Broken Things in Dota (For Now)

Broken is an interesting word in the context of Dota, as it can describe something very powerful and something close to useless. It is the reason we chose this word specifically for this blog post, as the new patch introduced quite a lot of very broken things into the game. Today we are going to look at these outliers: things that are not in any way balanced and that will hopefully be the first to get some changes in the next patch.

Tidehunter

A bit of a low-hanging fruit, but that one that needs to be discussed. Tidehunter is easily the most powerful hero in the pubs right now. The reason for it is very simple: the hero, with the help of the level 20 talent, can become essentially immortal.

It is a rather weird mistake by Valve, to be honest. Bristleback was kind of like Tidehunter back in the day, when Spell Lifesteal was just introduced. So it is a mistake that was made before. Getting life back when being hit is too strong of a concept and in the previous patch there was only Queen of Pain who could utilise it. In a very limited capacity and only on one of the facets.

That said, technically speaking, proccing Anchor Smash is not “reflect” damage: it is just a condition on taking damage that forces instant attacks in an AoE. Hopefully only this specific instance of instant attack lifesteal will be nerfed in the next patch: it would be a shame if Tidehunter lost his Strong Dispel and it would also be a shame if other heroes got indirectly nerfed through changes to instant attack mechanics in general.

For now, though, just first pick the hero. And if you don’t get your hands on him, maybe try one of the hero counters.

Hand of Midas

This new (old) Midas is… worthless? There are very few cases where we see this item being useful. Maybe a 60+ minute play to get Tier 5 neutrals ASAP. Or maybe a decent purchase on Ogre Magi and Arc Warden. Perhaps a play on heroes that severely lack AS and are okay losing tempo…

Still, we genuinely don’t know what to make of this change. Previously, this item already had a very narrow niche, but right now we struggle to justify its purchase at all. Maybe on heroes who don’t mind rushing Octarine Core it could find its use, but then you have a hero with Midas+Octarine and are probably getting punished for your greed.

We would suggest avoiding it for now. And when it comes to buffs, maybe a small increase in bonus AS could make it worth considering. Right now it gives extra +15 AS for a 1750 gold recipe. If this value was increased to +25 or so, the item could be decent even without the experience multiplier. Or better yet, give it the passive from the new Loaded Dice Neutral Item: it would fit thematically, without making the item significantly more powerful.

Spectre

Our long time readers probably know that I am partial to this hero and, honestly, the current version of Spectre is possibly the worst it’s been ever. The hero lost any semblance of early-game tempo, in exchange for an uncontrollable illusion that deals 50% of Spectre’s damage for five seconds.

Sure, Desolate now being an innate can be considered a buff and you can and should play the hero with Spectral Dagger and Dispersion maxed out. It is still far from being enough, given Spectre’s attribute growth and her total lack of damage in the early game.

Back in the day Spectre was a good late-game tank, who could kill heroes with Dispersion. These days are long gone: heroes got tankier over time and the Break mechanic was introduced.

Later she became a very weak, but extremely mobile global assassin, who could dictate the tempo of the game and crawl back from poor laning. This was occasionally frustrating to play against, but was never too powerful.

Right now she has no options whatsoever: the hero can’t lane, can gank only once every three minutes, can’t tank and doesn’t even deal that much damage. Essentially, she only wins games that would have been won with any other carry or even an extra support hero on the team. The hero won’t make it back without some substantial buffs, whatever they might be.

Pangolier

If Spectre is in the worst state she’s ever been as a hero, Pangolier is, possibly, in the worst state any hero has ever been in the history of Dota. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ~34% win rate hero in the Immortal bracket.

We frequently talked about how some heroes are so strong conceptually, that it doesn’t matter what the numbers are: as long as they can provide this unique utility, they are still relevant, at least for the professional scene. Well, we were wrong: Pangolier in his current state is straight up unplayable, despite still having access to a potential long-duration stunlock.

Strangely enough, I am personally fine with it: the hero was a staple in the professional scene since his introduction to Captain’s Mode and we finally get a version of him that isn’t going to be so heavily prioritised and probably won’t be picked at all. If that is going to be the case for a while, we see no problem with it. As long as the hero ultimately makes a comeback.

In pubs, though, just ignore him for a bit. Maybe add him to your ban list, so that your teammates don’t accidentally pick the hero.

Closing thoughts

The new patch is definitely experimental. In my opinion it substantially narrowed down the pool of viable heroes for high-level play, without significantly changing the meta. Which is a shame, no matter how you look at it.

That said, I am all for big experiments at the start of the competitive season. There are going to be some growing pains here and there, but the end result is probably going to be worth it.

What are your thoughts on the new patch? Do you think it has freshened up the meta enough and are you enjoying the game? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.