The 6.88 Discussion Thread

But I get your point, and think that making AW an int hero is actually a pretty cool idea.

Well yeah, Spec and Slark are some of the worst heroes you could get in ability draft. Their stats just suck all around. The only thing that makes them good is the ridiculous strength of their skills. Like a 3.5 second disable and a 8 second cooldown blink all in one, or the best passives in the game.
Weaver is another great example. Ever seen a Weaver in AD? He dies in half a second, it's actually pretty pathetic when you think about it.

As i said, Magnetic Field is **** now :0p, i would just let 1 skill point for utility maybe, its just too easy to counter

I think Arc Warden should farm heroes instead, just buy some sort of blink and gank with orchidl, if you want to farm then buy maelstorm

I totally forgot the Necromicon synergy, 4 minions + 1 Hero and semi-hero Criting is nothing to joke at.

Also i would add Silver Edge + Bloodthorn to the build of every carry, i am building this on Faceless Void and is just so good on him(I caught enemies with pants down, also break helps against tank passives)

People still play ability draft?

The skill was really nerfed into the dumpster for no reason. The evasion is almost useless right now, it should be replaced by something else like an armor bonus honestly.

Actually for me the field nerf is the main reason why support/utility AW is so bad. Far more than his farming speed really. It pretty much killed all the hero's potential as a support. Before you could use field to save allies and it was insanely strong. But now, Flux is the only skill that does anything on an AW that doesn't build damage, and even then it's purgeable so even that falls off super hard for the same reason orchid does.

Hello! I started to play Slark since I don't know why Lifestealer attacks really slooooow rigth now. My build usually looks like this:
Shadow Blade -> Echo Sabre -> Silver Edge -> Skull Basher -> Moonshard -> Butterfly -> Abyssal Blade. I have some questions since I'm not a great Slark player but I enjoy the hero and I want to get better with him:
* Should I consider Monkey King Bar instead of Abyssal Blade? I mean, AB gives 0 dmg while MKB gives a lot and it also gives AS.
* Should I consider Daedalus or maybe Bloodthorn? Are any of these items great in Slark?
* How about BKB? Is a must have item? I mean, Slark is really elusive but silences destroys you.

Lifestealer attacks slower now because they increased his base attack time in the latest patch. Essentially nerfing the 'damage only' builds for the hero.

Black King Bar is a must if they have a lot of strong AOE control. If there's only silences to worry about, you could get away with a Manta Style on the hero.

Personally, I love getting Bloodthorn on Slark as a fourth item after Silver Edge, Echo Sabre, Eye of Skadi. It gives you all the mana sustain you'll ever need and lets you pick off any hero without BKB or Manta in the late game with impunity.

Also, just in general, I feel you should get a Skadi on Slark. He's really stats poor.

Also, about Magnetic Field, does anyone not think it's a good pushing spell right now? +80 attack speed to everyone and guaranteed evasion from the tower, while making the enemy unable to harass you away for that time without making a commitment? The 20 second cooldown means it's got really good uptime too. Just spitballing here.

My short commentary:

Thanks for taking our advice on PA change Kyfoid.

Yep, that was my thought. Run Arc Warden as perhaps a mid, or even a #4, and combine him with Tiny or another heavy pusher. I see a lot of Terrorblade synergy, as the field ensures that you can't deal with him from range, you have to run at him through Skadi, Reflection and 2000 DPS. It turns him into this massive siege engine turret. Put that down at a tower, and even if they run away, RIP tower.

It is. That's the whole point of the skill.

Issue is, the skill lost all its versatility. The old field was a glyph when cast on towers. It was a Shallow Grave when cast on allies. And it was a pushing skill.

Now it's just a pushing skill.

The issue is, the way AW works, what he needs is something to *defend* against pushes.

Sure it still does something if you're playing from a huge advantage and you want to 5-man push. it's just, it's so useless from behind it's not even funny...like his other skills. AW has to be the worst comeback hero in the entire game.

And even if you're playing from ahead, AW brings absolutely nothing to a teamfight except...an attack speed buff? This really limits his potential as a mid in pushing lineups.