6.84 Drow Ranger

So, now that TI5 has concluded, I was looking at the stat books for which heroes got picked however many times, of course Lina, Leshrac, Dazzle and heroes of the like are at the top, but towards the bottom sits our beloved blue-skinned archer, Miss Traxex, a.k.a. Drow Ranger. Now the reason why I'm focusing on her is not because of her noticable... er... features. Rather, it's because of the 2 matches in the main event she was picked in, one of them was the biggest upset of the whole event, where Virtus.Pro bounced Team Secret out of the tournament.

Now, of course Virtus.Pro was running the 'ol Visage+ Drow Ranger pocket strat, but we want her to be a self-sufficient woman! How can we make Drow Ranger viable in this aggressive meta of 6.84? Rush a Hand of Midas as a safelane carry to accelerate the farming process? Put her on the midlane to get her quick levels to allow her a bigger early game impact?

What's the best course of action to make Drow Ranger feasible in 6.84?

Well lets look at her weaknesses:

- Squishy
- Damage Disabled At Melee Range
- No Creep Clearing Skills / Farming Skills
- No Escape or Mobility

Now lets look at some popular heroes in this meta:

- Gyrocopter
- Queen of Pain
- Clockwerk
- Leshrac
- Phantom Lancer

These heroes are in almost every game. What are these heroes good at?

- Killing Squishies with Burst
- Getting in Your Face at Melee Range
- Farming / Creep Clearing for Farm
- Killing off Low Mobility Heroes

So in other words, she is just shut down by the meta. She can't move around the map, she can't farm as well as the other carries, she can't deal with burst.

How do we counteract these weaknesses?

1 - Hand of Midas
2 - Blink Dagger / Shadow Blade
3 - Black King Bar
4 - Mjollnir / Maelstrom
5 - Boots of Travel
6 - Assault Cuirass


That would be my ideal six-slotted Drow, it tanks her up, gives hero mobility, gives hero lots of attack speed, gives her a farming tool which is better with attack speed. It doesn't need more damage, her ultimate gives her enough. Consider grabbing Glimmer Cape instead of blink/SB. Of course buy some early game items like Aquila and treads first.

Use Drow Ranger as a bait carry. Your opponents will spend picks and precious smokes to shut down this Drow, while your actual carry is farming away.

Alternatively you just build mass Agi items and use her Aura to end games by 30 minutes due to the fact everyone of your heroes hits like a truck. It's basically an all in strat in most cases.

But tbh that's the only reason I think Drow is ever truly viable, because her Aura is a crazy good ability, just the rest of her skill set is less so.

That's the reason you see her in combination with Visage, because the synergy between Aura and the Birds is too good. Or was too good, now it's acceptably good.

As for making her particularly viable right now; I think it's either all in or bust with the strat, or you just wait for a meta shift. Since as someone rightfully pointed out, it's not a favourable meta for her. I'd say without the Visage nerf she would probably be pretty common-place still as part of the strat, but Icefrog put a stop to that.

I think making her viable if you really really want her right now is probably like Manta Style into Satanic/ Eye of Skadi, just so you have some HP, without compromising your Aura.

I've been learning Drow Ranger a bit better, and I think I may have some insight.

Drow hits her timing at about the time she has 2 items and a Daedalus. She farms as fast as Troll Warlord or Juggernaut, but not as fast as Leshrac. This fits the current meta quite well, as she is actually good and able to fight at all stages of the game, yet can farm between fights.

Basically, health. You need health. With Lina and Queen of Pain's dominance on the meta, pure damage that goes through BKB is in no short supply. Black King Bar won't cut it.

Because of Marksmanship, Drow will always have high damage output as long as she has levels. Deadalus will always be the most efficient way to increase it, but you can't DPS if you're dead, and you'll always be the one they're trying to focus down. Even with BKB, one Aghanim's Scepter Laguna Blade, and not only are you dead, but the fight is lost. If you're the team's main source of damage, and you get blown up before you can do anything, you can't win the fight.

STR and AGI do a lot on drow, because of the fact that she has her aura, and she needs the HP. Sange and Yasha, I think, is the right choice. Someone on your team needs to pick up a Mekanism too, as not only does it fit the early fight playstyle, but it gives HP and armor, which Drow Ranger desperately needs. She has zero starting armor (literally), and her AGI growth is ****. The AGI that comes from Marksmanship doesn't exactly work for armor, either. She needs Armor and HP. You might actually need to buy a Mekanism.



apaz's Experimental Drow Build

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Cost: 10450 gold The build is highly experimental, and I'm still working on it. Maybe try it. Don't flame me because the build is weird and doesn't make sense. Trust me, I know.

Wraith Band + Wraith Band + Ring of Aquila + Power Treads + Town Portal Scroll + Morbid Mask

Stack agility.

Buy Ethereal Blade. Since the damage is really huge with her ult. You can also orb-walk with Frost Arrows through ethereal form.

I build an unconventional Drow Ranger when I play her..

After the early Ring of Aquila and Power Treads, I rush the Daedalus. My reasoning is that, at level 11, Drow hits a huge power spike with level 2 Marksmanship, and the agility bonus from that is plenty to make your right clicks hurt.

With an early Daedalus before the enemy team has built up armour (it's usually a while before ACs and support Meks start to arrive), I feel that Drow can be a mid game powerhouse.

The reason I don't build agility on her is that, being the squishy carry that she is, positioning is super important. The moment you get focused, you're as good as dead. The trick to playing Drow is to make sure you can keep your distance. Under this premise, the agility bonus from Marksmanship is plenty damage.

My item progression on her is: Wraith Band --> Power Treads --> Ring of Aquila --> (optional) Morbid Mask --> Daedalus --> Helm of the Dominator --> Butterfly --> Satanic.

EDIT:: Along the lines of discussing Drow, I feel that Marksmanship needs a rework. It makes Drow useless to a large extent when there are enemy heroes around her (which is very common in teamfights). My suggested rework would be for Marksmanship to provide a fixed 20/40/60 bonus to agility, regardless of heroes near her or not.

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