Dota 2: Support is aggressive, Treant Protector is back in the meta

Treant Protector currently has a 56% win rate at high ranks, making him the most successful support after Io. This hero has been absent from the pro arena as well as in high rank pub matches for quite some time, but with the return of dual lane and some buffs to himself, Treant is now more reliable.

Treant Protector is very good in 2v2 setup. This hero has close to 800HP health and over 90 damage right at level 1, which means that the hero harasses the enemy very well. In return, the hero’s movement speed is extremely slow, but with Nature’s Guise, Treant can force opponents to spend gold to buy sentry or cluster in a safe zone. In general, these two options are detrimental to the opponent.

History of buffs

Treant Protector has been getting some interesting buffs lately: level 10 talent changed, now with Living Amor damage blocking, hero giving Leed Seed more damage/healing recoil, and Living Armor in talent level 25 creates an extra layer of safety shield for the whole team.

These buffs, while good, are not the reason for the hero’s sudden respawn: Treant Protector is picked 7% in high rank matches, higher than Visage and Lycan.

What makes the hero get the most attention is in the dual lane meta. The distribution of XP is now more even, ensuring that Treant Protector can keep up with the level, even though I mainly play in the support position.

Treant Protector is very greedy. This hero needs leveling, all of Treant’s moves are pretty weak at first, but when maxed out, they’ll have a huge impact in teamfight, ganking, map control, and pretty much every other aspect of the game.

This greed is the reason the hero performs better in the pub environment: Treant has more time to gradually get stronger as a support. At China SuperMajor, this hero won three times but only won 1 game.

How to successfully build skills

There are two main ways to build this hero: one is to focus on maximizing Living Armor and supporting teammates throughout the map. Second, focus on Nature’s Guise and try to win your lane.

In China SuperMajor, the first method adopted by the Vici Gaming team: VG.Fenrir ignored Nature’s Guise completely to focus on being a defensive support. This option did not work for Vici Gaming when they lost both matches to Treant Protector.

VGJ.Storm.MSS went the other way, focusing all of his energy on Nature’s Guise and maxing it out at level 7. He also didn’t increase his Living Armor before reaching level, instead, increasing it by 2 points. for the Leed Seed to take full control of the lane. This is the only game in the tournament where Treant Protector won and this option works better in pub environments.

Lane control is important at all levels, but for pubs, it’s seen as a panacea, to avoid early team fights and to help support players take the initiative and make powerful tackles. more influence. Therefore, we should go 4-2-0-1 at level 7, unless you know what you’re doing.

Up the correct item

VG.Fenrir doesn’t build anything in his games, but given his role, it is likely that he will build common supports such as Urn of Shadows, Force Staff, etc. These are inexpensive items but have big influence depending on the situation of the match.

VGJ.MSS goes the other way, rush Meteor Hammer first. This is a good complement to the ‘aggressive’ direction: you gank better, almost add another stun after the root of Nature’s Guise and become stronger in teamfight – with Overgrowth able to block multiple enemy heroes in combination Meteor Hamme.

Meteor Hammer also adds split-push to heroes, while also farming better. This build works well at high ranks and can work quite well in pub games.

Talent Tree

Speaking of talent, we don’t have much information from the professional arena. The fact that this hero has to rely too much on his level and moves, some people even ignore the level 10 talent: both the 10% cooldown reduction and the +2 Living Armor instance don’t optimize Treant’s other moves, leveling up for Treant. skill will bring better effect.

Talent Tree Growth at level 15 really doesn’t help, in terms of damage, disables or other aspects that Dota players should care about. Depending on the game, when facing Timbersaw, Enigma or Beastmaster, it might be worth picking. But overall, +90 damage is probably more potent and effective in other situations.

There is very little difference when it comes to talent selection at level 20, at least in terms of stats. Root duration seems to be better against heroes with high mobility, while healing/additional damage is better when you don’t need a lot of lock on the enemy and use it effectively in teamfight.

Finally, if you reach level 25, choosing Eyes and Growth AOE is a safer choice: better vision, better AOE to disable in teamfight. At level 25, Treant Protector will most likely have Aghanim’s Scepter, since the hero doesn’t really need other items, except for the Blink Dagger and possibly the Meteor Hammer.

Conclusion

Players need to know Treant Protector a bit to be effective: which direction the hero can go without losing invisibility is a very important skill that can only be learned from experience. But overall, this hero is worth learning and playing through: put him in dual lane with the enemy safelane and see how Treant bullies your carry. Remember not to push too far.

According to Dotabuff