Buffs We are Waiting For

Facets introduced a lot of balance chaos to the game. There are many heroes who can perform great with one facet and be completely unviable with another. However, there are also heroes who are simply too weak in the current meta, regardless of what facet they choose. These heroes desperately need a buff and today we are going to have a close look at them.

Kunkka

It wasn’t just the “waterpark” nerfs — the hero as a whole is in a pretty bad spot right now. His abilities are weaker, they provide less flexibility and he also doesn’t really fit the meta right now.

The ability to delay damage doesn’t feel as pronounced in a meta, where every single hero is exceptionally tanky. It is still a very powerful effect, but it is no longer the huge difference maker it used to be.

Moreover, the hero’s burst doesn’t feel like it is enough and with the amount of Armor most meta heroes get, his Tidebringer doesn’t feel that great either. Trying to build a hero with physical damage in mind doesn’t seem like a good idea either: setting up huge cleave crits takes a lot of investment that rarely pays off.

Surprisingly, we feel like the hero might actually be kind of ok with minor direct buffs and would instead greatly benefit from a game-wide survivability reduction. It will make his damage output and damage mitigation relevant once again. For now, though, it is definitely on our avoid list — there is simply no reason to play the hero in the current patch.

Spectre

At this point our infatuation with Spectre is a bit of a meme, but once again the hero finds herself in a pretty bad spot. For the most part it comes down to the separation of her previous prowess into two separate facets. Now you have to choose between being mobile and chaotic in a fight, or dealing actual damage.

This is one of the cases where facets kind of ruined the hero. We firmly believe that the current “Twist the Knife” facet should be a default way for the hero to work, regardless of facet — it is what made the character viable in the first place a couple of patches ago.

Instead, her facets should concentrate on making an aggressive, glass cannon-type character with one facet resembling how “Forsaken” currently works, and the other concentrating on her Dispersion, survivability and spread-out teamfight damage.

Perhaps the hero could potentially work in a less tanky meta, she is a glass cannon-hunter after all. However, unlike Kunkka, we don’t see how she can make a comeback without some major buffs to her laning stage and midgame.

Nature’s Prophet

We can’t believe we are saying this after what was happening for the majority of the last year, but Furion needs a buff. The hero currently has no place in the game: he doesn’t farm much faster than most heroes, doesn’t really do much in lane and his facets are, frankly, a bit of a joke. Outside of being able to slowly heal towers, perhaps.

We understand the struggle, though — it is hard to balance a hero who has unrestricted global mobility in a strategy game like Dota. Getting rid of the extra damage on Teleportation was a right move, in our opinion.

Yet, the hero definitely needs a buff or two, or maybe even a bit of a remaster. While Treants are definitely a part of the hero’s identity, we don’t feel like they do much in the current meta. Buffing them is also a solution we don’t particularly like, as it can quickly snowball the map control, evident from previous patches.

Giving the hero extra aggressive potential through Treants, maybe even with nerfs to the Teleportation barrier, could be an interesting change of pace. There is already an interaction with the “Curse of Old Growth” and leaning into it could be a way to make the hero stronger, while retaining his theme.

Luna

A flash-farming carry who can’t carry is a game-losing concept. Luna is currently outclassed by most carry heroes in the game and even though she can get big faster than them, it doesn’t really translate into actual power.

There are several problems with the hero, but the most noticeable one is the lack of strong solo-target damage potential. With Glaives bouncing around, Luna can and will be a DPS machine. Looking at her destroying the barracks is awe-inspiring. However, in a real-life teamfight scenario it rarely works this way.

Perhaps the search radius on Glaives could be improved, or there could be a talent that does something like this, but when meeting any enemy carry hero in a 1v1, Luna just doesn’t do enough.

Moreover, even when her team sets up a kill for her, her burst potential is just not up to par: killing two enemies for Luna is often much easier than killing an isolated target. The professional and high level pub playstyle often revolves around getting a solo target out of position for an easy pickoff and Luna struggles against the current survivability levels.

Maybe giving the hero a way to bounce Glaives off trees like Hoodwink could be another solution, but all in all we would advise against picking her, if you want to win.

Closing thoughts

There are many factors at play when evaluating the hero’s strengths. None of the characters discussed today are “unplayable” by any means and depending on the team compositions they can shine. That said, they are definitely on a weaker side in an average game, hence sub-45% win rate in some skill brackets.

What do you think of our list? Do you feel like these heroes are stronger than we assume and there are ways to make them work, or perhaps you feel like there are heroes who are in an even more desperate need of a buff? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.