We're into the third month of 2024 and Ring Master is bound to be released anytime now. Here, we speculate what we can expect from Dota 2's upcoming hero.
Muerta was released in Dota 2 a year ago, In March 2023. The hero before her, Primal Beast, was released in February 2022. It seems like this is the time of the year when new heroes will be introduced to the game, and with there being a bit of a gap in premier Dota 2 tournaments, there is good reason to believe we will be braced with the presence of Ring Master in March 2024.
(taken from Dota 2 Wiki)
So once we go through the usual ritual of not getting the hero when we expect it and getting him when least expecting it, what will Ring Master be like in Dota 2? The official trailer provided us with some hints. There is a component of controlling or capturing opposition heroes. But we have no idea in what form.
Similarity with Puppet Master?
Once the trailer was released during TI12, there was a lot of speculation on r/DotA2 that the hero would be based on Puppet Master from Heroes of Newarth (HoN). Puppet Master, for his ultimate, would summon a Voodoo Puppet of the target hero who could be attacked to deal damage to the target hero. Based on the introduction video, at least that does not seem to be what Ring Master will do with his ultimate.
(taken from Heroes of Newerth Wiki)
So what could he do? He says in the video “They [heroes] are all egomaniacs, so they are natural performers”. The video ends with Ring Master saying, “Why not capture heroes?” There are a few possibilities!
Taking a hero out of the game – The ‘capture’ could refer to something like taking a hero out of a game completely, which skills like Astral Imprisonment and Dispersion do. Of course, that can’t be the only thing as the hero is based on the ‘capture’ concept, so it could be for a significantly longer time, and when the hero is captured, could enable Ring Master to use its abilities.
Controlling a hero – Although this narrative is more suited for a hero by the name of ‘Puppet Master’, it could still go with ‘Ring Master’ as someone who controls animals in the ring. There is a circus theme to the hero after all. This could mean Ring Master can control a hero for a certain time, or till a certain number of spells are used. If this is the case, it will be interesting to see if ultimates can be used as well.
These two strike as the main directions in which the hero can go, although there are a plethora of possibilities.
Type of Hero
So what type of hero will Ring Master be? In HoN, Puppet Master was an intelligence core. The last released hero, Muerta, was also an intelligence hero, although she can be played as a hero and support both. However, looking at all the 124 heroes in Dota 2, intelligence is the attribute that has the lowest number of heroes. This is because Invoker was shifted from intelligence to universal in a patch not to long ago. So there is a good chance Ring Master might be an intelligence hero.
As to whether he will be a core or support, it is hard to say. The ability that comes to mind when thinking of ‘controlling enemy heroes’ is Winter’s Curse, and that was a support ultimate for the longest time. It was only in recent times, after Winter Wyvern was bunched up in the new universal category, that she became more popular as a core (although these days, she is barely seen in professional games).
So there is a chance Ring Master is a support or core – his main essence does not dictate a specific role. But if we are to speculate, let’s see what we have from the last five heroes.
Muerta – Core and Support (both equal)
Primal Beast – Core
Marci – Core and Support (more of a support, although might flip with recent changes)
Dawnbreaker – Core and Support (more of a core)
Hoodwink – Core and Support (more of a support)
Recent heroes, it seems, can be played in multiple roles. Even Primal Beast, who is pretty much a core, can be a mid laner or an offlaner. It is likely that this trend will continue because it does add more fun to the game to have versatile heroes. However, if it doesn’t, it would be nice to have a pure support. The last support only hero to be released in Dota 2 was Grimstroke, who was released in 2018 (feel old yet?).
Irrespective of what kind of hero Ring Master is, everyone in the Dota 2 community will agree that they cannot wait for his release (although he may not be willing to release the captured heroes!). Hopefully, that happens in the coming days.
