[Analysis] Who can break into competitive lineups?

Well with the vast amount of changes that have happened with the release of 6.60/6.61, theres been lots of trial and error in including previously unused heroes into new lineups. Immediately after relsese, razor was seen alot of and has since vanished back into the gloom, along with other agi carries like magina and troll repeatedly being tried out in inhouse leagues - IDEC and the likes.

It will be a while before things settle down, and a proper knowledge of which heroes really are worth taking this version settles in, so the question remains: are there unused heroes that can break into competitive lineups now? Here are some I've picked out.

Rooftrellen, the Treant Protector
Treant hasn't seen any play in Europe at all recently, though I believe over the past few versions he was still more of a pick in the Asian scene (they do seem to like their map control heroes). His eyes in the forest have been remade, so that he can basically plant a new tree rather than having to place an aye on an existing tree, coupled with quelling blade, this means he can chop down a tree, and replace it with one of his own eyes so that it doesnt look out of place and noticable. Natures guise has also been buffed, so that casting it doesn't take him out of invisibility himself, definately a good move and increases the ability of being able to invis lots of team-mates and himself. Furthermore, a few versions ago living armour was changed so that it could also work on buildings - the only spell of its kind, this should definately have made treant a more interesting proposition.

So map control, great support spells and an aoe-disabling ulti to go with it all. Whats holding him back? I see a problem in how to go about laning him. He can definately be played as a solo mid, and happily survive the lane with armour. However, he only *survives* it - he doesn't win the lane, which can be seen as a problem, and it also means that you have a support hero with the level advantage, whilst something with more carry potential may be preferable. You could possibly dual lane him as some kind of pseudo-babysitter for a ranged carry/semi-carry... but it'd have to be one that only wants to farm, and not dominate a lane.

Nortrom, the Silencer
Silencer has seen some buffs in the past version, perhaps stepping him in the right direction towards moving up a tier. The extra aoe on last word is a nasty thing to play against... last word completely prevents heroes from casting spell combinations in quick sucession and now can do it from even further away, making teamfights much more tricky for enemy casters - the bane of heroes like puck, earthshaker, tiny who wish to quickly get off a combo of spells. Duration on curse of the silence has been reduced, but damage and mana lost per second have been greatly increased, so that although the overall hp/mana loss remains the same by the end of the spell, more will be dealt before the opponent casts a spell to end it - definately a useful buff. The int gain from heroes killed under last word is a definite buff, as its highly likely you'll rack up extra int points in a teamfight now, adding to silencers dps role.

Might be enough to see him have a run in competitive play? Silencing is a pain to any lineups intending to win teamfights through spell casting, and now he's even better at preventing combos, and his dps increase from extra int will be even more dangerous if played well. We'll have to see if he gets picked some :D

Ish'kafel, the Dark Seer
Latest versions have seen this sub-par hero gain increased cast range on vacuum as well as lowered cooldown on ion shell. Ion shell is a massive pain to melee heroes in lane, cast on a creep it does well to prevent them from wanting to move near the creep wave, now with a lower cooldown this effect is increased dramatically. Also a possibility that dark seer can jungle with ion shell - even at low levels 30dps is gonna go a good way towards taking down the easy creep camps. The cast range increase on vacuum is definately a useful thing, though it comes at the price of no-longer working on magic immune units. Still a very useful spell to drag oponents together to set up other aoe spells - now dramatically increased in effectiveness by being able to be cast from further away.

Not too sure about seer, his spell set has always been "useful" but not amazing. The increased movement speed spell has lots of applications; from helping you to escape, to allowing an allied ganker to chase down a hero. The ulti has always been interesting, creates mayhem in a teamfight with the opponents losing certainty over who it is they're supposed to be focusing their spells on. Can he be integrated into competitive lineups now? Thats a tricky one, i've always seen a problem with melee int heroes, in that you really need some space for your melee str. caster heroes, and more melee causes laning issues. If he can effectively jungle, then perhaps this could be an interesting way to include him into a lineup.


Mmmm, thats about all for now, will continue this article later with some other heroes :)