Dota 2: Instructions on how to counter and confront Snapfire

Snapfire is the latest hero to join the ranks of Dota 2 with Void Spirit. The weaponsmith rides the beast Mortimer, the trusty ‘dragon toad’. When not baking cookies or forging weapons, Snapfire will sweep the pub arena in Dota 2. This article will show you how to play and how to confront Snapfire.

For the past month in Divine/Immortal, Snapfire has 8th win rate, 53.38%, and 1st pick rate at 35.77%.

This hero is quite strong at the moment and the article will talk about some strategies to defeat Snapfire in pubs (which does not include banning this hero).

HOW TO PLAY SNAPFIRE

The first step to defeating your opponent is to understand your opponent first.

Snapfire is a hero strength that is mainly used in the support position. Hero has four active skills that deal damage. Three of them deal damage and slow, the other both deal damage and stun.

This is one of the reasons why Snapfire is so powerful. All skills have a slight disable, while the damage dealt is quite high.

The most common build for Snapfire is Scatterblast at level 1, followed by Firesnap Cookie. Maximize these two skills first, and then the ultimate at level 6. Lil’ Shredder will be maxed last. There are some players who choose to raise Firesnap Cookie at level 1 to gain the advantage of eating bounty runes.

A GUIDE TO GETTING STARTED WITH SNAPFIRE IN THE LANE STAGE

Once level 2 is reached, Snapfire has a stun and slow that deals high damage. If standing in the wrong position without full health, a small combo is enough to kill you.

For example, if you have 75% HP and Snapfire is right behind you, your opponent’s Snapfire can slow and stun you. If Snapfire’s ally has a slow or stun, after this combo and a few hand attacks, you either die or your health will be very low unless there is an escape or rescue ability.

This is one of the most difficult situations in Dota. Even with full health, a reasonable combo with two stuns, slows, hand attacks, and nukes is enough to make you cry. In this situation, if you go alone, there is nothing you can do but try and ‘juke’ in the trees to escape.

The way to deal with this situation is to depend on teammates who are in the same lane. The hope is for the team to have a stun or slow to interrupt Snapfire’s combos, as well as put pressure on the opponent, making them play safer. In addition, being saved by Abaddon or Treant Protector is also very beneficial.

Unless playing passively and not competing for creeps in lane, the chances of you getting killed are very high. Another way to counter Snapfire is to play proactively. Try to scare Snapfire to death rather than trying to gank you. This method requires proper hero selection, as there are some heroes that are actually countered by Snapfire in the lane.

TEAMFIGHT

In teamfight, Snapfire likes to stand behind his teammates. Hero can help them escape with cookies or make you stun forward. In big teamfight phases, Snapfire always stands behind his teammates so that the hero can use his ranged ultimate, reaching the maximum duration.

So, in most teamfights, if your opponent jumps first, you are almost in a difficult position. You are forced to react, but your options will be greatly limited. Unless you have anti-gank heroes like Silencer, Magnus, Enigma on your team, or another hero, you don’t want to be the one to fight back in teamfight.

Snapfire is a tank support because she is a hero strength, so if you rush into Snapfire it won’t be as easy as killing the fragile Crystal Maiden. Not to mention Snapfire has a pretty good cookie escape, allowing the hero to jump across terrain.

So what is our solution? This hero is one of the most picked heroes with the highest win rate for one reason: Confronting this hero is very frustrating. You have to ‘outplay’ Snapfire and coordinate with your team to gain an advantage because in most situations against Snapfire you won’t have an advantage!

Communicate with teammates to predict your opponent’s moves and kill them. Even if you have heroes that are not strong in the meta, you can still win easily if three hit two. Take advantage of these ganks for kills, map control, tempo and opponent snowball.

If you play passively until you are fully prepared to confront Snapfire, you will realize the disadvantage because Snapfire is too strong and flexible. Move in coordination with the team to win the teamfight in your favor and from there towards the common victory.

BEware of SNAPFIRE’s POTENTIAL COMBOs

One of the reasons Snapfire is so strong is because the hero’s ultimate can be combined with so many skills. Teamfight moves like Chronosphere or Ravage will create the perfect scenario for Mortimer Kisses to deal maximum damage. Even stuns from Sand King or Nyx Assassin help set up good combos.

Ultimate deals a lot of damage per second. It slows and synergizes well with AoE. Therefore, when Chronosphere or Ravage is multiplayer, you will damage multiple heroes and then slow the opponent.

When facing Snapfire’s team, beware of teamfight spells that allow Mortimer Kisses to work. Forcing your opponent to use your ultimates at less than ideal times so you don’t have to deal with both at once or try to gank with your teammates while the skills are on cooldown.

GUIDELINES FOR CHOOSING HEROS AND ITEMS TO MAKE SNAPFIRE

Rubick is the first name worth mentioning. Since Snapfire’s skill set is so good, you can pick up Rubick and use those moves. Snapfire’s skill has a longer average cast time than most, so with Rubick you’ll have a 0 second cast advantage.

Any mobile hero will play effectively. Weaver is a great example. Hero can stealth and move quickly to avoid Snapfire’s skill set, and then rush forward and put pressure on the ‘old woman’.

Faceless Void works for the same reasons. Hero can Time Walk to avoid damage and then jump back to Snapfire forcing the opponent to react or eat ‘bash’. You can also take away a potential combo when you have a Void on your team. Another advantage of the Void is the chase. Due to Snapfire can jump up or down hills. Faceless Void can chase heroes with Time Walk.

Force Staff is also a great item against Snapfire. This hero usually stands in a favorable position, so you can counter it with Force Staff. Snapfire’s Ultimate continuously spits out fireballs, so Force Staff will help you escape them in time.

Pipe of Insight is also beneficial. Snapfire deals a lot of magic damage, so Pipe is definitely the right item to reduce that damage. Glimmep Cape increases magic resistance, plus invisibility, making it impossible for Snapfire to fire his ultimate accurately.

EPILOGUE

I must say Snapfire is strong. All hero skills stun or slow and deal damage. Not to mention, even though it’s a support, it’s a hero strength, so Snapfire is very difficult to kill. Hero also has a move that allows him to jump across terrain, making it difficult for opponents to catch.

There are too many things in favor of the hero. Therefore, the number one strategy to confront Snapfire is to ban this hero. The second is to pick this hero, and the third is to ‘outplay’ Snapfire. You should also play Snapfire to understand the hero’s strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully the article on how to confront Snapfire will help you in the process of climbing rank.

So do you think Snapfire is ‘faulty’ and needs Ice Frog to intervene in the next patch?