Ace on offlaners in Patch 7.41d: “Timbersaw is currently at his strongest”

Valve simply forgot to nerf him in 7.41d, while the rest of the offlaner meta suffered. His win rate on the hard lane is currently hovering around 52%, and he heavily counters any tanky offlaner in the current meta. His passive ability is the main reason why he’s broken.

His passive grants 4 units of health and mana regeneration for every creep kill. The effect stacks and lasts for 8 seconds, and when you kill a hero, this multiplier increases sixfold. A single hero kill gives you 24 regeneration over 8 seconds. You won’t have any mana problems at all. Ever.

And his Heartstopper Aura at level 4 deals 2.3% of maximum health per second within a 700-radius, and it bypasses immunity to effects. Dawnbreaker, Night Stalker, Slardar, Tidehunter, Underlord, Axe, Mars—they all lose health just by standing near you.

He’s had a rough time for several patches in a row: a weak laning phase, low pick rate—people just stopped picking him. But Valve has been quietly reworking him patch by patch. The lane buffs in 7.41c changed everything: he went from a weak laner to a strong one.

Patch 7.41d affected him slightly: the duration of stat loss from Whirling Death was reduced, and his base attack speed was lowered from 100 to 90, but the lane buffs remained intact, and the flamethrower from Aghanim’s Shard received a buff that increases movement speed slow by 40%. Timbersaw is currently at the peak of his power.

He’s been buffed for three patches in a row, and 7.41d didn’t touch his core ability set at all. The buffs from 7.41c made him incredibly strong: the regeneration from Feral Impulse has increased, the level 10 talent for wolf damage has been raised from +10 to +14, and the level 15 talent for wolf health has been raised to +375. Add to that the previous Aghanim’s Shard rework.

Use the wolves from Aghanim’s Shard with the buffed damage talents, and your wolves will deal absurd amounts of damage in the mid-game—just send them after the supports and forget about them.

He’s been slightly tweaked in recent patches, so technically he’s been nerfed patch after patch. But these nerfs haven’t made a difference. He still maintains one of the highest win rates among offlaners across all ranks, and Patch 7.41d didn’t touch him at all.

Why should you pick him? Tidehunter is the easiest team-oriented hero in Dota 2. You dash in with Blink Dagger, cast Ravage, and your team finishes them off. Kraken Shell makes him tanky starting at level 1, and spamming Anchor Smash lets you farm and trade safely on the lane. With Aghanim’s Scepter and Refresher Orb in the late game, you cast Ravage twice, and the entire enemy team is rooted in their base for 5 seconds straight.

She burst onto the scene as the most picked offlaner back in 7.41c with a huge spike in popularity. Patch 7.41d gave her only a minor nerf to Starbreaker’s mana cost—and that’s it. Valve nerfs her every patch in an attempt to slow her down, but she continues to thrive.

She’s still at the top of the meta for the mid lane. She has the perfect combination: strong laning thanks to regeneration from Luminosity, fast farming, and global presence thanks to her Solar Guardian ultimate.