Efficiency Headwear
Over the course of the last month, we frequently emphasized the importance of tempo in the current metagame. Having an edge early on frequently lead to a dominant midgame and victory. Partly because of that and partly because of the new talent system, several heroes have seen changes in their playstyles and itemization.
Veil of Discord immediately comes to mind as one of the new meta items, since it enables both the new Magic Damage Ember Spirit as well as allows QoP to become even more of a threat in the early and midgame. However, the item’s usefulness is not restricted to these two heroes—from a pure stats perspective, it is very efficient on a variety of different heroes.
Naturally, it also resulted in a meta-response, with more and more heroes opting for an early 
Hood of Defiance. Typically seen on tanky, offlane heroes, this item is a best-response strategy against potential enemy threats.
While these two items were locked in this love/hate relationship, another “headwear” has been creeping up on the meta—looking at the core itemization in both Dota Pit and ESL One Genting, it is clear the 
Helm of the Dominator is the fashion trend of the season.
All about that base (stat gain)
Professional players love stat items. Back when 
Drum of Endurance was the most efficient item, it was not uncommon to see it on several heroes, especially in 
Team Secret lineups.
In the recent past, patches have changed a lot and now Drums are not as efficient as they used to be—they are clearly no longer the most efficient option--providing a decent aura, but not making it up for the price in terms of stats.
HotD beats Drums in terms of health regeneration, while costing exactly the same. Drums do provide some extra MS, which is undoubtedly nice, so they should always be a consideration, however, in terms of sustain and utility, they are definitely better left in the support domain. Moreover, if MS ever becomes an issue, Kobold Taskmaster can solve it with ease, always providing more benefits to you and to the team.
In a HotD vs. Veil matchup, Veil is a definitive winner on all intelligence heroes, and can even be a consideration on non-intelligence ones, with high amounts of magic damage. Almost 7 extra armor is a very strong argument, however it also costs more and, once again, at least partially, some of its benefits can be supplemented by a properly chosen neutral creep.
As such, Helm of the Dominator is good on virtually any non-intelligence, core hero—its stats spread doesn’t favor a particular hero type, and it provides this great extra power in the early stages of the game, with a lot of sustain built in as well.
While not exactly being a power spike for the team, it allows for a very smooth transition between the game stages—it is almost as effective as Yasha in terms of DPS, while having the added benefit of a smaller price tag and extra survivability.
Smells Like Team Spirit
If you’ve played Dota for at least a year, you should remember how popular 
Beastmaster was at some point. It is no secret that most of his utility came from the extra map control provided by hawk and his ability to consistently slow enemies and disable targets through BKB. However, the 
Inner Beast aura should not be underestimated—a team-wide DPS increase from it was certainly powerful. It only slightly tipped the scales in the teamfights, but was immensely useful during pushes, increasing the rate of tower destruction by a huge margin.
The same can be said about the Helm. While the aura it provides is significantly less powerful, it is almost always a two-for-one—most neutral creeps have very strong team-wide auras, with some of the options grossly undervalued.
However, strong auras are not the only thing the Jungle Creeps have to offer. Many of them have very strong abilities, which became increasingly easy to effectively realize with the added movement speed.
The utility you can get from them ranges from simple, yet effective, Centaur stuns, to powerful, in the right scenario, purges or even +30 HP regens from Hill Troll Priest.
This versatility definitely comes at a price—you will have to learn to manage multiple units effectively. But, as discussed in our previous blog posts, it is a skill worth developing in any case.
Closing Thoughts
Efficiency, tempo and early game are the current keys to success, it seems. With substantial power spikes coming from the early level talents, it is now much easier to snowball. HotD allows this snowball to keep on rolling, providing opportunities for gaining additional map control.
The item more than pays for itself, since it can be used to set up ganks, facilitate push and teamfight and even deal with some of the more annoying debuffs. If used correctly, it can almost give you an “extra player” level of advantage.
That said, be vary—in the days to come, you will not be the only one utilizing the potential of this item.
1st whooohooo
As far as you'll go
ok cool
hi mom
Nice analysis
Definitely a very nice analysis. The map changes, HoTD rework, and creep spawn timers easily shifted the meta to favor more aggressive, early-game playstyles rather than a slower, farm based playstyle.
Second 2nd
nc analysis
Thought this article would be about hats.
Was not disappointed
i expect to hear something about chen associated with hotd, but indeed its a very nice article
10th wooooo, Hotd is bae <3
+8 HP/sec is a joke, while even Guardian Greaves (more than 5 K gold cost) offers +4 HP/sec aura, with Mekansm and Pipe offering the same 4 HP/sec.
Why does the HotD recipe triplicates the headdres stats bonus??? It should double at most (+2 -> +4 all stats).
Minimum dominated HP should be 1000 HP, while large MS should be kept.
midas tho
omg at first i thought HotD was helm of the defiance LOL XD
almost 15th, ez
почему русский сайт, не может сделать перевод на статью
почему русский сайт, не может сделать перевод на статью
I gotta agree with @Dr_JP on the 8HP/sec. I mean I get that it used to be a lifesteal item and that could bring in a lot of regen, but the fact that it's an aura really baffles me.
An Ogre, who honestly already has amazing regen, could get this item first with two mangoes and have 14 regen. Pair that with a sniper, and you have 2 auras and bloodlust to keep him powerhoused.
Weaver in, well, any lane, could get this and a medallion early instead of a perseverance and be ready to fight instead of having to farm up a linkens and deso. You'd still want those items later but you wouldn't be putting them off a devestating amount.
PA misses the lifesteal but can still just get a mask later. Depending on the situation I'd say it's at least worth keeping in mind.
Nature's can get this and tank jungle attacks instead of his trees doing it, plus a free neutral for pushing towers.
Io would still need bottle, but this could easily be the next chosen item.
Centaur, Brood, Naga, Windranger, Drow, Earthshaker, the list is too long. I've heard people say the changes were meant to make the item more supporty, and while that certainly is true, there don't seem to be a lot of reasons for a core to skip it. It's just an everyone item now.
@President evil
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HotD + vlads + Necrobook on lycan = GG
dont talk about that ,lets talk about mask of madness item i mean come on valve youre silence if you activate berserk pls valve not cool
also kiev major will be held in april 20 in case if somebody doesnt know
I love long epic games and they're gone 😭😭. Also Hotd+brown boots is a nice power boot alternative.
HotD popular = indirect usage increase of midas builds..........
LAME
"But, as discussed in our previous blog posts, it is a skill worth developing in any case."
Could you retroactively add a hyperlink here to a relevant blog post please? You guys are so prolific that I have no idea how far back to look for this/these specific posts!
Thanks for the post. It makes me think that I probably need to consider HotD over MoM on some characters. Does anyone know if it is now preferable on Ursa, over say MoM/Vlads?
I've been avoiding practicing microing for a while now. Looks like now is the time to face that challenge xD
Thanks! This site has really helped me improve as a player!
I think Ursa needs lifesteal a lot, both for rosh and the fact that he is a kite material. Also his skill set synergize much better with damage than attack speed.
In case anyone is wondering, this is more healing than a tango gives you for eating a tree (7.1)
There's only 15 hero's that don't have a win rate higher than 50% with this item.
The 15 below 50% rate are in the 40th percentile and probably climbing.
Just a interesting little fact.
nice nice!
xD......................
ur gey
I'd like to point out that 'HotD beats Drums in terms of health regeneration, while costing exactly the same.' is not quite up to date, as Drums ingredients were changed and it provides mana regeneration from a Sage's Mask now. The only health regen it provides would come from the 6 strenght so... not a lot.