Making her way from the Dota 2 anime into the game, Marci has completed her journey from Dragon's Blood to the Defense of the Ancients.
The period after The International always feels like a bit of a vacuum, owing to the sudden ending of ungodly Dota 2 action. But this year, a hero has arrived to help the Dota 2 community with the post TI blues. Marci has been released in the game! Valve promised during TI10 that the newest member would be released during Fall 2021, and they have delivered on the promise.
Marci is a melee strength hero, just like her predecessor, Dawnbreaker. She has a significant strength gain, and decent base damage as well, which will be a help during the laning stage. A look at her potential roles indicates Marci has the potential to be a versatile hero, with her ability to fulfil multiple roles.
And what is mentioned in Marci’s roles is echoed in her skills. Her skill set is quite diverse, and from the first looks of it, it seems like depending on what skills and items are prioritized, could lead to a variety of ways of playing the hero. Let’s take a close look at her skills.
Dispose
Dispose seems like a mix of Magnus’ Horntoss and Tiny’s Toss. Marci tosses a hero behind her, which stuns the hero if its an enemy and stuns all enemies in the landing area. Dispose can be a great initiation tool, with Marci blinking and throwing an enemy back to her allies to start a fight. It can also be used to chase fleeing enemies and throw them back into your team. It is very similar to Tiny’s Toss in that respect. When Tiny was being played mostly as a support, one of his core duties was to blink in and Toss enemies out of position. But that’s not the only use for Dispose, as it can be used to throw allies back to safety as well.
Rebound
When using Rebound, the initial target needs to be selected, and the direction from the target in which you wish to lunge needs to be specified (similar to Pangolier’s Swashbuckle). In case a direction is not specified, Marci lunges in the same direction as travels to her initial target. Rebound can have multiple uses. It gives allies movement speed and reduces the movement speed of enemies, so it can either be used to help an ally gain on enemies or escape from them. It also serves as an initiation tool for Marci, using Rebound to get to a target and then using Dispose on it. Rebound can be used to go over cliffs and other unpathable terrain (both, the initial bounding to the targeted unit as well as the lunge), so it also serves as an excellent escape tool for Marci herself. A target being hit by the Rebound Impact damage followed by the Dispose impact damage will take 580 magic damage (435 after reduction), which is a significant bit of damage in the early game. The burst damage can also be used to quickly push out waves while hiding in the trees.
Sidekick
Sidekick is a very unique spell, and probably the first active skill in Dota 2 that provides another hero with lifesteal (Wraithking’s Vampiric Aura was a passive skill that did so in the past, while Open Wounds is targetted on an enemy). The good thing about this skill, is that it works well with Marci in a core or support role. The most efficient use would be Marci being a core and using it on another right click core (let’s face it, all heroes in pubs are right click cores anyways). It isn’t usable on allied creeps, but the presence of another hero isn’t a requirement for the skill, as it can be used on just Marci. An additional 65 damage with 50% damage is quite a lot of damage and sustain. 50% lifesteal is like one fourth of a built-in Satanic.
Unleash
Unleash, along with sidekick, cements Marci’s usage as a right click core. The first two skills are more support/initiation oriented with magic damage, but the final two skills bolster her right click damage, potentially making her a viable position 1 hero. Although the tooltip says the damage type is ‘Magical’, that is only for the the damaging pulse between Fury combos. The Fury combos themselves are physical damage, based on Marci’s right click damage. In the 18 second period that Unleash is active, Marci can do a total of 9 Fury combo’s, which is 45 attacks! Not that any hero will sit there and take it, but there is a potential to UNLEASH a lot of damage, pun intended! This skill makes it worthwhile to build items like Skull Basher or Maelstrom on her. In theory, it should also make her a strong hero to take down Roshan. It also helps in taking down Phoenix’s Supernova, Undyin’g Tombstone or Pugna’s Nether Ward.
Talent Tree
Nothing in Marci’s talent tree sticks out for levels 10 and 15. At level 20, the 1.75 second Spell Immunity is strong tool, with the ability to make two heroes magic immune. At level 25, both talents stand out. 50% Sidekick Lifesteal takes lifesteal for two heroes to 100%, and 1.5s Unleast Pulse Silence will work wonders in clustered team fights to silence multiple heroes multiple times.
First Impressions
Based on first impressions, Dota 2’s latest recruit Marci seems like a hero that can be played as a core as well as support. Her ability to initiate, escape, buff up allies and deal a ton of physical damage makes her extremely versatile. Whenever she is released in Captains Mode, it will be interesting to see how professional teams make use of her unique skillset. But till then, the best way to find out is to keep picking Marci in pubs till you’re either one of the top Marci players out there or are reported into lower priority!
