from a mid pick to a versatile pick

Before you appeared in All Pick, the game used to be a race to see who would pick Leshrac first. This hero is one of the top mid champions at TI5, getting banned more times than Gyrocopter and Lina at their peak combined. Then patch 6.85 came out shortly after – nerf Lightning Storm (80/140/200/260 to 50/100/150/200) and base damage (45-49 to 41-45). Of course, this hero gradually drifted into oblivion.

The hero’s win rate dropped by almost 10%, from 56% to 47%. Leshrac disappears from the competitive meta and sometimes only shows up in awkward situations. And then, the updates after 7.00 started, and he was slowly getting fixed and buffed, slowly returning to Meta.

Leshrac is the 2nd most competitive and 3rd most banned hero in both GESC: Thailand and EPICENTER XL. Although the hero is no longer popular in MDL Changsha, Leshrac is still in the top 10 most competitive picks.

Newbee.sccc deals tons of damage for an ultra kill against OG at MDL Changsha

History of buffs

Since the nerf in 6.85, Leshrac has gradually been buffed again. Lightning Storm – 6.85’s most nerfed move – is now back. Its damage increased from patch 7.12 (50/100/150/200 to 80/120/160/200), mana cost reduced (90/100/110/120 to 80/100/120/140), and duration cast decreased (0.6 to 0.4) with 2 patches later.

These changes have given Leshrac a decent laning, but haven’t been able to return to his heyday. Initial damage hasn’t changed and Lightning Storm’s slow is still nerfed at low levels, making Split Earth harder to hit. However, the buff changes help this hero play well in other positions.

In addition to the base strength buffs (16+1.8 to 18+2.1) and base health regeneration (0 to 1.5), patch 7.07 changed Leshrac’s talent to make the hero more buff, so the hero no longer has to rely on items too much. At level 10, +5 Armor isn’t much, but the previous +250 Mana is better instead of the current +25 movement speed. At level 15, the +15 Strength talent (also buffed from Strength gained in 7.13b) makes Leshrac support more popular.

Overall, these changes help Leshrac survive well in positions other than mid, making it difficult for opponents to predict what role Leshrac will play in the lineup.

The power of flexibility

Flexible Pick allows a hero to play in different positions in the squad. Its advantage is that it hides the team’s strategy, makes the opponent consider their ban, makes it easier for the team to pick heroes.

At GESC: Thailand against Keen Gaming, Evil Geniuses picked Leshrac early in round 2. They were going to use Leshrac as core to farm offlane. This is the right hero for Sumail, who used to be dominant in mid, but has moved into an offlane position in EG. Keen responded with an Earthshaker ban, predicting a support pick for Cr1t and defending Phantom Lancer on their final pick. But Leshrac’s flexibility allowed EG to counterattack by choosing Ember Spirit for Sumail, giving Leshrac to Cr1t.

The above is just a rough overview of the possible moves in the game at the draft stage. Although Leshrac is no longer a mid hero, he is still a flexible choice to help the team transform their strategy. Leshrac isn’t the only hero that can be played in a variety of positions, but as midlane returns to a more traditional 1v1 style, the hero’s return will remind many of TI5 history.

Source: Dotabuff