Monkey King Bar in Dota 2: Stats, True Strike and Who Builds It

What Is Monkey King Bar?

Monkey King Bar is a late-game weapon item in Dota 2 purchasable from the Main Shop under Weapons. It requires a Secret Shop component (Demon Edge) to complete, which means you cannot assemble it purely from fountain items. At 5,000 gold in patch 7.41f, it sits in the same cost tier as Daedalus and Butterfly — items you buy after your first one or two core items as a carry.

The item’s name references the legendary Monkey King from Chinese mythology, who wields an enchanted staff with supernatural precision. In Dota 2, that precision is its defining mechanic: an 80% chance per attack to pierce through evasion and deal 70 bonus magical damage. That single passive makes MKB the primary evasion counter in the game.

If you play the Monkey King hero and want a full breakdown of abilities, talent builds and game-plan, read our Monkey King hero guide. This page covers the item only.

Current Stats (Patch 7.41f)

As of patch 7.41f — the current version at time of writing — Monkey King Bar provides the following base stats:

The +50 attack range bonus for melee heroes is one of the more underrated aspects of the item since the 7.41 buff. Fifty units of extra range extends a melee hero’s reach meaningfully in fights — particularly useful against heroes who kite in and out of melee range. Combined with the damage and attack speed bonuses, MKB became a noticeably stronger pickup for melee carries after patch 7.41 compared to previous versions.

Recipe and Components

Demon Edge is the expensive Secret Shop component that anchors the build. If you are farming toward MKB, sending your courier to the Secret Shop for Demon Edge first locks in the hardest piece while you continue farming the cheaper components from the Main Shop. Blitz Knuckles can be bought early as a standalone attack speed item and held in your inventory until you are ready to complete MKB later.

One important note on Javelin: its own proc chance (20% for 85 physical damage) is completely separate from MKB’s Pierce passive. Both procs are independent random rolls on each attack. Both can fire on the same attack, and both can fail to fire independently of each other. This means even before completing MKB, a standalone Javelin gives you a partial evasion-counter plus some raw damage — which is why some carries buy it early in games against PA.

The Pierce Passive — What Is “True Strike” in Dota 2?

Most Dota 2 players refer to MKB’s mechanic as “True Strike.” The term comes from older versions of the item that had a passive literally named True Strike, which gave 100% evasion bypass — your attacks simply could not miss. That mechanic no longer exists in that form.

The current version (patch 7.41f) uses a passive called Pierce: each attack has an 80% chance to pierce through evasion and deal 70 bonus magical damage when it triggers. It is now probabilistic rather than guaranteed. “True Strike” persists as the community shorthand even though the mechanic changed.

What 80% Means in Practice

Against Phantom Assassin (50% Blur evasion):

• Without MKB: 50% of attacks miss. Effective hit rate = 50%.
• With MKB: 80% of attacks trigger Pierce and cannot miss. Of the remaining 20%, PA’s 50% evasion applies, meaning another 10% of total attacks still hit. Effective hit rate = approximately 90%.

The difference is massive — you go from landing 1 in 2 attacks to landing roughly 9 in 10. Against a Butterfly carrier (35% evasion), the math is less dramatic but still significant — effective hit rate jumps from 65% to roughly 93%.

Against PA with both Blur and Butterfly (combined ~67.5% evasion):

• Without MKB: effective hit rate = 32.5%
• With MKB: Pierce fires on 80% of attacks (all land). Of the remaining 20%, only ~32.5% hit through her combined evasion. Effective hit rate = ~86.5%.

Pierce and Magic Resistance

The 70 bonus damage from Pierce is magical, not physical. It is reduced by magic resistance (not armor). Against a hero running Pipe of Insight or naturally high magic resistance (Meepo, Dragon Knight in dragon form, Anti-Mage), the bonus damage portion is reduced. The evasion bypass itself, however, is unaffected by any resistance.

Who Should Build Monkey King Bar?

MKB is a reactive purchase — bought in response to specific evasion threats or because your hero’s identity demands consistent hit rate. Buying it “just in case” wastes gold that would be better spent on Daedalus or Battle Fury in matchups with no evasion.

Heroes That Core MKB Most Often

• Monkey King (the hero): Thematic and functional. The melee attack range bonus adds genuine value to his fight pattern. His Jingu Mastery stacks require consecutive hits — missed attacks reset the timer — so evasion is a hard counter to his identity.
• Troll Warlord: Very high base attack speed in melee stance. More attacks per second means Pierce triggers more frequently per unit of time than on any other carry. Even at 80%, the volume of Troll’s attacks makes MKB highly effective.
• Ursa: Fury Swipes stack on every physical hit. Evasion doesn’t just reduce Ursa’s DPS — it breaks his entire damage identity. Against PA, Butterfly carriers, or Windranger, MKB is mandatory rather than situational.
• Anti-Mage: AM has no built-in evasion counter and relies on fast physical attacks for mana burn and right-click DPS. Against PA or a Butterfly carry, MKB is almost always the right third item.

Situational Buyers (Most Agility Carries)

Most carries will pick up MKB situationally when the enemy team includes one or more of these threats:

• Phantom Assassin — 50% Blur evasion
• Windranger — 60% evasion during Windrun (a toggled active)
• Brewmaster Primal Split — earth form has 50% evasion
• Any enemy carry who rushed Butterfly as their second item
• A support with Heaven’s Halberd (grants 50% evasion to an ally)

Heroes in this category include Luna, Drow Ranger, Sniper, Gyrocopter, Ember Spirit, Phantom Lancer, and Lifestealer. They skip MKB entirely in standard games but accelerate it immediately when evasion appears on the enemy side.

When to Buy MKB

The core decision is simple: is physical damage your primary win condition, and is evasion actively wasting it? If yes, buy MKB. If the evasion problem also includes powerful passives you need to break (Bristleback, Spectre’s Dispersion, PA’s Blur specifically for full disable), Silver Edge may serve you better.

Typical Purchase Timing

MKB almost never comes before your first major core. A carry who rushes MKB before Power Treads or Manta Style leaves themselves fragile against burst damage — the item is strong but not so strong that it outweighs mobility and survivability. Standard sequencing:

• First item: Farm accelerator (Battle Fury, Manta Style, Dragon Lance) or survivability (Black King Bar)
• Second or third item: MKB, when evasion is the biggest threat in fights
• Emergency early MKB: If enemy PA or Windranger is completely out of control and your team is losing fights directly because you cannot land attacks, MKB as a second item (after treads + some small items) is defensible even if the gold efficiency is suboptimal

At 5,000 gold, MKB falls in a timing window of roughly 22-35 minutes in high-MMR games depending on farm speed. Pub players often delay it further, sometimes buying it at 45+ minutes as a fifth or sixth item. At that point, the game has usually been decided — prioritize MKB earlier when the evasion threat is meaningful.

Understanding how top-rank carries approach item-build decisions is one of the biggest skill gaps between brackets. Our MMR climbing guide covers the macro decisions that separate high-MMR carry play from average carry play.

MKB vs Alternatives

MKB vs Silver Edge: The PA Decision

Against Phantom Assassin specifically, this choice comes up in almost every game where you are fighting her with a physical carry. Silver Edge applies Break on hit, which disables PA’s Blur passive entirely — meaning your attacks land 100% of the time for the duration of Break. However, Break only applies on the first hit and lasts a few seconds, not permanently. PA can re-activate Blur in between your attacks if you are not hitting her continuously.

MKB provides a consistent 80% bypass on every single attack rather than a temporary full disable. For carries who are constantly fighting PA (Ursa, Troll, AM), MKB’s consistent pressure often outweighs Silver Edge’s one-time Break. Silver Edge is preferred when you also need to shut down other passives elsewhere on the enemy team — Bristleback’s Warpath, Omniknight’s Purification as an ally-linked passive, or Spectre’s Desolate.

MKB vs Hurricane Pike: The Range Question

These two items answer different problems. Hurricane Pike pushes enemies away and gives ranged carries extra distance from gap-closers — it does not help you land attacks, it helps you survive long enough to take them safely. A Drow Ranger facing a PA who Blinks into melee range uses Hurricane Pike to push PA back and restore the range advantage; MKB would only help her hit PA once she is in range again. When both evasion and range-control are problems, some players buy both, though that is usually a sign that the hero needs a different draft solution entirely. See our full breakdown of the best items and builds by role for context on how carries structure their item progression.

Heroes That Build MKB

The following table shows heroes that most frequently include MKB in their item builds, based on aggregate community data (Dotabuff/Stratz stats — community-sourced, not Valve official):

Interaction Notes Worth Knowing

• Two MKBs do not stack: Buying a second MKB is a wasted 5,000 gold. The Pierce passives do not combine — only one is active at a time. No higher proc chance, no additional damage. Silver Edge is always the better second evasion answer.
• Javelin procs independently: The Javelin component retains its own separate proc (20% chance, 85 physical damage) that stacks with MKB’s Pierce (80%, 70 magical). Both can trigger on the same attack. Both are rolled independently. The Javelin proc is physical damage; the Pierce proc is magical — they are reduced by different defensive stats.
• Illusions do not inherit Pierce: Manta Style illusions, Phantom Lancer illusions, and any other illusion sources do not get the Pierce passive. Only the real hero’s attacks trigger it.
• Does not work on buildings: The Pierce passive (both the bypass and the bonus damage) does not apply to structures. Purely a hero combat item.
• PRD applies to Pierce: Dota 2 uses pseudo-random distribution for proc-based mechanics. Pierce at 80% follows PRD, meaning the probability adjusts slightly after each proc or non-proc to ensure the long-run average stays near 80%. In practice, the difference from true random is minimal at 80%, but it means you will not see extended streaks of misses. Our guide on pseudo-random distribution in Dota 2 explains the full mechanics.

Frequently Asked Questions