Does Windranger Need A Buff?
About a year ago, Windranger was the bane of all pubs. A terrifying presence and winrate across all skillbrackets made her the persona non grata among pub players. It felt appropriate to ask the question, whether that “pub stomper” deserved a nerf or not. Icefrog did nerf her, even if it was only a slight nerf towards Shackleshot. Since that nerf, Windranger has been in steady decline and just recently she entered the “Repick” category in our 7.xx Pub Tier List with a below 44% winrate in the Very High Skill bracket. As a result, today we have to ask ourselves the question: Does she deserve, or possibly need a buff?
Anything She Can Do, Somebody Else Can Do Better
Windranger has primarily been a core in Dota. Her skillset excels when she’s ahead and for a support she doesn’t offer any stability in both laning stage and midgame, as her spells are heavily dependant on superior positioning, mostly through a Blink Dagger, and she’s very squishy.
Before she became popular, or rather, before people could even think about making her popular, Windranger was often compared to 
Mirana. Both were rather squishy ranged heroes with an unreliable nuke and disable. Mirana however, clearly has skills to offer as a support. Her Arrow is much deadlier at level 1 than a Shackleshot in most cases and Moonlight Shadow is a great spell for teamfights and ganks. Of course, Mirana also has better farming capabilities now and her itemization with an Aghanim’s Scepter allow her to be much more reliable in the mid to late game as well.
And this inadequancy is pretty much the story for Windranger in her current state. She doesn’t necessarily offer anything, that others couldn’t offer either. Her physical burst damage with the ultimate is nice and it is unique, but she also doesn’t itemize well to really build on it. Usually she requires a 
Blink Dagger and an 
Aghanim's Scepter, which is fine, as both items definitely increase her killing and survival potential. At the same time though, neither item is a top tier purchase. As heroes become tankier, especially now with early armor or stats talents, Windranger doesn’t have the necessary damage output to reliably kill anything but supports or squishy cores in the midgame.
Untalented?
7.xx is the era of talents. Multiple heroes have already changed their item builds based on talents and many more will likely follow suit. Windranger’s talents however aren’t exactly confidence inspiring--on a first glimpse anyway.
+15 damage is the lowest damage value of any damage talent and while +4 mana regen may be one of the highest mana regen values, it doesn’t really fit the Windranger item build well. It’s certainly nice, but for a core position, the 15 damage are likely more valuable.
The additional spell amplification later on may be nice, but it is too late to be relevant. A core Windranger will hardly make use of additional spell amplification at level 20, at least not with the traditional build, and a support/semi-core Windranger could probably use the additional magic resistance for more survivability. Either way, it's a nice gimmick to have, but at level 20 it hardly matters.
Windranger's talents feel weak and meaningless. It may not be fair to compare her to the likes of Ember Spirit in that regard, but it certainly doesn't look better for her when compared to other heroes either. Queen of Pain and Puck both get significantly more damage early on, and while Puck also has the choice between magic resistance and spell amplification at level 20, it does better compliment Puck's own skillset, with 3 magic damage spells.
So if the traditional build isn't heavily supported through the talents, is there maybe an alternative build that is supported?
Magic Damage Windranger? Hybrid?
+4 mana regen, + 16 intelligence, + 12% spell amplification and -5s Powershot cooldown--all these talents speak to an alternate way of playing Windranger that hasn’t been here before.
Windranger has filled the niche of utility core before, building into items such as 
Force Staff and 
Mekansm. Unfortunately for her, the role of a utility core is not as popular as it used to be and usually teams opt for a tanky hero in that position, so that crucial teamfight items aren’t lost because of quick burst from the opponents.
Another opportunity for Windranger to build into another playstyle however, would be to embrace a more magic damage orientated approach like Ember Spirit. Spell amplification and a partial cooldown reduction are similar to Ember Spirit’s talent. 
Veil of Discord is also an excellent item to pick up on Windranger, as she usually starts out with a Null Talisman anyway and the stats the item provides are really good on her.
As much as this sounds really good in theory, it doesn’t really work out in practice. Even at level 20 with the spell amplification talent and a Veil of Discord, her Powershot will still only deal roughly 460 damage (after reduction). An Ember Spirit can deal twice that at level 10. The lack of reliable damage output, both physical and magical, make her midgame comparatively weak to other cores. Farming may be easier for her than for others, but in most cases she needs a mobility item to hunt for kills, which sets her back quite a bit.
She could potentially go for a hybrid build, where she transitions from a Veil and Blink, though the Blink may be optional here, into a 
Maelstrom, which synergizes well with the Veil. Afterwards, she could go back into the more physical damage focused build. Once again however, the talents don't necessarily support that build either.
Does She need a Buff?
Whatever build Windranger does go for, her talents so far seem rather underwhelming and her pickrate of barely 11% reflects what the majority of pub players think: Windranger probably needs a buff.
It took several tweaks and meta changes for her to become the pub stomper she was at the end of 6.85, so what does it take this time? Icefrog has already started tweaking her, with cooldown decreases to Windrun and talent improvements even in 7.01.
In a meta where cores need tempo and strong lategame scaling, Windranger feels underpowered and slow, but focusing on a new build could revitalize her. That build may just be a patch, a buff or a Slahser video away from reality.
Remove her 4 second stun and you can do whatever you want with her
@Hopeless i have won this match, dota buff just show it wrong, check which side has won.
Arc need changes.
Hero is fine until the introduction of talents. Her talents are really bad. Her talents basically does nothing and doesnt make her stronger compared to other mid heroes' talent tree like sf ember qop puck ta magnus. She is still a single target dps hero but even that dps is nowhere close to sf or ta's. Her talent at 10 and 15 is actually ok. But where she falls off the most in the late game, she gets useless talents like spell amp and 100 atk range.
Another major weakness of wr is her inability to flash farm. Which makes her fall off against other mid cores
I think the current WR is better than most people give her credit for, albeit not much. The +4 regen and 200hp shore up your midgame itemization problems. Her talent tree is too boring imo, like there's almost no situation which would make you pick 15dmg or 16int because 4mana regen is too good to pass up (maybe you have a teammate CM and an enemy OD...?). It speeds up her farm and clash output far more, and she doesnt have the attack speed to make use 15dmg outside her ult this early on. Then she doesnt have enough spells to make use of 16int + 4 mana regen, unless she's going to build utility like meka...meh. She isnt a leshrac or storm spirit and can barely finish her mana pool in clashes. The 200hp together with aghanims means she can focus purely on a +dmg item afterwards. The %magic resistance is better 99% of the time because the alternative only buffs powershot...unless the enemy is devoid of spells altogether. Her level 25 upgrade choice doesnt matter, you wont feel either of them...the %magic dmg buff, and lvl 25 talents need to be changed to make her have real alternative playstyles. The best idea I saw here is getting dagon/veil with all caster talents
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=834791379
Лучший гайд на ВК в мире
поменять ей таланты надо-таланты просто дибильные , лучше поменять таланты. ВРка чёт герой вообще забытый , только я на ней катаю наверн.
I was waiting for this post on dotabuff. Windranger surely is not the hero you want in this patch. Im 49/100 WR ranked on dotabuff, and i can agree that you really have to go tryhard to win in latest patch. Talents are retarded, and you dont have the space to farm items as quick as the other heroes can. Im even thinking if i am a good player when i pick WR....so yes, please buff this hero a bit.
The problem no is windrager. Im think the problem is EE
Sorry, but there is no way, that +15 damage is better than +4 mana regen, doesn't matter is it support or core WR (well, maybe CM's aura matters, but can't think anything else). No more mana problem, it's just awesome. 15 damage is what, aquilla? Negligible.
A buff? Something's surely going on in that twisted little mind of yours
@Szarlej
I would prefer having more damage on WR because her ult makes great use of extra damage and you can just be less reliant on powershot to farm and be fine. The point of this article however is that all of the talents are a bit underwhelming, and I would say that the ultimate is the reason it is so low as compared to, say necro having +45. Nevertheless, it should be upped because she needs something to give her enough nuking potential. She isn't a tank, so low dmg over time is unacceptable. But the extra mana regen doesn't give you the damage you need either, as powershot has a medium cooldown so that damage can only be used for farming.
@Smallboobslover go LoL forums to flame for your kid issue
@Smallboobslover normal skill scrubs
В жопу эту врку
You know, there might be a pretty strong argument made for removing the dmg reduction on her ult completely. Seeing as she needs a blink dagger in the majority of games to make opportunities, she falls behind in dmg output. There are a lot of heroes that jump ahead in dmg output with a blink dagger because they are aoe heroes like tide and sand king, so it means more people can be caught in their ultis. But WR is a single target hero with an ult reliant on attack damage. Necro isn't reliant on dmg items so he can get blink and be fine, TA is an early game hero so that blink allows her to exploit that advantage early, but WR struggles from poor damage, and never recovers from it.
I still think switching her to an agi hero would be the best thing for her because she usually buys damage items and bloodthorn, so she would lose bloodthorn but gain manta, hurricane pike, aquila, and I suppose diffusal, although that would be a pretty weird item on her.
Either those things or give her a magic dmg spell that actually does legitimate damage. But that's boring.
@Brock Hall, without aghs, this +15 damage is +7,5 at first level ulti, +9 at second and +10,5 at third. Really, it doesn't really matter. Buy two nulls and you won't feel the diffrence. Rush aghs and feel the power of wind.
@Szarlej
I'm more talking in an ideal situation where the talents are actually good. Between mana regen and damage, I'd prefer having damage. I don't rely on spamming spells on her so most of the time I don't feel strapped for mana. And by the time you have aghs, you're pretty much are fine on mana anyway. I think the article says it best: 15 dmg is a super low dmg talent, and +4 mana regen is super high, but you don't need that much extra mana and that much damage isn't enough.
So yeah, I can see someone preferring the mana talent as it stands, but neither are all that beneficial to WR in my opinion.
I don't think only Windrunner has to get a buff. I think all heroes that have less wr than 50% want to get a buff
У кого руки не от туда тому и купол не в помощ
Fuck windrunner, volvo delet her pls
Exaclty, talent tree for WR needs a serious rework. Maybe they can add something when she get aghs. WR needs atleast 2 core items before you can feel his presence. Please volvo bring back the RANGERofWIND! Powershot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
offlane wr?
But Windrunner wasn't always a core :/
Before she got popular with the slahser build she was primarily usedd as a support. In DotA 1 she was only a support and I was reported a few times when I played her carry before mainstream
Btw her talents are worse than +6 treants
she needs a stonger talents, thats all
maybe more magic damage powerups
before 7.00, she looked pretty decent with drow's aura, but now, most heroes got powered up, wr didnt get good enough talents
may be like 10 level talents +100 damage on powershot, for early nukes?
what are people talking about,I always lose when wr is my enemy just dont make her more cancer but enlarging her boobs maybe nice
I think windranger's 20 / 25 talent should have an option to turn powershot into an auto attack based dmg skillshot. like wukong/sniper(with ags). Alternatively she could be given charges for powershot. I'm always biased towards charges as i think it offers great mechanical plays. Darkseer is someone i would give charges to. 5 spell charges. A charge is expended for surge or ion shell. Then technically he could surge 5 people or ion shell 5 people. or anything inbetween. Oh and an aghs upgrade for him should be that every illusion spawned from his ulti has ion shell. i mean, why not. Values would have to be tweaked ofcourse
Orlovsky, до 7.00 винрейт на ней был 64%, сейчас 44%. Охуенно её апают.
1 талант +15 урона, помойму ересь, +4 регена маны лучше, даже а боттле забыть можно.
Focus Fire
Level 1- 30% damge reduction/20% Critical Chance/125% Crit Damage.
Level 2- 20% damge reduction/25% Critical Chance/150% Crit Damage.
Level 3- 10% damge reduction/30% Critical Chance/175% Crit Damage