Here are all the Aghanim Scepter Upgrades in 7.22 Patch Update

May 26, 2019 | 0 | 12257|  Share |  Tweet

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With the Starladder and IMBATV Dota 2 Minor qualifiers out of the way, Valve has released the new patch update for the game. The new update brings about multiple changes to the heroes, items as well as some of the common basics in the game.

The new update also adds two heroes to the Captains Mode and is bound to have an impact on the competitive aspect of the game. You can read the full patch notes on the official webpage here.

In this article we cover the various Aghanim Scepter Upgrades in the new patch.

Roshan

Roshan now drops a consumable Scepter buff item. The third Roshan will randomly drop either a consumable Scepter item or a Refresher Shard. The fourth Roshan has both. You can select Roshan to see his inventory and find out what items will drop

Yes, you heard it right, Roshan gets an Aghanim Scepter. Well it doesn’t really provide him with any special abilities, but it is present in his inventory.

The Third Roshan will contain either a Refresher Shard or a consumable Scepter Item. The refresher shard refreshes your abilities and items without any mana cost. The Consumable Aghanim’s Item will provide benefits to the hero who uses it and upgrades certain abilities.

You can check which shard the third Roshan contains by clicking on him. The addition of a A consumable Aghanim’s item definitely changes the way fights could go in the late game. Certain Aghanim Scepter upgrades can change the course of the game and definitely have a huge impact on the overall teamfight.

If anything, this update further enhances Roshan’s importance in a game. The big boss is going to the area of multiple team fights and control for either team.

Abaddon Scepter

While Borrowed Time is active, anytime an ally takes more than 525 damage while within 1600 range of Abaddon, an individual Mist Coil will automatically fire towards that ally. (Scepter still increases duration by 1)

Abaddon already had an Aghanim Scepter Upgrade. All the damage dealt to surrounding teammates would redirect to Abaddon. In the new Scepter update, any incoming damage on allied heroes would also automatically propel a Mist Coil towards the hero.

If an allied hero takes 525 damage from any source, Abaddon will automatically heal him via his first skill, the Mist coil. It is important to note that the Mist Coil Heal happens only if an allied hero takes a minimum of 525 damage while Abaddon’s Borrowed Time is active. It will provide a huge amount of sustain and healing to allies, especially if coupled with the correct talents.

With +60 Mist Coil Heal / Damage, 20% Cooldown reduction and 375 AOE Mist Coil, Abaddon can be very effective support even in the late game.

Anti-Mage

Added Scepter upgrade. Mana Void kills now add +70 seconds to the highest cooldown ability on the enemy hero. Cooldown starts once the enemy respawns. Increases the stun duration by 1 second, if the target dies during this period it is still counted as a Mana Void kill.

Anti Mage is a hero that has never had an Aghanim’s Upgrade. With the 7.22 update, Anti-Mage receives an Aghanim Upgrade, although we are not sure how much we like the new upgrade.

If Anti Mage has an Aghanim Scepter ( or has consumed one), any enemy killed by Anti Mage’s ultimate will have an addition 70 seconds cooldown on his highest cooldown ability. For most heroes, the highest cooldown ability is their ultimate. However, there are a few heroes whose highest cooldown ability is something else. An addition 70 seconds to a Terrorblade would definitely change the outcome of the entire game.

Arc Warden

Grants a new ability, Rune Forge. Creates a random Rune in front of you. Cooldown 60. The selection of Runes include Bounty Runes and Powerup Runes.

Arc Warden has received a very unique Aghanim’s Upgrade. His Aghanim’s Upgrade grants him a new ability called Rune Forge. Rune Forge allows Arc Warden to create a random rune in front of the hero. This rune could be anything ranging from a Bounty rune to a Power Up Rune.

With a 60 second cooldown, this ability can provide a huge advantage to Arc Warden and his team even in the late game. The Aghanim Scepter is now also consumable ( by purchasing a recipe) which does not necessitate the usage of an item slot for this ability.

Axe’s Aghanim Scepter

Now causes Battle Hunger to be a 400 AoE target ability (debuff still reduces enemy damage by 30%)

Aghanim’s Scepter on Axe will now make Battle Hunger an AOE spell. The ability with the Aghanim’s Scepter reduces the damage output of the opponent by 30% ensuring Axe’s usefulness in team fights.

In the late game, in the midst of a hectic tema fight, heroes are usually not concerned with removing the Battle Hunger ( by getting the last hit on a creep or hero). As such, the 30% reduction in damage output can be a huge difference in a team’s sustainability in team fights.

BeastMaster Scepter Upgrade

Wild Axes have no cooldown and can be used again once they have returned to Beastmaster.

BeastMaster is a hero that is known to push lanes due to his item builds and the inner beast aura. With an Aghanim’s Scepter Beastmaster will no longer have any cooldown for his Wild Axes. He becomes even better at dealing with opposing push as well as pushing lanes himself.

Wild Axes also provide fleeting vision on usage, so it can be a good scouting tool especially around the Roshan area. Considering the importance of Roshan ( and more so in this patch), Wild Axes can be a great way to scout for Beast Masters ( who already has several scouting methods).

Broodmother

Increases Spin Web max count from 8 to 20, movement speed bonus from 70 to 100%, and removes movement speed limit.

Broodmother is a very situational hero and is mostly played in the mid area. The hero can be really frustrating to play against as he can easily cut creep waves and dominate the early laning phase. His early advantages continue into the mid-game and he is responsible for the team’s momentum in teamfights.

The New Aghanim’s Scepter grants Broodmother the ability to spawn 20 Webs all around the map. This is a significant upgrade from the current number of 8 webs. This will allow Broodmother unrestricted movement through the enemy jungle. He will constantly be a threat to the opposing core farming in the comfort of his jungle.

Regardless, the Aghanim’s Scepter is not cheap. With a price of 4200, it might be better for Broodmothers to build other items, especially in the mid-game. We expect the Aghanim’s Scepter to be a luxury item after Broodmothers have completed filling their six slots.

Clinkz

Creates two skeletons near Clinkz when exiting Skeleton Walk. Increases Skeleton Walk speed by +30% and unlocks max movement speed.

At first glance, Clinkz’s Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade does not seem to be very useful. For 4200 item, the scepter provides two skeletons around Clinkz when he exits Skeleton Walk. While it is not a significant boost to the outcome of a teamfight, it definitely increases Clinkz’ damage in the team fights.

The two skeletons around Clinkz will ensure quick and decisive damage output. Skeleton Walk also increases Clinkz movement speed by 30% without any restrictions on the maximum movement speed.

There are subsequent changes to his ultimate “The Burning Army”

• Burning Army base attack time changed from 1.75/1.6/1.45 to 1.6
• Burning Army units damage from 100% of your base damage to 80/100/120%

Talents

• Level 15 Talent reduced from +30 Searing Arrows Damage to +20

We don’t think we will see Clinkz building the Aghanim’s Scepter. It does seem very lacklustre for a 4200 gold item.

Dark Willow

Attacking no longer takes you out of Shadow Realm. Each attack still has bonus damage based on the duration of the buff

Dark willow can continue to physically attack opponents through the Shadow Realm.  A physical attack on an opponent will not remove your Shadow realm and you can deal with multiple physical attacks on your opponents. Each attack will also take the added bonus damage based on the duration of the buff.

This item is very useless for Dark Willow. Since it just provides additional damage to the Shadow Realm attacks and not any team fight altering ability, we won’t see this item on Dark Willow in any professional matches. It is a unique item and it might be useful too if a Dark Willow builds it when it is on a mega kill streak and further. However, without some core items such as Euls, Force Staff and Blink, Dark Willow will still be very susceptible in team fights.

Death Prophet

Anytime an enemy is affected by your spells (crypt swarm impact, silence debuff, spirit siphon target) or when you attack an enemy, a ghost will fly out and hit the enemy for double the usual damage then return to you with life. These ghosts apply a 100% slow for 0.3 seconds.

Death Prophet’s Aghanim Upgrade provides a very unique advantage to the hero. Death Prophet is a very tanky hero with all its abilities and it can deal a decent amount of damage.

With the Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade, IceFrog has further doubled down on these features for the hero. Every time, Death Prophet casts an ability or a physical attack on an enemy, A ghost will fly out and deal double the usual damage to the opponent. But more importantly, it will also apply a 100% slow for 0.3 seconds. Since the ghost is triggered by anything ranging from a skill to  right click, it will continuously allow Death Property to chase her enemies.

Death Prophet might just see a revival based on this item alone. The Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade for Death Prophet is one of the strongest updates in the current patch.

Dragon Knight

Adds a 4th level to Elder Dragon Form, a Black Dragon. Gaining Scepter increases the level of your ultimate by one. Black Dragon has 50% more Corrosive Damage, Splash Damage and Slow amount. It also increases your attack range to 600 and grants you +30% Magic Resistance.

Dragon Knight’s Aghanim’s Scepter makes the hero a Black Dragon. The hero already gets different types of Dragons depending on the level of his ultimate. The Black Dragon grants additional damage, magic resistance as well as range.

f the game, Dragon Knight players might consider this to be a 4-5th item. Other items such as Blink, radiance, Halberd will take precedence over Aghanim. Maybe if valve added more abilities or more damage to the Black Dragon it would be of more use to the player.

Elder Titan

Echo Stomp now causes you to become Spell Immune while channeling and for 2 additional seconds per affected enemy hero.

An Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade for Elder Titan will provide the hero spell immunity. He will be able to stand up ahead in team fights and tank a lot of the opponents’ damage. His spell immunity further increases in duration depending on the number of enemies affected by Echo Stomp.

Ember Spirit

Fire Remnant cast range is 3 times longer and initial remnant movement speed is 2 times faster. Maximum number of charges increased from 3 to 5. Activate Fire Remnant costs no mana.

Ember Spirit will gain an additional two fire remnants, taking his total tally to 5. The cast range is significantly longer ( 3 times) and the movement speed of the remnant is also 2 times faster.

The Aghanim Scepter for Ember Spirit is decent, but the current playstyle for the hero puts a focus on enabling more damage and quick reactions. Ember Spirit can possibly make an Aghanim Scepter, but it is a very situational item for the hero. We won’t see the item being picked up on a regular basis for the hero.

Grimstroke

Grants you a new ability, Dark Portrait. Creates an ink illusion of a target enemy hero. Illusion lasts 20 seconds and is magic immune with +30% movement speed. Takes 200% incoming damage and deals 150% outgoing damage.

Cooldown 35.

Manacost 200.

Grimstroke’s Aghanim’s Upgrade is a very good upgrade for the hero which scales well into the late game. Dark Portrait as the ability is named created an ink illusion of a targeted opponent hero. The illusion will deal 150% of the opponent’s damage and will receive 200% of incoming damage. With a 30% movement speed bonus, this ability can definitely disrupt the backlines and deal with enemy supports.

It provides an easy way to possibly eliminate an opponent support hero if he is out of position. An Ink Illusion of an opponent core can deal a lot of damage to any of their heroes if left unchecked. Grimstroke does not usually need a lot of items to be impactful in the game and we feel that Aghanim’s Scepter might just provide him with more usefulness in the late game.

IO

Spirits now passively spawn around you constantly every second (max of 5 spirits at a given time)

IO is added back to the Captain’s Mode. Judging by the last time the hero was in Captain’s Mode, it is bound to receive a lot of attention from many teams. There have been no major changes to IO’s overcharge or Tether. So its ability to keep a core alive in team fights while boosting the damage output can be quite deadly. It will be interesting to see how teams deal with the hero and its positioning, especially with the passive spirits around the hero.

IO can use these spirits to scout around him and evade incoming ganks on him / his team. IO is definitely going to be the hot discussion in tournament matches. It will only be a matter of time before teams figure out why and how the Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade is useful on the hero.

Keeper of the Light

Scepter now also causes Illuminate to not require channeling (still provides heal bonus)

Keeper of the Light’s Aghanim Upgrade removes his channeling for usage of Illuminate. It is a very simple upgrade to the ability and might not be as useful as some other items for the hero.

We don’t see a significant uptick in KOTL’s pick rate for this change. Keeper of the Light has several problems and the Aghanim’s Upgrade will not fully reimburse his usefulness in the game.

Lycan

Causes one of the three creep waves to include two wolves. You cannot control the wolves, but they are considered your units. These wolves have the same movement speed as lane creeps.

Lycan is often played as a hero that can push waves and ensure that he can quickly take down opponent buildings. The hero often goes the Necronomicon route which further allows him to quickly take down opponent racks. However, the hero does have a timing and if he is not able to accumulate a significant advantage in a period of time, he falls off in the latter part of the game.

The new Scepter Upgrade causes two wolves to spawn in one of the three creep waves. That lane of creeps will constantly keep pushing and the opponent has to deal with the wave. With adequate damage output from the wolves, this can lead to a set of racks or towers if the opponents are not careful.

Mars

God’s Rebuke cooldown is now 1.4 seconds during Arena of Blood. Resets God’s Rebuke cooldown when Arena of Blood is cast.

Mars is the second hero to be added to the Captains Mode. The hero’s ultimate is already a very strong ability in the game and can eliminate opponent heroes, especially if he manages to catch them within the circle. With the new Aghanim Upgrade, Mars will gain a significant cooldown reduction to God’s Rebuke ability.

The ability has true strike and adds a critical strike to his hits. The extremely short cooldown will definitely have a huge impact on the team fights. His positioning and placement of the ultimate will be crucial with the Aghanim’s Scepter. We might see Mars build into a Blink and then Aghanim’s Scepter ( as the third item) to be extremely effective.

Monkey King

Spawns a monkey soldier near you every 3.5 seconds. These soldiers last 12 seconds. Soldiers do not spawn if you are invisible or on trees. These soldiers can attack any target (however, they will not attack buildings if you are not within 500 range of them).

Monkey King will spawn a monkey soldier near the hero every 3.5 seconds. The Monkey soldiers attack any target and can consistently deal a lot of damage to the opponent. The developers have taken care of the necessary details and the Monkey soldiers will not spawn if you are on a tree or are invisible.

This will allow Monkey King to be able to sneak up to his opponents and surprise them with his combo. Monkey King can immensely benefit from this upgrade and the extremely short cooldown of the spawn timers will be crucial in the item’s popularity.

Morphling

While Morphed, you gain +35% cooldown reduction, +50% mana cost reduction and +600 cast range.

Morphling’s Aghanim’s Scepter further improves his statistics, his mana cost as well as his lethal nature. However, the hero will not be making an Aghanim Scepter till he gets all six slots filled.

The Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade definitely improves the hero’s chances to continue in logn team fights. We might see some Morphlings make the Aghanim Scepter earlier ( as the third or fourth item). It definitely improves his sustainability in the mid-game, something that was the task of extremely costly items in the past. The Aghanim’s Scepter also provides him with useful statistics which can further be used to help make the hero a big impact in team fights.

It is a case by case use for Morphling’s Aghanim’s scepter and it will definitely depend on his team composition and the opponent heroes.

Night Stalker

Vid is now applied in a 900 AoE around you. Increases the Void ministun duration from 0.1 to 0.6 and reduces cooldown by 2 seconds.

Night Stalker’s Aghanim upgrade now allows him to use void in a 900 AOE around the hero. The void mini-stun is also increased in duration by nearly 500%. With a reduction of cooldown by 2 seconds, void can see multiple usages in a team fight.

Night Stalker continues to be the hero who can move in and out of team fights. He is a very irritating hero for melee cores as they can hardly catch him. He also possesses the ability to dive the backlines and deal a lot of damage to ranged enemy cores.

The Night stalker Aghanim Upgrade is a very good one. Since Night Stalker rarely relies on many items, we can see how an Aghanim Upgrade will be useful post the hero buying a BKB.

Phantom Assassin

Blur now has instant cast time and applies a dispel. Anytime you get a hero kill, your abilities are refreshed. Reduces Blur cooldown to 12 seconds.

Phantom Assassin can now become a killing machine, literally. With the Aghanim Upgrade, every time Phantom Assassin gets a kill, he will refresh all his abilities. So it makes a lot of sense for him to dive on the support heroes first ( while his BKB is on). He can quickly move from one support to another and work his way through the opposition ranks. Blur also applies a dispel now, which can be significant for the hero’s ability to stand tall in team fights.

Phantom Assassin Aghanim’s Scepter will probably be the fourth item in a hero slot after the Desolator and BKB. Players can also choose to go the Battlefury route, although we seen a reduction in the number of Phantom Assasin Battlefuries in professional matches.

Slardar

Slithereen Crush now creates a puddle of water that is considered a river for bonuses. Provides +25 HP regen, +12 Armor and +40% Status Resistance while in a Puddle or River (in addition to the normal Guardian Sprint River bonuses). Puddle AoE is 550. Puddles last for 25 seconds.

Guardian Sprint

• Guardian Sprint now passively provides an extra 5/20/35/50% movement boost in the river with unlocked max speed, rather than a fixed 700 at level 4 when activated.

Talents

• Level 25 Talent changed from +1.25s Slithereen Crush Stun to -4.5 Slithereen Crush Cooldown

Slardar’s Guardian Sprint now provides an extra movement speed to the hero when he is in the river. He can quickly rotate to gank mid from various parts of the map and the extra movement speed is not limited only to the river.

Slithereen Crush now creates a puddle of water. As long as Slardar remains in the water puddle he gains extra HP regen, additional armor and 40% status resistance. He becomes a very tanky hero and the water puddle can be a great use after the initiation with a Blink and Slithereen Crush. Since the Slithereen Crush will automatically create water puddles, Slardar will be able to fight his way through the opponents.

Templar Assassin.

Grants you a new ability, Psionic Projection. Allows you to teleport to any Psionic Trap after a 2 second channel. Does not break Meld. Cooldown 30. Manacost 100. Detonates the psionic trap on arrival.

Templar Assassin gets a very unique ability with the Psionic Traps. The new ability, named Psionic Projection will see Templar Assassin able to teleport to any Psionic trap after a two second channeling time. This ability has a 30 second cooldown with a mana cost of 100.

Templar Assassin can move quickly through the map with these Psionic Traps. More importantly, he is now able to gank opponents quickly and split push as well. Templar Assassin Traps will detonate on arrival, so as an opponent you do have some knowledge regarding the hero’s whereabouts.

TerrorBlade

After casting Metamorphosis, a wave travels outwards in all direction causing enemy heroes to become feared for 3 seconds upon impact. Wave starts traveling after 0.6 seconds and has a travel speed of 1000. Spell Immune units do not get hit by the wave. Has a global sound effect.

Terrorblade’s damage output relies heavily on Metamorphosis. It is not his ultimate, but judging by its cooldown and how important it is for Terrorblade in team fights, it might very well be the ultimate for the hero. Regardless, it is great to see Valve focus on thisability for the Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade.

Whenever Terrorblade uses Metamorphosis, it will inadvertently send a wave in a radius. The wave will cause the enemies to be ‘feared’ for three seconds upon impact. This allows Terrorblade time to set up and deal damage within these three seconds. It can also be a great way to counter-initiate for his team.

However, the Aghanim Upgrade does have a disadvantage when it comes to Terrorblade. In an attempt to properly. The Fear wave does have an AOE and it is useful only when the opponent is already on top of Terrorblade. However, in most cases, if the opponents do get the jump on TB, they will do so with the help of various stuns and disables. Terrorblade might not even get a chance to use Metamorphosis. The usage of this 4200 gold item depends heavily on chance and it might not the optimal choice for many teams.

Tiny

Grants you a new channeling ability, Tree Volley. Every 0.4 seconds a random tree within 525 range of your hero will be thrown towards the targeted AoE. Deals 120% of your damage to enemies in that area. Target AoE 400. Cast Range 1300. Max Channel 2.4 seconds. Cooldown 12. Manacost 150.

Tiny has a unique ability with the Aghanim’s Scepter. Tree Volley as the ability is named is a channelling ability. Tiny will toss trees around him (in a 525 range) every 0.4 seconds. The ability deals 120% damage to enemies in that area. It lasts for 2.4 seconds which means that Tiny can throw nearly 6 trees in that period of time.

It is a gimmicky item for sure and does not take precedence over other items such as Arcane, Bottle, Blink Dagger etc. However, 120% of your damage is no laughing matter especially when it comes to the late game when Tiny can deal a significant amount of damage on his own.

Troll Warlord

Reduces Battle Trance cooldown to 35 seconds and allows it to be cast on allied or enemy heroes. Lasts half duration on enemies. Cast Range 525.

Troll Warlord can now use his ultimate on allies or enemy heroes. The hero can save his allies from dying with the Battle Trance. What is even more important is that Troll Warlord can use Battle Trance on opponents.

Troll’s ultimate does not allow him to die and increases his ( or allies’ attack speed). It is a great way to save someone who has been caught out before the start of the team fight. The Aghanim Upgrade also reduces the cooldown to just 35 seconds ensuring that Troll can possibly use the ultimate a second time in long team fights.

Final Thoughts

The new update brings about so many changes with the various hero Aghanim Upgrades. While some heroes will not see the Aghanim build becoming common, we do believe it is a great item for some other heroes. The fact that Aghanim can now be consumed with a 2000 recipe makes the item suddenly a lot more valuable even for core heroes.

As it no longer occupies space maybe we will see some existing heroes pick up the Aghanim’s Scepter a lot more often. Medusa is one such hero which comes to mind. However, with the shorter duration games, the viability of an Aghanim over other useful items does come into question.

If a hero gets a free farm and can potentially be disruptive with a mid-time Aghanim’s Scepter, it’s a great pick. But it’s not the same for every hero and a blanket rule cannot apply for all. Which hero do you think gained the most in this patch? Which heroes would you have liked to see more changes in 7.22? Let us know in comments below. The patch will see the light of day at the upcoming ESL One Birmingham 2019. 

Source: Dota2.com

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Rohan

The author

Esports journalist. An esports fan, former wannabe pro and occasional angry young man. You can find him trying to climb the Dota 2 MMR or just chilling in Rocket League. Or maybe building an entire city in Cities: Skylines. The current mood is always a surprise.

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