Dota 2 Templar Assassin Guide – Tips, Items, Tricks, And More

Let’s dive into the Dota 2 Templar Assassin guide to learn more about this hero.

There are a couple of very popular Dota 2 heroes that can dominate the mid lane, and Templar Assassin is among them. Although the hero can also be a carry, she’s usually the go-to option for the mid-lane. TA is a fantastic option for pubs and can work for pro games, so let’s learn more about it.

Templar Assassin’s starting stats are pretty good because the hero starts with 3.8 armor, 310 movement speed, and between 53-59 damage. This ranged agility hero is one of the best when it comes down to snowball, so let’s go through this Templar Assassin Dota 2 guide.

Abilities

The most important thing when choosing a Dota 2 Templar Assassin build is to know which abilities to get, so let’s learn more about them.

• Refraction – TA gets 6 instances of damage absorption and bonus damage when used. It lasts for 17s and gives +85 damage/
• Meld – When used, Templar Assassin becomes invisible, but she can’t move. Upon her next attack, she will deal 230 bonus damage and remove 8 armor from an enemy unit for 12s.
• Psi Blades – This ability grants up to 230 bonus attack range and allows TA to do damage to the target behind her original target.
• Psionic Trap – This allows the hero to place traps on the map that provide a small vision. When activated, the ability deals damage and slows down TA’s target.

If the hero gets a Shard, this ability will also silence enemies and increase the trap vision. As for the Aghanim’s Scepter, the ability allows the hero to TP to a trap after channeling it for 1.5s. This ability will not break Meld, and it will activate the trap.

Talents

Let’s take a look at the talents before reviewing the Templar Assassin Dota 2 build you have to focus on.

• Level 10 – Psionic Trap Damage +100 or 25 Damage to Refraction
• Level 15 – Psi Blades will have 120 Spill and Attack Range
• Level 20 – Meld deals 3 Armor Reduction or Meld Dispels
• Level 25 – Refraction 7 Instances or Meld will Bash 1s

Dota 2 Templar Assassin Guide – Tips 

As mentioned, the Dota 2 Templar Assassin mid hero is more than capable of her competitors as long as players know what to do. Regardless if the hero is a midder or carry, her playstyle is relatively simple, and it focuses on farming and harassing the enemy’s laner. Thanks to TA’s passive ability, this hero can easily farm much faster than many other opponents. She is probably one of the best heroes when it comes down to clearing stacks, which explains why a lot of supports stack a lot when playing with her.

Other than farming, TA is all about doing physical damage and one-shotting her enemies. She achieves that by getting an early Desolator and using her Meld. Speaking of the devil, this ability has a lot of potentials because TA can dodge certain abilities or use Blink and Meld, which can be enough to one-shot or two-shot pretty much any support,

Templar Assassin is usually stronger in the mid-game, but the only way to make the most of the hero is by snowballing. She needs to be head of her competitors to shine, so it is very important to get a good start.

The good news about the hero is that she lanes really well against almost everything. In fact, the enemy team will usually pick a specific counter just for her because she is dangerous, and they need someone to be able to deal with her.

Templar Assassin Dota 2 Guide – Pros and Cons

Before going through some of the Dota 2 Templar Assassin items, it is important to show you the pros and cons you need to know about the hero.

Pros:

• One of the best physical damage dealers
• Incredibly strong against squishy heroes
• Top-tier lane
• One of the fastest farming heroes in Dota 2
• Relatively hard to kill unless there is a counter

Cons:

• Not a lot of range
• She needs to snowball to be strong

Dota 2 Templar Assassin Guide – Items

When it comes down to the Templar Assassin Dota 2 items that the hero needs to go for, there are a couple of popular options. That said, the hero usually focuses on more or less the same items.

Starting items

A mid or safe lane TA needs some stats and HP regen in the form of Tangos.

Early game

Most TA players will get Boots of Speed, Magic Wand, Blight Stone, and a Bottle. Some players decide to give up on the Bottle in favor of a Wraith Band.

Mid game

TA’s mid-game items are essential because the hero needs to dominate. She needs a Desolator and Blink Dagger, but if she has a good game, she can also go for a Dragon Lince.

Late Game

Templar Assassin’s late-game items include Monkey King Bar, Black King Bar, Daedalus, Butterfly, Hurricane Pike, Assault Cuirass, Bloodthorn, and more. 

Dota 2 Templar Assassin Counter

TA is undeniably one of the strongest heroes in a 1v1 situation, and she is great at snowballing. Nevertheless, there is more than one Templar Assassin Dota 2 counter, so let’s learn more about them.

• Axe – Albeit not a direct counter, Axe can be highly effective against TA if he uses the Blink and Call combo when the hero does not have Refraction on.
• Invoker – Although Invoker is not that good vs TA in the laning stage, the hero is highly effective after that. 
• Ember Spirit – Ember can die pretty fast against this hero because he is squishy. However, he can bring down Refraction really fast and can do a lot of damage to the hero

Final Thoughts

Despite some of the drawbacks of playing Templar Assassin, we can agree that this hero is amazing to play. She is incredibly dominant against Squishy heroes and is one of the best snowballers in the game. No wonder a lot of people like picking her in every meta.