LogFAQs > #966748481

Funnily enough, I just played a game against this next one, who did literally everything I mentioned in this game (I was Shadow Demon, since I tend to play stuff a bit before and after I rate 'em.)

I also learned something new in that Gyrocopter can Force Staff his Homing Missiles to hasten them to their destination or move it into range of his shard, which is fucking hilarious (they still take time to prime for the stun, though.) We aren't talking about Gyrocopter today, though, we're talking about:

70 - Weaver (ranged Agility)
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/4/AAAACbAADerA.jpg
Basic Abilities: The Swarm, Shukuchi, Geminate Attack, Time Lapse
Shard Ability: Upgrades The Swarm with two seconds lower cooldown, and beetles from The Swarm will now latch onto and provide True Sight of invisible units. Also upgrades Geminate Attack to fire an extra attack at any units within a 1200 radius of the initial target that are being chewed on by a beetle.
Scepter Ability: Upgrades Time Lapse to turn it into an ally-targeted ability with a base 500 cast range. Weaver can still double-tap to cast it on himself. Also lowers cooldown of Time Lapse levels 1/2 to 40 seconds (level 3 Time Lapse is already there.)
7.31 and onwards changes: Geminate Attack bonus damage increased by 5. The Swarm beetles take one less hero (two less creep) attacks to destroy at levels 1/2. Shukuchi level 1/2/3 cooldowns increased. Time Lapse scepter buff adjusted from "-20 seconds" to "40 seconds flat at all levels"

Weaver is an annoying bug played by annoying bugs that has almost no health or base damage, but because of his talents, shard, and beetles, frequently steamrolls the midgame with an AoE double tap. You see, Weaver is another one of those reviled "pick your battles" heroes without QUITE as much of a safety cushion as Storm Spirit, but also will never ever run into mana problems unless they are EXTREMELY bad at managing their cooldowns after 10 minutes elapse. Most of his power comes through just how potent his abilities and talents are, because his base stats, movespeed, and growths certainly don't do him any favors. Let's go over the abilities.

The Swarm fires a wave of beetles in a direction for a long distance. If this cloud strikes a visible enemy, it latches to them and begins biting them, reducing armor and dealing physical damage with each bite until the beetle dies, whether by the duration expiring, the beetle being removed by physical attacks, or the target becoming invisible. With an Aghanim's Shard purchased, this last argument doesn't apply - beetles will latch onto invisible enemies, too, and provide True Sight of them.

Shukuchi is a low-cooldown ability that instantly turns Weaver invisible, dodging incoming projectiles (unless revealed) which also maxes his movespeed for a few seconds and zeroes his collision out. Enemies he passes through receive a burst of magic damage.

Geminate Attack is a toggleable autoattack modifier that costs no mana. When it's off cooldown and activated, Weaver's next autoattack will echo onto the same target after striking it, or with a Shard, to every enemy in a radius of the attacker with a beetle attached from The Swarm.

While those three are strong enough in their own right to the point where an enemy Rubick will salivate and attempt to steal the former two from a Weaver at any moment, the real meat and potatoes for the bug is Time Lapse. If the cast window for Time Lapse goes off, Weaver strongly dispels himself and hops back in time five seconds, resetting his mana, health, and position to what they were before the cast started.

Weaver is one of the stranger lategamers in Dota simply because he's simultaneously made of paper and made of iron through the nature of his kit. Anything that doesn't outright kill him he'll shrug right off, scurry away, and snipe from a distance, or more annoyingly, he'll shrug it off, charge through your whole team invisible, and pick off the backline support before making his escape again. One Linken's is usually all it takes to bandage his reliable Achilles' Heel of "dies to CC" and even if he's having problems with that, he can always go (and frequently DID go, before 7.31) the dreaded Support Build, focusing on the armor strip harass from The Swarm and buying a Scepter, attaching himself to a more important core, throwing Time Lapse at them on a 40 (was once 20) second cooldown, or using it on himself if he ever gets picked off alone while trying to do scout out Smokes or warding the enemy jungle.

More commonly, he'll play as a hit-and-run cross between a ganker and a hard carry, farming safely like a hard carry, but scooting away at the slightest provocation until he gets his big items and the holes in his defenses are patched up, skittering through treelines and obliterating a support with an alpha strike, Time Lapse -> Shukuchi'ing away if anyone capable of crippling him with a debuff so much as blinks in his direction.

I do have to confess I find Weaver fun; however, on the off chance I was playing someone reliant on autoattacks, I like BIG MEATY NUMBERS with no "ITEMS NOT INCLUDED" clause attached to it, and the support kit was some of the best fun I've had on the bastard, before its justified nerf. Nevertheless, holy HELL is he annoying to deal with if he gets even the slightest bit ahead and you didn't pick a soft counter at best. Yes, The Swarm is probably one of the best non-ultimate abilities in the game for pulling quadruple duty for heavy DoT, armor strip, scouting, and general disruption to extricate the vermin. Yes, deleting a support with a Shukuchi Geminate double-tap is good fun and all. Yes, Time Lapse getaways are one of the easiest and yet most satisfying to pull off (and amusing when failed, like buying back to warp back to 5% HP and immediately die again.) But something, SOMETHING about him just irritates me, to the point where my preliminary writeup had "fuck this guy" as its only line for a few days. Ah well.

Next hero hint: Something about staring back?