Heroes Who Need a Buff
Balancing a game with as many moving pieces as Dota has always been a difficult task. There are always heroes who come out of patches much more powerful than most and others that fall behind. By now we are probably familiar with most of the strong heroes after seeing them in every pro tournament as well as our pub games. Here are four heroes that fall on the other end of the spectrum and desperately need some buffs to become relevant again.
Sniper
Sniper has not been relevant since the HOHO-HAHA era except for his very short stint as a position 4 support. By heavily nerfing the Aghanim’s Scepter stun and nearly every mobile carry becoming meta, there is almost no upside to picking Sniper right now. Sniper has been trending downwards since July and even as his pick rate continues to fall, the winrate has only just started leveling out at under 47%.
Sniper is currently stuck between being a right click carry style hero and a magic damage support. The main problem is that as a carry he is one of the most vulnerable targets in the game with poor mobility, mediocre stats and no real game-winning power spike. Sniper boasts a losing win rate at every MMR bracket that only gets lower as the MMR gets higher.
Grimstroke
Grimstroke has fallen a long way since being introduced to the game. Even though the hero pairs well with much of the meta right now, Grimstroke has been hit with consistent nerfs over many patches. The hero just doesn’t get a ton of value on his own and is easily countered by Black King Bar. Grimstroke has been sitting around 46% win rate for most of the year across all brackets with that number dipping lower the higher the rank.
Grimstroke might get a bit more value on a coordinated stack but just generally suffers from mediocre numbers on his skill and stats. The biggest problem with this hero is how much he relies on teammates to do all the work and combo with. Grimstroke can push creeps waves with decent efficiency but after that it’s all up to his team.
Keeper of the Light
Keeper’s win rate has been plummeting ever since April. After a period of extreme strength, Keeper of the Light was hit with nerfs to nearly every aspect of his ability kit. Most of his early game strength has been negated and the old man on a horse has been reduced to more of a nuisance than anything else.
With the increased mobility of most popular core heroes, Keeper’s movement speed has been nullified entirely. He can still defend towers and depush lanes with relative success but other than an easily countered ultimate Keeper of the Light provides next to nothing in team fights. It is never a good sign when a hero’s win rate dips sharply after a patch and falls lower and lower the higher rank you look at.
Outworld Devourer
Outworld Devourer is a carry hero stuck in a mid hero’s body. As one of the most tinkered with heroes in the game, the current version of OD doesn’t work very well. There have been times with OD was an oppressive force in the game but it has been over a year since the hero sniffed a 50% win rate in pubs. Across all skill brackets OD falls well below the average threshold and compared to the other, more meta mid heroes he does nothing to outshine them.
With a nerfed ultimate, awkward farming and very poor early game impact, OD completely misses most of the timing windows that he used to dominate. He is rarely being picked, even by the best OD players, and his win rate remains as low as ever. In the current meta, Outworld Devourer either gets out farmed by harder carries or outpaced by faster mid heroes. This hero either needs better farming tools or to perhaps find a new role or playstyle.
There are certainly other candidates for this list and depending on your rank some heroes might seem like a free loss if they are on your team. However, these four seem to be agreed upon as being massive liabilities to any team from Herald up to the pros.
Omniknight BlessRNG
Grim is still busted, just requires a bit of brain in skill build and playstyle.
Dont buff sniper pls. Heroes like Sniper, Techies, Zeus and Tinker.
Even in support roles these heroes make highground hard, games go long and it is just making the game annoying and boring.
I'll keep saying it and hopefully it happens: Make Ignus Fatus pierce spell immunity like black hole.
Snipe requires no skill. He belongs as a trash hero.
брумасту апнити и пабирее ок??
You forgot omni sadge
This article somehow managed to ignore the elephant in the room: Tinker
dota has been fun without much tinker in my game
Ignus Fatus piercing spell immunity is the most retarded suggestion I've seen all year, and I saw Donald Trump suggest injecting disinfectants to cure coronavirus.
Delete sniper from dota.
Compared to like 2014, Dota is much more cohesive and uniform these days, so I guess balancing it is easier now than before.
On the other hand, the players probably push the balancing harder in 2020 because they are a lot more experienced now than then.
Naga siren, omni and tinker need buffs i think
Омник? Тинкер? Разор? Слишком маленький топ. Ещё вопрос: зачем бафать грима?
You forget to mention the other half of the heroes that either isn't strong at their role, don't feet into any role or can be easily countered
Grimstroke is fine, Sniper can maybe use small buffs, no major changes since he can tip over to being broken very quickly.
KOTL needs buff, same with OD, maybe give OD's Q split shot for a talent to help him farm, he is way too weak and cant scale too well at all, he gets strong way too late and stays underfarmed whenever that happens vs good carries like Void or Drow.
For example Drow can slow more than him for a lot less and has a shit ton of Agility + armor plus deals way more damage than him by her ultimate power spike, she has one of the strongest aoe abilities, being split shot while OD has nothing.
nerf sven
Lycan??? 43,55% xD
Nerf pudge 2020
Just givv back old Kotl skillset and we gucci.
+ Givv back old Aghs with flying vision
That was the worst day in my Dota life when the patch destroyed the real Kotl.
Just another 4 Buttons hero...
КОТЛ и без того нормальный герой, пользоваться нужно уметь.
Он наносит много урона в начальной игре (4 позиция), в средней у него уже есть блинк и все скилы. С аганимом это безумный хил
Если бафнут котла я буду только рад!!!!
Pangolier needs a buff....He only has received nerfs since 7.21c
Not mentioned medusa and bb? They have around 40% winrate in immortal for a reason.
Buff pudge please
Just add AOE 1skill in OD and this hero will be stong.He's farm will be very faster.
Just remake riki to his old self, make his invi on 3rd again
And grim is so shit right now. He just out of league compared to other support
Centaur Warruner is the weaker version than his old self. Now u cant win any lane with him, thx to nerf to his 3rd and ulti
Ok, author right about kotl. But i thinks his talents must be reworked.
XD the only thing proper about this post is Harbringer he truly suck ballz i would prefer a revert to old days but simple range buff in His nuke would make a HUGEEE!!! IMPACT!!!!
Rest all depends on players and Draft.
Regarding Grimstroke you CANT go Pew pew bang bang ezpzy nop freewin MMR anymore aka IMBA and since His not IMBA you immediatly want a ULTRA BUFF, fucking jokester!!!
/\ haha
I am perfectly fine with Sniper remaining unbuffed
Invoker
Can't forget Pudge, Omni, Tinker, Meepo, Brewmaster, Lone Druid... I can go on
Just bring back OD 7.22. Splash Arcane Orb is very fine for him.
who tf cares about shitniper? was a braindead hero all along. Bring back old meepo.
I think Naga Siren should be reworked. It's a great carry hero with crazy splitpush and farm potential, but it's so easy to buy mjolnir or BF and kill illusions, so the hero can be picked only if there's no more than 1 hero that can buy such item.
It is also possible to use this hero on 4 support role, but I think it destroys its potential.
I think, valve should buff illusions or make the hero's "power pick" earlier.