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Dota 2, Aghanim's Shard, Dota 2 patch 7.33

Dota 2 Patch 7.33: Support hero ratings for reworked Aghanim's Shards

We take a look at how good the 11 reworked supports Aghanim’s Shards from Dota 2 patch 7.33 are.

Image: yakonusuke on DeviantArt

A few days ago, we saw the ratings for the core Aghanim’s Shards to come out of Dota 2 patch 7.33. The equation is different for cores, as 1400 gold is not as big a deal for core heroes as it is for support heroes.

The equation has changed significantly, though, for supports after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.33. While previously they were forced to buy a Shard, now at least one of the supports gets a Shard around the 20 minute mark from the Tormentor. So even if a hero has a really bad Aghanim’s Shard upgrade, there might be a Shard in the inventory because of the random chance. This makes rating the Shards a bit difficult, as all supports will not need to buy one. The ratings here, then, are purely based on the assumption that a hero is in a situation where the Shard has to be purchased. Either it is so good that waiting for the 5 minutes from 15:00 to 20:00 is not worth it, or the hero hasn’t gotten the Shard from the Tormentor and has to buy it.

Here, we take a look at the reworked Aghanim’s Shards for supports, and rate them on a scale of 0 to 10. A rating of 0 means the Shard should be destroyed, as Tundra Esports’ Martin “Saksa” Sazdov once did while playing Marci a few months ago. A rating of 10 means it should be obtained at the 15 minute mark, with players smashing the Aghanim’s Shard button as the timer runs down from 14:50 to 15:00. The list of ratings starts with the Shard upgrades that are the worst of the lot and proceeds in ascending order towards better ratings.


Enchantress (4/10)

Aghanim's Shard now also increases the maximum number of enchanted units from 1 to 2.

Enchantress’ creep domination is prominent only in the laning stage and parts of the early game. As the game transitions, she turns into a damage dealer with Impetus, even as a support. Gaimin Galdiators’ captain Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp is probably the best Enchantress player in the professional scene right now, and in their recent game against Entity in the Western European DPC League, he went for damage item and talents. Additionally, the hero no longer has the talent to use Enchant on ancients. If that were still available, this Shard would be somewhat worth it. In the current scenario however, not something Enchantress will make too much use of after 15 minutes. According to Dotabuff, the +30% Enchanted Creep Health/Damage only has a 7.4% pick rate in pubs, and that’s no surprise! The enchanted or charmed creeps only last two minutes, so it isn’t a lucrative direction to go in.

(taken from Dotabuff)


Disruptor (5/10)

Thunder Strike: Aghanim's Shard Upgrade reworked.
When cast on ground, Thunder Strike now lies dormant (not striking) for up to 5 seconds. If an enemy comes within range during that time, Thunder Strike attaches to it. If no enemy comes within range, it strikes the ground. Aghanim's Shard also increases the number of strikes by 2 and cast range to 1600.

The best version of Disruptor’s Aghanim’s Shard was when it made Thunder Strike targetable on allies. The reworked Shard is nothing to write home about. It is, of course, advantageous to have the additional range and damage on Thunder Strike if Disruptor gets the Shard from the Tormentor. But it isn’t worth spending 1400 gold on. That gold could go towards making an Aghanim’s Scepter instead, which can completely turn a game on its head.


Ancient Apparition (6/10)

Ice Blast: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Enemies hit by Ice Blast explosion are stunned with the current level of Cold Feet for 60% of its duration. Doesn't stun Debuff Immune enemies.

The Cold Feet stun is 2 seconds. With the Shard, Ice Blast stuns those hit by it for 1.2 seconds. It’s a good Shard to have, but it isn’t a game changer. The Ice Blast stun can be a good precursor for the Cold Feet stun, but other support items like Glimmer Cape or Force Staff take precedence.


Mirana (6/10)

Leap: Aghanim's Shard now does not break Moonlight Shadow invisibility
With Aghanim's Shard the ability can now be put on auto-cast to make it ground- and vector targeted, allowing you to choose the distance and the resulting blast direction of the jump.

Mirana’s Shard has been continuously changed in the quest to find one that will be popular. IceFrog and Valve have not found the answer yet, but the added buffs to Mirana’s Aghanim’s Shard upgrade at least make it much more usable. Not losing invisibility while using Leap is pretty neat. The vector targeted jump saves time required for turning – she can kind of jump backwards or sideways now. But the biggest advantage of this Shard still remains the fourth Leap charge, and it isn’t one that needs to be prioritized on a support or even core Mirana.


Warlock (6/10)

Upheaval: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Creates an imp for every 2 seconds of channeling. These imps last for 15 seconds and have 17-18 attack damage, 300 health, 1 armor and Eldritch Explosion passive ability: when killed or expired, imps explode, dealing 60% of their max health as damage to enemies within 400 radius. Imps continuously seek out the closest visible and attackable target but can be controlled.

Warlock’s main role in a team fight is to get a good Chaotic Offering drop, heal allies and slow down enemies. Whatever damage Warlock does is through Fatal Bonds and the Golems. For the Imps to continuously spawn, Warlock needs to channel Upheaval out of sight, which defeats its purpose. The skill is better used for slowing enemies, and Warlock’s gold is better used towards getting an Aghanim’s Scepter. Of course, if he gets the Shard from the Tormentor, the added damage from Imps is always welcome. But as a position 5 hero, Shard won’t be a priority on Warlock.


Marci (7/10)

Rebound: Aghanim's Shard no longer allows setting the ability on autocast. Now allows Marci to jump off enemies and provides her with movement speed bonus.

Marci was one of the heroes that was moved to the list of universal heroes, so her role is a little bit of a question mark right now. In professional games, she was mostly played as a support before the change, although things may change now. Either way, Marci’s new Shard is a massive improvement over her previous one. It can help her jump onto the backline, or even use an enemy hero to jump onto another one trying to escape a team fight. This Shard should see much more play, but its priority isn’t as high as BKB or Skull Basher.


Techies (7/10)

Reactive Tazer: Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade moved to Aghanim's Shard (effect is unchanged).

The effect, which is basically the ability to use Tazer on an ally, was insanely expensive for 4200 gold. At 1400 gold, it’s much more worth it. It isn’t a necessity unless you are playing with a siege engine like Alchemist or Leshrac. Tazer does 300 magic damage with the Shard, which is absolutely peanuts. Sticky Bomb, which has a cooldown of 6 seconds, does 360 damage; the damage isn’t that big a deal. The disarm can be useful when put on a frontliner.


Undying (7/10)

Tombstone: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Allows up to 1 allied hero to bunker inside of the Tombstone. Ally can bunker by pressing RMB on the Tombstone while in 350 radius. Bunkered units cannot leave the Tombstone for 3 seconds after entering. Unit that left the Tombstone cannot re-enter it for 3 seconds. If Undying decides to enter the Tombstone while another ally is inside, the ally is forcefully evicted. Undying also receives the Grab Ally ability, which bunkers a hero to the nearest Tombstone within 400 range (this ability is also present on the Tombstone itself).

Allies can sit inside the Tombstone until it expires or is destroyed, and it can even be used to save heroes from Chronosphere, Black Hole or Duel! Of course, they have to be in range for Undying’s Grab Ally ability. At first, this sounds really good, and it isn’t a bad ability to have to save allies. But it does come at the cost of placing the Tombstone right in the middle of the fight, whereas the preferred location is somewhere it can’t be destroyed easily. Additionally, the Tombstone does not provide any additional healing to a hero bunkered inside it, meaning the benefits are not as hefty, but can definitely come in handy in clutch situations.


Earth Spirit (8/10)

Geomagnetic Grip: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Shard. Can now target allies.

Geomagnetic Grip being able to target allies was previously a level 20 talent. Now that it is an Aghanim’s Shard upgrade, it can be gotten much earlier, and helps a lot in team fights to save allies from murky situations. It cannot pull allies out of Chronosphere or Black Hole though, neither can it save someone when in a Duel.


Chen (9/10)

Aghanim's Shard now also adds one level to upgradable abilities of persuaded creeps.

Dota 2 patch 7.33 introduced level 4 abilities for neutral creeps, and those are only unlocked with Chen’s Aghanim’s Shard. Not by Enchantress’ Enchant, not with Helm of the Overlord’s Dominate, only with Chen’s Persuasion. And this is an addition to Chen’s Shard, with the original effect allowing him to use Holy Persuasion on Ancient Creeps. It doesn’t have to be an instant buy at the 15 minute mark, but Chen wants to have this Shard in pretty much every game.


Oracle (9/10)

Rain of Destiny: Now granted by Aghanim's Shard.
Damage/Heal per second decreased from 60 to 40.

Rain of Destiny was made 2800 gold cheaper, with a little bit of a nerf. This is a Shard worth its weight in gold, which might not necessarily be saying a lot since the Aghanim’s Shard appears to be small. But it is a Shard worth having every game.

Besides the 40 damage, Rain of Destiny also provides 20% heal amplification for allies and reduces enemy healing by 20% (both values reduced from 25% to 20% in Dota 2 patch 7.33b). A target saved using False Promise who is standing in the Rain of Destiny AoE will have so much heal from Purifying Flames, that the survival chances will go up exponentially. The overall heal goes up from 396 to 475 (that’s just from one Purifying Flames when under the effects of False Promise).


As the meta evolving around Dota 2 patch 7.33 is explored further, we will get a better idea of the strength of the reworked Aghanim's Shard upgrades.

 

Author
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Siddharth "Gopya" GopujkarA Mechanical Engineer who is as interested in the mechanics of DotA 2 as every machine he studies. Pursuing his Master's at the Michigan Technological University.

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