Heroes Who Could Really Use a Buff
Image by Crowntail
The cyclical nature of patches might not be ideal, but it does keep things fresh. Every patch some heroes essentially get “rotated out” of the professional and high-level pub meta and are replaced by newly buffed characters. For the most part, it works surprisingly well: there are usually no completely unusable heroes, they just become very specific. Sometimes, however, this well-oiled balance machine forgets about certain heroes and they are left by the wayside for way too long. Today we are going to discuss three such heroes.
Sven
At one point in time, Sven was as iconic to Dota as Juggernaut and Crystal Maiden. He is, after all, the hero with the highest number of cosmetic swords in the game. Lately, though, he’s been absent from both professional and even pub meta and the hero direly needs a buff or two.
Sven didn’t work when the meta revolved around Death Prophet: in theory the hero counters her decently well, with the extra armor he provides from Warcry. He could be played as a position three initiator, with a focus on team auras and with an Aghanim’s down the road in mind, but he wasn’t, because he was simply outclassed by the likes of Mars and Centaur Warrunner.
Sven doesn’t work now, even in a meta where Echo Sabre is one of the best items in the game and can be upgraded into a pretty powerful initiation and even DPS tool. This meta, as discussed previously, favors scaling, and Sven does farm incredibly fast, but he is still nowhere to be seen.
The hero can’t boast two lives, something that allows Wraith King to be effective and deals with kiting in a rather crude fashion. The hero doesn’t have access to innate spell immunity like Lifestealer and he also doesn’t have a gap-closer like Slark does, unless he purchases a rather expensive non-DPS item.
On top of it all, Sven doesn’t really fight well without his ultimate, and that is on a pretty long cooldown, comparable to the one on Terrorblade. While the latter also makes the hero ranged and solves most problems with actually dealing damage, Sven’s ultimate just makes him slightly tankier, to get kited for longer, and that’s about it.
We feel like the hero can’t be returned to the meta with quantitative upgrades alone, because of all the factors above. He needs a qualitative change: something that helps him actually deal damage in fights. It can be a status resistance on one of his abilities, it can be a reduced cooldown on Storm Hammer with Aghanim’s without or in addition to the one on his talent, or it could be a rework on his ultimate, with a much higher uptime, to at least make him a high-risk — high-reward hero. One thing is certain: something has to be done about the hero.
Phantom Assassin
Still one of the most popular heroes in the game and still one of the least usable ones in the highest level bracket. PA wins less than 45% of her games in Divine+ and direly needs a buff. One that, ideally, doesn’t make her too overpowered in lower brackets at the same time.
These kind of buffs are typically the hardest to do well: the hero’s effectiveness must be increased, but in a way that mostly benefits high-level players. That, once again, means less straight-up buffs and more situational options.
PA has an innate gap-closer, a defensive option in Blur and even a way to disjoint some projectiles, but the hero really lacks consistency and any teamfight presence until after she gets her BKB, level twelve + at least one DPS item. That usually comes too late for her to make as high of an impact, as it is expected from a position one hero in the current meta.
Straight up stats upgrades are probably a no-go for the hero, since she does reasonably well in lower level pubs and making her all-around more powerful would lead to her being too much a nuisance for beginner players, which is not ideal. A creative solution is the only option.
One way to solve this conundrum would involve changing PA’s ultimate to have a smaller multiplier, but higher chance of proc. That would work really well in theory, since it will allow PA to be more confident when jumping on a hero.
She will be able to more reliably deal with a problematic disabler and maybe even skip the BKB as the second item. It wouldn’t make the hero much stronger in lower level pubs, but for high-level players who make better-informed decisions, it can lead to better planning. It will also strip the hero of her identity, which is a downside, yet a negligible one for most players.
Alternatively, the hero could get access to no cast-point Blur without an Aghanim’s. It will work great for mechanically stronger players and will fit well with the hero’s identity, but the actual effectiveness of such buff theoretically sounds a bit too situational, hence insufficient.
Perhaps the hero could use a buff on her talents and a return of her late-game potential through talent-scaling, but that, once again, might make her a bit too annoying to deal with. Alternatively, items that work well against PA might get a nerf, but that would potentially cascade in a whole lot of other balance issues. Phantom Assassin really needs a buff, and we hope Valve will be able to come up with a solution in the next patch, preferably the one, that doesn’t just make the hero simply stronger.
Leshrac
Leshrac is weird. Unlike the previous two heroes, he does better in higher-level pubs, but better doesn’t mean he does well. The hero really suffers from enemy BKB timings, from his own squishiness and poor laning stage, if you go the most efficient DPS and push build. However, all of these problems could be solved with straight-up stats upgrades. That would be boring, though, wouldn’t it?
Lightning strike could really use some love, that’s for certain. Right now this spell is taken in one situation only: you need a way to contest the ranged creep in the middle lane in an unfavorable matchup. That’s it, that’s all this spell does and is usually forgotten afterward.
Very few people know or remember, but our beautiful flower, N0tail, was once a HoN player and Leshrac was one of his signature characters. The hero was more or less the same in HoN, with one key difference: his third spell was a single target spell, that would pull everyone in an AoE towards the initial target while dealing damage.
We are not suggesting Dota straight-up copies a mechanic from one of its numerous clones of ever-decreasing quality, but the overall idea of having some extra utility on Lightning Storm is definitely good. It does have a slow, which was introduced in 6.81, but it is clearly not enough, at least not with current values.
We really hope Valve won’t go for a boring +2 Armor or something along those lines on the hero to get him back into the meta and instead will make the hero more skill-intensive and more interesting to play. In a game with so much mobility and flashiness Leshrac doesn’t only feel weak to play, but is also rather unsatisfying.
Leave your thoughts on how you would buff these heroes in the comment section below. Are there any other heroes you would personally like to see buffed or reworked in the next patch?
From my stand point, the bottom 2 seems need an impactful aghanim. And that provided if my PA could finish her desolator for 35 minutes
think i’m qualified to make a comment on how sven went to the shitters. I’m probably the only guy still spamming sven in high tier mmr (well at least all the way in immortal ranks). His biggest issue is simply that he got too many nerfs when they change his abilities in the past that never got reverted. First happened when they made God’s strength give additional STR. Valve subsequently nerfed the ultimate’s scaling from 200 to 160% and even made his BAT increase from 1.7 to 1.8. The scaling change wasn too big an issue at that point since he still had great str gain.
However, came 7.20 and stats started affecting more than HP and sven was one of those that got hit with STR gain nerfs. This was the midas echo era.
I think in this same period, his warcry also got changed to give HP shield to try to compensate, but that was too good and got him several more nerfs to his other abilities like Storm Hammer, and even an increased cooldown to God Strength's to 110sec.
The problem is that as they revert him back to the old warcry(but without any MS gain to teammates), all the nerfs didn’t get undone and heavily impacted his performance as a carry. His lower default str stat and way slower BAT made him subpar as a hitter when GS is down despite his skill set built being mainly built for physical attacks.
Even his cleave was nerfed big time when the mechanics of cleave got changed. This part was totally uncalled for mostly, since everyone else has major increases to cleave percentages to compensate for the cleave not being pure but Sven only had an increase from 70% to 90%. Let’s put it in perspective: Battlefury went from a 40% to 70% on heroes today and Kunkka got a 1.5X increase to his cleave. It took away his uniqueness as a cleave hero as anyone could have battle fury and have almost as close an impact to Sven without needing to suffer from a reliance on a long CD ult to do damage. That’s why nobody in high tier even considers sven anymore even when illusion or zoo heroes were rampant the last 2-3 patches.
I acknowledge that Sven’s still a threat when Godstrength is up though, which is why his win rate in low MMR is still okay at 50% or so. I myself also try to capitalize on GS up times to gain advantages but it gets harder in the higher tiers.
you can f*** right off with a buff to pa, nightmare hero on low level pubs. It really is no fun playing support, shutting her down and then come minute 30 getting one shotted thanks not to skill, or abilitiy, but random op damage. Game isn't all about divine bracket you know
I acknowledged the problem with PA in lower level brackets (still <50% winrate, but can be really frustrating to lose against). Hence I personally would really like to see some creative buff to the hero, rather than a straight-up upgrade. Making the hero more consistent, but with a smaller crit multiplier sounds like a good idea, honestly. Less frustration when playing with/against PA and more usability in higher level pubs.
You cant balance a hero for both high skill and low skill pubs. Heroes that dont require a lot of mechanical skill tend to do poorly in low skill, while those that require a lot more practice and intelligence will do well in high skill. If you dont like, quit dota.
@CY in total agreement on nearly all points.
40 to 70 percent is a 75% increase.
70 to 90 percent is a 28% increase.
Someone on Reddit proposed a rework for his ultimate that was along the lines of much much shorter CD (something like 24/18/12) but much much lower duration (3s or something) and have Aghanims increase duration by a bit.
Would allow him to actually use it to farm and not feel fucked over.
Would also allow for some nice low HP plays somewhat similar to a longer CD armlet toggle.
Edit: the man also really needs BAT 1.65-7
I have a balance suggestion for pa, remove from the game so it will be completely balanced.
One reason Sven is weak is that battlefury is so good right now - which makes his passive nearly worthless.
Honestly just nerf the crit numbers from 200/325/450% to 200/275/350 and buff the ratio to maybe 20%. There's no reason for her to have 550% at 25 and 450% is bad enough to deal with BEFORE 25. The issue is honestly the consistency but you can't make her more consistent without slamming the numbers. Cause right now you jump in and most of the time PA just chokes and doesn't get a single crit in 5+ hits and fucking dies or she crits someone 3 times in a row, instantly deleting them within the first 2 and chain bashes them even WITHOUT the Abyssal Blade's active. And there's basically no in between with these.
@HeyDota At what point do you POSSIBLY think you have a valid input in this as some 44% winrate plebeian with not even 200 games played?
Huskar also needs a buff or two he got nerfed pretty bad
huskar got really worse even without many direct nerfs.
sven has no timing that is even comparable to other carry timings
also buff ursa he's unplayable
When blur first got reworked it had an instant cast time, and because people were abusing it, just like MK players were abusing disjointing spells with mischief the ability got a cast time, It seems little but it played out really strong and needed that cast time.
notice 95% of people hating on PA are mostly archon or lower. their brains are too small to deal with her
Absolutely nothing wrong with playing Dota casually, though, and, IMO, our own arrogance and elitism towards newer players is what led to Dota's lack of growth in the last couple of years. Balancing the game around the professional scene is a correct approach, but it doesn't have to come at the expense of 80%+ of the playerbase, hence creative solutions are typically needed when it comes to nerfs/buffs.
So yeah, #adoptaherald. If we can keep Dota alive and well for another three-four years, we might get to a point where kids of original Dota players are following in their parents' footsteps, like it happened in SC2 and CS. So let's stay positive and welcoming to everyone?
@mohyar lmao buff ursa u say????
@kawaiisocks i dont think you can compare D2 to CS.
1. they use different variables in how people rank up, in dota no matter how good you play, if you lost, you lose mmr. while if you lost in CS, your performance still matters in not getting deranked. this also means smurfs will rank up faster, unlike in dota.
2. CS is a "simple" game. the difference between CT and T is just how you position yourself to plant/ prevent the bomb (ofc theres the economy, but dota has those as well) . while in dota right now you have outposts, roshan, and runes which counts as additional "forced objective" which you have to check every few minutes, its like a chore more than a game and i understand if newcomers are overwhelmed by those features
Agree, just make PA more skill. Maybe make his ultimate active to crit or something.
I spam Sven and he is my fav hero. I can resonate with this article big time. Nothing is more satisfying than wiping out 3 heros in 2 hits.
That being said his warcry needs to last longer and give him more speed so he can gank better. His top skill tree should still offer +40 STR.
Long live Sven.
Need buff pudge
I would like to see buff io, because he can ONLY HEAL
But none for Mars with his 45% winrate ? :D
Only carry deserves a buff ? I hope not.
Id love to see a leshrac ability change
It's all about matchup. PA is broken in some scenarios. but vs certain heroes, she is shit..
Maybe also rework OmniKnight? He is kinda is weird position, where he doesn't contribute much as support and too greedy for offlaner. Yeah he's a good counter for zoo meta but most of time sup OmniKnight will be picked first and opponent will avoid picking Lycan.
sven is so bad , do you know why? jugr has spell imune and amazing ulti and enemy cant kite you , ls spell imune and slow , wk dies twice , anti mage jumps in , pa jumps in , spectre ulti and joins u, chaos has 4 sec stun and blink.
do you know how to make sven back?
warcry can be cats while you are disabled and removes negative things on you (like lc)
gods strng gives sven dmg + attack speed or dmg + magic resis or dmg + 15% bash chance __ no need gives him hp.
great cleaves except cleave gives sven echo sabre effect, and attack dmg or atack speed.
warcry passively gives sven armor and when you cats it , it reduces nearby enemies armor.
one of the above changes will be good
Techies
PA is easy as long as you finish the game early or you drag it late so that you have mutliple ways of disabling her before bkb (hex m stuff)
God's strength needs a rework for sure. Damage plus Attack speed maybe.... or increased status resistance like Ursa or maybe like double attacks....something to make him work and get him online at the correct timing.
I am saying this out of my a** but I think the reason PA is ok in lower brackets is because even 3k MMR players do not necessarily itemize correctly. MKB and Silver edge becoming more accessible and no longer niche items are not good news for PA. Especially so when players start itemizing correctly
And as you mentioned in the article, her ulti is so unreliable. If Slack's argument about windrunner holds ground, PA is even far more unreliable than WR is. You can't control when your Q is going to bash/crit, while you can still do some masterful shackles. Her ult needs a major rework away from its current hail mary nature. Coup de Grace means finishing blow so maybe a stack based passive that gives guaranteed high crit every few attacks on the same target like jingu?
tbh the only hero that needs a SHIT load of buff for the next patch i LS, the weakest hero in the entire game, litteraly no ability to deal
any damage from mid to late game, no, if you dont believe me just go try for your selves, i regreted it every single time i picked him into a hero like jug, but then again the only positive thing this hero have is his ability to become immune to magic, which got kicked in the balls after the previous changes to spell immunity in 7.23, just pick a hero like undying against him in lane and he is litteraly garbage. two big buff he needs are; 1st his old feast (which is considered a fucking buff lmao) 2nd; to get something per each level that he upgrades his Rage and Open wound skills, except for duration and cast range =)), and last but not least tbh a fucking rework to his aghanim applied to his Rage instead of his DOGSHIT ultimate!!!
PA could get a rework on his blink. They can remove the attack speed and give her cleave for some seconds. That could make more reliable and not that powerfull in late game
damn i admire @CY who spams Sven like an absolute lunatic and actually getting to immortal with it. Well played my dude.
Again BULLSHIT !!!!
PA is able to dodge most spell with blur and ALL RIGHTCLICKS despite hugging the enemy hero.
She is One of the few that CAN BLINK DODGE ON ALLIES!!!!
On top of all that she got the abillity to one shot a cm a wd, any fucking support on 1200 RANGE 200 LONGER THAN BLINK !!!!!
ALL YOU SEEM TO WANT IS BUFFING NOOB SHIT HEROES SO NOOBS CAN CLIMB!!!
Leshrac atleast require skill!
And with Sven the requirement is PUSH AND END DONT AFK FARMITASKA FOR 2 MILLION NOOB MINUTES!
I completely agree with @Liberator. When you look at Ls's abillities at first, you think how great he is. Innate spell immunity, lifesteal, attack speed, slow and a unique ulti on top of that seems pretty nice and all rounded for a carry hero. However, when it comes to practice, the only thing he has and provides in teamfights is "sustain" , like he is a literal meatbag that only stays alive for a long time in 1v1 situations.he provides no damage and he has a poor amount of armor which makes him pretty bad vs agi heroes.
To wrap it up, i think the hero is in a bad place and i would love to see him get his old passive back, and or at least get some sort of damage. The worst part about this hero, afterall, is his aghs. It really,really needs a change.the hero is still good vs strength carries which we rarely have any, but in other situations he is just bad.
big sven picker here. sven can still work, definitly, but i agree that he feel a bit lackluster. i would argue that just a bigger aoe on his cleave and like 20/30 more second of duration (or 30 second of cooldown removed) and he would feel way better. but reducing damage would absolutely kill him, as he isn't dealing that much in the later stage of the game
simply giving him more attack range, a bit like mk or some flat ms could also help him greatly
also, ags have an issue: if you build it, you can't stun without comiting super hard, making it toggleable would be way better.
Ursa needs a buff? Dude come on.
I agree that Sven was nerfed too much, but he farmes super fast and his laning is very good. He has high base dmg and HP, great lane sustain overall. But 1 thing would change him for the better ...... Projectile speed ! Yes, his projectile is way too slow and it gives so much time to react that its super easy to deal with.
I know he's not the lowest-WR hero but Tide feels so underwhelming right now. The hero needs some kind of creative buff IMO -- something that wouldn't lead to him being completely broken because he has Ravage and something else of use.
where's the OD
Sven has 50% wr and is fine, doesnt need a buff at all. He used to be in every game its only fair hes average.
Tide can bring back his old passive of splash...
LS is just bad. the nerf that killed him was feast giving attack speed instead of dealing bonus damage
Lul, the only thing need a buff is mars. His 1st is so hard to used, his god's rebuke is the worse version of earthshaker 2nd, his 3rd absolutely gives nothing on late game. And his ulti is just memeable, easily countered by escape skill and bkb. His ulti is just stronger version of disruptor 3rd skill. It supposed to give damage inside the arean of mars get buff when inside the arena
The best thing i consider to buff him are like this
Spear of mars
-decrease cd of spear of mars from 14 scd into 14/13/12/11
-now applies slow by 30/35/40/45% when enemy doesnt get impaled (same duration)
God's rebuke
-Increase god's rebuke damage from 150/190/230/270 into 150/200/250/300
or
-Give mars hp by 20% of mars rebuke damage for every enemies hit (This make his 2nd more rewarding when hit multiple enemies, just like es and grimstroke did)
Bulwark
-Passively increase hp regen by 3/4/5/6
-When mars succesfully block attack damage 5 times by using bulwark, amplify his hp regen by 3x times (10 scd duration)
or
-Apllies instant god's rebuke when mars succesfully block 600 damage using bulwark (20 scd duration)
Arena of blood
-Now leash the enemy for 2 scd inside the arena
-Increase mars hp regen and attack damage by 20/30/40 inside the arena
-Deals 20/35/50 damage per second inside the arena (It supposed to gives burn damage because he created army of hell duh)
Your TI9 predict sucks
@Illuminati
You are the type of guy that will say that Chen is useless, just because you cant play it.
Lesrac el stun debería ser debajo de el sin punto objetivo... El rayo como pasiva rebotando de la misma manera.. la última sea daño físico y se convine con su segunda ... Un héroe q necesita mana para hacer daño físico... Geniiial
Para PA su última sea activa a mayor distancia de lanzar su daga ... Si la daga viaja hasta el obetivo por más distancia aumenta su chance de crítico... Geniiial...y Oracle q no le devuelvan la vida ... Prefiero que se la desgaste al enemigo a cambio de su mana...pero si tira última no hace efecto en contra...
фантомка худший герой в доте 2!!! Вот например против неё купить силвер или мкб и всё, фантомка сосёт хуй! Я ебал доту за её кончанный баланс, фантомку слишком обоссали!