The infuriating explosive-trap laying Dota 2 hero Techies were hit particularly hard with the game’s most recent patch. So hard that it looks like they’ve almost disappeared from the game.
The above chart was screenshotted from the popular data-heavy Dota 2 site Dotabuff (via Reddit), which pulls information from the game’s API and aggregates it into character-specific charts and other neat infographics. It shows Techies continuing steadily along a decent (though admittedly not great) level a popularity for the beginning of September. And then...BAM. Hit with the 6.85 nerf. Look at what happened to their win-rate over the same time frame:
Techies have been a divisive hero in Dota 2 ever since they were introduced last year thanks to the elaborate and often infuriating mind games the three bomb-wielding goblins can play against their opponents. The goblins can lay explosive mines and traps all over the map which are invisible to the opposing team. This adds an extra layer of challenge to pretty much every game they’re played—or at least, the games in which they’re played well:
They’re sort of like the famous troll champion Teemo in League of Legends, who drives his opponents crazy in similar ways with his maddening poison mushroom bombs.
Characters like these always end up getting their own sort of special treatment by their respective games’ balance teams, given the...particular set of emotions their presence inspires among players. I can’t imagine Dota 2 fans being happy with Valve taking them out of the equation entirely, though, so we’ll have to see what the developer chooses to do with the goblins next.
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