Quick Links
Winter Wyvern is perhaps one of the most versatile heroes inDota 2’s current roster. When the hero was first released, it was obvious that this was a support hero with a strong healing ability, a powerful nuke, and two different disables. But somewhere down the line, people started running her asa core in the middle lane.
Fast-forward toDota 2patch 7.37, and Winter Wyvern is once again played almost exclusively as a Support, more specifically, as Position 5. Of course, nothing stops you from still playing her in the middle lane, but Position 5 is the role where she is finding the most success right now. In this article, we’ll dissect her spell build, item progression, and overall playstyle.
Dota 2 Winter Wyvern Hero Overview
Like mostDota 2heroes, Winter Wyvern has four abilities, one of which is her Ultimate. Her innate ability, Eldwurm Scholar, introduced in theDota 2Crownfall eventPatch, lets her share the experience gained from the Wisdom rune with the three heroes who wouldn’t normally get it. Since hero level is extremely important in the game right now, this is a pretty nice innate to have on your team.
How it Works
Arctic Burn (Q)
Modifies Winter Wyvern’s attacks for a short duration, causing it to deal damage based on a percentage of the enemy’s health while slowing their move speed for 5 seconds. It also grants Winter Wyvern a bonus attack range.
Splinter Blast (W)
Launches a projectile on a target unit (enemy or ally), which explodes and hurls smaller projectiles on enemy units around it, damaging and slowing them. The primary target of the ability isn’t damaged or affected by the slow.
Cold Embrace (E)
An ally-target ability that covers a single unit in a block of ice, giving them health regeneration and turning them invulnerable to physical attacks. However, the target can still be damaged by magical attacks and spells.
Winter’s Curse (R)
Dispels an enemy target and forces his allies within a certain radius to attack them. The units affected by Winter’s Curse don’t take damage from their enemies, but Winter Wyvern can still deal Magic damage to the target.
Currently, Winter Wyvern has two facets to choose from before the game starts. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Picking up the Aghanim’s Scepter on Winter Wyvern removes the cooldown on the Arctic Burn ability. Instead, it becomes a toggle ability that drains mana the longer you have it enabled. Aghanim’s Shard upgrades her Winter’s Embrace ability, causing it to shatter like Splinter Blast when the duration ends.
Dota 2 Winter Wyvern Build Guide
Winter Wyvern, especially in Position 5, isn’t a hardhero to master for a beginner.Here’s how you want to build her:
Ability and Talent Build
Typically, the heroes inDota 2always stick to a single Facet that’s considered good. With Winter Wyvern, both Facets are usable depending on whether you’re playing her as a core. The Dragon Heart Facet is extremely good when you’re playing her on the Middle Lane. However, for the Position 5 role, the Essence of the Blueheart is the one we’ll recommend.
The following image showcases ability and talent build for the hero:
Investing an early point into Arctic Burn makes Winter Wyvern one of the strongest level-1 supports in the game. With this spell, you can burn away a decent chunk of theenemy Off Lane hero’sHP. Picking up Splinter Blast when you get to level 2 gives you a solid nuke. You can also use it to push the lane so that you can stack and pull the easy camp. This is your bread and butter, and this is the spell that you want to max out first.
Picking up Winter’s Embrace at level 3 or 4 is a good idea, as it lets you save your Position 1 carry if the enemy duo becomes aggressive. Get your Winter’s Curse ultimate at level 6. As for the Talent build, focus on those that upgrade Winter’s Embrace and Splinter Blast.
Item Progression
Since you’re playing it as Position 5, items aren’t your main priority. Your goal in the game is to play from the backline, ensuring vision on the map and saving your core. That being said, Winter Wyvern excels with some mobility items.
Winter Wyvern starts the game with two sets of Tango. For stats, you want to go with a Circlet and three Iron Branches, while a Blood Grenade gives you some kill threat. Also, get two Sentry Wards to block off the enemy hard camp or unblock your safe camp, depending on the matchup.
For early items, focus on bringing in more regens to help your carry sustain the lane. Get Magic Want and Boots of Speed as early as possible. This will allow you to play a bit more aggressively.
Winter Wyvern doesn’t need much to be as effective as Position 5. Get Arcane Boots since your spells cost a lot of mana. Glimmer Cape is a relatively cheap item that you can pick up easily, and it synergizes well with your 3rd ability. Aghanim’s Shard is a good item to get on the hero. Blink Dagger will allow you to reposition in fights to get good Winter’s Curses. Aether Lens gives you some extra cast range, which is nice since you mostly rely on your spells.
The beauty of Winter Wyvern is her ability to adjust to different situations. If the enemy has a lot of disables, Lotus Orb or Eul’s Scepter of Divinity are excellent items to get. Mekansm and its Guardian Greaves upgrade give you an extra ability to heal allies. If you think the game will go late and you need to scale, building Aghanim’s Scepter and Bloodthorn on the hero is also viable.
How to Play Winter Wyvern in Dota 2
Winter Wyvern, when played as a Support, does a very straightforward job in the laning phase; he plays behind the cores and keeps them safe. Both Splinter Blast and Arctic Burn abilities are excellent for counter-initiating when the enemy goes on your carry. You can use the Splinter Blast on your ally to make sure the enemies surrounding them take damage and get slowed.
Once you get to the lane, your first task is to block the hard camp. This will prevent the enemy Position 4 from pulling creeps, and you’ll have the option to stack and pull the easy camp to deny experience. Once you reach level 3 and put two points into Splinter Blast, you’ll have enough damage to make a move on the enemy team.
If you’re playing with a fast-farming core, considergoing into the jungle to stack campswhen the creeps are near your tower. At the 6-minute mark, you can rotate towards mid to secure the power rune and gank the enemy middle laner.
During the mid-game stage, getting vision should be your top priority. BuyObserver and Sentry Wardsand secure vision in the areas where you want to play with your team.
Use your spells from a safe distance during team fights. Splinter Blast is a good ability when team fights get too chaotic. But your goal is to use Winter’s Embrace on key heroes on your team and help them survive the physical burst. If you’ve got a blink dagger, you can play more aggressively and try to start the fights with a clutch Winter’s Curse. Otherwise, it’s best to save it as a defensive tool.
That’s pretty much all there’s to know about playing Winter Wyvern. As you may see, it’s not a very complicated hero to play as a Hard Support. So feel free to try out thisDota 2hero in your next pub game and let us know how the build works for you.
