Dota 2 Dazzle Guide

Dazzle is one of the best support heroes in Dota 2. With his powerful healing and protection abilities, Dazzle plays an instrumental role on the battlefield, making him a go-to choice for many players. Often overlooked in favor of more flashy and damage-oriented heroes, Dazzle’s role as a game-changing support shouldn't be underestimated. In the right hands, Dazzle can dominate the lanes, protect his allies, and set up crucial kills.

Dazzle is a ranged intelligence Hero, primarily played as a support due to his strong healing capabilities. His supportive abilities provide enormous durability to his allies and ensure that no one falls on the battlefield. Dazzle starts with a base HP of 516 and a high Mana Pool of 375. His starting movement speed is 305 and he deals 47-53 dmg per hit.

In this comprehensive Dazzle guide, we'll delve deep into this Dota 2 Hero's abilities, best strategies, and how to maximize his impact in the match. So, let's dive into the art of mastering Dazzle, a key support Hero in Dota 2.

Abilities

Understanding Dazzle’s abilities is the first step in mastering this Hero. He has 4 strong abilities.

• Poison Touch: Dazzle throws a toxin that affects multiple enemies in a straight line. It deals damage over time and slows the enemy. When Dazzle attacks a target, the debuff duration is replenished and the slow is increased. Poison Touch deals over time, lasting 5 seconds at level 1 and 8 seconds at max level. It deals 16 damage per second at level 1 and 52 damage per second at level 4.
  

• • Aghanim’s Shard Ability Upgrade (Poison Touch): After consuming Aghanim's Shard, it causes Poison Touch to hex affected targets for 1.6 seconds.
    

• Shallow Grave: A life-saving ability, Shallow Grave makes an allied Hero immune to death for five seconds. They can still take damage but their health won't drop below one point. Healing on that ally is also amplified for the duration based on the Hero's HP. Shallow Grave has a cast range of 700, increasing as you level up the ability. The ability lasts 3.5 seconds at level 1 and 5 seconds at the max level.
  

• Shadow Wave: Dazzle emits a wave of shadow energy, healing nearby allies while dealing damage to nearby enemies. The heal jumps across nearby units, with each jump healing allies and damaging enemies. Shadow Wave always heals Dazzle. It deals 75 damage at level 1 and also heals for the same amount. The damage and healing increase as you level up the ability. This ability can be upgraded by Aghanim’s Scepter.
  

• • Aghanim’s Scepter Ability Upgrade (Shadow Wave): After consuming or buying an Aghanim’s Scepter, Dazzle can now use Shadow Wave to target enemies and produce an Inverse Shadow Wave. The wave bounces among both allies and enemies, damaging surrounding enemies and healing surrounding allies for 150.0% of Shadow Wave's healing and damage values. Dazzle will also attack any enemies struck by the Inverse Shadow Wave.

• Bad Juju (Ultimate): When a Unit is affected by one of Dazzle's spells, it temporarily gains or loses armor. The spell can be cast by using health to reduce the cooldown of all other abilities and items. Casting Bad Juju temporarily raises the cost of its health stacking independently of each other for up to 20 seconds.
  

Talents

As Dazzle levels up, he can select from these talents:

• Level 10: +1.75 Mana Regen or +35 Attack Speed

• Level 15: +350 Poison Touch Attack Range or +45 Shadow Wave Heal / Damage

• Level 20: +60 Poison Touch DPS or +200 Heal On Shallow Grave End

• Level 25: +0.5 Bad Juju Armor Reduction/Increase or +40% Poison Touch Slow

Dota 2 Dazzle Guide – Tips

Playing Dazzle requires a different mindset compared to most heroes. As a healer and protector, you need to focus on positioning and timing to maximize your impact. Here are a few important tips you can follow to maximize Dazzle’s impact:

• Shallow Grave is your most powerful tool. Use it to save allies from death, especially during important team fights.
• Position yourself wisely. As a support Hero, you should always be behind your allies, ready to aid them with heals and shields.
• Dazzle's Shadow Wave can also be a damage-dealing ability if positioned correctly. It can surprise enemies with its sudden burst.
• Bad Juju is what makes Dazzle a great utility Hero. It reduces enemies armor, making them more vulnerable to physical damage.
• Your Poison Touch talent is useful for starting fights, pursuing opponents, or making a quick escape.
• Some of the items you should look to buy as a Dazzle are Arcane Boots, Spirit Vessel, Glimmer Cape, Guardian Greaves, Aether Lens,  Eul's Scepter of Divinity, and Scythe Of Vyse.

Dazzle – Pros and Cons

Like every other Hero, Dazzle also has strengths and weaknesses. Let’s look at some pros and cons of Dazzle:

Pros:

• Potent healing and protection spells.
• Can prevent a teammate's death with Shallow Grave.
• Reduces enemy armor with Bad Juju, benefiting the entire team.
• Excellent lane sustainability.
• A fun Hero to play

Cons:

• Very squishy and can be easily targeted and killed.
• Requires good positioning and map awareness.
• Almost no direct damage abilities.
• Heavily relies on the team.

How to play Dazzle

Now that you're familiar with Dazzle's basic mechanics, it's time to dive deeper into the strategic aspects of the game. Let's examine the game phase breakdown in more detail, focusing on what to do and what items to buy in each phase.

Starting Items

At the start of the game, your item choice as Dazzle should prioritize healing and mana regeneration. Opt for Tangoes, Healing Salve, a couple of Mangoes and Clarities to ensure you always have the resources to cast your abilities. Buy 1 or 2 Blood Grenades for extra damage and finish enemy heroes. Don't forget to buy some Iron Branches for an immediate stat advantage. At some matchups, you can also buy a Blight Stone. 

Early Game: 

In the early game, your main objective as Dazzle is to ensure your carry farms. Use Shadow Wave effectively for healing and lane sustain, while Poison Touch can be used to pressure and harass enemy heroes. This ensures an optimal farming environment for your carry. Buy a Boots Of Speed and a Magic Stick for lane dominance.

Mid Game 

In the mid game, your role transitions to a protective one, focusing on saving your team. Stay behind your cores during fights and use Shallow Grave to ensure their survival. Capitalize on your ultimate, Bad Juju, to boost team damage. 

Upgrade your Boots Of Speed to Arcane Boots and buy a Spirit Vessel if it’s necessary. Buying Solar Crest is also reasonable. A mid-game investment in Glimmer Cape can prove valuable, providing a means of escape or survival for your allies or yourself. Make sure your team breaks the Tormentor so that you may receive an Aghanim’s Shard for free.

Late Game

The late game shows the importance of positioning with Dazzle. With fights often determined by a timely Shallow Grave, your location and survivability become crucial. Stay alive and continue to cast spells to maximize the benefit for your team. Make sure that you are always behind your cores.

In this phase, you can purchase items like Force Staff for improved mobility, Lotus Orb for reflected spells, or even Scythe of Vyse for an added control advantage in fights.

Dota 2 Dazzle Counter

Certain heroes can make Dazzle's life difficult. Here are 5 top counters to Dazzle:

• Axe: Axe is one of the best counters of Dazzle. His Culling Blade can kill a Hero under Shallow Grave, rendering Dazzle's most potent spell useless.

• Ancient Apparition: This icy spirit possesses a unique ultimate ability known as Ice Blast, which suppresses any healing effect. This counters Dazzle's core function as a healing support Hero, significantly reducing his effectiveness in matches against Ancient Apparition.

• Pugna: The Nether Ward ability of Pugna poses a significant threat to Dazzle. Given Dazzle's reliance on low cooldown spells, Pugna's Nether Ward can deal considerable damage back to Dazzle, turning his strength into a vulnerability.

• Silencer: Known for his devastating silence abilities, Silencer can interrupt Dazzle's spellcasting rhythm. In particular, Silencer's Global Silence can be game-changing in a team fight, preventing Dazzle from casting his vital abilities, which could be disastrous for his team.

• Nyx Assassin: This bug-like Hero has an ability named Spike Carapace, which reflects damage and stuns any Hero that attacks him. If Dazzle uses his Shadow Wave in close range to Nyx Assassin, he can be stunned and potentially killed, adding another layer of danger to playing against this agile assassin.

When facing these particular heroes on the battlefield, Dazzle players need to employ smart strategies and have increased awareness.

Heroes That Dazzle Counters

Just as some heroes can give Dazzle a hard time, Dazzle also has his own set of heroes that he particularly excels against. Here are some heroes that Dazzle counters effectively:

• Bristleback: Dazzle can sustain his team against Bristleback's continuous damage output with his healing and saving abilities.

• Spectre: Spectre's Dispersion deals damage based on how much she's taking, but Dazzle's healing abilities can help mitigate this. Also, Shadow Wave can hurt Spectre significantly due to her tendency to use Haunt into a group of heroes.

• Huskar: Dazzle's Shallow Grave ability can make Huskar's Life Break seem ineffective, as it allows the targeted Hero to survive Huskar's aggression and the potential follow-up damage.

• Phantom Assassin: Phantom Assassin relies on bursting down heroes quickly with her crits, but Shallow Grave can save any Hero from her Coup De Grace, giving your team a window to turn the fight around or retreat.

When playing against these heroes, a good Dazzle player can significantly disrupt their strategies and tip the scales in favor of his team.

Conclusion

Mastering Dazzle is about mastering the art of support in Dota 2. With practice and understanding, this Hero can be your ticket to victory. Whether you're new to Dota 2 or a seasoned veteran looking to add another Hero to your arsenal, Dazzle is a great choice.

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