Lone Druid rose to prominence in the final few days of TI13. Here, we take a look at the facet that makes him a force to reckon with.
The International 2024 (TI13) ended with the final two days of the tournament seeing an 85.71% contest rate for Lone Druid in the 14 games that were played. On the last day, Lone Druid was banned in the first phase of all six games. If you watched only the final two days of TI13, you might have thought Lone Druid was the most contested hero of the tournament.
But a look at the meta based on the 123 games played at TI13 suggests that isn’t really the case. Lone Druid was barely noticed in the first few days, but when Gaimin Gladiators used to the hero to defeat Tundra Esports on the first day in the Royal Arena, he shot up to popularity when the final few teams realized it was a hero everyone was sleeping on.
And this is for a good reason – in the six games Lone Druid was picked, the team picking LD got a resounding victory in five of the games, giving him a win rate of 83.33%. But the question is, what makes the hero so good? The answer is the new facet that was added to his arsenal in Dota 2 patch 7.37 – Bear Necessities.
Lone Druid is a unique hero, because typically, the majority of the net worth is on the Spirit Bear, which is a non-hero unit. But Bear Necessities makes the hero the center of attention rather than the Spirit Bear, and does so with overwhelming strength. When talents were first introduced to Dota 2 in Dota 2 patch 7.00, Lone Druid initially had one that increased his range in his original form. Players began to make Dragon Lance on him and play him like Sniper with a Spirit Bear. For that small period, the center of gravity of the pair was closer to the hero. Bear Necessities has a similar effect, although maybe not to that extent.
Bear Necessities – the name for which comes from the song in the popular movie ‘Jungle Book’ – gives Lone Druid just three invent slots instead of six, but they enhance item effects as shown above. He is a universal hero, which already gives him more damage for stat items, and the Bear Necessities facet further enhances that. The best part is that even though the effects of the facet level with True Form are 50% enhanced, the base effect is still present. So Lone Druid can start building stat items like Bracer, Wraith Band, and Power Treads early in the game. What does the hero do when he has to make space for bigger items though? Give all the smaller items to the Spirit Bear. This process continues throughout the game. With this facet, the bigger items go on the hero and the smaller items end up on the Spirit Bear.Â
The advantage for this facet comes from the fact that if the two carries (LD was always picked as a carry at TI13) are at the same net worth, the effective net worth of Lone Druid would be much higher due to Bear Necessities. This always provided the team with LD an impetus to fight early with a few items. And the difference would only be amplified as the game went on. A Butterfly gives a level 18 Lone Druid 53% evasion as compared to the regular 35%. By the time the opposition has enough items to deal with the issue, the game has pretty much been decided the majority of the times.
The strength of Bear Necessities was not unknown before TI13. It had been showcased in Dota 2 pubs what this facet can do, but it hadn't caught on in the professional scene. But once teams realized how strong it is, they resorted to just first picking or banning the hero out instead of trying a last-ditch effort to counter it. The thing to ponder about is – had LD become popular in the group stage of TI13, would the contest rate be just as high in the final few days? It’s hard to say, but there is a good chance that would not be the case. Teams would have experimented with counters and possibly found a good one. But the final stage of The International is not the best place to experiment!
According to Dotabuff, Bear Necessities has a pick rate of over 73% in pubs, but a win rate of just under 51%. This isn’t surprising, as pubs games are not nearly as coordinated as professional games, and Lone Druid is not an easy hero to play. But even in pubs, there is strong consensus that Bear Necessities is not just the strongest facet Lone Druid has, but also one of the strongest facets in the game. Till it is nerfed, it could be a good time to play some Lone Druid. But if controlling two units is not your cup of tea, you could just watch the Bear Necessities song, and forget about your worries and your troubles!
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