One Dota 2 support is taking TI 2023 by storm—and not in his usual role

Just one day remains until pros and fans alike congregate to kick off Dota 2’s The International playoff bracket and all eyes will be on everyone’s favorite pink Shadow Priest, Dazzle—who saw amazing success in the group stage, and surprisingly, not as a supporting pick.

No, the world’s best Dota players have taken Dazzle far outside of his comfort zone into the mid lane, and he’s been performing admirably as a core for squads who manage to sneak him through the draft. He’s won five of his six games in the position, according to stats site Spectral, and sits far ahead of any other mid heros for win rate.

Only Primal Beast, who has been played in 11 matches and boasts a 72 percent win rate, even comes close to the Shadow Priest.

Interestingly, his potency as a mid-laner hasn’t exactly caught on for regular ranked players yet, with 71 percent of Dota players picking him as a hard support, according to Dotabuff.

Where a smattering of top picks copped nerfs throughout 7.34’s cycle and especially in the update before TI began, Dazzle was instead graced with buffs over the past couple of months. Stat boosts, the switch to the Universal trait with the New Frontiers update, and various boosts to his abilities have made him a monster to deal with in the midgame.

No change was more important than 7.34’s rework to his Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade, which now sees Shadow Wave bounce to nearby units while performing an auto-attack, similar to Gyrocopter’s Flak Cannon—but packing way more of a punch.

It’s no wonder pros will immediately build Agh’s after upgrading their boots to Power Treads, grabbing the auto attack bonus and damage to Shadow Wave. Following this, it’s a quick push for a Yasha into a Manta Style for extra mobility, attack speed, and illusion creation.

After that, the build is all but up and running, with the remaining items situational based on the heroes and team composition opposite. Almost all Dota 2 pros playing the hero at TI12 opted into an Agh’s Shard for the Hex on Poison Touch, then either a Black King Bar to prevent stuns or a Silver Edge to apply Break, canceling enemy hero passive abilities—especially effective against Bristleback, a popular offlane option.

Poison Touch is often the ability to max as soon as possible to apply pressure in the lane, followed by pumping levels into Shadow Wave for the impending Agh’s Scepter upgrade. Just a single level of Shallow Grave is picked up early, with the ability then left for later on.

Dazzle is an amazing counter to the assortment of melee mid-lane options currently dominating the meta. These heroes need to enter the creep wave to last hit, meaning a burst of follow-up damage from Shadow Wave and a Poison Touch slow keeps the likes of Primal Beast, Pangolier, and Kunkka at bay.

The only problem for Dazzle is escaping the draft unscathed; he has seen the most bans at TI—almost a dozen more than the next-best, Treant Protector—so while we’re likely to see limited Dazzle in the playoffs he’s sure to spark interest in pub games soon.