The day they were released was a very interesting day because typically when a new hero is released it comes with an update, so that the other heroes aren’t too weak or strong against it. However, there was no update with the Techies, the game just added them in with no further changes. People who had been anticipating their arrival had been thinking of ways to counter them, or the best ways to build them. Others had actually quit playing the game until the community grew bored with them or a balance update was released. Another issue that players had with the techies was that they did not fit into a role very well, that they failed to contribute usefulness to the team.
Dota 2 teams basically consist of two general roles; carries, and supports. Carries are usually characters that can dish out lots of damage but are not able to withstand much damage before dying, they build up the entire game until they can fight back against the other team with the boosts their items give them. Supports are given the role of babysitting the carries, they provide visions around the map, offer heals and regeneration, and try to ensure that the carry can bring the team a win. The techies are not hard hitters and can possess a substantial amount of health, which kind of knocks them out of the carry category. They also have no skill-based heals or regeneration and are one of the slowest characters in the game. One of their abilities does grant vision, so they are lumped into a very empty roaming support category. Roaming supports are not unheard of, but they are only used or played that way in the higher level brackets due to the difficulty of doing it and the team not fully understanding how they work. This makes the techies useless to most of the player-base because they contribute absolutely nothing to the team other than some explosives randomly placed around the map. The reason it is so difficult for players to succeed as a roaming support, especially as the techies, is because they are so level dependent. They need to get level six to start placing bombs around, but if they are roaming keeping up with the other players in levels becomes substantially more frustrating.
With the techies abilities it is not a matter of who does more damage, or who is faster. They possess a very unique skill set that is unlike any other hero in the game. The first ability that comes to mind is their suicidal explosive attack, it deals massive damage in a radius around them… but they die. They also have an ability that allows them to place a warning sign down anywhere on the map, this can really ruin a persons day. The player can put the sign anywhere they feel like. So say there are two paths to get to a certain location and the techies planted explosives on one of the paths, and put the sign on the other path. The enemy player is going to have to try to figure out if they should trust the sign and take the path that is actually going to lead to their horrific death, or if they should see through the clever facade and take the path with the warning sign. No other hero in the game has the potential to completely turn to puzzles or mind-games in this kind of way.
Due to all the frustrations and controversies involving the Techies right now certain people have switched to playing game modes where they can avoid being in a game with the techies, and others are playing all pick and instantly locking in with the Techies. Either way it is a very dynamic hero and its fair to say that the entire community is eager to see how they will be used on the competitive level.
What do you think about the Techies? Good? Bad? Let us know down in the comments section below.
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