Dota 2 Patch Round-Up
Dota 2's "New Bloom Festival" has arrived. Make sense of it here!
Welcome to our first-ever Dota 2 patch analysis here at ZAM! We plan to have an installment in this series every time there is a significant patch to the Dota 2 main client. On a side note, this is open to debate and that is the best facet of doing these features so that we can gauge what the community feels about the patch as well. With that little introduction out of the way, let’s jump right into our analysis!
The most recent patch dubbed “The New Bloom Festival” is a celebration of the Chinese New Year and rolled out on January 29th. The patch came with some pretty significant additions and changes. The largest additions were two new heroes: Terrorblade and Phoenix.
New Heroes:
Terrorblade is an agility based carry most suited for the safe lane farming role (although I’m sure more creative ways to play him will surface in the future). His four skills are as follows:
- Reflection - Create a double of your foe, which then attacks its original as it slows their movement.
- Conjure Image - Summon forth an illusion of yourself to aid you in battle.
- Metamorphosis - Embrace the darkness within, trading your melee attack for a ranged strike while granting additional damage.
- Sunder - Sever the soul of an ally or enemy, exchanging your health for theirs.
Terrorblade’s ultimate "Sunder" presents a unique way in which to make huge plays by switching your health with the health of another player, whether they are enemies or allies. This can be used in a multitude of ways making a post level six Terrorblade difficult to kill even if you have the seeming upper hand in an engagement.
“Metamorphosis” also offers a bit of utility during the laning phase and also during fights; coupled with good positioning it allows Terrorblade to operate as a ranged agility carry for a period of time. A skill like Metamorphosis adds an added layer of flexibility to an already flexible kit.
Phoenix is a ranged nuker that is often played as a support in the safe lane or occasionally in the middle lane (iceiceice playing him in the offlane doesn’t count, guys!). Here is Phoenix’s kit:
- Icarus Dive - Swoop forward in a fierce arc, slowing and damaging all enemies in your path.
- Fire Spirits - Spend health to summon spirits which can be launched at your foes to burn them over time.
- Sun Ray - Sacrifice vitality to blast your enemies, and heal your allies, with a beam of searing light.
- Supernova - Become a core of fusing energy that burns nearby enemies which, if allowed to detonate, will stun foes and renew your strength.
Phoenix has an extremely unique positioning and scouting tool with “Icarus Dive”. The dive can be cancelled at any point and gives Phoenix a lot of mobility and the ability to reposition himself almost instantly. It will be interesting to see how this skill translates at higher levels of play.
“Supernova” is another interesting skill that has a lot of potential when used correctly. It can be used as a tool to draw damage away from your carries and onto you, or during hectic team fights when the enemy team’s cooldowns are ticking. It can also be used as a way for Phoenix to get quickly back into the lane if his health is low (which may be due to two of his skills costing health to cast). This ability creates a plethora of options for Phoenix players, as a lot of their healing and damage potential lies in their own HP pool.