What is Overpowered in the Current Patch?

Dota is a very multi-faceted game and there are many things in it that can feel too strong or unfair. This includes heroes, items, neutrals and various other bits of the game. Today we would like to do a deep dive into the seemingly most broken things in the game right now and discuss why they feel overtuned and whether they truly are.

Sister’s Shroud

This Tier 1 neutral item is considered to be one of the strongest Neutral Items in the game and for a good reason. Having a guaranteed 2-hit evasion in the early game when MKB isn’t an option is incredibly powerful on any hero. But is it overpowered, or simply extremely frustrating?

We believe it to be the former. As a Gossamer Cape replacement, the item can not only be acquired much earlier into the game, it is also straight up more powerful from a practical point of view. Gossamer Cape had a built-in cooldown and theoretically it was stronger, with less activation conditions. In an actual game, though, especially on support heroes, it was highly unlikely you would survive for long enough for Gossamer Cape to re-activate.

What we ended up getting is both exceptionally strong and very frustrating to play against. Two hits in a 5:00 – 15:00 timing window is usually at least a couple of seconds of extra time to live. This means your crowd control spells might get off cooldown, or your teammates might finish their teleports. And even though on a support hero it is usually a “once per life” ability, not dying once is already a massive gold and XP delta.

Frankly, I really don’t like this item’s design and would like to see it gone, though I have to use it, because it is frequently the best option available.

Nullifier

Now this is a design I personally appreciate. Even as a support player I feel like there should be counterplay to all the save options available in the game. What I think is objectively overpowered about this item is that it is either too cheap, too inventory-efficient or too strong in terms of stats it gives.

If you look at most other late game items in the game, they typically involve costly recipes. If they don’t, they usually don’t get amplified attribute-wise by much, when combined, and are mostly purchased for their effect.

For example Skadi gets +5 extra All Stats (+16%), when compared to two Ultimate Orbs, which provide +30 All Stats, while Desolator’s raw Attack Damage bonus increases by +7 (+14.5%), when compared to two Mithril Hammers. It doesn’t mean the items are weak or bad, but their effectiveness is heavily balanced around their effect first and foremost.

When getting Nullifier, which can be quickly purchased after disassembling the farming Radiance, you get +20 extra Attack Damage and +6 Armor for free. This is a 1.5 x Chainmail and a Claymore worth of extra stats.

Naturally, comparing stats to stats is not exactly wise in Dota. The item system in this game is a toolbox, where you need to find correct instruments to address the problems that arise in the game, as opposed to straight up vertical upgrades that simply make you stronger.

Even with that in mind, I feel like Nullifier is heavily overtuned, as you get +37% extra Damage and +150% Armor from combining two components for free, saving an item slot in the process. This doesn’t seem fair to me personally, even though I still think the actual effect the Nullifier provides is both necessary for the game and well-designed.

Barrier and Blink Interaction

This might be highly controversial, but we feel like the interaction between the Blink Dagger and Barrier sources is slightly problematic. This isn’t another Tinker rant, but Tinker is definitely a part of it. He is, however, a symptom, not the problem, at least in our opinion.

Back in the day, when Blink Dagger was Kelen’s Dagger, the safety it provided was so overwhelming, that it got quickly nerfed into what we now use primarily as an initiation tool. Then, in 6.83, this got changed so that nullified damage no longer broke the Dagger, which opened up some cool, interesting interactions with TA’s Refraction or Abaddon’s Borrowed Time.

This was generally fine, allowing for some high-risk, high-reward maneuvers. That is, until the barriers were introduced into the game.

There aren’t a lot of barrier sources in the game, but the ones we have are enough to at least start raising the question of whether Kelen is making a comeback. Coupled with the removal of overshooting punishment on Blink, there are now more close escapes than ever. Which is exciting for the escapee, but can be very frustrating for the pursuing heroes.

Looking at the professional matches, it seems that currently roughly 45%+ of all heroes want to buy a Blink Dagger. That means that in any given high level lobby, at least four heroes out of ten will want to buy this item.

This isn’t problematic on its own and the “first move” advantage should be strong, in our opinion, but we feel like at least some of the popularity of the item could be reduced, if it stopped being a relatively powerful escape tool on top of already being a strong initiation one.

Perhaps it could be broken in a different manner, as opposed to the way it breaks now, and instead of going on a 3-second cooldown, it would instead get Cast Range reduction for five seconds after taking any damage, be it HP or Barrier.

Again, possibly highly controversial, so share what you think about it in the comment section below. This is a highly subjective personal opinion and I would love to hear your thoughts on it.