Whee I shall pause the DotA random trivia for a while for a few reasons:
1. Got new version i need to test
2. Got 4 new heroes and a bunch of new items and changes which are much more interesting so lets talk about that :D
Today I'll talk about one of the more interesting new heroes, Xin. He's basically the Fire Panda (lolol wait till IceFrog comes up with Earth Spirit XD)
Let's look at his specs:
Xin, Ember Spirit
Primary Attribute: Agility
Base MS: 310
Attack Range: 128 (Melee)
Base Damage: 52-56
Starting Armour: 3
Strength 21 + 2.0 | Agility 22 + 1.8 | Intelligence 20 + 1.8
At a glance, he has brilliant specs, being an agility hero with good base armour, good base damage, high starting stats which make early game a breeze with plentiful hp and mp, good base ms, good attack range.... what else can you ask for? Better stat gain, that's for one, but that would make him too good... I suspect he might be nerfed soon.
I don't have access to his advanced data unfortunately, but I have tried playing him and he does have a nice frontswing with a decent cast time, so this hero looks very very strong so far. I suspect he has a crappy BAT though to make up for all that.
Let's look at his skills now:
1. Searing Chains (Active, Automatic)
Xin unleases up to 3 fiery bolas that wrap around nearby enemies, anchoring them in place and dealing damage per second.
AoE: 400 (wa)
Duration: 2/2/3/3 (wth?)
DPS: 40/60/80/100 (looks normal)
Cooldown: 14/12/10/8 <-- wa thats short
Mana cost: 110 <-- wth?
This spell doesn't stun, the code sets the target's movespeed to 0. It's not an ensuare either, not cancelling channeling spells like Scroll of Town Portal. It does not disable; the target can still attack and cast spells. Does not affect invisible or magic immune targets (obviously).
An important thing to note is that it selects 3 random enemies. But even in a crowd of creeps, you still have a good chance of hitting the hero. Furthermore, a good time to use this is when you run from behind, and the opponent is near the ranged creep. Here, the enemy hero(es) is next to the ranged creep and there are only 3 units in the 400 aoe, and you'll snag them both. This is perfect followup with a aoe stun like Light Strike Array or Split Earth.
This is an overpowered skill no doubt. Although it doesn't disable, its cast time is almost instantaneous and it deals good damage to 3 units AND sets their movespeed to 0 for 3 seconds. IceFrog might well nerf the damage, its rather high. Even with 210 damage over 3 seconds (Frostbite hint hint) its still a damn good skill.
2. Sleight of Fist (Active, Ground Target)
Xin dashes around with blazing speed, attacking all enemies in the targeted AoE and returns to where he was standing after. You deal 50% less damage to creeps.
You are invulnerable during this process. Takes 0.2 seconds to attack per unit.
Bonus Hero Damage: +30/60/90/120
AoE: 250/350/450/550
Cast Range: 700
Manacost: 50
Cooldown: 30/22/14/6
This skill is a bit iffy at first glance. It looks like a blink strike, with 6 second cd and 50 mp cost, but it's more like an Omnislash. It looks very good, but the iffy part is the you go back to your starting point. If you ask me this looks like a nuke than a blink strike.
This is a very good skill to have late game though, since when there are more creeps it's going to take you a while and hence stall the cd, allowing you to use it again. Secondly, all your orbs fully activate during these attacks, so u can abuse things like battlefury, mjollnir and so on. Finally, late game you deal good damage once your items are up, so this looks to be quite powerful.
3. Flame Guard (Active, Automatic)
Xin surrounds himself with a ring of fire that consumes incoming magic damage, leaving him unharmed. Deals dps in a 400 aoe. If the shield is dispelled, the dps buff goes away.
DPS: 30/35/40/45
Magic Shell: 150/300/450/600
Duration: 8/12/16/20 (or when the barrier dies)
Manacost: 80/90/100/110
Cooldown: 35
This looks quite ridiculous. Remember the old Storm Spirit's Barrier? That spell was really imba, and it was only the damage block >.<
Now you give an immolation effect, this is huge. A 400 AoE immolation dealing 45 damage per second AND blocking 600 magic damage? O.O
We often say that early game spells are the undoing of agility heroes. Not so for Xin. Also note that this spell has perfect synnergy with the first skill, Searing Chains. Both have a 400 AoE, and this spell deals bonus damage on top of that. What is worth noting further, is that this spell protects you from the magic damage that you'll have to face if you're going to run up to use Searing Chains. Further note that the mana cost for these 2 skills is 110 when max. This is very very very low cost for a combo that is so damaging. And do not forget Xin's 20 + 1.8 intelligence. A simple Ring of Basilius will probably be enough for mana throughout the whole game.
Fire Remnant (Active, Ground Target)
Xin charges himself with the energy to create a Fire Remnant every 30 seconds, with a max of 3 charges. Releasing a charge, sends a Fire Remnant that runs to the targeted point at 2.5 times your speed. Xin can use his secondary ability to dash out to each remnant's location, detonating them for AoE damage, and arriving at the one he targeted last. Remnants last 45 seconds or until you fuse with them. The remnant placing ability is limited by charges and not cooldown or manacost.
Remnant Charges: 3
Remnant Charge Replenish Time: 30 seconds
Remnant Duration: 45 seconds
Remnant Cast Range: 1500
The secondary ability lets you target a location closest to whichever Remnant you want to choose. Xin will then dash out going through each remnant, arriving at the selected remnant last. Each Remnant you go through causes it to detonate, dealing damage in the area around it.
Damage: 140/180/220
AOE: 450
Activate Remnant Manacost: 100
This skill is a bit confusing, so I'll explain. Every 30 seconds, Xin will replenish a "charge", which is a Fire Remnant. The number of charges you current have can be seen at the ulti icon as the number of paw prints there are. The charge replenish timer starts when the first charge is used. In other words, a charge replenishes itself in 30 seconds when used. If you play Starcraft a simple way to describe this skill is "Reaver shooting Scarabs".
When you deploy a Fire Remnant (1500 range >.< thats huge), it charges towards its location doing nothing but at 2.5x your speed. It will remain there for 45 seconds or until you activate it with the secondary skill.
The secondary skill causes Xin to dash towards each remnant in an order which I'm not so sure >.< but it always arrives at the one you targeted (closest to) last. When Xin dashes through a remnant it triggers it, dealing the amount of magic damage in the AoE.
This skill has a few implications.
1. Spawning the remnant has 1500 range and has no cooldown, neither does it cost any mana. Activating the remnant (basically running there) costs 100 mana, but has no cooldown. This means you can run at 2.5x your speed away from enemies as long as you have charges stocked up. Note that the Fire Remnant is not limited by the 522 speed cap.
2. Like I said earlier, the skill nor its subskill has cooldown. This allows you to chase at 2.5x your speed as well.
3. This has perfect synnergy with the other skills. The first and third skill require you to be within 400 AoE for them to have effect, and this allows you to chase. The second skill does not teleport you to the enemy, so this allows you to get up close, and to continue. In short, this is a ball lightning.
So far I keep saying how strong Xin is. Let's look at his weaknesses. They can be summed up as follows:
1. Low burst damage
None of his spells deal a lot of damage. Sure, Searing Chains deals 300 when you land it, and Flame Guard deals a bunch as well. But realize that an activated Fire Remnant deals a mere 140/180/220 damage in a 450 AoE when activated. That's less damage than a Shadowraze >.< You need all 3 Remnants activated to clear 1 wave of creeps.
This does not really hinder his farming capabilities though. Flame Guard is still an excellent skill for farming. What this does is it means that he is extremely reliant on physical attacks.
2. High item dependence
Almost a corollary of the above, he is useless late game without sufficient farming.
3. Not enough time to do everything
We noted earlier that Xin's skillset is perfect for ganking. To farm or to gank? One must prioritize and you can't do both at the same time...
The skillset for Xin is quite obvious. The early game Searing Chains / Flame Guard combo is extremely devastating, coupled with a 310 base movespeed. Mid-game, I suggest stats since Sleight of Fist is not really useful until you get out your core items. Finally, Sleight of Fist should be skilled at 17 or so. Fire Remnant is too good to pass up, so get it whenever you can.
The general strategy should be quite obvious by now. Kill whoever you can in the lane, but do not pass up on farm. Try to stay on a lane, ganking opponents who come. Do not be afraid to push, since a Fire Remnant lasts 45 seconds but it recharges in 30 seconds. You can throw them out for vision (it costs no mp, and has a 1500 range) and to run when you need to. Just remember to keep 100 mp to activate the remnants.
Item-wise, Xin does well early game with just a Ring of Basilius. It offers the mana regen, armour and damage you need to do the 3 things you need to do: 1. gank with skills, 2. farm and 3. push off harassment with a combination of innate high armour / hp and magic defense from flame guard. Treads is a must-have, and beyond that I suggest Battle Fury as a core item. The main reason for this is that Sleight of Fish is your main source of late game DPS, and this skill ignores attack speed so there's no point boosting attack speed. Instead you should aim for crit-cleaves that deal alot of damage in the AoE. Another reason why Battle Fury is good is that it comprises of Perseverence, which gives you enough regen to spam Flame Guard at creeps and to shrug off most forms of harassment in the lane. Following this, good items to get are Vladimir's Offering (upgrade your basilius), Buriza do-Kyanon (remember the crit-cleave strategy), and more Battle Furies. Divine Rapier is a decent consideration, since Xin is semi-invulnerable. Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere are also possible choices to guard against disables.
Xin is a hero gifted with an excellent moveset and hero specs, but unfortunately suffers from low stat growth and severe item dependence. An acute awareness of Xin's potential and an intricate farm-gank balance must be maintained in order to utilize his full potential.
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