Greed Is Gone - The End Of Hand Of Midas
Invoker and Midas used to go hand in hand. Now there are better choices.
In today’s meta, Hand of Midas affords little benefit for its cost. Cores have better farming alternatives. Supports, now buffeted with XP tomes, as well as XP and Gold talents, have a bevy of old and new items for the early and mid game. Hand of Midas has since fallen out of favor and has become one of the least useful items in the game.
Midas was once was an item that allowed a team, or a hero, to bet on itself for the late game. The idea was that despite its hefty price, its opportunity cost of early and mid game items, the investment would pay off the longer the game progressed.
It was sometimes a “win more” item, a purchase that leveraged a team’s early game lead to secure their late game. And sometimes it was a comeback item, essentially increasing your team’s risk profile so that you can catch up in gold and xp. Basically, you could rationalize buying a Hand of Midas on any hero, for any scenario.
Support heroes like Crystal Maiden bought it, as she idly jungled. Ancient Apparitions bought it to accelerate their own XP, for that higher level Ice Blast, while aiding their farm towards that game changing Aghanim’s Scepter. And Lone Druids used to buy two of them—because why not—even if your Bear didn’t benefit from the XP gain.
Now, the item is just useless on nearly every hero. Why bet on the late game when so much of the game today is dependent on how the early and mid game unfolds? Compared to when Midas was at its peak popularity, today’s game is faster. Turtling is weaker. Killing Roshan is a more important objective than before. Teams can’t afford to interfere with their item timings by purchasing a 2150 gold item that requires a long game to pay off.
Illidan’s Midas build on his Chaos Knight against Espada in the TI8 Qualifiers
Not only do cores need better items to fight, there are also better farming items. That 2150 gold can be 40% towards a Radiance, halfway to a Battlefury, or just pick up a Maelstrom. Invoker players have since moved away from their once core item and towards Aghanim’s Scepter, which now gives an extra level to all your spells.
Imagine how much a support could help with a Force Staff instead of a Hand of Midas. Or a Medallion and Urn. Or a Glimmer Cape. Today, there’s less space and time for heroes to get a lane and farm the gold for their Midas, and a greater demand to claim objectives.
Midas seems to be a viable item only for Arc Warden, who has unique circumstances to take advantage of it. Phoenix can rationalize a Midas pickup, since she does better with the levels than other item alternatives. And one interesting trend that surfaced during the TI8 qualifiers is Chaos Knight, who was played a several times by Team Spirit’s Illidan. The hero, like LIfestealer, deals an immense amount of damage with just Armlet and Treads. While CK might pick up a Midas since he’s a poor farmer, he also has the strongest illusions in the game to take advantage of the attack speed.
Valve's patch cycles have been quick to address meta trends after major tournaments. Contested heroes and ignored heroes get much deserved nerfs and buffs. Even a few items receive tweaks. But it seems that Hand of Midas has fallen by the wayside. Will it still have a place in Dota?
dota sucks
tinker with midas is OP..
I sense this article has been long needed, and is a bit late. The pace of the game seems to be in a constant state of speeding up, making many late-game strategies all but irrelevant. Midas perhaps has suffered the most from these patches. It is too expensive, offers too little, too late. I found the match used to show it's use rather amusing. A Chaos Knight is excellent at fighting, and typically has no need to have a midas. Much as the article says, a maelstrom could have easily replaced it, offering more damage and AS.
In other news,
Currently the Enchanted Mango has a 29.60% win rate. This is unacceptable. It is our duty as fellow gamers of the DotA 2 community to put this item in the position of power it deserves. It has been there for us when we needed mana for reincarnation, when we had that clutch nyx stun saving our teammate's life, and when we accidentally used it in fountain before the runes even spawned. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
DID YOU JUST ASSUME PHOENIXES GENDER TRIGGGGEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED
These comments are hilarious
Да, я перестал покупать мидас после эти матчей перейдя на 2 нулика аквилу пт
i never knew this item existed T_T
She ? wtf
Illusions can't benefit from AS wtf
Phoenix is a male. Quote from his lore "Thus this infant son of suns took terrestrial form".
Mr poopybutthole they can now
"faster game" in SEA lul
read patch notes, CK illus do
Hand of Midas benefits into some pool of hero (but mostly, they're situational). Arc Warden is the only hero truly needs this item since its mechanic are unique. Invoker sometimes need it and mostly people build it anyway since Invoker is one of the most highly dependent level hero. Other hero such as CK, LS and Slark has better farming option or might never need them anyway. Some greedy 4th post such as Warlock and Winter Wyvern rarely needs them but usually favor them well. BTW, Illusion now benefits from raw attack speed change but only CK can keep his illusion in check since he has the strongest of them all.
On the other news,
Stop assuming other heroes gender. Some hero like Morphling, Io, or even Arc Warden never stated their gender (mostly they don't have gender or just unknown). If you're unsure which gender phoenix are (he's once stated as " infant son of suns ") just use it. (pls dont take this one seriously)
Illu benefit from aspd since 7.00 or smthing
And phoenix, hero with the biggest ball out of 115 heroes, yet u assume him as her...?
Arc Warden is the only hero who makes Midas viable
Why the comment are so triggered with virtual hero gender?
i don't think it's as bad as stated here. It's about a 13 minute payback. if you get it at 7 minutes and you are a character with a 20-35 minute power spike, it can be good. For example, lone druid with midas helps get radiance much easier. The attack speed is good on the bear so the item isn't a waste in the early game. That's one situation, not an awful item.
This might actually be a sign of the health of the game, since turtling strats are lame and boring to play/watch. Maybe the item should be creatively repurposed, like it boosts your allies' xp gain or something.
Boosting allies XP? That's going to be broken AF...
Could it be repurposed to spawn a bounty rune? This would synergise with bottle and make it an interesting choice for other heroes as it would globally boost the team economy. The cooldown could be adjusted to ensure it's not silly powerful.
@The Future Looked Bright: Feels like it'd be super core on Alchemist then.
@Scarifar: and alch teammates as well
мне вообще насрать на это, так как я играю только на вексовом инвокере за которого любой даун справиться. Хули дал торнадо емп + если совсем не даун колд снэпик + урна. Фэйзы фирст айтем и заебок
I'm so happy that item is almost non-existent in the game nowadays!
phoenix is a futa btw ^^
sniper lvl10 talent -25% cd...ez 71 seconds cd midas...ez game
this article was late this time of the meta due to how many players below 3k dont understand that midas doesn't provide that much exp and gold anymore. Invoker can go power treads and 2 nulls to be useful. He can cast his 3 spells. Tornado, cold snap, meteor. Thats what players don't do in other brackets in mmr. Likewise this will take a while for players to adapt and understand why midas isn't great below 2k.
Midas died when it stopped giving as much xp.
why the fvck are you mentioning pheonix's gender here dfuq?
Seems like Valve is nerfing farming intensive items or removing them entirely (e.g. PMS) in an effort to discourage excessive stand alone mentality.
Also since the change to bounty rune gold being divided equally between the team highlights the fact that player's were behaving so selfishly that even Valve considered it a problem.
Its a shame that Icefrog has sought to make these changes not to enhance the game but to remove some of the pitfalls of mmr seeker's cutthroat mentality to get ahead.
Alchemist aghs seemed like a great attempt at utilizing farm intensive playing for the betterment of the team yet instead most alchemists in my experience farm in a mercenary fashion.
A couple of games ago our safelane bounty hunter skipped ult and solo farmed; actively avoiding teamfights to obtain his battlefury.
Even in the midst of our team consecutively winning teamfights to avoid a lategame scenario this player showed little to no interest in securing substantive gold advantage.
Its disheartening to see DOTA's teamplay based potential limited by single minded individuals where tunnel vision gets the better of them and they don't integrate into the ebb and flow of a changing.
Its no accident that IO is one of the least picked heroes sub 4K.
Один (1) Midas - пидарас, (2) два мидаса - Lone Druid!
but in phoenix's taunt it can put out egg
Enigma midas with fast Octarine and the cooldown talent is actually pretty ridic. Very situational, though.
Old mango needs to be brought back. The health regen component is fading away. @Greentoa123, it is no longer viable as valve destroyed it, so pls dont encourage others to use it.
Looks like the midas cooldown nerf might help it come back into the meta and make it more relevant, more so now because experience advantage seems to be effecting games outcome more than the gold advantage(s).
Supporrt in SEA be like "I'll choose midas rather than glimmer or urn because midas give me gold, glimmer and urn dont."
who the fuck buy midas in high ranks tho
эх сча бы старую мету когда на висажа мидса собирали
buy midas= instant report
First of all Phoenix is a he, not a she.
Secondly, Phoenix is a terrible user of Midas. Phoenix is all about engaging early and winning the early / mid game for your team. If you're resorting to a comeback Midas, then you've likely already lost.
phoenix is male dude, since when phoenix turn into woman, wtf