Where is Skywrath? [Core]

Okay. I'll be concise in my post here (Well as concise as is possible for a rambler like myself);

Glimmer Cape is no doubt the reason Skywrath Mage is an extremely niche hero in a meta he could otherwise find a semi-decent place in. I will concede that.

I still think core Skywrath Mage has other inherent issues in professional games relative to pubs that kept it from being a major thing even when the hero was at his prime. And I do think BKB's are one of those reasons, because competitive play has a tendancy to co-ordinate item pick-ups (As in you see core heroes get BKB's within a very similar time window and then take fights with multiple fresh BKB's, or you get a fresh round of items at least in pretty close unison). You say kiting BKB's works, but I don't think it's ever that simple in application as it is in theory so the item has some definite effect on the viability in the core role.

Core Skywrath Mage will be paired with heroes like LC and FV less, and more with support Naga Siren or other supports with similar lockdown because it's more efficient for the purpose of rotations.

And then again, not really needing levels past 6 or any for of item also impacts the odds it would be run as a competitive core. As well as Lina being just kinda better at most things as an equivilant core.

6.84 is less about heroes than the previous patcches and it's why I enjoy this patch a lot. The number of viable and played heroes is very high which makes the game condense to draft and play, not one or two dominating heroes.

You guys brought the Glimmer Cape OP topic up, but that doesn't stop Leshrac from being contested heavily in this meta. Could you guys expand on Skywrath Mage's problem?

Glimmer Cape is a counter to *single target* burst damage. Leshrac does far more than single target burst. He has AOE magic damage. AOE slow. AOE stun. And pushing ability. Glimmer only counters a very small part of Lesh.

On the other hand glimmer hard counters heroes who focus on heavy single target burst like Necrophos, Skywrath Mage, Tinker, Invoker, Pugna, shotgun Morphling...

Does it counter Invoker that much, given he's not a single target nuker? His only single target magical damage is Cold Snap given that Sun Strike is pure. The rest of it is AOE damage, and primarily controlling in nature.

Because I mean, there's bigger reasons as the why the hero is underwhelming now than Glimmer Cape.

And yeah, comparing Leshrac to Skywrath Mage is a really bad comparasons because the heroes are pretty contrasting. Lesh is a level and farm dependant AOE nuker and pusher, whilst Sky is an item independant single target burst damage dealer with minor aspects of control.

Like even if you Glimmer Cape one person, Lesh is still dealing crazy amounts of magic damage, and he can still force towers ect ect. Whereas Sky, well as hamster said once you throw your combo other than lobbing orbs your addition to a fight is basically done. Which means as he said one usage of Glimmer Cape mitigates like 70% of what the hero is meant to bring into team-fights.

I don't think Glimmer Cape broke Skywrath Mage. I think he is still a good hero. I'm just not sure if he is the best support to pick when your team needs heavy nuke damage, as Mystic Flare is especially after the nerf to the damage spread time a really hard spell to utilise to its maximum, while you have heroes like Lion that can reliably burst a hero down. Now he is not the go-to support he used to be during TI4. I think SWM is more picked for the instant-cast super long range and duration point target silence and the best harass in the game lvl 1.