Dota 2: Is Nyx Assassin the most successful support right now?

Support isn’t a position everyone likes to play, but it’s home to two of Dota 2’s most popular heroes. Pudge and Lion are at the top of the list of most popular heroes for most of Dota 2 history. Everyone knows why. Why is everyone “picking” Pudge. Even if you seriously choose Pudge, your teammates will still think you are wasting 1 hour of the life of other team members. Lion is a pure support spell cast hero. With disable, burst damage and Mana Drain, you can do a lot with Lion. Lion is also heavily used in the professional arena of Dota 2.

Part of that is due to his ability to capture agile heroes like Puck and effectively burst damage Timbersaw, Terrorblade or Winter Wyvern. The problem with picking Lion is that the hero is pretty weak in lane and doesn’t really go “online” until he gets to Blink Dagger. Even with Blink, Lion rarely survives in teamfights once he’s gone to disable and then burst his target. The truth is, the pro arena meta only sees Lion as a second choice. The current top pick with an impressive win rate belongs to Nyx Assassin.

Nyx Assassin went unnoticed for a long time. The reason why the hero is not picked a lot in the professional Dota arena is because Nyx is banned in almost every game. Nyx has been an obsession with mid players for over a year, but pick rates are still below 10% at most ranks. Most heroes have a certain win rate when moving from one rank to the next. One of the signs that a hero is strong is when that hero’s win rate and pick rate continue to increase. Nyx Assassin not only increases win rate, but pick rate also increases at all ranks. Specifically, the hero’s win rate gradually increased from Herald to Immortal.

Let’s compare the stats of recent tournaments between Lion and Nyx:

AniMajor
Lion: 61 picks/18 bans – 52% win rate
Nyx Assassin: 24 picks/67 bans – 58% win rate

TI 10 – Regional Qualifiers
Lion: 70 picks/9 bans – 45% win rate
Nyx Assassin: 50 picks/88 bans – 50% win rate

As you can see, Lion is mostly picked because agile heroes become more popular, like Puck, Invoker, Hoodwink, and Mirana. Instant disable with Blink/Hex is still necessary but Lion can be killed in a split second making the hero not worth much in team fight. Nyx Assassin who knows how to choose a good position can catch the above heroes with Spiked Carapace and is more difficult for the enemy to destroy. Nyx Assassin’s stealth really helps the hero survive a lot.

HOW TO GROW RED

Among the items that are considered beneficial for Nyx Assassin, the Flufffy Hat is probably not the first item we think about. This 250 gold item will play the most important role throughout the game journey. The article will analyze the benefits of Fluffy Hat below. Like many other supports, Tranquil Boots and Magic Wand help the hero survive the early game. There are some people who go to Arcane Boots, but this item is often too expensive, when Nyx almost the whole game can’t last hit a creep (if you won the core’s last hit to prove this statement, you should review it). Nyx Assassin’s highest goal is to get the green stick as soon as possible. This item turns Nyx into a great team fight machine, creating space and tanks. But the journey to item 4200 gold must be said for a long time. Waiting to have enough 1200 gold Point Booster or 1000 gold Ogre Ax will make you very easy to die in early game fights. This is a big problem for Nyx, the melee hero needs to survive teamfights to create value for the team.

That’s why Fluffy Hat plays such a big role in Nyx Assassin. With only 250 gold, you have 125 health. It is only 50 HP less than 1200 gold Point Booster and 75 HP less than 1000 gold Ogre Ax. Nigma’s GH continuously increased to two Fluffy Hats before investing in green sticks. Dropping 500 gold at the beginning of this game, he yields the same value as a level 15 talent and more than double the real value of any individual item. This is an important step that allows Nyx to pioneer, tank spells and survive. By surviving, Nyx can increase farm speed and level through assist gold, instead of trying to rush the green stick or being delayed by having to farm items like Meteor Hammer or Hand of Midas.

Other useful suppot items you can consider later for Nyx Assassin support are Blink Dagger, Eul’s Scepter, Lotus Orb or Force Staff. All is well, especially the Force Staff when you already have the Fluffy Hat.

GREEN STAFF

The “Lurker” green stick (referring to the Lurker in StarCraft) has been around since patch 6.84 and has remained almost unchanged until now. Even so, its power was almost untapped until recently. Blue Staff halves Impale’s cooldown and nearly doubles the cast range. It also nearly doubles the cast range for Mana Burn. It also adds an AoE stun to Spiked Carapace, independent of taking damage to activate. The green staff also makes Nyx invisible. Item that allows Nyx to take the lead by reducing physical and magic damage by 50%. It also increases Nyx Assassin’s health and mana regeneration significantly.

This is probably the most beneficial thing from a single item during Nyx Assassin’s battle. The next time you play, if you consider choosing Lion to capture the enemy, then think of Nyx first.

According to dotabufff

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