6.84 Drafting Thread.

I think it's too early to talk about new drafting strategies, but still, I think Leshrac will rise in popularity; Winter Wyvern will probably become a semi-popular pick too, and Troll Warlord will still be on top of the list. I'm not sure about Juggernaut and especially Sniper, mostly because of the Mask of Madness nerfs, so they'll probably fall off the meta. Storm Spirit and Axe, on the other side, won't be forgotten.


Please no.

He can't disarm anymore, but now he can slow. Silencer's big weakness as a carry used to be the fact that he was INCREDIBLY easy to kite, with literally zero stun or slow whatsoever. Having a slow is extremely valuable on Silencer, both as a support and as a core.

And he was buffed a lot as a carry with the introduction of the moon shard. Since he can buy a very cost-efficient item that gives him 120 attack speed and his steroid Glaives of Wisdom increases his damage, his DPS potential was increased by a lot.

The lifesteal on him is OK but not great. It's not bad, it's just really meh in comparison to 120 attack speed. So octarine as a 5th item after sheep/moonshard/BKB/refresher, yeah why not but not as an early item.
Also if you follow Slahser's way he goes Shadow Blade to look for pickoffs, and shadow blade got buffed to scale into a late game item.

Also...I love the new Crystal Maiden. Literally permaslow, permastun and no cooldown ult. Ok maybe that's because I just played a game with Peppo where they fed us so hard that I got 7 min midas xD

By the way, Magic Wand is now OP. I mean seriously...this item is freaking broken. This buildup man, 2 branches and a circlet, NO RECIPE, and a net decrease in price and incease is stats. Now my starting build on literally any hero is Circlet + 2 Iron Branch + Tango + Healing Salve + Clarity. Build into wand and boots from the secret shop, no need for courier. The best starting build in the game :)

Bristleback belongs in every draft now.


I mean, holy ****.

With Octarine Core and Solar Crest he's just stupid.

The lifesteal, the damage stacks thanks to the low CD, the crazy armor reduction and armor bonuses he is stupid dangerous right now.

Higher hero gold value encourages earlier aggression, and he's got awesome early aggression.

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1439391174

My KD should be higher, riki was blinking and thieving a lot :P

But that doesn't matter because it's 6.84. I had a sick early game. I overextended a couple of times which got me killed, but it was still awesome. BB is actually a really, really scary pusher now. Octarine Core lets you build all your stacks so fast. The 6.83 buff to quill spray stacks helps you deal crazy damage. Clear creeps in an instant with quills and ult. Towers don't stand a chance either.

And *******, Solar Crest is one of my favorite items now. None of the downsides of medallion. Just upsides. So much fun to use.

But seriously, Bristleback is a bit too strong right now. As much as it pains me to say, Octarine Core has enabled AP carrying.

On Silencer:

Back then, he had no real guarantee. Not he has a guarantee slow and is much better at killing things.