back too. Add them as consumables.

Once your items are in, see what they do to your hits in the Attack Speed Calculator.

Free guide · Dota2FreaksRank Up Guide: find the one thing holding you backFive quick questions about your role, your lane and your losses. You get one habit to fix and a free mission for your next three games.→

FAQ: Axe answers questions