We take a look at how good the 10 reworked core Aghanim’s Scepters from Dota 2 patch 7.33 are.
It’s nearly been a month since the release of the behemoth of a patch in the form of Dota 2 patch 7.33. There were map changes, item changes and hero changes. Embedded in those hero changes were a lot of reworked Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades, along with a new Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade for Muerta. In multiple cases, Aghanim’s Shard upgrades were changed to an Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade and made a little better to compensate for the increased gold (difference of 2800 gold in the two items).
Here, we rate the new Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades for core heroes on a scale of 0 to 10. A rating of 0 means you will lose because of the Scepter, and would rather destroy a free Aghanim’s Blessing from Roshan than consume it. A rating of 10 means it’s difficult to lose once you get the Scepter, and you pretty much have to get it every game. The list of ratings starts with the Scepter upgrades that are the worst of the lot and proceeds in ascending order towards better ratings.
Muerta (4/10)
Parting Shot: New ability granted by Aghanim's Scepter. Muerta shoots an allied or enemy hero in their soul, separating it from the physical body for 4 seconds. The soul is pushed 150 units on separation and is untargetable, muted, disarmed, and invulnerable. The body is stunned for the duration and has 50% damage reduction. After this effect the soul is forcefully returned to the body which applies a strong dispel removing negative debuffs and stuns. The soul survives until the end of the effect even if the body dies. Does not deal damage to allies and Muerta can't target herself. Damage: 300. Mana Cost: 250. Cooldown: 45s.
Muerta is the only hero to get a brand new Aghanim’s Scepter, and she wouldn’t mind a rework right away. All the fancy wording aside, this is basically a 4 second stun where the target has 50% damage reduction. It would be good for a support Muerta, as she could take a prime target out of the fight, and also set up and easy Dead Shot just as the Parting Shot stun is about to end. But IceFrog and Valve have been pushing Muerta to be played as a core with all her changes, and the Scepter doesn’t really do anything for a core. You don’t want to reduce damage on your target, and dealing damage is Muerta’s main job as a carry. Even if Muerta is played in a support role, there are many better items she could get with the 4200 gold instead of an Aghanim’s Scepter.
In the 29 times she was picked at the Berlin Major, Aghanim’s Scepter was purchased 0 times. That sheds some light on how good her Scepter is (rather bad). She only won 9 of those 29 games, so the entire hero needs a good buff, not just her Scepter, but that’s a different topic all together.
Night Stalker (4/10)
Void: Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade reworked. Makes Void an area targeted spell, applying its effect on all enemies in 450 radius even if they're invisible or in fog of war. Also creates a void zone in the chosen area for 5s. While he is in the void zone, Night Stalker's abilities (along with Void) are empowered to their nighttime version.
Night Stalker’s old Aghanim’s Scepter had a 900 radius AoE, so simple high school math will tell you that with the reduced radius, the AoE has been reduced to a fourth, or 25%, of the previous one. The benefit of the new one is that it is targetable, but it is nothing to write home about. The 5 seconds night time is too low to justify the 4200 gold, especially considering for more than half the game, it won’t have any significant impact (during night time and when Dark Ascension is active). Night Stalker would be better off getting a Refresher Orb for 800 additional gold to get a full minute of Dark Ascension (76 seconds with the level 10 talent). That also gives you flying vision and bonus damage.
Drow Ranger (5/10)
Frost Arrows: Hypothermia effect is now granted by Aghanim's Scepter instead of Aghanim's Shard. Hypothermia Bonus Damage per stack increased from 5 to 15. Max Stacks increased from 7 to 9. Regen Reduction per stack increased from 8% to 10%.
If the Hypothermia effect was added to the old Aghanim’s Scepter of splinter arrows, this would have been a strong item for Drow Ranger. But 4200 gold just for the effect that was previously available for 1400 gold is a nerf for Drow. She can’t prioritize Scepter because survivability and damage items take precedence. The Hypothermia effect isn’t bad at all, but it has to be a fifth or sixth item. That’s a bit too late in the game for it to have the desired impact. The only change to Drow Ranger in Dota 2 patch 7.33 was the change to her Scepter and Shard upgrades, and based on that, she went from being a popular hero in premier tournaments to picked just thrice at the Berlin Major. Previously, getting Hypothermia wasn’t that much of a thought as it was pretty inexpensive and in a lot of games, could be gotten from the second Roshan Shard. If the game goes long and there is a third Roshan dropping an Aghanim’s Blessing, Drow would be a prime candidate for it.
Magnus (6/10)
Horn Toss: Now granted by Aghanim's Scepter. Now stuns for 0.75s instead of slowing. Damage increased from 200 to 275.
Magnus’ new Scepter upgrade is a bit tricky to evaluate. The damage increase is not that much of a buff. The stun instead of slow is an improvement. However, the stun only comes into effect once the unit lands. Before that, while still in the air, the affected hero can use BKB or Eul’s Scepter of Divinity to foil Magnus’ plans. So it isn’t really a significant improvement on the Aghanim’s Shard upgrade from before. But it does have a 30 second cooldown, which is a thing Horn Toss has going for itself. When the Aghanim’s Shard upgrade was initially introduced, it had a 0.25 second stun, and we saw what Team Spirit’s Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov was able to do with that kind of power at TI10! The hero was one of the main reasons Team Spirit took down PSG.LGD in the grand finals of TI10, and based on that tournament, Horn Toss was nerfed. So it isn’t to say that the ability is bad. For an offlane Magnus, it definitely adds a strong weapon to his arsenal. But like Drow Ranger, the priority will have to be lowered because of the increased cost of 2800 gold.
Puck (6/10)
Dream Coil: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. All enemies affected by Dream Coil are attacked by Puck every 0.6s. Attacks originate from the Dream Coil center and do not require Puck to be nearby.
Right click Puck was a thing a few years ago, when the hero had a +30 damage talent at level 10. But that hasn’t been the case for a while now, which makes this Scepter not the best item choice on Puck. Kam “Moon” Boon Seng was the only one to buy a Scepter on Puck (in Team SMG’s Game against Invictus Gaming) from one of its seven picks at the Berlin Major. But that was a late game purchase with a Rapier in hand. So in the right setting, it can be useful. But in most cases, not so much.
Outworld Destroyer (7/10)
Essence Flux: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Damage that brings Outworld Destroyer below 20% health triggers a strong dispel. Additionally, Outworld Destroyer consumes all of his mana to provide a damage barrier equal to 50% of his maximum mana. Lasts 15s. Cooldown: 60s. Cannot be refreshed. Effect is disabled by Break.
Thanks to Essence Flux, Outworld Destroyer (does anyone even say the full name?) pretty much always has full mana. And with an intelligence gain of 4.2, his mana pool is quite significant, which makes the barrier OD gets with the Scepter upgrade quite significant on top of the strong dispel. But with his entire mana pool gone after the barrier triggers, there isn’t too much OD can do in the fight, unless he receives an influx of mana. A good Scepter to have for survivability, but frequent OD players will miss the previous Scepter upgrade, which gave the hero two Astral Imprisonment charges.
Timbersaw (7/10)
Reactive Armor: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Can be activated to gain max stacks and 200 HP barrier. This barrier gains 100HP/s and increases by 75 HP per second for each enemy hero within 600 radius of Timbersaw up to a maximum of 800. Doesn't count illusions. After 8 seconds, Timbersaw loses the barrier and deals damage to every hero within 600 radius equal to 200 + the remaining barrier HP.
Timbersaw has a maximum of 40 stacks (46 with the level 15 talent). At a minimum, activating Reactive Armor without the presence of a hero will give him 32 armor, 28 HP regen and a 200 HP barrier. With three enemy heroes around, that increases to 32 armor, 328 HP regen and a 425 HP barrier. With five enemy heroes in the vicinity, the HP regen and HP barrier further increase to 528 and 525 respectively. Considering Timbersaw is already a difficult hero to bring down, the upgrade from his new Aghanim’s Scepter can make him a nightmare to deal with.
But as before, he can turn into a debilitated tank when affected by the Break mechanic. Also, the buff from the active component of Reactive Armor is dispellable. So while the Scepter is a good item choice for Timbersaw, it could do with a bit of a buff.
Meepo (8/10)
Megameepo: New ability granted by Aghanim's Scepter. Primary Meepo mounts all other Meepos in a 600 radius around him on top of his shoulders. While in this form, he gains 50% of the other Meepo stats and can Fling them at enemies, dealing 225 damage and slowing them by 60% for 3s. While active, Earthbind generates additional nets and Poof deals bonus damage based on the amount of Meepos riding on top. Casting Dig cancels MegaMeepo. Has no Mana Cost. Cooldown: 60s. Duration: 20s. Fling Cooldown: 0.5s.
Meepo being one of the least popular heroes in the game (104th popularity in pubs according to Dotabuff), it isn’t easy to gauge how good MegaMeepo is. He isn’t a popular pick in professional games either, but Gaimin Gladiators did pick him for their offlaner Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard in their game against TSM in the group stages of the Berlin Major, but this was one of the last series of the group stages and it didn’t have any impact on the standings. The first major item Ace got was the Aghanim’s Scepter, and GG won comfortably (which could also be due to the fact that they got their hands on Medusa). Aghanim’s Scepter was the seventh most popular item on the hero this past week in pubs with a win rate of 60%, so it must have some merit to it.
Why is it so good? Because it gives the hero a way to save his clones when they are about to die, or even increase his HP and survivability when the main Meepo is in trouble. Attributes increase the HP and mana of the clones as well, so when MegaMeepo is activated, the attributes from Aghanim’s Scepter get bolstered by 150% (50% from each of the three clones). A MegaMeepo can have mega HP and mana as well as increased damage, and in the right setting, can use the clones to fling to a target, following it up with Poof. This would be fun to see in a high stakes professional game!
MegaMeepo does not get a clone caught in Chronosphere or Black Hole out of trouble. A Meepo dueled by Legion Commander also cannot be mounted onto the MegaMeepo stack. But all Meepo’s caught in Berserker’s Call or Winter’s Curse can be saved by activating MegaMeepo! You just need the main hero to stay out of trouble.
Phantom Lancer (9/10)
Spirit Lance: Aghanim's Shard Upgrade moved to Aghanim's Scepter. Spirit Lance now bounces twice on enemies, prioritizing Heroes (can bounce back to the original target). Also increases slow amount by 10% and Spirit Lance illusion damage by 40%.
When moving the previous Aghanim’s Shard upgrade to an Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade, significant improvements were made to it. The question is, are the improvements worth the 2800 gold? In Phantom Lancer’s case, they are!
The bounce count has been increased from one to two from one, and the illusion damage increase has been improved from 20% to 40%. The illusion damage goes up from 20% (base damage without Aghanim’s Scepter) to 60%, which is a significant increase, especially after PL has an item or two. As the Spirit Lance bounce now prioritizes heroes, a scenario with just two heroes or one hero with creeps will mean the targeted hero gets hit with Spirit Lance twice! That’s 560 magic damage to be followed up with the illusion damage. If supports don’t have a quick way of getting rid of illusions, they could pretty much be killed by the Spirit Lance and damage from illusions. In addition to that, Aghanim’s Scepter adds attributes, and illusions get stronger with those.
Now the question many might be having is whether this upgrade is as good as the one PL received in Dota 2 patch 7.00, when Scepter was introduced for this hero. Back then, the Lance would bounce up to five times. But in that case, the bounce radius was only 400. With the new Scepter, it is 750 and increases illusion damage. It definitely makes a case for being better than the old Scepter upgrade! According to Dotabuff, Phantom Lancer with Aghanim’s Scepter has a 63% win rate in all the games for the past week. That says a lot.
Sand King (9/10)
Sand Storm: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Every 0.2s creates two 65 radius Burrowstrike spines at random locations. Each one stuns enemies and deals damage equal to the current level of Burrowstrike.
One of the best Scepters to come out of patch 7.33 is the new upgrade for Sand King’s Sand Storm. The frequency of the Burrowstrike spines is quite high, meaning it can be a massive disruption tool in team fights. It’s a bit like Kunkka’s Torrent Storm, where you don’t know where the Torrents will hit, but it causes mayhem in the AoE. According to Dotabuff, Aghanim’s Scepter has been the most popular item of choice on Sand King in pubs in the past week after Blink Dagger.
The 2022-2023 DPC Summer Tour is just around the corner. When the Division I DPC Leagues begin and the meta starts to unfold further on the professional scene, we will get a better idea of how good the reworked Scepters actually are.
