A look at Ringmaster after the first week in Dota 2 pubs

The Dota 2 community had been waiting for the release of Ringmaster for nearly a year, and finally last week, everyone’s wishes came true as the hero was released as the 125th hero in Dota 2. It had been a while since the game had gotten a support, and that is what Ringmaster is. But how is the new hero doing in pubs?

Here, we take a quick look at how Dota 2 pubs are treating Ringmaster, what the best role for him is and what his skill build and item build should look like. All data and images are taken from Dotabuff.

Since his release, Ringmaster’s win rate has gone up in pubs as players figured out how to play him. But with some small nerfs thrown his way in Dota 2 patch 7.37c, his win rate has dipped a little. At least for now though, it is above average.

Ringmaster Lane

It is only natural that a new Dota 2 hero gets tried in a variety of different roles, and it is no different for Ringmaster. He has been tried in all roles except position 1 carry, and the results show a significant chasm when the mid lane win rate is considered. Granted, his presence in the mid lane according to Dotabuff is not too high, but in those few games, his win rate is at a lowly 42%. In the other two lanes, it is respectable between 51% and 53%. So unless you have won The International twice and your name is Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen, don’t play Ringmaster in the mid lane.

Ringmaster’s presence is highest in the offlane, and the reason for that is he is a viable position 4 support and can also be played as an offlaner to a moderate level of success. But more on that later. His main role is as a position 4 or position 5 support, with the former being slightly better due to his ability to farm and push out lanes with Tame the Beasts and Impalement Arts.

Ringmaster Item Build

If the lane presence and win rate weren’t enough to suggest Ringmaster’s best role is that of a support, his most used items will do the trick. All major items in the hero’s 10 most used items in the past week are support items. In most cases, Arcane Boots into Aether Lens followed by upgrading the Arcane Boots to Guardian Greaves is the way to go. Ringmaster can start farming stacks at level 5 with level 3 Tame the Beasts and get a very early Guardian Greaves, which though were nerfed in patch 7.37c, can do a lot for sustain in the mid game in team fights. The remaining items are game dependent.

Ringmaster Ability Build

A few days ago when we looked at all of Ringmaster’s abilities in detail, the most popular build was one that maxed out Impalement Arts at level 7. But since then, the conventional knowledge has changed, and Tame the Beasts is the ability to maxed out first according to the most popular ability build, which is seen in nearly a quarter of Ringmaster’s pub games.

In nearly 78% of the games, Tame the Beasts is maxed out at level 7. This helps with early game damage and farming. Impalement Arts is maxed out at level 11 in 64% of the games, and Escape Act isn’t maxed out till level 16 in over 95% of the games. It seems like the ability preference is clear, with the priority being-

• Tame the Beasts
• Impalement Arts
• Escape Act

It is always good to get one level of Escape Act at hero level 4, but that’s about it until the other two skills are maxed out.

And the talent tree agrees that Tame the Beasts is his marquee ability. All three of his talents that improve the skill have higher pick rate than the other option available at level 10, level 15 and level 20. At level 20, Tame the Beasts deals some serious damage. The level 25 talent which is more favored is the one that increases the Wheel of Wonder radius and cast range.

Ringmaster Offlane Role

Popular Dota 2 streamer Niklas “Wagamama” Högström recently did a 24 hour stream with the prime objective being playing Ringmaster. He has a good hand on the hero, and while a lot his games were in the support role, he did make the hero seem viable in the position 3 role. The offlane skill build can forgo the one point in Escape Act, and the item build can go a few different ways. It can either be aura and team fight items like Guardian Greaves and Pipe of Insight, or a deviation after Guardian Greaves to damage items like Glepnir and Parasma.

But it needs to be stressed here, that this is advisable only once you have a good gauge of the hero. If you haven’t played a lot of Ringmaster, it will behove you to stick to the support role.

That was a quick look at how Ringmaster is doing in pubs and what skills and items to prioritize on him. This is the first hero in a while that does not have too much versatility, unlike some of the recent ones like Dawnbreaker, Marci, Primal Beast and Muerta, who can all make compelling cases to be played in multiple roles. But it is necessary to have a hero dedicated to a role once in a while, and if you can master him, he can make this circus that is Dota 2 pubs dance to the crack of his whip.