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44 comments
Bonaparte

    1st or nah?

    pestknäckt

      nah ...

      LucaManny

        The alche agha if given still provide extra stats noob.

        There is diffetent mechanic between agha given from alche and agha with 2k recipe

        Luther

          Desephviasco mby introduce yourself to the mechanics before calling people noobs online

          Kant

            death prophet in S tier HELL NO that Aghs effect on her really suck , no recommend (except got from roshan)

            i wish Aghs on her should make ulti less Cool down , not 140 sec

            This comment was edited
            Cipher

              You people are really sleeping on Carry Pango 4th item scepter. With the lvl 15 talent rolling thunder and a mael/mkb becomes a massive source of aoe damage that shuts down anything without a bkb.

              Khalilov

                Wtf no slardar, axe, riki?!

                kaddu man

                  You guys didn't play Pango huh.

                  YarCteR⚜

                    This "DPS-Core" ranking is a horrible idea. Some Scepters allow for non-cores to deal 6 slot carry levels of damage, such as Willow.
                    For your S tier Invoker & Clinkz & Zeus are fine ; DP fuck no. You clearly haven't played recently.

                    MK's are building it as 3rd item after Echo/Mael - S-tier 100%
                    Brood is S-tier aswell since it actually allows them to take over the entire woods around the t2's on either side of the map ; they're still relevant at 40m into the game thanks to that. It's so good it's honestly never later than your 3rd item.
                    Pango clearly S-tier aswell ; they greaves/mael/aghanims scepter and usually have it all before 25m, they're a royal pain in the ass against any carry. If you're rating the damage it DOES, ok - but it's not what people build it for.
                    PA is S-tier from mid, you build Desolator into MKB for the most/cheapest damage output possible & Scepter next. It allows to dive in & kill under Blur & Blur-Strike back out. If you're really ahead it also allows for Dagger refresh on a regular basis.

                    Axe's Scepter will be in "NON-DPS" cores but actually deserves a special mention because it's insanely OP & you use it on literally EVERYTHING you see to maintain 550 MS which allows for insane map movement, and huge teamfight presence.

                    Lemonidas Snoweater Junior

                      Mostly i agree with articles from dbuff, but Who the Hell thinks that ta agha is useless enough to give it as Last rank agha. Biggest ability of ta is Flash farming lanes + nuke downing weaker heroes, coz she has many items thanks Flash farming... What is helping out with growing her abilities to be used for 100% agha... Btw my rank is divine in these days, it means No thing special. Just think about main reasons why to play heroes and if the agha helps out then play it.

                      Anomaluna

                        Clinkz S-tier OMEGALUL

                        Dragic

                          Um, Windranger Aghs...missing and she is a new top 5 hero and the Aghs is in the S Cat.

                          wisp core

                            Kawai are you fucking serious? Didn't mention wisp? Pros not using it so its pointless to even mention?
                            If you don't understand game all around please stop this bullshiting.

                            wisp core

                              This really should be post as usual 2k opinion on forum but not as article on main page.

                              KawaiiSocks

                                @P9^
                                You are actually raising an interesting point that is worth discussing in the comments, but one not exactly suited for a blog post. There is a difference between pub play and pro play, even if it is top100 immortal players playing against each other. In our blog posts, we frequently try to look for and identify great things in the professional scene that might not be as popular in pubs, but could be incorporated with relative ease, even in lower level play.

                                Though the idea of Wisp as a DPS core with Aghs is simply terrible. Don't do that. Aghs on Wisp is D tier for supports and Wisp DPS core is not a thing. There is nothing on the hero to support DPS playstyle and he is firmly a position four, regardless of what MMR you are. Don't develop bad habits and you will improve faster. It might work for you at a certain MMR, but once you climb to at least >50% percentile (~3.5k) suboptimal things simply stop working.

                                @ YarCteR

                                Yup, there is going to be an overlap between heroes in different categories and some Agh's for supports and utility cores are going to be higher tier simply from their ability to add damage. Agh's Willow allows her to deal insane damage, but it doesn't make her a DPS-core. From what I am seeing from stats and from my own judgement, I would probably place it around A-tier, borderline S-tier. It is great, but not always so great that you can skip great utility items or extra control. In some games it might be better than hex, in some it won't and with the upgraded talent the timing difference would be probably worth the wait.

                                Pango and Axe are coming up in the utility category. PA from mid with two cheap maximum efficiency DPS items sounds interesting. I haven't seen PA played that way I am not sure many matchups in mid will allow PA to get tempo items fast enough for them to matter, but it might work in some games. Though it is inconsistent and the most consistent way to play PA still doesn't have space for an early Agh's.

                                DP Agh's is bonkers. Just watch ESL Birmingham, it is usually third or forth item for all DPs. You get your cheap stats, get Eul's and/or Drums and then Agh's and just go ham. There is so much DPS and sustain from a single item, it is almost definitely getting nerfed. It adds a 120+ damage to everything you do. Also: Hit a 4-man Swarm? get 100 HP back. Hit a 2 man silence? 50 HP. Use your sustain abilities? 100 extra HP. I don't think any item in the game gives you ~400HP, ~2 armor, ~300 Mana and +120 attack damage for 4200 and that is without taking into account +100 damage on Crypt Swarm (~33% Spell Amp) and constant slow that pierces BKB. It is stupid good and should be rushed.

                                @ Mr. Schwifty

                                TA Agh's was originally in B Tier with Spectre, as a situational item for dealing with split-pushing, but then we kinda got dissuaded when MidOne went for several rapiers+moonshard without even thinking about it. That got us to thinking, why he didn't even consider it and there are several problems with it:

                                1. Traps are revealable, and you can be easily baited into a bad position.
                                2. 2 seconds against any split-pushing player worth their salt is a lot of time, they typically don't stand in the same position for that long.
                                3. Stats are not what TA wants at all, not in her inventory at least, when she really needs to deal as much burst damage, while not dying.

                                I am really hoping to see it as a 5-6th slot with a highly mobile team, where something like Clockwerk initiates from a huge range and TA can soon appear close to the target, similarly how Spectre (or any global presence heroes) is sometimes played, but that requires so much planning an execution. With Spectre, you appear on top of your enemy. With Io combo, you are free to go wherever you want, to get to punching whenever your team provides catch. Furion can TP across the whole map. TA is limited to having her traps, which can be destroyed and will probably result in a gem response. So on top of being less value, it is also less consistent. Maybe it should be a Tier higher, maybe some teams will find a way to abuse it around Roshan, but there is a lot of possible counter-play, especially in high-traffic areas, and even when it works, it doesn't work amazingly well.

                                ArcaneQueef

                                  DID YOU ACTUALLY FORGET THE NEW BEASTMASTER AGHS WTF??????

                                  Edit: I guess hes a utility core but still cmon bruh

                                  This comment was edited
                                  mitoqui

                                    Where is PHOENIX???????????????????????

                                    Photo-Fenton

                                      Guys, this is for dps core. Calm down and wait for next article, other hero will be mentioned.
                                      Though I have suggestion, maybe you can write the effect of the aghs for each hero? To be honest, there are so many addition to aghs that I cant remember all, and I have not seen that many new aghs in my game.

                                      Photo-Fenton

                                        Ah also, can you make it clear what is dps cores? Some heroes that i can call dps core (pugna, timber) are not there while hero which is not often played as dps core (mars) is there. I know they are not played as pos 1, but dps wise, they are capable

                                        草 泥 马

                                          timbersaw aghanims is at least a tier its not even on the list noob author

                                          Brünk Hüll

                                            @kawaiisocks

                                            Loving the shade.

                                            As someone with over 200 games in Death Prophet, you're absolutely correct. Octarine core basically replaced Bloodstone a while back but the problem was the cd increase that came around at the same time to put DP in the dumpster. She just couldn't be effective outside her ultimate. The extra damage at 10 from talents has helped a little but again she has for quite some time felt like she just can't be helpful early on enough to survive until she has the items necessary. It's just a constant uphill battle. Now, however, she has at least half of the stuff she needs from multiple items all rolled into one. it feels like the halfway point tideover item (kind of like a midgame mask of madness) until you can get the legit heart, octarine, and shivas.

                                            I'm a bit surprised to hear you might really like the willow aghs, but maybe I'll hold that discussion until the support tier list.

                                            EDIT:

                                            DO YOU THINK this would put DP legitimately back on the map? Sure, she was picked, even in the final game, but the entire tourney was something of a laugh. It feels premature to call anything done in that tournament proof of the direction the major will go.

                                            This comment was edited
                                            Mode: cutting (105kg->89kg)

                                              You forgot about Nature's Prophet. I would say Aghs is situationally good. Maybe a B or even an A tier.

                                              TheRRogue

                                                ^pretty much lycan aghs 2.0. Most of the time you will be feeding treant to the enemy. Even if you want the lane pushed,you can still do it fairly well even without agh or you could also tp treant then proceed to use scroll.

                                                Quartermistress

                                                  Jesus christ. All these morons unable to read the title complaining their favourite hero isn't here.

                                                  YarCteR⚜

                                                    Part that... part Archons/Crusaders giving out tips.
                                                    These forums really allow even ward worthy people to express their thoughts ; thankfully there's a few pearls among the pellets they putter.

                                                    KawaiiSocks

                                                      @Quartermaster
                                                      To be fair I did screw up not including Pugna and Timber) Both Timber and Pugna are borderline A/B Tier

                                                      YarCteR⚜

                                                        @KawaiiSocks As I statsman myself (Data Analytics) ; I strongly believe there shouldn't be a "DPS-CORE" or anything ranking. It should straight up be split into:

                                                        - What the Aghs itself brings with no other core items than boots and small stat items
                                                        - What the Aghs brings with 6/7 slots & consumed

                                                        I think people are surprised to see S-tier DP but not Rubick/Pugna etc in the same list.
                                                        And DP really isn't S-tier because it's made her SO MUCH EASIER to kill - they delay/skip Euls & then the Aghs itself delays the Octarine ; she cannot fight at high MMR without her ult.

                                                        Splitting hairs over "DPS/Nondps" shouldn't be the idea. Nearly all heroes in the game can achieve high amounts of damage one way or the other -- I'm thinking Witch Doctor as a prime example of S-tier and Magnus as a prime example of D ; no utility Magnus wants the item and no damage Magnus wants it either, unless it's a freebee from Alch.

                                                        It really should be about how much the Aghs is game changing.
                                                        I get how you'd want to have multiple articles, but how about simply going from lowest to highest tier?
                                                        The format is easier and makes no distinctions.

                                                        Chester

                                                          where is pango ?

                                                          [ZT] Conz

                                                            Another quality article, as always, Kawaii.
                                                            Outside of the DPS cores, I'm really enjoying the Pango aghs with the 2sec CD on sheild crash talent.

                                                            Snabriel Snarsch☕

                                                              you forgot about roshan

                                                              KawaiiSocks

                                                                @YarCteR
                                                                The problem is the opportunity cost. 4200 on a farming hero with 450+ average GPM in the first 20 minutes of the game is very different from 4200 gold on a hero with 300 GPM, part of which is spent on wards/sentries/ Sure, Disruptor Agh's is awesome, but for the same price you can get ~force+glimmer and in >50% of scenarios it is going to be the better play. So we felt tiers for different types of heroes with different average/possible GPMs is a way to go. S Tier for supports is something you can sometimes skip utility items for, not excellent 3rd or 4th slot.

                                                                Basically, the attempt was to define, normalize and better categorize Aghs' with opportunity cost in mind, taking into account farm priority. I guess at the end of the day it is a question of preference and also, importantly, readability. 117 paragraphs, however small, are kind of hard to chew through in one sitting for an average reader.

                                                                DenniZ010

                                                                  What about Underlord?

                                                                  Кх

                                                                    Why not all heroes? Maybe we should just make new ones.

                                                                    Ice my frog

                                                                      People are overlooking Elder Titan's Septor. Spell immunity while channelling stomp is pretty amazing (No way to stop the stomp). And that's not counting the additional 2 sec you get of spell immune for every hero put to sleep.

                                                                      HartzFear

                                                                        Well in 50% of my ench games ench is highest dps core and her agha is like s+ you can buy it as second item works Well.

                                                                        Anaheim

                                                                          Did you just rate terrorblades aghs above TA's? boyyyyy terror's is absolutely useless. I feel like it was shoehorned in purely for thematic reasons and has no actual use.

                                                                          Also for PL: "It is probably slightly better than Moonshard on an illusion hero, but should not be an actual inventory slot."

                                                                          Illusions benefit from attack speed now, so

                                                                          WingedWilly

                                                                            Wyvern is probably utility ranking if you are playing her as low potential pos5, but I'd say if you build her into actual aghs dps core, she becomes sniper with upgraded skadi and at least worth mentioning here.

                                                                            Aghs + one more dps/sustain item and we are going to become pain in the ass for even am since any debuff he dispel gets refreshed instantly.

                                                                            Last buff basically applied arcane rune to her aghs sustain, 25% reduced manasustain buff.

                                                                            Her aghs is mostly utility for herself and her team, but this is one of aghs that turns support into core.

                                                                            Most of my games I am most DPS with wyvern, not a brag, just a fact to prove my point.

                                                                            Discord Garfield

                                                                              Troll is definitely higher than C tier, but the highest id put it is at A. Reason being that a 35 second CD on an ultimate that makes you unkillable unless theres an axe on the other team is ridiculously good. It allows you to take a lot more fights and keep up the pressure you need to as a Troll before you start falling off.

                                                                              YarCteR⚜

                                                                                Inti the only problem with Troll ult - and it's a very serious one - is that the Aghs makes the strong dispel somehow no work at all. Making it much less of a potent spell than it should be.

                                                                                Imagine if Weaver Aghs didn't strong dispel...

                                                                                Yak_Daddy

                                                                                  LMAO... all you chuds not being able to read the DPS CORE part of the post title.

                                                                                  *Fariz89 - Main Id

                                                                                    i bet they are not read at all
                                                                                    what they do
                                                                                    *think* ah wheres is my favourite hero, wut, wheres is my beloved hero
                                                                                    scroll until bot, then post comment
                                                                                    ya they write, before read
                                                                                    not need brain at all while post comment

                                                                                    Innocent

                                                                                      @kawaiisocks

                                                                                      Great article, loved it.

                                                                                      Given you don't have Meepo on the list I take it you don't rate his aghs high at all. As a Meepo fan, interested to have your take on this :)

                                                                                      With the change to his passive, it has the net effect of giving him one more Ransack, on top of all the other advantages of having an extra Meepo (damage, mobility, xp gain if you get it early enough).

                                                                                      Admittedly I haven't run the maths on this, but I did try aghs a few times since Ransack was introduced.

                                                                                      Hex: Gon' Give It To Ya

                                                                                        How is shadow fiend not a 'dps core'?

                                                                                        Esimde'

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