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The Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades you need to try after Dota's 7.22 patch
The latest Dota 2 patch has brought with it 24 new Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades and changes to a load more, meaning the item is now always useful on every hero. Here’s what you need to know.
In Aghanim’s Scepter, being able to upgrade one of your strongest abilities or even gain an entirely new one for just 4,200 gold always seems like a great idea – and if you aren’t sure what to buy it’s often a pretty safe option. But like everyone who's reading this, even if you aren’t prepared to admit it, we have stupidly purchased an Aghs on a hero that doesn’t have an Aghs upgrade before – and have lost count of the amount of times we gifted an Aghs to a hero who has no upgrade as an Alchemist.
But now, that’s impossible, as the massive 7.22 patch which just hit Dota 2, has added Aghs upgrades to all the heroes that didn’t previously have one, meaning it’s now impossible to buy an Aghs on a hero that has no upgrade. Never again will you be called rude words in all chats for effectively wasting 4,200 gold.
Of course the patch was much more than the addition of some Aghs upgrades. Mars has been added to Captains Mode for the first time and Io makes its return as well. There have been some tweaks to XP and killstreak bonuses and towers have been slightly buffed. Add in some small map changes, a ton of hero and item balances – including reducing wards to 50 gold, which is the greatest thing in the world – and giving illusions the ability to life steal and you have a really great patch on your hands.
However, it’s the Aghs changes that are the star of the show and it isn’t just the addition of new upgrades and changes to old ones that warrant that title. There have also been changes to the core item itself, which for an additional 2,000 gold, can now be consumed to gain the buff but save an item slot, just like if you have an Alchemist on your team. But that isn’t all, as Roshan will now drop a consumable Aghs item! The third Rosh will drop either a Refresher Shard or the Aghs consumable, while the fourth will drop both. So with all these changes to the Scepter we decided to take a look at the best new Aghs options in 7.22.
Anti Mage
Anti Mage just became even more anti fun if you're on the opposing team, as his new Aghs upgrade can absolutely ruin a large portion on your game if you’re playing the likes of Tidehunter or Enigma. With an Aghs in his arsenal, Anti Mage’s Mana Void will now add 70 to the cooldown of the highest cooldown on any enemy it kills and that cooldown kicks in when you respawn. So, if an Anti Mage kills you as Tidehunter, you can expect to wait another 70 seconds after you respawn before you can even think about using Ravage. Not fun for you, but great to reduce the impact of big teamfight ultimates.
Lycan
On paper this seems like the ultimate consumable Aghs ability. With an Aghanim’s Scepter, Lycan will now spawn two wolves in one of the three creep waves that deploy from your base. They're uncontrollable and basically act as extra creeps, but having extra natural push that you don’t even have to think about, is sure to benefit your team by constantly pushing in lanes. The benefit of having the item in your inventory probably isn’t worth taking up an item slot, unless you have one spare that you can’t fill with something more useful, but if you consume the Aghs this becomes a brilliant buff to your team.
Arc Warden
Much like Lycan this perhaps is best suited as a consumable Aghs upgrade instead of wasting an inventory slot on it, but if you have surplus gold, which as Arc Warden is feasible, it’s worth picking up. This Aghs gives you a new ability called Rune Forge that creates a rune in front of you, which can be any of the runes in the game, including Bounty Runes. With a 60 second cooldown this can be pretty useful, especially if you get some good RNG at crucial times.
Arc Warden’s new Aghs could be game changing
© Valve
Slardar
This is the Aghs upgrade that sounds like the most underwhelming thing possible, but can actually be pretty useful once you have your core items up and running. With Aghs, whenever Slardar uses Slithereen Crush, he’ll create a puddle that has a 550 Area of Effect. Yes you read that right, his Aghs adds the ability to make puddles. But those puddles are actually pretty useful, as they’ll give him +25 HP regen, +12 Armor and +40 percent Status Resistance – and these bonuses are also added when in the river. Drop a couple of these in a fight and you’ll instantly become way more tanky, which should keep you alive a little longer.
Death Prophet
If you really need to be pumping out extra damage in fights as Death Prophet then an Aghs is a solid shout, as the new upgrade sends out a ghost that deals double the usual damage to any enemy hit by one of your spells or auto attacks. The ghost will then return to you and give you life, just like the normal ghosts, which will make you even tankier – and they deal a 100 percent slow for 0.3 seconds. A farmed Death Prophet just became even scarier.
Broodmother
If you aren’t a fan of Broodmother’s rapid movement across the map then things are not going to get any better for you with this Aghs. With the item equipped or consumed, she can now have up to 20 webs on the map at any time and her movement speed is boosted by 100 percent instead of the standard 70, plus the move speed cap is removed. If you want to play the ultimate rat game, then building a rapid Broodmother with a ton of webs seems like a great option.
Dragon Knight
The fact that Valve and HBO never partnered for an official Game of Thrones Drogon cosmetic for Dragon Knight is amazing. They could have easily quadrupled the prize pool for TI with that. However it seems Valve has decided to just go ahead and put Drogon in the game with the new DK Aghs, that grants him a fourth Elder Dragon Form. This black dragon is obviously the strongest of the lot, offering up 50 percent more Corrosive Damage, Splash Damage and Slow amount, +30 percent Magic Resistance and an increased attack range of 600.
Templar Assassin
With an Aghs and a bit of forethought, Templar Assassin becomes a split pushing menace. The upgrade gives her a new ability called Psionic Projection that allows her to teleport to any Psionic Trap on the map after a two second channel. This doesn’t even break Meld! Although it does destroy the trap on arrival. But with some well placed traps across the map, TA can down basically become Nature's Prophet and become a split pushing nightmare if you don’t eliminate those traps.
