We take a deep dive into the abilities of the long awaited Dota 2 hero Ringmaster, who was released two days ago.
It was a long and agonizing wait, but Ringmaster – Cogliostro Kettle if you prefer to refer to him informally – has arrived in Dota 2. The hero was teased by Valve nearly a year ago at TI12, and ever since then, there has been speculation on what sort of hero he will be based on the teaser video. We finally have answers and here, we will take a look at all the abilities of Ringmaster in depth and how best to use them.
Dota 2 hadn’t received a proper support ever since Grimstroke was released in 2018 at TI8. That wait is finally over! Ringmaster, based on first impressions, will be seen mostly in the support role. Before we jump into details of his abilities, here is a visual look at all of them. Currently, Ringmaster has an Aghanim’s Shard upgrade and an innate ability, but does not have an Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade or facets. They will be added to the game in due time.
Ringmaster Abilities
1) Tame the Beasts
Pretty much all of Ringmaster’s abilities are circus themed, and Tame the Beasts fits perfectly for a hero with the name ‘Ringmaster’. Tame the Beasts doubles as a disable as well as a nuke, depending on the channel time. The ability starts with two circles of varying radii (450 and 200), and as the channelling time increases from 0 to 1, the outer circles collapses into the inner circle, increasing fear duration and damage. Stopping the channelling will trigger the fear and damage right away. Tame the Beasts has a cast range of 850, and that distance refers to the center of both circles.
Tame the Beasts is great for hurling out some magic damage, as well as disabling enemies and potentially stopping channelling abilities. The best scenario in which the maximum radius can be useful is to stop multiple teleporting enemies and pull off a play like Gustav “s4” Magnusson did with Puck in the final game of the TI3 grand final to help Alliance win the Aegis. But we digress.
Tame the Beasts is also great for pushing out lanes, especially after the level 20 talent of increased damage. Level 4 of the talent does 480 magic damage, which increases to 780 if the increased damage talent is taken. 780 magic damage pretty much kills any creeps that fall into the smaller radius.
This skill has three talent upgrades, which is more than any of the other Ringmaster skills.
Talent updates
Level 10: +75 Tame the Beasts Radius
Level 15: Debuff Immunity While Channeling Tame the Beasts
Level 20: +75/+300 Tame the Beasts Min/Max Damage
2) Escape Act
Escape Act is the ability that makes Ringmaster an amazing support. It is similar to Shadow Demon’s Dispersion, but in this case, the hero on which Escape Act is cast can move and is not completely immune to damage.
Any hero that gets packed into the Escape Act Box is untargetable, but will take AoE damage as well as be impacted by AoE stuns. If Mirana’s Sacred Arrow is about to hit a hero and Ringmaster uses Escape Act on the hero, the arrow will still connect with the target, stun it and do reduced damage depending on the level of Escape Act (the ability provides magic resistance).
If an ally hero is under the effects of a taunt like Berserker’s Call, Duel or Winter’s Curse, the effect does not wear off once Escape Act is used on the hero. For example, if Legion Commander uses a Duel on a hero and Ringmaster uses Escape Act, the Duel timer will keep going and the two heroes will start hitting each other once Escape Act ends in 3.2 seconds. But even though that is the case, this serves as a great save against initiations like Berserker’s Call and Duel
The interactions of Escape Act deserve a separate article of its own. The skill has a 600 range, but the range can be enhanced by 200 with the level 10 talent. Aether Lens is a great item on Ringmaster to be able to pull off a save from afar.
Talent updates
Level 10: +200 Escape Act Cast Range
Level 25: Escape Act Grants Strong Dispel and Flying
3) Impalement Arts
Impalement Arts can be thought to be similar to Mirana’s Sacred Arrow, but with multiple charges and no stun. Sacred Arrow travels on a straight path until it hits a target, or ends at 3000 range. Similar is the case with the Impalement Arts daggers, but they travel much faster than Mirana’s arrow and terminate at a distance of 2400.
Impalement Arts is a skill that can do some serious damage, especially to tanky heroes. The damage is 5% max health for 4 seconds, which equates to 20% max health. With the 25% innate hero magic resistance, it comes down to 15% damage, which is still a significant amount of damage.
Because of the insane range and speed of the daggers, Impalement Arts can be used from the shadows without revealing yourself. This doesn’t apply to just team fights, but for pushing out lanes as well. The major benefit of this skill with skill levels is that you get extra charges. If a hero already affected by Impalement Arts is hit with a second dagger, the damage does not add up. Instead, the debuff duration is reset back to 4 seconds. If the level 15 talent for this skill is selected, the daggers will impact the first two targets that are in the line of the travel.
There is still a lot of experimentation happening with Ringmaster, but according to Dotabuff, the most popular skill build for the hero right now maxes out Impalement Arts at level 7. That makes a bit of sense, as it is beneficial to have four charges as early as possible in the game.
Most popular skill build for Ringmaster in pubs (taken from Dotabuff)
However, even though this is maxed out first in the most popular skill build, the more popular skill to be maxed out at level 7 is Tame the Beasts. The choice varies with every game.
Talent updates
Level 15: Impalement Arts Penetrates One Target
Level 20: +1s Impalement Arts Bleed and Slow Duration
4) Wheel of Wonder
And we come to the final circus act, the Wheel of Wonder. Wheel of Wonder is similar to Will-O-Wisp, where the hero casts the ability and everyone in a radius can be disabled. With Wheel of Wonder, there are two things to take into consideration – the wheel radius and the cast range. The cast range of the skill is 1500, whereas the radius is 600. This is shown in the image below. The green outer boundary is the cast range for Wheel of Wonder. If it is cast within that boundary, Ringmaster will roll the wheel to the point, and the affected area will be a circle of 600 radius around it.
Now, the skill also mentions there is a minimum radius of 700. What does that mean? It means that if Wheel of Wonder is cast at the exact location where Ringmaster is standing, he will roll the wheel 700 distance away, which is where it will begin its wonderous effects. Like Impalement Arts, the significant cast range on Wheel of Wonder gives Ringmaster the potential to cast it from out of enemy vision and catch them by surprise.
When the wheel reaches the targeted area, there is a 0.5 second delay before enemy heroes are taunted (only those who look at it are taunted, so it has element’s of Medusa’s Stone Gaze as well!). In that time, if enemy heroes look away from the wheel, they will escape the mesmerizing effects of it and only be slowed if they are in the AoE.
Wheel of Wonder is not a guaranteed disable, and it can be escaped. None of its effects pierce debuff immunity, so a BKB is a good way to counter it (but who buys that item in pubs?). A possible way to guarantee the disable from Wheel of Wonder is by pairing it with Tame the Beasts – fear into Wheel of Wonder taunt! That, however, will take a good deal of practice to master. But that’s why we have teammates in Dota 2! Heroes with stuns will pair up well with Ringmaster to ensure Wheel of Wonder hits the mark. A multiple hero Ravage by Tidehunter followed by Wheel of Wonder can be absolutely debilitating.
Talent updates
Level 25: +100 Wheel Radius and Range
5) Aghamin’s Shard Upgrade – Spotlight
Spotlight does not stay at one location – it rotates around in the infinity symbol (∞) shape slowly. But Spotlight is a useful ability to have even if there isn’t an invisible hero in the game, because the 30% miss chance on enemies in it can turn the tides of the teamfight. For reference, Butterfly provides 35% evasion, and in the right scenario, it is worth the 5450 gold just for the evasion. According to Dotabuff, Aghanim’s Shard is the second most popular item on Ringmaster in pubs, and the hero with a Shard has a win rate of around 55.8%, as compared to around 50% overall win rate. If Tormentor does not give you the Aghanim’s Shard, it is worth spending the 1400 gold on while playing Ringmaster.
6) Innate Ability – Dark Carnival Barker
Ringmaster’s innate ability gives him a Dark Carnival Souvenir every time an enemy dies within a 925 radius of him, or if he respawns without one. The Souvenir is basically one of three abilities shown below. The abilities come randomly but do not repeat. Also, the abilities cannot be changed. If you have one of the Souvenirs showing, that is the one you have to use, even if you have multiple charges.
- Funhouse Mirror
- Strongman Tonic
- Whoopee Cushion
Whoopee Cushion – This Souvenir is like a mini Force Staff, which can be useful to make a getaway. It cannot be used on any other heroes though, and can be used only on Ringmaster.
Funhouse Mirror – This Souvenir makes a comical illusion of Ringmaster, but considering the hero isn’t really a right click hero, it isn’t of too much use. Now, if it is buffed to provide a basic dispel like Manta Style or the Illusion Rune, then it would be a lot more useful.
Strongman Tonic – This Souvenir is the strongest of the three, and a very good one at that. At level 10, Ringmaster can provide an ally with 20 strength, which is 440 HP. For strength and universal heroes, that also equates to 20 and 14 damage respectively. If you have multiple Souvenir charges, it is most likely a good idea to use Whoopee Cushion and Funhouse Mirror randomly to keep a Strongman Tonic ready for a team fight.
That brings us to a relatively detailed rundown of Ringmaster’s abilities. There are bound to be some balance changes in the weeks to come, and we will most likely see an Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade and facets for the hero in the first major patch after TI13. Till then, play the hero, learn the ins and outs and if you get a good hang of Ringmaster by the time the additional stuff arrives, it will be a power spike just for you!
In case you are wondering how to approach a game as Ringmaster, here is a quick tutorial.
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