How Good are the New Items?

By KawaiiSocks on Mar 4, 2025 11:17 UTC

Wandering Waters didn’t introduce any new regular items to the game, but it did heavily modify several potential options. While there isn’t anything blatantly overpowered in the new regular item pool, these new options definitely deserve a discussion — some of them are quite a bit better than they look.

Revenant's Brooch

Illusion-based bugs aside, we feel like this option is still heavily underappreciated. Maybe not in the Glimmer Cape-heavy meta, but at least keep an eye on the Brooch for when the former finally gets nerfed.

There are a lot of discussions on the item already and the basic calculations definitely make it weaker than Daedalus in most cases, even against decently Armored targets, but the item also costs significantly less.

More importantly, it is a scaling right-click damage item with built-in Spell Lifesteal and it is the latter that should be looked at more closely.

For example, it could be a decent alternative for Dagon on Queen of Pain. The hero can transition into a decent auto-attacking character by the late game and it suits her playstyle.

It shouldn’t be disregarded on Radiance carries either. Some passive lifesteal can go a long way on heroes like Bloodseeker and we’ve already discussed how interesting the interaction between the Brooch and Lifestealer’s Feast is.

Revenants Brooch is definitely one of the most underappreciated items, in our opinion. After the bug fix it is now in the end-game inventory in less than 1% of all cases and while it isn’t some sort of panacea, it certainly isn’t weak.

Khanda

Khanda is very different now. Instead of being a massive, scaling magic damage burst booster, it is now a specialized tool for mages to deal with annoying passives. Is it good and efficient by default? Certainly not, but in many cases it can be game-winning.

There are obvious uses for the item. Phylactery is a decent tempo play that turns your nukes into better nukes with slow and that shouldn’t be glossed over in games where you need just a little bit more to get a kill. It also provides a decent amount of raw HP and Mana, while being completely stat-agnostic, so it fits many different heroes.

The last part is what makes it quite interesting on certain heroes like Spectre, for example. The extra slow and damage can come in quite handy, while the extra ~350 HP means more damage through Dispersion and higher survivability.

The fun bit is having the ability to apply a global Break effect, while also immediately capitalizing on it. Being Universal also makes the item a lot less of a dud damage-wise on Spectre, though it also isn’t something exceptional — just a nice bonus.

We are not arguing that it should be a default build on Spectre, or any hero for that matter. But when playing against heroes like Bristleback or Huskar, it is definitely a tool to keep in mind.

Heaven's Halberd

This one is a bit of a miss, in our opinion. A dispellable disarm can be quite handy for a while, but this item quickly becomes irrelevant in fights, where everyone has a BKB, Manta Style, Satanic or Lotus Orb. A defensive tempo play also sounds a bit oxymoronic — you push the tempo to get kills and stifle the enemy progression, not to survive a bit longer, while allowing the enemy to farm.

It’s not all bad and the build up is quite nice for the early game, but there are certainly better and more specific options for most situations in the game. We can see it as an option for heroes like Dark Seer, for example, as they are the type of hero who convert survivability into DPS and are built around prolonged fights, but most of the time Crimson Guard is going to be a better, more efficient and impactful option, if damage block looks good in your particular match.

Gleipnir

Gleipnir became a role-agnostic item of sorts. It used to be a kind of a DPS and farming item, but now it is strictly utility. Which, in our opinion, made it a bit more interesting and a lot less niche.

Extra 75 AoE Radius is huge for most caster heroes. Being a setup, Gleipnir already solves the problem of landing crucial AoE disables, but it can create conditions for catching extra targets in them.

Don’t forget about the pure stats the item gives: the extra HP and Mana can come in quite handy on squishier backline characters. While we don’t recommend rushing it on supports, it is a great upgrade for Rod of Atos in the later portions of the game.

Naturally it is a dispellable soft disable, but unlike previously discussed Halberd, it can be a way to create conditions to kill enemies you wouldn’t kill otherwise, and it means it creates a Net Worth delta in a very straightforward manner. It also has a massive cast range, meaning you do not sacrifice positioning to use it well, making it a good option for poking enemy defenses to get a reaction.

Closing thoughts

What do you think of the updated regular items? Personally, while I like the fact that Khanda is now an interesting tool that allows for better adaptation against certain matchups, I very much miss some wonky and hilarious interactions, such as the ability to deal massive damage as Rubick with a stolen Enchant Totem from Earthshaker.

Next week we are going to have a look at the updated Neutral Items. We believe there are going to be some balance adjustments made to it soon-ish, as it is currently a little bit imbalanced, so stay tuned for our deep dive into crafting.

Mechanics Opinion