We take a look at how good the reworked Aghanim’s Scepters from Dota 2 patch 7.34 are.
Dota 2 patch 7.34 was released nearly two weeks ago, and like every major patch, brought a bunch of reworks to the Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades of heroes. A good Scepter can make or break a hero, as the upgrade is unique to the hero, which is what makes it interesting to analyze how good or bad a Scepter is. Here, we rate the reworked Scepters of patch 7.34 on a scale of 0 to 10.
A rating of 0 means you will lose because of the Scepter, and would rather destroy a free Aghanim’s Blessing from Roshan than consume it. A rating of 10 means you pretty much have to get it every game. The list of ratings starts with the Scepter upgrades that are the worst of the lot and proceeds in ascending order towards better ratings.
Enchantress (5/10)
ENCHANT: Now Aghanim's Scepter increases number of max enchanted creeps by 1 (previous Aghanim's Shard Upgrade).
LITTLE FRIENDS: Now granted by Aghanim's Scepter. Now also roots the target in place for 2 seconds + 0.5s for each creep in range when casted up to a maximum of 5s.
Enchantress Aghanim’s Shard upgrades have been moved to her Aghanim’s Scepter (and vice versa). The free Aghanim’s Shard from the Tormentor made the two enchanted creeps quite strong previously, as they could be used to cut waves in multiple lanes. Not a lot of Enchantress will want to spend 4200 gold to do that, since the hero is more inclined towards dishing out damage through Impetus, whether it be from a position 2 role or a position 5 role.
Lone Druid (5/10)
SUMMON SPIRIT BEAR: Aghanim's Scepter allows Spirit Bear to attack at any range from Lone Druid, and to survive if Lone Druid dies.
SPIRIT LINK: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Lone Druid severs the link to his Spirit Bear, and connects to the target allied hero, sharing the Spirit Link bonuses with them for 20s. Armor sharing and attack speed bonuses are increased by 35%. Damage done by the ally heals Lone Druid, as well as the other way around. The Spirit Bear is feared for the duration of the transformation unless it has its own Aghanim's Scepter. Cooldown: 40s; Mana Cost: 50.
There are two Aghanim’s Scepters for Lone Druid – one for the hero and one for the Spirit Bear. Both are mediocre.
The Spirit Bear’s Scepter is the old one, which does away with its leash radius. But most good LD players tend to keep the two units close, to make the best use of Spirit Link, and also so that Lone Druid can make use of his Entangling Claws and Demolish in his True Form when needed.
Lone Druid’s Aghanim’s Scepter fears the Spirit Bear, so effectively it is meant to be used with the hero as the primary item carrier, linking up with another right clicker in the team. It could work in low level pubs, but Lone Druid’s uniqueness comes from the fact that the damage dealing entity is separated from the hero and isn’t the one you want to kill in team fights. Take that away, and the hero’s identity is lost.
Morphling (6/10)
MORPH: Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade reworked. Adds an alternative cast to Morph. When enabled, Morphling creates beside himself a strong illusion of the target hero that can cast all of the hero's basic abilities and deals 100% of the target's damage but takes 300% damage. If the illusion is alive when Morphling toggles Morph, he teleports to the illusion and destroys it before turning into the enemy hero.
Morphling’s new Aghanim’s Scepter is definitely not as good as his old one, where he could take out a core enemy hero from the game by depleting a significant chunk of their stats. This one isn’t that good, but it has its uses and is also a nostalgic Scepter, as this was Morphling’s ultimate a few years ago (it was changed in Dota 2 patch 7.07). The Scepter replicate can still use all non-ultimate abilities. This gives Morph the option to teleport back to base from a team fight and come back using the replicate. Another use, as was often done when this was the default ultimate, is to split push – use the replicate to push a lane while Morphling pushes another lane. Is it worth the 4200 gold? Probably not in most games. This Scepter will see a lot less play than the previous iteration, but that’s only fair as his old one was quite broken.
Centaur Warrunner (7/10)
WORK HORSE: New ability granted by Aghanim's Scepter. Centaur Warrunner deploys and pulls a cart for 8s, gaining the Stampede buff for the first 3.5/4/4.5s (depending on the level of Stampede). While active, the Work Horse ability is replaced with the Hitch a Ride sub-ability that can be activated with previous effect. The Work Horse goes on cooldown once the cart disappears. Mana Cost: 75; Cooldown: 30s (unchanged from the previous Upgrade).
Centaur Warrunner’s popularity in this meta will come from the change to Hoof Stomp, more than anything. The reworked Aghanim’s Scepter isn’t a core part of his item build, but it is much better than the old one. Basically, the Bradwarden gets an extra Stampede for himself, which he can use to make an escape or make an initiation, without having to use up his ultimate. The cart is the cherry on top of the cake, which can come in handy in certain situations, especially when trying to escape with an ally.
Crystal Maiden (7/10)
FREEZING FIELD: Aghanim's Scepter now also allows Crystal Maiden to move, attack and cast spells during Freezing Field in addition to the previous effects. Scepter Time to Frostbite increased from 1.75s to 2.5s.
Crystal Maiden’s new Scepter is basically a combination of her old Aghanim’s Scepter and old Aghanim’s Shard. In a way, this is good as it saves 1400 gold for the entire package. But it is also a nerf, because a position 5 (or even position 4, for that matter) Crystal Maiden cannot always justify an Aghanim’s Scepter over other support items. Before patch 7.34, she could get the Aghanim’s Shard from the Tormentor and could have freewill in team fights with Freezing Field on. Maybe it is time for mid Crystal Maiden?! Only in unranked pubs perhaps.
Spectre (7/10)
HAUNT: Now granted by Aghanim's Scepter. Haunt Damage: 80%; Haunt Damage Taken: 200%; Duration: 7s; Cooldown: 180s; Mana Cost: 150.
With the switch in Shadow Step and Haunt and with Reality casting a Spectral Dagger, Spectre now has the ability to fight a lot earlier as compared to before. Her item build will adapt accordingly. An Aghanim’s Scepter does not make it into her first four items, as it did when it provided Shadow Step. Back then, Manta into Scepter would mean you could go solo killing supports on the map with the single person Haunt. Now, that is an innate ability. Haunt is still useful of course, but not in the early or mid game at the cost of other items. 200 seconds is a long cooldown for a 4200 gold item. It can be an item to be considered for the fifth or sixth slot, if the game goes over 40 minutes. Items like Manta Style, Blade Mail and Orchid Malevolence are more beneficial on her.
Necrophos (8/10)
HEARTSTOPPER AURA: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Health Decay is increased by 60% of Necrophos's current health regeneration.
Necrophos’ new Scepter upgrade does depend on the opposition like his previous one did, but it also cannot be made useless with a Nullifier. The old Scepter gave him more damage from Heartstopper Aura with Ghost Shroud active, but Nullifier was a major counter to that.
The new Scepter is more robust, and syncs with his permanent HP regen from Reaper’s Scythe kills, and the temporary HP regen from Heartstopper Aura. According to Dotabuff, the recent build for Necro is a lot like Radiance, Heart of Tarrasque and Aghanim’s Scepter, which is the stand your ground as enemies take damage build.
(taken from Dotabuff)
Bristleback (9/10)
BRISTLEBACK: Now upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Allows Bristleback to be point-targeted. Bristleback turns his back towards the targeted direction and after 0.5s forcefully ejects 6 sequential Quill Sprays in a tight conical pattern out of his back at 0.35s intervals. Bristleback is slowed down by 40% for the duration, disarmed and cannot turn but can still cast his spells in any direction. Mana Cost: 100; Cooldown: 20s.
Bristleback’s old Aghanim’s Scepter was amazing, not only because it allowed him to spread his Nasal Goo in an AoE, but also because it helped ramp up Warpath stacks and increase his damage. The new one isn’t bad either, and it gives the hero another avenue. The six Quill Sprays, which Bristleback sprays in 2.25 seconds since the command is given, dishes out a total of 1020 physical damage and gives him six stacks of Warpath. Combined with two Quill Sprays from his skill, the damage goes up to 1620 (without the +25 Quill Stack Damage talent at level 20) in a matter of 3 seconds!
The right click Bristleback is still a way to go, but with the new Scepter, a spell damage build is also a possibility. According to Dotabuff, Aghanim’s Scepter is Bristleback’s second most used item in pubs in the last week, and the third one is Bloodstone. Bristleback (the skill) can be activated along with Bloodstone to get an insane amount of healing. It’s an interesting Scepter to experiment with.
(taken from Dotabuff)
Jakiro (10/10)
MACROPYRE:
Aghanim's Scepter no longer increases Macropyre distance.
Aghanim's Scepter now increases Macropyre width by 70.
Aghanim's Scepter Bonus Duration decreased from +15s to +5s.
Aghanim's Scepter now adds two walls of ice along the edges of the Macropyre that slow any enemies trying to cross them by 70%. Damage is pure and the slow pierces debuff immunity. Ice Wall Width: 80; Slow Linger Duration: 0.4s.
The best Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade to come out of Dota 2 patch 7.34! Every Jakiro in any position is going to aim to get an Aghanim’s Scepter as one of the first three major items. The upgraded Macropyre is not only good in team fights, but it is also amazing for zoning out the enemy near the Roshan pit or for high ground sieges, both for defending or attacking. The best part, perhaps, is that the slow from the ice walls pierces debuff immunity. According to Dotabuff, Aghanim’s Scepter is Jakiro’s most used item from the last week of pubs, and it’s not even a surprise. The item has a 61.91% win rate even with an extremely high pick rate.
(taken from Dotabuff)
Popular Dota 2 streamer Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski definitely thinks it is a strong change in favor of Jakiro.
There has been just one Jakiro pick in professional games played on Dota 2 patch 7.34, but as the meta develops, teams are bound to warm up to the Twin Headed Dragon.
In the next few days, GosuGamers will take a look at the Aghanim’s Shard ratings for all Shards reworked in Dota 2 patch 7.34.
