After a rough start in Dota 2 pubs, Muerta’s fortunes have begun to turn. Let’s take a look at how recent buffs have helped Dota 2’s newest hero.
For the most part, new Dota 2 heroes have been broken at the start and have required nerfs to make them balanced. But for the last few heroes, it has been the exact opposite, where they have started off as weak heroes and have required buffs. The latest Dota 2 hero, Muerta, is no different. Muerta started off with an abysmal win rate in pubs, and was not strong as either a core or a support.
Seeing her plight, IceFrog and Valve buffed her after her first 10 days in pubs, and things have started to look up after that. While her pick rate is extremely low for a hero that was released a little over two weeks ago, her win rate is definitely on the rise. Where the previous win rate was stalled at somewhere around 46% to 47%, the improved version of Muerta already has a win rate of over 51% and is on the way up.
(taken from Dotabuff)
How have the buffs affected her? Let’s take a look at the buffs and see how they have helped Death’s second in command.
Muerta buffs:
· Base Attack Time improved from 1.7s to 1.6s
· Dead Shot Ricochet Fear Duration decreased from 1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0s to 1.0/1.2/1.4/1.6s
· Pierce the Veil Duration increased by 0.35s to account for Transform Duration
· Pierce the Veil Bonus Attack Damage increased from 50/75/100 to 50/100/150
· Level 25 Talent +20% Gunslinger Chance replaced with The Calling Summons 2 additional revenants
· Level 20 Talent The Calling Summons 2 additional revenants replaced with Talent +20% Gunslinger Chance
· Level 15 Talent +25 Damage increased to +35 Damage
A majority of the buffs are aimed at pushing Muerta towards the carry role, but her support role has also been helped a little in all the shuffling. One of the biggest buffs for Muerta in a right click role is the reduction of her Base Attack Time (BAT) from 1.7 to 1.6. BAT is the factor that divides attack speed to give the number of attacks a hero will do in 1 second (not just BAT though, 100 x BAT).
Attacks per second = (Σ Attack Speed) / (100 × BAT)
A reduction of BAT from 1.7 to 1.6 is a 6.25% increase in attack speed, which is also a 6.25% increase in damage while repeatedly using right clicks. This change has the highest impact at the start of the game when attack speed is low, so it will help Muerta in the laning stage and while farming the jungle early on in the game.
The level 15 damage increase from +25 to +35 is extremely useful for a right click Muerta. Abaddon gets +65 Damage at level 15, so it’s not like Muerta is getting an astronomical increase. But pair that up with the increase in Pierce the Veil damage, and that is 85 additional damage at level 18 when her ultimate is active. When the hero was released, the talent had a pick rate of around 11% in the first three days, showing how bad it was. That is bound to improve after this buff, although another 5 or 10 damage wouldn’t hurt. Well, it would hurt her enemies.
But possibly one of the best buffs is the +20% Gunslinger Chance talent moved from level 25 to level 20. The previous two talents at level 20 did not help a right click Muerta in any way. With this change, she gets a significant increase in her team fight damage output at level 20. This change also her in the support role as previously, a support Muerta would typically go the 2 Dead Shot Charges talent at level 20, and wouldn’t have the option to go for The Calling Summons 2 Additional Revenants. With the recent changes, she can now have both of those; although it isn’t everyday that a support hero reaches level 25.
Besides the buffs, players are beginning to get a feel of Muerta – how to correctly use her abilities and what items suit her the best. The combination of the two is helping her win rate steadily go up, without having a broken hero on our hands. The next big weapons in Muerta’s arsenal will be the Aghanim’s Scepter and Aghanim’s Shard upgrades, and hopefully, Dota 2 patch 7.33 will introduce her to Captains Mode which will show us how she performs in the professional scene.
