Dota Auto Chess: Analysis of Riki, Mirana Death Prophet and new changes in the big update

Dota Auto Chess got its biggest update ever on February 25th. The update adds three new heroes to the game: Riki, Mirana and Death Prophet, reworks some existing heroes as well as changing bonus combos. Let’s find out how the new heroes will fit into Dota Auto Chess and how the changes affect the game.

New pieces include: Riki (3 gold, Satyr Assassin), Mirana (3 gold, Elf Hunter), Death Prophet (5 gold, Undead Warlock)

1) Riki (Satyr, Assassin)

Riki brings a new race to the game called Satyr. Satyr is used to hide what you have on the bench, making the pieces in the waiting area completely invisible to other players. However, it has a problem – even you, the Riki owner, have a hard time seeing what heroes you have. If there are 8-10 heroes on the queue, it’s hard to see them. While buying new pieces, you may end up buying the wrong pieces. This is a big problem that needs to be fixed. Riki owners should not lose sight of their pieces.

On the battlefield, Riki wasn’t exactly bad. Smokescreen silences enemy heroes and causes them to miss. And the only team that Riki really fits into is Assassin. Without Assassin, nothing can combo with this hero. With only 50 damage and 0 armor. Riki doesn’t seem worth the 3 gold investment.

2) Mirana (Elf, Hunter)

Mirana adds to the mighty Elf lineup and is the second Elf Hunter after Windranger. This is also a hero that has the ability to attack through another chess board. Mirana on your board will shoot arrows to another board, the board your team is attacking and Mirana on that board will also shoot arrows back to your board. Depending on the distance, the stun duration and damage will be more or less. However, it also has big problems.

1. If your team wins quickly in just a few seconds while Mirana has just reached 100 mana, the other table will have to wait for the arrow to never happen.
2. Similarly, if you lose quickly, the other table will not receive Mirana’s name.

In both situations, even if Mirana on the other board shoots arrows at her board, it’s pretty useless since your board is already done. The only time it’s really useful is when both battlefields are stretched for Mirana to use the Sacred Arrow. Similar to Riki, Mirana has medium damage and 0 armor, so it’s not worth the 3 gold investment.

3) Death Prophet (Undead, Warlock)

Death Prophet resembles Necrophos – Undead Warlock and is probably the only new hero worth buying. Like the other two new heroes, Death Prophet has 0 armor, while hand damage is a bit weaker. But the damage that really matters to DP is in Exorcism. Exorcism deals huge damage even though it’s only 1-star DP. The only problem with the other 5 gold heroes (Gyrocopter, techies, Tidehunter, Enigma, Lich) is that if they can use the utilmate and die then it’s fine. The moves of 5 gold heroes make a big difference in teamfight.

With DP, this hero needs to survive. The minute DP dies, all damage will disappear. So, even with high damage, 1-star Death Prophet should not be on the table. Void Stone is an item that will help DP breathe easier, so that Exorism can be unleashed as soon as possible. Death Prophet requires 2-stars to last longer. But overall, this hero is very interesting to add new depth to the late game.

• Slark rework: Replace Shadow Dance with Pounce. Reduced price from 3 to 2 gold.

Slark used to be a very strong hero, especially when you get 2-stars and equip a Ring of Health or other item to keep Slark alive. Shadow Dance will always be active and Slark cannot die. That makes Slark a strong hero. New Slark (2 gold instead of 3 gold) uses Pounce to damage enemies. It’s not too bad if you can get to 2-star Slark early, but the hero is really not as strong as before. However, with the Naga species buff, this is still a piece worth keeping.

• Alchemist reowrk: Replace Acid Spray with Chemical Rage. Attack speed reduced by 0.3.

Alchemist from top tier hero to bottom tier. Acid Spray used to be a great move, both damaging and reducing the armor of enemies standing in that area. Chemical Rage just makes Alch attack faster, which means Alchemist can potentially become a main damage hero, but not as strong as some of the heroes already featured in Dota Auto Chess. While BSJ was streaming Dota Auto Chess, Kirbynator (a professional Hearthstone player fascinated by Dota Auto Chess) said that Alchemist had become useless. Previously, the hero was very strong so there was no need to combo with any squad. Now, the Alchemist era is over!

• Reduced Horror (Undead combo) armor from -5/-7 to -4/-6.

With another Undead hero appearing (Death Prophet), we can gather Undead heroes more easily. Also, reducing armor to 5 with only 2 heroes on the table is really a bit too strong.

• Hunter’s Pack (Hunter combo) bonus damage reduced from +30%/+30% to +25%/+25%

Despite being nerfed, Hunter will still be one of the main sources of damage. However, that source of damage is now less painful than before.

• Power of the Wild bonus (Beast combo) damage increased from +10%/+15%/+20% to 15%/+20%/+25%.

This change makes the two Beasts on the table worth the investment. A 15% increase in damage for the whole team can turn the tide in combat, especially in the early game when the main damage hero killers are still weak and have no items.

• Rebalanced Scale Armor (Naga combo) bonus magic resistance from +20%/+40% to +30%/+30%

Like Beast, there are two Naga heroes that are really worth it, especially when facing a heavy cast of spells. Reduces magic damage by 30% applied to the whole team. If the early game requires a lot of resistance to magic damage, having Slark and Slardar in the early game team is really helpful. This is the only advantage when Slark drops to 2 gold – the hero is easier to obtain and can be upgraded early in the game.

• Reduced Battle Hardened HP bonus (Orc combo) from +250/+350 to +200/+300.

The Orc Race needs a bit of a nerf as the three heroes (Beastmaster, Ax and Juggernaut) can get to the early game and make for a strong trio. Ax and Juggernaut are also Warriors, so owning another Warrior will add bonus armor to them. Add Disruptor, all previous members get 600 HP, which is a huge number! Nerf down to 500 HP will bring them back to the correct position.

• Reduced Razor’s Plasma field AoE from 400/500/600 to 400/450/500.

After Shadow Fiend, Razor is probably the best DPS, at least early and mid game. This hero can appear in any formation, no matter what combo on the table. Razor gets used a lot and nerfs are definitely a must. However, this nerf is not enough to knock the hero out of the game.

• Improves Lina’s attack speed by 0.3
• Reduced Lina’s Laguna Blade cooldown from 13/10/7 to 10/8/6 seconds.

Lina is a very rarely used hero despite having high magic damage. Increasing attack speed by 0.3 will help Lina attack faster and launch Laguna Blade faster. Faster cooldown means a higher chance of unleashing 2 Laguna Blades in battle, especially with 2-star Lina, which deals slightly more damage, and unleashes Laguna Blades every 8 seconds. Lina will definitely appear more in this patch.

• Reduced Disruptor’s Static Storm max damage from 100/200/300 to 100/150/200.

Disruptor gets nerfed twice – Orc HP and Static Storm damage. Static Storm is a powerful move with the ability to silence, preventing heroes like Tidehunter and Techies from launching their moves before they die. Not to mention the extra damage like ‘salt close to the wound’.

And we have the first major patch of Dota Auto Chess. It’s hard to know how strong heroes are in Auto Chess. But one thing is for sure: Riki and Mirana really need a rework.

According to VPesports

Dota Auto Chess gets a huge update: new hero, new race and rework