Dota 2: Ringmaster Review and Starting Build for the New Hero

The Great Cogliostro Kettle, Ringmaster, master of torture and trickery, a dashing mechanical marvel, whose impossible acts will keep the audience in their seats, even if only by force. An artist of unparalleled talent who finally makes his extravagant debut.

Ringmaster was announced in 2023, during The International, and since then, Valve has not released any more news about the hero. However, last week, along with the new Compendium, Ringmaster was released in the game. His design is different from anything that has been presented in Dota so far, and his abilities are extremely versatile.

Ringmaster has a set of skills that attract attention. His facet is not yet functional and should be added soon as the Metagame adapts to the new hero. His Aghanim’s Scepter has also not been enabled yet, but his Shard grants a new ability.

Dark Carnival Barker

The hero's innate ability guarantees that whenever an enemy dies within a certain distance of Ringmaster, he will receive an item, chosen randomly from three options. Ringmaster will receive one of these items if he doesn't have any every time he respawns in the game. Each item in this ability has a unique effect and, in case Ringmaster already has an item in his inventory, instead of a new one, he will receive additional charges.

Funhouse Mirror creates an imperfect copy of Ringmaster that deals a portion of the hero's original damage and receives additional damage.

Whoopee Cushion allows you to jump forward, leaving behind smoke that slows down enemies' movement for a while.

Strongman Tonic provides strength bonuses based on Ringmaster’s level. The bonus lasts for a short time and decays as it passes.

Tame the Beasts

The hero channels a whip that causes Fear and damage to enemies within the area of ​​effect. This ability can be used to farm and stack creeps, in addition to being very interesting because it causes Fear, and can modify the result of a Team Fight if used well.

Escape Act

Ringmaster places himself or an ally in a moving extradimensional box, granting the target movement through units, slow resistance, bonus magic resistance and movement bonuses, as well as making him immune to abilities that require selecting a target unit, muted, silenced and disarmed.

This is perhaps this hero's best ability, as it’s an escape tool that can be enabled in the first few minutes and allows for different strategies. With this ability, for example, it is possible to save an ally trapped inside Faceless Void's Chronosphere or nullify Juggernaut's ult. Furthermore, it is possible to combine this feat with Blink Dagger, allowing you to wait for the Dagger's three seconds of cooldown inside the box and jump away as soon as you leave it.

Impalement Arts

Ringmaster throws a dagger which can travel a long distance in the chosen direction and, when it hits an enemy, causes a momentary slow and damage based on the target's maximum health. It has charges that can be used in sequence.

Wheel of Wonder

Ringmaster launches a wheel that stuns enemies hit along the way and once it reaches the target location, it deals damage per second and slows in its area of ​​effect. Enemies facing the wheel are hypnotized and drawn towards it. The first hypnotized enemy triggers a countdown to the wheel explosion. If the countdown is not triggered, the wheel will explode after 8 seconds.

This ability is absurd in the right settings, and can be launched with other ults that disable the enemy team, such as Enigma or Tide. It’s an exceptional control tool with Impalement Arts and Tame the Beasts.

Spotlight

Casts a point of light onto an area that moves like a spotlight. Enemies touched by the light have a chance to miss their attacks and invisible units are revealed. Illusions lose a percentage of their maximum health per second until they disappear. Requires Aghanim’s Shard

Another very useful control tool, we can use it in several ways, in addition to greatly disrupting the lives of heroes who play with illusions, such as Chaos Knight.

Now that we know the Ringmaster's skills and how they can be useful, we can start talking about the hero's build. Being a strong control within the team, Ringmaster will be even stronger combined with items that allow him to use his skills constantly, renew his mana reserve and help disable enemies.

At the beginning of the game, you will prioritize basic items to make Arcane Boots and be able to stay in the lane while helping your Offlaner. Ringmaster is a Rank 4 hero and therefore his role will be to punish the enemy carry and combat their support.

After closing Arcane Boots, focus on Force Staff to have better movement and then Aether Lens, which will improve the use of your skills. If the enemy team has a hero that uses illusions, Aghanim’s Shard will be important.

Blink Dagger is an excellent item, as I mentioned before, and you can use it instead of Force Staff, but generally you will prefer Staff and, who knows, maybe even both. Always keep in mind that Force Staff grants an intelligence bonus and is much better used as an escape, while Dagger is more useful for starting fights.

Other optional items to consider are Spirit Vessel, which can both heal allies and prevent enemy regeneration, and Rod of Atos, which can be used to root enemies.

Ethereal Blade can nullify purely physical heroes, and Scythe of Vyse is another control tool to disable enemies in addition to providing attribute bonuses.

In the late game you will already have the potential to control several enemies at once and even start fights alone with your ult, combining this with items and other skills it will be possible to open up space for the rest of your team to finish off the opponents and win the match.

Ringmaster is undoubtedly the hero of the moment, and there is still a lot to be explored with this character. It has more than 50% win rate in the highest ranks and is the most played, also leading the win rate in any combination.

If you enjoy playing as a support, but also feel comfortable actively participating in combat and are familiar with a more complex play style, controlling the lane and the enemy team by spamming items and abilities, then Ringmaster is perfect for you, as well as being the current best pick in the support position.

I finish off another article here. Leave your questions, suggestions, criticisms and/or compliments in the comments. Thanks for reading and see you next time.