Overpowered dota 2 heroes photos

Dota 2 Balance – Revisiting “OP” Designs

The International 2017 saw a continuation of the trend set in 2016, with more heroes picked or banned (109) than ever before at a Valve event. What speaks to a rather balanced meta and gameplay is the product of years of hard work. Icefrog and his team of beta testers have put in years of work to get the game to where it is today, but not without creating slightly “overpowered” abilities and heroes here or there. Some of these abilities seem, in theory, rather “broken” in hindsight, that it is quite hilarious to think about the fact that they used to be in the game not too long ago. The following abilities, if implemented today, would likely be considered way too strong and some would likely warrant instant bans in both pub and pro play.

Winter’s Curse

Winter Wyvern can feel a bit clunky at times, but generally speaking she’s a strong defensive support with offensive capabilities. She did fairly well at TI7 (55% win rate in 20 games)–even if EG had significantly less success with her–and is a solid meta pick right now. Winter’s Curse is a good ability, but by no means “op”, but it definitely used to be.

Right now, Winter’s Curse freezes an enemy (through magic immunity) and forces nearby opponents to hit their own teammate with an increased attack speed. Those opponents remain immune to any damage from outside, making it a hit or miss ultimate at times, especially when stacked with other abilities.

The spell is in a good place, but when the hero was first introduced, Winter’s Curse was anything but balanced. Before 6.85, the ultimate would also force magic immune heroes to attack their own teammate while also being vulnerable to attacks, potentially rendering multiple Black King Bars useless with a single spell, without putting the caster in harm’s way, like a Blackhole would.

Flaming Lasso

There’s a case to be made that Flaming Lasso, in theory, is still an “op” ability. It’s the ability that will never truly phase Batrider out of the meta, as its principle is just too good. Dragging an opponent out of position with such reliability is just too good to pass up on.

That is why Lasso is mentioned here however, as it used to be even better. Prior to 6.77, Lasso allowed Batrider to attack the caught targets still, making it much simpler for Batrider to get solo kills.

Vacuum

There’s somewhat of a running joke in the Dota 2 community, that any leaked balance patch seems believable as long as it includes a nerf to Vacuum’s cooldown. Much like Flaming Lasso, Vacuum is a rather unique spell that will always make Dark Seer an interesting option, no matter the meta. Overpowered dota 2 heroes photos It seems like a somewhat balanced spell and rarely has been at the center of public outrage, but in hindsight it might’ve been just too good.

Currently, Vacuum has a 32 second cooldown, which seems reasonable. It used to be 16 seconds however. More so than that, it had a much longer cast range at some point (800) and dealt significantly more damage (240 at lvl4 instead of now 160). There was even a time, though that was back in Warcraft III days, where it would affect magic immune targets. A much more “recent” change occurred in 2012, when Icefrog removed the interaction with invulnerable targets, a mechanic that made Dark Seer a very popular combo partner to Naga Siren, as he could vacuum targets affected by Song of the Siren.

Geomagnetic Grip

Talents in Dota 2 are an excellent way of balancing a hero throughout multiple stages of the game. Certain abilities and mechanics are enabled once heroes hit level 20 or 25, making them strong without giving them too much strength in the early game.

Earth Spirit is one of the heroes that has an ability improving talent, though that talent used to be part of his original spell. Ever since his introduction to Dota 2, Earth Spirit has been part of the pro meta as a highly contested roamer. Geomagnetic Grip was too good however to be unleashed onto the competitive scene and it was nerfed just as the hero was introduced into Captain’s Mode in 6.86. The ability no longer allowed the user to pull allied heroes, only with an Aghanim’s Scepter, but even that felt too strong, considering that Agh’s was already the go to item pickup anyway and the Enchant Remnant ability was already a good upgrade in itself. Now, Earth Spirit needs level 25 in order to be able to pull allied heroes, a significant nerf in comparison to how the spell used to work.

Track

Bounty Hunter has become a much more important hero over the past few years, establishing himself as a fearsome roamer. While his invisibility and burst damage are strong factors for his success, they are all just part of the package, a package that is made much more attractive with Track. Track is a strong comeback ability and an even stronger “getting ahead further” spell. Aside from providing bonus gold and movement speed however, the ability used to also apply vision around the target and even applied minus armor, on top of higher values for both bonus gold and movement speed.

Over the past few years, vision has become a much more important aspect of the game and the recent tweaks in 7.06f show that vision remains an important factor, with three nerfs dedicated to vision providing abilities alone.

No Hero is Born Perfect

There are many more examples of abilities that used to be much stronger and that would today be considered overpowered, especially abilities of heroes that originated in early Warcraft III DotA:Allstars days. That doesn’t mean though, that today’s heroes are perfectly balanced. Monkey King and his abilities could’ve been featured here as well and Underlord also needed adjustments before he was ready for competitive play. As two heroes await on the horizon, one can only imagine what potentially powerful abilities they bring to the table.

Dota 2 Balance – Revisiting “OP” Designs

The International 2017 saw a continuation of the trend set in 2016, with more heroes picked or banned (109) than ever before at a Valve event. What speaks to a rather balanced meta and gameplay is the product of years of hard work. Icefrog and his team of beta testers have put in years of work to get the game to where it is today, but not without creating slightly “overpowered” abilities and heroes here or there. Some of these abilities seem, in theory, rather “broken” in hindsight, that it is quite hilarious to think about the fact that they used to be in the game not too long ago. The following abilities, if implemented today, would likely be considered way too strong and some would likely warrant instant bans in both pub and pro play.

Winter’s Curse

Winter Wyvern can feel a bit clunky at times, but generally speaking she’s a strong defensive support with offensive capabilities. She did fairly well at TI7 (55% win rate in 20 games)–even if EG had significantly less success with her–and is a solid meta pick right now. Winter’s Curse is a good ability, but by no means “op”, but it definitely used to be.

Right now, Winter’s Curse freezes an enemy (through magic immunity) and forces nearby opponents to hit their own teammate with an increased attack speed. Those opponents remain immune to any damage from outside, making it a hit or miss ultimate at times, especially when stacked with other abilities.

The spell is in a good place, but when the hero was first introduced, Winter’s Curse was anything but balanced. Before 6.85, the ultimate would also force magic immune heroes to attack their own teammate while also being vulnerable to attacks, potentially rendering multiple Black King Bars useless with a single spell, without putting the caster in harm’s way, like a Blackhole would.

Flaming Lasso

There’s a case to be made that Flaming Lasso, in theory, is still an “op” ability. It’s the ability that will never truly phase Batrider out of the meta, as its principle is just too good. Dragging an opponent out of position with such reliability is just too good to pass up on.

That is why Lasso is mentioned here however, as it used to be even better. Prior to 6.77, Lasso allowed Batrider to attack the caught targets still, making it much simpler for Batrider to get solo kills.

Vacuum

There’s somewhat of a running joke in the Dota 2 community, that any leaked balance patch seems believable as long as it includes a nerf to Vacuum’s cooldown. Much like Flaming Lasso, Vacuum is a rather unique spell that will always make Dark Seer an interesting option, no matter the meta. Overpowered dota 2 heroes photos It seems like a somewhat balanced spell and rarely has been at the center of public outrage, but in hindsight it might’ve been just too good.

Currently, Vacuum has a 32 second cooldown, which seems reasonable. It used to be 16 seconds however. More so than that, it had a much longer cast range at some point (800) and dealt significantly more damage (240 at lvl4 instead of now 160). There was even a time, though that was back in Warcraft III days, where it would affect magic immune targets. A much more “recent” change occurred in 2012, when Icefrog removed the interaction with invulnerable targets, a mechanic that made Dark Seer a very popular combo partner to Naga Siren, as he could vacuum targets affected by Song of the Siren.

Geomagnetic Grip

Talents in Dota 2 are an excellent way of balancing a hero throughout multiple stages of the game. Certain abilities and mechanics are enabled once heroes hit level 20 or 25, making them strong without giving them too much strength in the early game.

Earth Spirit is one of the heroes that has an ability improving talent, though that talent used to be part of his original spell. Ever since his introduction to Dota 2, Earth Spirit has been part of the pro meta as a highly contested roamer. Geomagnetic Grip was too good however to be unleashed onto the competitive scene and it was nerfed just as the hero was introduced into Captain’s Mode in 6.86. The ability no longer allowed the user to pull allied heroes, only with an Aghanim’s Scepter, but even that felt too strong, considering that Agh’s was already the go to item pickup anyway and the Enchant Remnant ability was already a good upgrade in itself. Now, Earth Spirit needs level 25 in order to be able to pull allied heroes, a significant nerf in comparison to how the spell used to work.

Track

Bounty Hunter has become a much more important hero over the past few years, establishing himself as a fearsome roamer. While his invisibility and burst damage are strong factors for his success, they are all just part of the package, a package that is made much more attractive with Track. Track is a strong comeback ability and an even stronger “getting ahead further” spell. Aside from providing bonus gold and movement speed however, the ability used to also apply vision around the target and even applied minus armor, on top of higher values for both bonus gold and movement speed.

Over the past few years, vision has become a much more important aspect of the game and the recent tweaks in 7.06f show that vision remains an important factor, with three nerfs dedicated to vision providing abilities alone.

No Hero is Born Perfect

There are many more examples of abilities that used to be much stronger and that would today be considered overpowered, especially abilities of heroes that originated in early Warcraft III DotA:Allstars days. That doesn’t mean though, that today’s heroes are perfectly balanced. Monkey King and his abilities could’ve been featured here as well and Underlord also needed adjustments before he was ready for competitive play. As two heroes await on the horizon, one can only imagine what potentially powerful abilities they bring to the table.