You'll see Glimpses - 6.83 update

Introduction

Welcome to my guide to Disruptor, a great support who can give his team everthing they need to win. This guide is written from the point of view of someone who plays with a regular team of friends, for fun.

Disruptor is a ranged intelligence hero, and although he has a good attack, he can be squishy at the start, his damage output never keeps up with the carries and his abilities are useful and help other people get kills rather than being lethal on their own. Therefore he is best played as a hard support, meaning that you let everyone else get the gold! If you need to read more about what this means, I'd suggest reading this useful guide to being a hard support (thanks to Sando).

Disruptor is not the easiest hero to master, being somewhere in the middle of the difficulty range. You need to combo his skills with some timing required, and you need to be survive without much gold, and not feed. He is a very rewarding hero to play however, when you pull off a good ulti or Glimpse, your team will know you are doing your job properly.

The 6.83 update has been kind to Disruptor players

Glimpse mana cost rescaled from 160/130/100/70 to 100
Glimpse cooldown reduced from 65/50/35/20 to 60/46/32/18
Kinetic Field cooldown reduced from 14/13/12/11 to 13/12/11/10
Static Storm cooldown from 85 to 90/80/70

The biggest change is the lower cost of Glimpse, which was too expemsive to skill first before. This change is good enough to warrant changing the build order to pick up levels in Glimpse earlier.

Vital Statistics

Strength Agility Intelligence Base Damage Base Armour Movement Speed Attack Range Missile Speed Cast Duration

19 + 1.9 per level 15 + 1.4 per level 22 + 2.5 per level 49-53 1.1 300 600 1200 0.05 + 1 s

When to Pick

Reasons to pick Disruptor

Your team needs a support
Your team needs a decent Area Of Effect spell to control the enemy in teamfights
You want to ride a dinosaur
You have mainly melee heroes so far

Reasons to not pick Disruptor

You have lots of ranged squishy heroes already
The enemy have already picked Slark
Your team already has two supports
You play exclusively Leeroy Jenkins Style
Your team needs a mid hero

What Lane to go to

You can go to the safe lane or the offlane. You should normally expect to be supporting a carry to make sure they get their farm, and you can do this either on the safe lane or the offlane. Disruptor can harass well enough to keep the enemy back on either lane, you don't have to go to the safe lane. Disruptor can also work in a tri-lane so if you have a hero who is going to solo, that is fine too.

If nobody else picks a mid, or your team are two premade pairs and they ask you to go mid, repick if you still can. You'll do fine for a few levels if you go mid, but the extra gold and experience is so much better on a proper mid hero.

Skills

Thunder Strike

Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Target Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemies

Repeatedly strikes the targeted unit with lightning. Each strike damages nearby enemy units in a small radius.

Range: 800
Radius: 240
Duration: 6
Number of Strikes: 4
Damage Per Strike: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (Magic Damage)

Disruptor's charged coils occasionally overload, and a singed armor plate or tuft of fur is the enemy's result.

Mana Cost: 130 Cooldown Time: 16

Your main harassing skill early on, and a decent way to bring down people fleeing on low health all through. This fires off four times over 6 seconds, so affected enemies have time to pop their wand or take tangoes. The range is good, you don't have to expose yourself too much to land it on people and it is not too expensive in mana. Once you have some levels, you can spam this on the enemy at will, especially if you have Arcane Boots. This can get you first blood against people who come out too far too early. Late game, this will help you clear waves of creeps or camps of neutrals, defend your tower and catch up on farm, in between placing wards of course.

The negative to counter all these good things is that this spell causes splash damage in a small radius, so you can push the lane out if you keep casting this on an enemy hero who is farming in the middle of the creeps. You may enjoy the gold from the odd last hit, but don't spam it if you'll just end up way out by their tower too early.

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Glimpse

Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Target Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Heroes

Teleports the target hero back to where it was 4 seconds ago. Instantly kills illusions.

Range: 600 / 1000 / 1400 / 1800

Playing with electricity can have unexpected results.

Mana Cost: 100 Cooldown Time: 60 / 46 / 32 / 18

The most elegant and annoying spell in all of Dota! One of the most reliable ways to get a kill, not for you, but for your carry. Like a waiter serving up Champagne, you can deliver your enemies right to your team for fun and profit. There are other heroes who can shackle and root their enemies, and heroes who can swap place with their tragets, but nobody else can call their enemy back 1800 units. This has three times the range of most spells when you max it. This is huge. As of the 6.83 update, it's much cheaper to cast at low levels!

So, some examples. Prepare to be illuminated.

1. Glimpse on Naga Siren.

Play Video

This is the classic glimpse into an angry mob. There was a teamfight, somebody is running away to safety, you spy them and send them back to where they were 4 seconds ago, which is now full of bad things for them. Whenever a teamfight breaks up and you are chasing, as long as you have vision, you can get a pickoff on someone with low health for your team like this. By the way, in the replay, the animation for the spell does not appear fully. In game you see a little silver ball travel back to where the enemy is being brought back to.

2. Glimpse on Sven.

Play Video

This is the other great point to bring people back to: The Tower. If someone dives a tower, they might be pro enough to know they have the health to do it and they might know just when and where to run to. But you can make them do it all over again. This is especially useful for invisible heroes who have decloaked to attack and are about to fade out again. Bring them back to a tower or a ward.

3. Glimpse on Sven again

Play Video

Just another straight up 'come back to me, we're not done yet'.

4. Long Glimpse

Play Video

Here is a Glimpse to show kind of range you have, you can cast this on people who are miles away from you, and contribute to fights that you are able to see, even if you are too late to arrive in person.

5. Glimpse back to Delayed Spell

Play Video

This is a favourite. If someone else on your team has a delayed action spell and you can see it is going to miss, can you turn that into a hit with your amazing Ninja Glimpse skills? Ghost Ship is perfect for this. Even if all you need the Glimpse to do is hold them roughly where they are, it's still worth it.

It also breaks channelling so it is a very versatile spell. This is Disruptor's very cheap way to cancel enemy teleports, or chanelled ulti's by people like Pudge.

Using Glimpse to escape

Just as you can use Glimpse aggressively in pursuits, there are lots of times when you can use Glimspe to send back people chasing you. Spirit Breaker just charged in and about to beat the life out of your friendly Crystal Maiden? Glimpse him. Night Stalker running after you and about to silence you? Glimpse him. Your range is better, so don't wait too long.

When not to Glimpse

This spell is one that you can screw up. If someone on the enemy team is alone and your team are about to kill them, they can be enormously thankfull if you accidentally glimpse them away to safety. If you watch Fails of the Week you will see this from time to time. It can also be very tricky to use if you have a Kunkka and a Bat Rider and a Vengeful Spirit also trying to use their abilities to relocate people. As the range of Glimpse is so much longer you are better saving it for enemies who are out of range of these other abilities.

The Fountain Glimpse

The greatest skills in Dota are recognised by there actually being gems just to track how often you have pulled off a successful demonstration of your mastery. For the true Disruptor player, the greatest gem is the Enemies Fountain Glimpsed Gem. You just wait till the enemy spends their 135 gold to come and stop your push, then send them back. Their Town Portal Scroll will be on cooldown and they will have to walk out, by which time you might have taken the tower. It really works well if you have two enemies teleporting in to face two of three of you, say a Dazzle and a Sniper. Send Dazzle Back and see if you can kill the Sniper before anyone else can come.

Play Video

In this clip the Naga Siren had just teleported up, then when Razor arrives I Glimpse him back. Naga ran into the forest and we took the tower unopposed.

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Kinetic Field

Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Target Area

After a short formation time, creates a circular barrier of kinetic energy that enemies can't pass through.

Range: 900
Radius: 325
Formation Time: 1.2
Duration: 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4

The stryder is immune to the gale-force winds that will consume its adversaries.

Mana Cost: 70 Cooldown Time: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

This spell is all about synergy. It is the white bread bap that you need to add some meat and hot sauce to, to make a really great combo. It is cheap and the cooldown is short, (1 s shorter since the 6.83 update too) so you'll nearly always have this one ready to go.

Defensive Uses

Look back at video 3 for Glipmse above. There is a bit where Sven is about to kill me, so I cast this and run away. Your own team can cross this, so whenever you are in trouble, or your team is, just cast this on the path just ahead of you and run over it. In narrow paths, there will be no way for an enemy to path around one of these, so you gain precious time to disappear from sight, or teleport out. Obviously if the enemy is Puck or Anti-Mage or Queen of Pain this won't stop them chasing, as they have abilities to blink straight past, so it's not always useful.

This spell also can be used to get vision of an area, just like any cheap spell with an area target. Handy if you are in the river and want to de-ward a cliff top.

Offensive uses

This spell does not stop people from casting or fighting, it is just a sheep pen. It can work well with any ability where you need to keep the enemies in a set area, such as Witch Doctor's fabulous Death Ward or Phoenix's Supernova. The one that it works best with though, is your own ulti, and that is next up, so I'll show the videos of that combo there.

The good things about this spell are the spammability, but the downside is that this has a 1.2 second formation time, within which people can (and often do) just walk out of it. To get round this, you can chain this on the end of a stun or disable from someone else. It is great used in this way. Heroes with very high movespeed like Death Prophet or Bloodseeker will also always be able to walk out once they notice you casting this unless they are a;#lready stunned or slowed too.

Beware of spells or abilities that let heroes move out of this spell. Classic examples are the blinks I mentioned before, Slark's Pounce, Sandking's Burrowstrike and many more. If you want to prevent this, you need to silence your victims...

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Static Storm

Casting Method: Active
Targetting Method: Target Area
Allowed Targets: Enemies

Creates a damaging static storm that also silences all enemy units in the area for the duration as well as damaging them. The initial damage is weak, but it increases with power over time.

Range: 800
Radius: 450
Duration: 5,*7
Maximum Damage Per Second: 200 / 250 / 300 (Magic Damage)

Aghanim's Upgrade: Static Storm lasts 2 seconds longer, and silences items.(*)

A summer squall in Druud is a hardship that only an Oglodi can survive.

Mana Cost: 125 / 175 / 225 Cooldown Time: 90 / 80 / 70

Deals total damage of 525 / 656.25 / 787.75 (1016 / 1263 / 1515*)


Ah, the AOE nuke that is also a silence, and once you have Aghanim's Sceptre this silences items too. The only other spell to do this is Doom and that has only one target. Get lucky and you can get everyone in the enemy team in this spell. Get them while they're doing Roshan, they might just be standing that close together. Note that the damage is not split between targets, they all take the full hit. The 6.83 update has changed cooldown from 85 at all levels, so a little buff at the end game.

Some examples in action:

1. A level 6 double kill.

Play Video

This was an ideal time to drop the Kinetic Field and the Static Field. There were two enemies, I don't think they saw me coming and they were already fighting, and once Void dropped his Chronosphere, they were already held, so I could make sure to cover both of them.

2. Following a Phoenix Ulti

Play Video

This time, Phoenix has stunned two enemies with his ulti, so I can catch them easily with the combo. This is great, as Phoenix's damage keeps going, and they melt.

3. Using the Field Combo to Initiate

Play Video

This is the more usual place for a great AOE disable in the game. Initiaite a teamfight! Run in and drop it on them before they do something bad to you. Strictly speaking the enemy initiated on our Witch Doctor, but this is basically our team's reply. You will note that as soon as I do this, I get focussed by the enemy and have to fall back and heal, but also, my team carries fall on the enemy and use their own ultis. This is what you want, lock the enemy in the kinetic and Static Field, and then fight them before the silence wears off, use all your other AOE spells while they cannot run.

4. Stopping an enemy push

Play Video

This combo is great if the enemy have just ulti'd and are rushing you, or a teammate. Cast it in their path and then turn on them if they get locked in. On melee heroes, you can stand just out of range and chip them away.

The Superdeluxe Triple Combo

So, how do you land the Kinetic Field and Static Field combo properly? Well one of the best ways is to use Glimpse to reposition your target. When you cast the Glimpse the enemey is locked up in a little silver ball which travels back to the poin the hero was 4 seconds back. You can see this destination a fraction of a second ahead of time, and drop the combo in place just before the glimpsed hero arrives. This method generally means you're going all in on a single target. This is not a bad thing if the target is a high value one. If you can keep your ulti for teamfights, then do, but if the enemy team have an Invoker getting farmed up as their main carry for example, you can perfectly justify spending your ulti to help get a kill on him. The cooldown is long, but not as long as some.

Style of Play

As Disruptor you are not going to jungle exclusively, you will be in lane or pulling the lane, supporting a carry. There are two basic ways to start off in a lane. These are:

The way of the Cautious Turtle

• Try not to engage with the enemy too soon
• Deny your own creeps
• Harass if the enemy are too far forward, you have a good ranged attack
• Do not cross the creep line yourself
• Save your mana for level 3 or 4, when your abilities are better
• Nobody will notice how great you are, but nobody will see you feeding like a whale shark either
• Nothing is sadder than the hard support being on 0-5 at 15 minutes.

The Way of The Exploding Fist

• I have a good harass, I should use it
• It is better to drive the enemy carry right out of XP range than to deny the creeps
• The lower the health of my enemies, the more likely it is the mid hero can gank succesfully
• If I die and the enemy carry dies, I win
• If I get first blood, I have money for more wards and to upgrade the courier!
• I'm going to have some fun dammit
• My insane aggression and will put the enemy off so much that they will make unforced errors and be cowed by my awesomeness
• Nothing is funnier than the hard support being on 5-0 at 15 minutes.

Read this guide for a more mature and sensible discussion of these issues.

After another 200 games as Disruptor since I first wrote this guide, I can confirm that the people were right who pointed out that this second option is basically trolling, and will fail against a good disciplined enemy team. The enemy mid will notice that you are out of position a lot, and come and gank you. And if you get killed once, it's that much more likely to happen again, and again. If you want to be a roaming support with some damage output, play Vengeful Spirit or Nyx Assassin. I've a had a lot of fun in games where it has happened that I have got some early kills and been able to snowball, and if that happens, great. The thing is, you can't make that the goal in most games, and you're too low down the farm priority to guarantee that you can get the items to play this way.

Item Build Justification

General Notes

• As a hard support you need mobility, because you have to to go round warding, and you need to survive so you need some items to help you be less squishy.
• Becuase your spells can be very useful in teamfights, you may be focused first, so you need to live long enough to land your combo.
• As a support, you should favour items that buff your team and healing items.
• As an intelligence hero who contributes most by always being ready to cast, you need mana.

Starting Items

When I first posted this guide, I recommended this set of starting items, which was pretty standard, assuming there are two supports and you could share the purchasing duties.

or	Or maybe both, if you are the solo support

You, me and everybody needs a little boost from time to time.

x3	You need stats. You need to get a bit more of everything, but you have no spare money so this will have to do. Three of these build into the Magic Wand which you will want, so you might as well get three unless you have had to get wards and the courier

x3	You may want to not get three if you are going to turtle for the first few levels, and save to get your wand sooner. I no longer recommend buying clarities at the start.

If you are the only support, you need to get both the Courier and the Wards, and three Iron Branches, and a Tango. This will total 120 + 150 + 150 + 125 = 545 so you could get either another Iron Branch which will get used either in the Headdress or the Buckler or a single Clarity

These days, with the Courier reduced to 120 (from 150), I leave out the clarity potions and get a Circlet as a starting item (down from 185 to 165) if there is another support. If you can do this you can spend 120 + 150 + 165 + 125 = 560. Again, you could get four Iron Branches or another Tango, but I think it is better to keep the slot free for a Town Portal Scroll as after a minute or two you will have to gold to get one from the Side Shop and should get one to be ready to go to another lane if required.

The reason I do not get lots of Clarity potions these days is that I find it a real pain when you are spending time pulling camps and harassing to have to take a time out to avoid prematurely ending the effect of the potion. I used to use them to fund a very agressive early game, with lots of spells cast in lane on the enemy, but I think as I've levelled up a bit, this is no longer the best option. Getting a Circlet and three Iron Branches brings your initial Intelligence to 27, so you have 351 mana and 1.09 mana regen to play with. This is actually fine if you are not going immediately aggressive.

Early Game Items

As a hard support, you may not have much money, and you are the most temping target for the enemy mid to gank if they are greedy for that first blood. So, you should spend every penny as soon as you can.

x 3 + + Recipie (150) =

An efficient way to get +3 everything and a burst of healing and mana when you get it charged up.


+ Recipie (210) =

By building a bracer in easy to purchase installments, you avoid losing so much gold if you get killed. If you are on the safe lane and pull the creeps, you can get some pickoffs on the neutrals and try to get enough gold to get one of these fairly quickly.

It is probably you that should up the courier whenever you get the gold together. You can be forgiven for getting some Gauntlets of Strength or the Circlet first, but you will get yelled at if you don't stump for the courier upgrade on time.

By the time you have got a Bracer and upped the courier, it is probably warding time again, or if you are ahead of schedule, go and block the enemy pull camp and ward their jungle up.

Your creeps not spawning? Your Ursa getting harassed in his own jungle? You should probably de-ward.

All the rushing around will be easier with some more speed, right?

x 2 + + Recipie (250) =

More strength, which you still need, even with a Bracer, some good mana regeneration, and also you can now heal allies, or cast it on enemies as another source of damage. This is a great item, if you make it to a few teamfights a few charges on this can be really useful for stopping you or a teammate having to waste time going back to the fountain.

You need to keep a scroll, so you can teleport in to defend towers, or to go back if you are in danger of getting ganked.

Core Items

One with no recipie, just buy the Energy Booster for 1000 and you have the free active ability to help support your team. This is such a useful ability, and can help you a lot too.

+ + Recipie (875) =

Another item you can build from smaller units in a very efficient way, and one that adds a great aura to help you push, or run away. This gives you

+117 mana, +0.36 mana regen, +9 damage (because you are an intelligence hero)

+1.26 armour, +9 attack speed

+171 health, +0.27 health regen

as well as the movement speed boost. This can really help when you want to push towers or if you and your team need to run away.


+ + Recipie (875) =

Mekansm is an absolutely core support item. In the middle of a big fight, a burst of healing and an armour buff can be absolutely what your team needs.


+ + + =

This upgrades your ulti, both in time and total damage, but more importantly, it allows you to silence items. No more force staffing out with this! Not a even a Black King Bar can protect you now! The extra stats are great to keep up with the damage that the enemy will be sending your way as they all level up too.

Very Unlikely Luxury Items

If you have got your core items, you might just spend the rest of the game putting every penny into warding, de-warding and teleporting about to help out. I have literally only got to the point where I could buy these items a few dozen times in 400+ games. However if you do seem to be mashing the enemy single handed and are embarassed with riches, then you might as well get something good. These items are just suggetions, but if you have got this far, you must be winning by leagues, so you don't need my advice, right? The Veil of Discord buffs all your magic damage abilites nicely, the others offer nice disables, but the problem is if you go 5 or 6 slotted where will the wards and the scroll go? Since I put this up I have been advised that Force Staff is actually worth the effort, both in the comments here and from other friends, as you can really move then enemy like chess pieces with one of them and Glimpse.

The only exception to this is the Ghost Scepter. If you are facing a Juggernaut or an Ursa, you need to get one. Jug's ulti Omnislash and Ursa's Fury Swipes do Physical Damage, and this will turn them from a trip through the meat grinder (and probably a walk back from the fountain if you are alone) into a gentle tickling sensation. This is now my favourite late game item if you have the rest of the kit. After that, I have actually had quite a few games where after killng Roshan, none of the six slotted mega late game carries have room for the Ageis or the Cheese, so half the time I end up getting one or the other...

Friends

Single Target Killers

Disruptor fares well in teams with allies who can take advantage of his repositioning and trapping abilities. The Glimpse and Kinetic Field is great for setting up carries for single target kills, so any hero with high single target damage can be great. In these pairings, you may not need to ulti, if your teammate can deliver the kill. This is particularly true if they have a stun or silence as well as good damage. If you are in a match where one enemy carry is snowballing and are therefore a very high value target, then you can use the ulti as well to secure the kill, but generally, keep it for crowd control. Note that if you are trying to catch people who have invisibility, you should carry the dust and deploy it on time otherwise your carry might be standing there wondering if you did actually Glimpse anyone. Think of this as fishing with a long line. You'll only catch one at a time (unless there is a Lifestealer on the other team) but you can reel them right back to your side of the river.

Examples of people who can finish their prey quickly if you summon them back are

Roll of Honour

Legion Commander One of the best single target killers, who also has a good chance of running away one the rest of the enemy team catch up.

Phantom Assassin If you can get the enemy carry alone, PA can finish them.

Templar Assassin Just massive bonus damage.

Ursa Once Ursa starts on the enemy, they are unlikely to be able to run away.

Honourable Mentions

Pudge Just because he normally grabs his own lunch, don't think he won't welcome seconds.
Slardar Once he has the chance to get next to someone, it is hard for them to get away.
Lifestealer The great anti-carry, can melt even the highest hit point pools.
Huskar Very good at accelerating if he can concentrate on one target.
Alchemist Another massively fast attacking hero, who can lower armour and has his own stun to stop targets escaping.
Lycan Attack Speed, Bonus Damage, Critical Damage. Perfect for finishing a single target.
Drow Ranger Very good at bursting down people who can't get out of sight with her Frost Arrows.
Shadow Fiend Great bonus damage and armour reduction.
Morphling Just add massive damage powder to fresh water.
Gyrocopter Very good at bursting down targets.
Troll Warlord Accelerates when attacking single targets.
Lion Excellent ulti to take down health and great follow up to stop targets escaping.
Windranger Focus Fire allows great damage per second.
Lina Some great burst from spells and good attack speed.
Skywrath Mage Great damage in a small area.

There are of course other heroes like Night Stalker and Nyx Assassin who have great damage output, but who are so good at hunting down their prey themselves they don't need a support to do it for them.

Crowd Control

The other heroes who work well with Disruptor are those who can join in when there are more fish in the net. Either, you want allies who can initiate and allow you to catch the maximum possible number of enemies in the Static Storm with or without the Kinetic Field or you must initiate and have allies with great follow ups.

Roll of Honour

Lich The ulti that just keeps giving, when the enemy team can't scatter in all directions.

Tidehunter The Tide ulti is a great setup for Disruptors as you have a few seconds to position the field to get the largest number of people in. It also works well at the end to stop people moving out of the Static Storm once the shorter duration Kinetic Field ends.

Magnus Reverse Polarity is the joint best great setup, allowing all the enemy team to be corralled into an ulti. The ideal setup is for an invisible Magnus to get behind the enemy team, and use a combination of Skewer and Reverse Polarity to bring the enemy team to one point where you can then finish them all off.

Phoenix Burn the enemy while they are unable to attack or run away.

Faceless Void He can go first or sprint over and follow your ulti if you happen to surprise a group of the enemy. Avoid doubling up and casting your ulti on top of Void's unless there are people outside and you have to flee. If you can wait and time it to run on, it will give Void more time for physical attackes. By all means cast Thunder Strike on enemies Void has trapped though. Finally, if Void casts Chronosphere and does not get eveyone he wanted to, see if you can Glimpse them back. That's teamwork!

Crystal Maiden A great, long lasting ulti with big AOE damage, and she'll be so happy to cast it on people who can't immediately kill her.

Enigma Black Hole is the other joint best spell to act as a setup for any AOE spell. You have 4 seconds to wait for the affected units to be dragged in, during whch time you can try to Glimpse back anyone who didn't get caught, and then drop the combo on them. As this is chanelled, if you and Enigma are alone, cast your ulti on top and try to kill the enemy fast. The extra damage from your autoattacks that you would get from chaining the spells is not worth the risk of help arriving. If you do have your carries with you, then one after the other is the way!

Skywrath Mage Great damage in a small area. Mystic Flare has a radius of 170, so if the enemy team are smart, they'll stand round the outside of the Kinetic Field if you have a Skywrath. More often though, they all run at the edge they would like to run through when the spell ends, so they stand close enough for a good Skywrath to get them all.

Puck This is one hero I have had on my team a lot, and there is so much to enjoy if you have a Disruptor and Puck together. Puck is great at blinking in and using Dream Coil to latch on to enemies. This lasts at least 6 s, so you have plenty of time to run in and drop the combo on some of them. Also, if you cast Glimpse on someone after Dream Coil, this will usually move them far enough to activate the damage and stun for breaking the link, so they arrive ready for you to lay the Kinetic Field or even the full combo on them. With Puck's mobility, you can nearly always use this to get the Glimpse to land even on people like Faceless Void who jump around very fast.

Honourable Mentions

Sven Great cleave damage can take out a ring full of enemies.
Earthshaker Terrific stacking damage to units penned up in a small area.
Sand King Great AOE damage and a slow so people can't run away.
Undying Great damage amplificiation in an area.
Venomancer If Venom can get off his Poison Nova along with your ulti, the damage per second all adds up.
Death Prophet Exorcism deals a lot of damage.
Leshrac Can stand next to your ulti and unleash all spells with no fear of reprisals from those inside.

Enemies

Gankers

Disruptor is a squishy intelligence hero, so can be ganked by a decently farmed mid or roaming hero who has got a good start. It's not that Disruptor does not have some escape ability, he does, but if you have had to buy the courier, the wards, up the courier and avoid stealing farm, you just don't have the stats that other heroes will have. Particular problem cases are:

Slark Your hard counter. He can jump on you if you try to use the Kinetic Field, you csn't Glimpse him away if he attacks you while Shadow Dance is active.

Spirit Breaker If a Bara gets a good start, they can get to the point where they can charge in and stun you to death, without you ever getting to cast anything back.

Abbadon Borrowed Time will trigger even in your Static Storm, so you won't kill him.

Juggernaut He's magic immune when he uses Blade Fury and invulnerable to everything when his ulti is on. Bastard. Just get a Ghost Scepter or give up.

Riki He can silence you and you can't turn your back on him so you have to man-fight him like a carry, which you can't do, so he kills you. With the changes to his abilities so that he can be invisible from level 1, Riki can make life very expensive for the supports. If you try to ward up properly, with Sentry Wards you will just be poor all game. The only thing to do is buy dust and stick near the carry or the towers.

Nyx Assassin Burns mana in proportion to your own intelligence, and has big one shot damage. You are the ideal hero for him to stalk.

Silencer You can't do anything much when you are silenced, so this guy makes you a bit useless really.

Techies Seeing as one of your jobs is to ward, these guys can make it very annoying for you. You need to be very careful going anywhere out of lane without warding with bloody expensive Sentry Wards. It might be better to stay in lane until you can afford a gem and then get another ranged hero to come round and clear the place out.

Drow Ranger With a silence and high damage, a roaming Drow can kill you at will if they catch you alone in the forest. The only way to be safe is to keep a good set of wards up and rely on your teammates to call missing. Don't go warding unless you can see her.

Queen of Pain She does heavy burst damage, and she can Blink in and out ignoring your Kinetic Field.

Other heroes with silences can also ruin you day. These include Death Prophet, Bloodseeker, Nightstalker, and Earth Spirit (if anyone ever played him). Heroes with stuns can set you up to be killed rapidly if you are caught alone, but this is true for anyone.

There are a few other heroes who pose problems for all squishies because of their high damage output, like Huskar, Viper, and Clinkz and the like too. If you do get caught by one of these you can Glimpse them back, then run over a Kinetic Field to get away.

Conclusion

I hope this guide has been useful to you if you are thinking of trying Disruptor. If you are looking to learn a hero that can be played well and contribute in teams of all abilites, and with great versatility, then Disruptor could be worth spending some time trying out.

When you land his skills properly you can end up participating in a huge proportion of your team's kills and making that vital difference for your team, so when your carries get huge and are wrecking the enemy base, you can sit back like a parent at graduation and feel that although they don't need you any more, and your purpose in life is now over, you helped them to get to that point. They would be nothing without you!



Bloody kids, they have no idea how much wards cost! They think they grow on trees! And do they ever say thankyou? Like hell they do.