My personal thoughts on every hero in the game.
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 3:36 pm
Admiral
Kunkka is pretty good right now. His sword makes him one of the best melee mid in the game and with the inflated xp in em he gets to level it up faster, which is a real threat. His boat has been getting buffed recently and it's a really good teamfight ulti if you have a setup. You don't need too much hp on this guy because his str growth is high, and the low mana cost of his spells permits you to solve that with only a bottle. He's solid.
Alchemis
The recent change to his ult forces you to build alch a bit differently. Now that it doesn't gives hp anymore, it's pretty important to get at least 1 hp item early on, otherwise you'll be susceptible to bursts. On the other side, with some hp he's even tankier, and his other spells are still damn good. Extreme farm rate with acid and passive and his stun is still amazing.
Ancient Apparition
Really underused hero in pubs. He suffers from poor hp and a lack of escape mechanism, he's pretty fragile in that sense. His spells aren't really that good on their own but they have strong synergy between them and with other spells making them pretty good. His ult, however, is really powerful, especially against a lifesteal or healing heavy lineup.
Anti Mage
Anti Mage is a weak carry right now. His str is just way to low for a melee carry hero and outside of manaburn he has nothing to boost his dps other than his BAT. He contributes nothing in lane because he has 2 passives and a mobility spell, and his ult won't deals too much damage early on. His magic resis passive is a decent passive, but it's also really boring and I'd like to see it changed for something better.
Arc Warden
Arc Warden is the most broken hero in the game right now. Flux is a disgustingly good slow; it deals huge damage, at a very good cast range and it slows for a huge amount. Your allies will not have the presence of mind to stick to you and you will take lots of damage. Sticking to creep will fuck you up because arc can then wraith behind you and you'll die. About wraith, it also has a huge cast range (1000 I believe), a low cd, a 50 mana cost (Wtf) and deals 300 damage at lvl 4. You can stack something like 15 of them alone, and with your ult it's much more than that. They're a better fb skill than land mines and you can used them as pseudo wards mid to make you really hard to gank. They also hit invis, for some reasons. His field is omni's ult, while not being an ulti and you can use it twice. Oh and you get 80 as from this too. His ult is really the dealbreaker however. Take all these broken skills and now you have them twice. Midas gives you stupid good farm. Dagon and ethereal makes you a nuking monster, and the classic necro/manta along with bot gives you some of the best splitpush in the game and also kills buildings really fast. Fortunately, Arc does take a bit of skill to use, which is why he's not picked too often in pubs.
Axe
Axe is really popular in pubs and there's reasons for that. With all the buffs to his spin and base regen he can cut easily and if you fuck up in your lane picks you're essentially screwed. With all the money he'll get, he can acquire his dagger really early and then he's a real threat to your carries because they'll be with creeps constantly. He scales really well mid game and not that well late game because his passive doesn't deal much damage then. Carries hero with lots of lifesteal and/or armor will beat him with decent farm. He's still really good though, and snowballs extremely fast.
Bane Elemental
Bane, like doom, counters pretty much everyone with his spellkit. He's a really good pick if you have to take out a specific hero in a teamfight. He's also a strong mid. Brain sap hits hard and heals you, giving bane good trades. Enfeeble will make the other hero unable to last hit and nightmare setups for ganks perfectly. He obviously has good solo killing potential with his ult and brain sap as a finisher.
Batrider
Everyone know what bat does and how he does it. He's really good at killing squishy mids and his ult is an amazing disable if you want to pick off someone before a teamfight. He's somewhat hard to use well, so you don't see him often, but he's good in any team lineup really.
Beastmaster
Really underused in pubs. He plays more like a support hero with a dash of carry than a carry. His ult is good at counter- initiating a teamfight because of its long range. His bird is a really good scouting tool and should be used more. His passive aura is a good buff for carry heavy teams, kinda like venge's. He's also one the best necro 3 users in the game. I'd like to see him played more.
Bloodseeker
It's not easy to determine whether bs is a good hero or not. Often I have heard people saying he's a really trashy hero, but will all these recent buffs I think he's become quite good. His high base damage combined with a quelling blade and his passive makes it difficult to harass him out of lane because he has a lot of sustain. The fact that thirst is now global makes him pretty scary if there's another global hero on his team, especially someone like bara or furion. It also makes him the number 1 counter to Slark, and considering how good and popular that hero is, this fact is nothing to scoff at. His ultimate, Rupture, is somewhat weak at lvl 1, pretty good at lvl 2 and incredible at its final level. All of his skills become significantly better with levels, which leads me to think he's more level dependent and less farm dependent compared to other carries.
Bone Fletcher
3 of clinkz's skills gives him a notable boost in dps, which is why I think rushing damage item on him is not as effective because his damage is already so high it won't really matter until the late game. His spells are also all actives and he has no disables, which is why orchid is a really common pickup. However, I think that going more disable after orchid is an interesting build that few go. Getting sheep after orchid is very useful if you're up against heroes which requires harder disables to kill, and makes clinkz way scarier in teamfights. It's also very good if your opponents start grouping up instead of soloing; you can effectively sheep a hero and silence another, then kill target your target and run away without them being able to do much if this is executed well. Finally, clinkz is probably one the better carries at backdooring, because the damage of his arrows works vs buildings and his invis provides a safe escape after the deed is done.
Bounty Hunter
Another invis hero, Bh works in a fashion similar to clinkz. I think Bh is better played as some sort of support carry than a true carry. Unlike most other invis heroes, who all have other means to escape (weaver also has his ult, clinkz ult gives him hp, riki has cloud and blink, Na has a stun and carapace,etc) Gondar only has his invis and it doesn't even boost his ms, making him very vulnerable to any ganks with dust. His ultimate, however, is excellent if you have another ganking carry who needs lots of gold. Pairing up a Gondar with a lc or a carry with lothar/blink can lead to very good results. If you do play him as a true carry, however, it's important to realize that attack speed is not very good on him since he's supposed to kill heroes in only a few hits, like kunkka, building straight damage is the way to go.
Bristleback
Bristle is quite simply one of the tankiest hero in the game if he puts his passive to good use. More than any other hero, Bristle requires the player to have good movement and juking skills because the whole purpose of the hero is to run around while spamming his skills and to do that for as long as possible. With an heart and a radiance, he becomes very difficult to kill. However, it's also possible to build him as a rightclick carry using the bonus damage from his ult and the minus armor from goo as his mains damage tool. I don't like this build too much because doing mostly autoattacks with him does not synergize with his passive and you will be beaten by true carries in 1 on 1 situations.
Broodmother
I'm pretty confident Brood is one of the worst hero in the game right now. Her nuke is pretty good, but her spiders reward the player with a lot of gold if they kill them and they don't even deals that much damage anyway. Web is probably the worst invis in the game because it reveals exactly where she is at, which is the total opposite of what invisibility is supposed to do. Her passive and ult are pretty good by themselves, but when you take into account that brood has low stats gain, low base damage, and not a lot of hp, and also that she is no other disables than a passive slow on a melee hero, they become really mediocre. Her only place is in a heavy pushing lineup that tries to take a lots of towers early, because after that she does not scale well at all.
Butcher
There's not a whole lot to say about pudge. Everyone knows him and what he does, it's all about the player's skill and his ability to move around the map securing kills for his team and creating safe space for his team. Dagger is very good on him and should be gotten more often, but doing a dagger + hook combo is not easy because of the delay on hook. He scales pretty well late game because being able to move an opposing hero 1200 units away from his team and into your loving arms is always useful, and aghanims makes his ult deals a crap ton of damage.
Centaur Warchief
Cent is well known for having the highest str growth in the game (I think) and usually ending up with a lot of hp. However, many forget that simply stacking hp is not as effective as having hp AND armor, which is why shivas is a great pickup on him, along with a hood for similar reasons and if the opposing team has many nukers. Blink is core on him and should be one of the first item gotten, giving him solid iniation and a way to chase down heroes. One last thing: His passive works vs towers, so make sure to always have them attack you if you have good regen, you will wear them very quickly especially if you have a heart.
I'll make sure to post atleast 6-7 every 2-3 days or so.
Kunkka is pretty good right now. His sword makes him one of the best melee mid in the game and with the inflated xp in em he gets to level it up faster, which is a real threat. His boat has been getting buffed recently and it's a really good teamfight ulti if you have a setup. You don't need too much hp on this guy because his str growth is high, and the low mana cost of his spells permits you to solve that with only a bottle. He's solid.
Alchemis
The recent change to his ult forces you to build alch a bit differently. Now that it doesn't gives hp anymore, it's pretty important to get at least 1 hp item early on, otherwise you'll be susceptible to bursts. On the other side, with some hp he's even tankier, and his other spells are still damn good. Extreme farm rate with acid and passive and his stun is still amazing.
Ancient Apparition
Really underused hero in pubs. He suffers from poor hp and a lack of escape mechanism, he's pretty fragile in that sense. His spells aren't really that good on their own but they have strong synergy between them and with other spells making them pretty good. His ult, however, is really powerful, especially against a lifesteal or healing heavy lineup.
Anti Mage
Anti Mage is a weak carry right now. His str is just way to low for a melee carry hero and outside of manaburn he has nothing to boost his dps other than his BAT. He contributes nothing in lane because he has 2 passives and a mobility spell, and his ult won't deals too much damage early on. His magic resis passive is a decent passive, but it's also really boring and I'd like to see it changed for something better.
Arc Warden
Arc Warden is the most broken hero in the game right now. Flux is a disgustingly good slow; it deals huge damage, at a very good cast range and it slows for a huge amount. Your allies will not have the presence of mind to stick to you and you will take lots of damage. Sticking to creep will fuck you up because arc can then wraith behind you and you'll die. About wraith, it also has a huge cast range (1000 I believe), a low cd, a 50 mana cost (Wtf) and deals 300 damage at lvl 4. You can stack something like 15 of them alone, and with your ult it's much more than that. They're a better fb skill than land mines and you can used them as pseudo wards mid to make you really hard to gank. They also hit invis, for some reasons. His field is omni's ult, while not being an ulti and you can use it twice. Oh and you get 80 as from this too. His ult is really the dealbreaker however. Take all these broken skills and now you have them twice. Midas gives you stupid good farm. Dagon and ethereal makes you a nuking monster, and the classic necro/manta along with bot gives you some of the best splitpush in the game and also kills buildings really fast. Fortunately, Arc does take a bit of skill to use, which is why he's not picked too often in pubs.
Axe
Axe is really popular in pubs and there's reasons for that. With all the buffs to his spin and base regen he can cut easily and if you fuck up in your lane picks you're essentially screwed. With all the money he'll get, he can acquire his dagger really early and then he's a real threat to your carries because they'll be with creeps constantly. He scales really well mid game and not that well late game because his passive doesn't deal much damage then. Carries hero with lots of lifesteal and/or armor will beat him with decent farm. He's still really good though, and snowballs extremely fast.
Bane Elemental
Bane, like doom, counters pretty much everyone with his spellkit. He's a really good pick if you have to take out a specific hero in a teamfight. He's also a strong mid. Brain sap hits hard and heals you, giving bane good trades. Enfeeble will make the other hero unable to last hit and nightmare setups for ganks perfectly. He obviously has good solo killing potential with his ult and brain sap as a finisher.
Batrider
Everyone know what bat does and how he does it. He's really good at killing squishy mids and his ult is an amazing disable if you want to pick off someone before a teamfight. He's somewhat hard to use well, so you don't see him often, but he's good in any team lineup really.
Beastmaster
Really underused in pubs. He plays more like a support hero with a dash of carry than a carry. His ult is good at counter- initiating a teamfight because of its long range. His bird is a really good scouting tool and should be used more. His passive aura is a good buff for carry heavy teams, kinda like venge's. He's also one the best necro 3 users in the game. I'd like to see him played more.
Bloodseeker
It's not easy to determine whether bs is a good hero or not. Often I have heard people saying he's a really trashy hero, but will all these recent buffs I think he's become quite good. His high base damage combined with a quelling blade and his passive makes it difficult to harass him out of lane because he has a lot of sustain. The fact that thirst is now global makes him pretty scary if there's another global hero on his team, especially someone like bara or furion. It also makes him the number 1 counter to Slark, and considering how good and popular that hero is, this fact is nothing to scoff at. His ultimate, Rupture, is somewhat weak at lvl 1, pretty good at lvl 2 and incredible at its final level. All of his skills become significantly better with levels, which leads me to think he's more level dependent and less farm dependent compared to other carries.
Bone Fletcher
3 of clinkz's skills gives him a notable boost in dps, which is why I think rushing damage item on him is not as effective because his damage is already so high it won't really matter until the late game. His spells are also all actives and he has no disables, which is why orchid is a really common pickup. However, I think that going more disable after orchid is an interesting build that few go. Getting sheep after orchid is very useful if you're up against heroes which requires harder disables to kill, and makes clinkz way scarier in teamfights. It's also very good if your opponents start grouping up instead of soloing; you can effectively sheep a hero and silence another, then kill target your target and run away without them being able to do much if this is executed well. Finally, clinkz is probably one the better carries at backdooring, because the damage of his arrows works vs buildings and his invis provides a safe escape after the deed is done.
Bounty Hunter
Another invis hero, Bh works in a fashion similar to clinkz. I think Bh is better played as some sort of support carry than a true carry. Unlike most other invis heroes, who all have other means to escape (weaver also has his ult, clinkz ult gives him hp, riki has cloud and blink, Na has a stun and carapace,etc) Gondar only has his invis and it doesn't even boost his ms, making him very vulnerable to any ganks with dust. His ultimate, however, is excellent if you have another ganking carry who needs lots of gold. Pairing up a Gondar with a lc or a carry with lothar/blink can lead to very good results. If you do play him as a true carry, however, it's important to realize that attack speed is not very good on him since he's supposed to kill heroes in only a few hits, like kunkka, building straight damage is the way to go.
Bristleback
Bristle is quite simply one of the tankiest hero in the game if he puts his passive to good use. More than any other hero, Bristle requires the player to have good movement and juking skills because the whole purpose of the hero is to run around while spamming his skills and to do that for as long as possible. With an heart and a radiance, he becomes very difficult to kill. However, it's also possible to build him as a rightclick carry using the bonus damage from his ult and the minus armor from goo as his mains damage tool. I don't like this build too much because doing mostly autoattacks with him does not synergize with his passive and you will be beaten by true carries in 1 on 1 situations.
Broodmother
I'm pretty confident Brood is one of the worst hero in the game right now. Her nuke is pretty good, but her spiders reward the player with a lot of gold if they kill them and they don't even deals that much damage anyway. Web is probably the worst invis in the game because it reveals exactly where she is at, which is the total opposite of what invisibility is supposed to do. Her passive and ult are pretty good by themselves, but when you take into account that brood has low stats gain, low base damage, and not a lot of hp, and also that she is no other disables than a passive slow on a melee hero, they become really mediocre. Her only place is in a heavy pushing lineup that tries to take a lots of towers early, because after that she does not scale well at all.
Butcher
There's not a whole lot to say about pudge. Everyone knows him and what he does, it's all about the player's skill and his ability to move around the map securing kills for his team and creating safe space for his team. Dagger is very good on him and should be gotten more often, but doing a dagger + hook combo is not easy because of the delay on hook. He scales pretty well late game because being able to move an opposing hero 1200 units away from his team and into your loving arms is always useful, and aghanims makes his ult deals a crap ton of damage.
Centaur Warchief
Cent is well known for having the highest str growth in the game (I think) and usually ending up with a lot of hp. However, many forget that simply stacking hp is not as effective as having hp AND armor, which is why shivas is a great pickup on him, along with a hood for similar reasons and if the opposing team has many nukers. Blink is core on him and should be one of the first item gotten, giving him solid iniation and a way to chase down heroes. One last thing: His passive works vs towers, so make sure to always have them attack you if you have good regen, you will wear them very quickly especially if you have a heart.
I'll make sure to post atleast 6-7 every 2-3 days or so.
