Analyzing the Rise of Slardar in Dota 2: Insight from Entity Roster Analyst Alexey TheChosenOne Karanevich

Entity roster analyst Alexey TheChosenOne Karanevich explained why Slardar became popular in Dota 2. The developers did not change the hero in any way in patch 7.34e, but over the month the frequency of his peaks increased by 9%.

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Alexey TheChosenOne KaranevichAnalyst

We’ve come up with a very strong build for it now. You collect Echo Saber, then Blink Dagger and then go to Aghanim’s Scepter. Having collected Aghanim’s Scepter, you can easily kill your “Tormentor” in solo at the 20th minute, and then press Smoke of Deceit and pick up the enemy one, receiving two Aghanim’s Shard. As a result, you have Aghanim’s Shard, Aghanim’s Scepter, Blink Dagger. You farm very quickly, but at the same time you are very dangerous and very difficult to kill.

I can only say that Ancient Apparition counters this strategy very strongly, because the whole point is that you have a lot of armor and HP regen in the “puddle”, and “Apparel” neutralizes all this.

Another important aspect is the high importance of lines. Now there is such a meta in high-MMR publics: everyone picks Specter as the first pick and Faceless Void, Wraith King is food in the lane for Slardar. There are few “range” heroes who can punish him in the lane, and it is almost impossible for “militia” to stand against him.

At the time of publication of the material, Slardar is in fifth place in popularity among all Dota 2 heroes and first in win share. His win rate this week amounts to 56.65%. Slardar is followed by Wraith King and Witch Doctor with 55.49 and 55.09% respectively.