According to PCGamesN Skywrath Mage is being added to Dota 2 with the latest patch. Skywrath mage is a force to be reckoned with, a potent support hero. Check out all his abilities and stats, how to play this hero as well as the overall patch notes.
Dragonus, the Skywrath Mage
Dragonus is a ranged Intelligence hero of the Radiant faction. This means he deals in magical damage, here’s a look at his abilities shown on the Dota 2 wiki.
Arcane Bolt: Skywrath launches a slow-moving bolt of arcane magic, dealing damage to an enemy unit based on Skywrath’s intelligence.
Ability |
Affects |
Damage |
Target Unit |
Enemies |
Magical |
Base damage: 60/80/100/120
Bonus damage based on Skywrath Mage’s Intelligence: 1.6x
Range: 800
Mana: 70
Cooldown: 5/4/3/2
Concussive Shot: Skywrath sets off a long range shot that hits the closest hero within a long range. Upon impact, it deals damage and slows in an area of effect.
Ability |
Affects |
Damage |
No Target |
Enemy Heroes |
Magical |
Range: 1600
Damage: 50/100/150/200
Slow: 40%
Slow radius: 200
Slow duration: 4
Mana: 110
Cooldown: 20/18/16/14
Ancient Seal: Skywrath seals the targeted unit with an ancient rune, silencing it and causing it to take additional damage from spells.
Ability |
Affects |
|
Target Unit |
Enemies |
|
Duration: 3/4/5/6
Magical damage amplification: 18/24/30/36%
Range: 700
Mana: 80/90/100/110
Cooldown: 11
Mystic Flare: Skywrath uses his ultimate magical ability to conjure a precise and violent mystical field that lays waste to his adversaries. Deals massive damage distributed evenly among any heroes in the area over 2 seconds.
Ability |
Affects |
Damage |
Target Point |
Enemy Heroes |
Magical |
Total damage: 600/900/1200
Duration: 2
Radius: 170
Range: 1200
Mana: 350/575/800
Cooldown: 60/40/20
Playing Skywrath Mage
The way you play Skywrath Mage (for the purpose of not having to type that out every time, because I’m lazy as hell I’ll be using SM for the rest of the article) will be determined by the hero picks of the team, depending on what heroes they choose, will influence the items and role you play. SM’s main role will be as a support hero, a hero that aids the group in getting kills, rather than hunting for them himself. You’ll be doing this by making sure you slow and silence the right heroes so that they can be killed in the right order to ensure survival for your carries.
You’ll probably start off as a lane support, it’s always better to pair up with a melee hero so that you can harass your opponents while allowing your team mate to get in some last hits on creeps for gold. Starting up Concussive Shot first would be wise, since it has double the range of Arcane Bolt, deals damage and slows in AOE (area of effect) instead of just to one hero, as well as to creeps. It has a longer cooldown than Arcane Bolt, but moves faster. Arcane Bolt moves incredibly slowly at 500 movement speed, Concussive shot uses more mana though, so make sure you stock up on Clarity (mana potions, at least 3) and get those Arcane Boots as soon as possible. This could really come in handy to not only slow enemies for your carry to get in the kills, or help your team mate escape if he/she has to.
If your team mate sharing the lane with you has no silence ability, I’d level up Ancient Seal as well, which silences the enemy as well as increases the damage he takes from spells. This spell however is also quite mana intensive, so use it wisely. Otherwise Arcane Bolt would be a good option, since its mana usage is much less and it has a very short cooldown period. Obviously unlock your ultimate ability (ulti) at level six, it has a one minute cooldown to start with, but will knock off 20 seconds at a time when you level it up, this ability also uses an incredible amount of mana, so farming a mana regen item like Void Stone or Energy Booster would be a good idea, depending on the core items you are planning on farming. This ability will do more damage when there are fewer enemies, since the damage is distributed evenly among them. The fewer enemies there are, the harder you hit.
- If it hits 1 enemy, it will deal the full 600/900/1200 damage.
- If it hits 2 enemies, it will deal 300/450/600 damage.
- If it hits 3 enemies, it will deal 200/300/400 damage.
- If it hits 4 enemies, it will deal 150/225/300 damage.
- If it hits 5 enemies, it will deal 120/180/240 damage.
- Pulses once every 0.1 seconds (20 pulses at 30/45/60 damage each, each divided as described above).
Being a nuker should be really fun with SM. If your team has an extra support, you could be just as potent as any carry. You’ll want to boost your Intelligence stats as much as you can, farm Hand of Midas which will boost your attack speed and earn you lots of gold and XP. You should make sure your mana regen is as fast as possible. Start off with 3 x Clarity, 2 x Iron Branch and a Tango, hang back a little when you start the game, just earning gold to farm the important items. Buy Boots of Speed first, upgrade to Magic Wand gradually and start farming Hand of Midas. Upgrade to Arcane Boots before you buy the Hand of Midas recipe, once you have those items, its smooth sailing from there. You can either decide to level up a Dagon, which will boost your Intelligence stat and damage and help you get in those last hits, or go for Eul’s Scepter of Divinity which will give you Intelligence, movement speed and 150% mana regen, this will also come in handy to sweep up any enemy and disable him. And after that farming your Bloodstone will significantly boost your HP, mana, mana regen, reduce respawn time and ensure continued XP.
This is all just opinion for pub play, I’ll let you guys know how it works out after actually playing Dragonus. But I predict it’ll not go too badly. If you have any advice on how to play this hero, please share your knowledge in the comments!
Patch notes can be found here.
Last Updated: April 19, 2013
Admiral Chief Erwin
April 19, 2013 at 12:13
Between you and MattyFig, I don’t know who is the greater dotaslut hahahaha
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 12:16
ME! 😀
Gavin Mannion
April 19, 2013 at 12:14
DOTA confuses the crap out of me.. it’s like Greek…
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 12:15
Just takes practice Gavin 😛 lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots more!
You get my point 😛
Yolanda Green
April 19, 2013 at 12:32
Tell me about it! Worth it though 😀
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 12:16
RAWR! This hero looks awesome 🙂 glad to see LG giving Dota the loving it deserves 😛
caponeil
April 19, 2013 at 12:16
nice cant wait – a nuking support! One note, I wouldnt have HOM as you should be support and not farming. Dagon is pretty interesting but yeah, lets wait and see! Love new heroes!
Yolanda Green
April 19, 2013 at 12:25
I’m gonna try him with and without HOM, see how it pays off 😀
caponeil
April 19, 2013 at 19:33
trolling while I wait for my Dota to update and first game with SM! probably still wont do HOM though!! 🙂
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 12:19
I tend to disagree with hand of midas on him (seeing as he is more of a support) 😛 but why the hell not! #yolo
Yolanda Green
April 19, 2013 at 12:24
I’d really only use it if you don’t need a heavy support for the team, use it with Silencer sometimes, just insane.
Matthew Holliday
April 19, 2013 at 12:52
makes sense on silencer if you put him in the 2 or 3 role, the attack speed is relevant to him.
the attack speed on skywrath, not so much, with his 0.8 agi gain
Slade Boender
April 19, 2013 at 12:41
nothing wrong to keep your gold stock up, SM needs some beef mid-late game, the beef that only some decent situationals will give him
Slade Boender
April 19, 2013 at 12:46
Nice article. Now if only the home time bell would ring so I can go try… tick tock tick tock
Matthew Holliday
April 19, 2013 at 12:46
i see him as more along the lines of an alternate to support silencer or shadow demon.
his nuking potential doesnt increase that dramatically depending on the farm, puts him more in the range of a Kotl type support.
sure he has a 1.6x intelligence ability, but give him a rod of atos and sythe of vyse and it will only increase the damage done by that one ability by 100, thats alot of gold for a bonus 100 damage every 2 seconds.
hes much more viable in the number 4 or 5 role, running on wards and mek etc, farming will not make your hero more effective.
stick the same items on an obs destroyer or silencer and id be more scared of of the obs/silencer.
if you find yourself with gold to spare, id go bloodstone or rod of atos instead of euls.
his strength gain is pitifull, 1500hp at 25… drastically needs hp and mana and a euls isnt enough
Yolanda Green
April 19, 2013 at 13:04
See now, your advice seems way better than mine 😀 Thanks Matthew!
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 13:19
You’re welcome!
#trolololol!
Matthew Holliday
April 19, 2013 at 21:23
Team Matthew strikes at the heart of the article
thuglife
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 13:19
You’re welcome!
#trolololol!
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 13:05
throw in an Orchid there too 😛 1200dmg + 30% and all his other spells on a single target. ITS OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Matthew Holliday
April 19, 2013 at 13:39
an orchid is just rude
cast your silence + damage amp and orchid
1200+36% = 1630 damage + 30% = 2110
factor in the +-350 damage from his int multiplier with just his basic and orchid stats
and the 200 damage from his concussive shot
550+36%= 750+30% =975
thats a nice 3000 damage and you have hit him with a right click and your first ability is back off cooldown.
2250 if you factor in the basic 25% resistance to magic
without the orchid youd be dealing 2400 or 1800 with the 25% magic reduction.
so youre paying 4125g for 450 damage and 150% mana regen.
whereas you could get a dagon and a voidstone(which would go into your next item) for 3500 and get the same.
Matthew Figueira
April 19, 2013 at 16:37
Haha XD it was well thought out 😛 DOTA THEORY 101!
Orchid has the silence too, DOUBLE THE SILENCE! WINNING!
Alright you’re right probably, but I hate Dagon :'(