The God of War

Mars, the God of War in Roman mythology, was released on March the 5^th (MAR5) as a new hero in Dota 2. Available to play as soon as he was released, Mars is a melee strength hero with a lot of crowd control potential. The hero’s skillset allows him to isolate enemies and nuke them down. In the current Meta, he is very viable if he is played in the offlane because of his shield. The large shield he equips allows him a passive ability called ‘Bulwark’ which reduces up to 70% of the damage he takes from the front and up to 35% from the sides, which is insane. This passive allows him to effectively trade with enemies in their safe-lane while taking minimum damage and harass. Mars’ first ability, ‘Spear of Mars’, is a point target nuke, which on impact drags an enemy with it while dealing damage. If the spear drags an enemy into a cliff or a tree, the enemy unit is stunned for up to 2.8 seconds. This is Mars’ initiation and first mode of crowd control by which he isolates enemies in a team fight. His second ability, ‘God’s Rebuke’, knocks back enemies in a wide AoE (Area of Effect) while adding a critical strike to his current damage. This ability has true strike and helps Mars a lot in farming and clearing creep waves. Finally, Mars’ ultimate ability, Arena of Blood, creates a circular arena in battle. Enemies inside this arena are trapped and cannot escape. The arena is circled by undead soldiers which Mars summons, who attack any enemy heroes which come too close. This ability is very useful if used well along with other heroes such as Enigma, Monkey King or Dark Willow and has game changing potential. Currently the hero is new in the Meta and will receive numerous tweaks. Regardless, he is a very strong hero and can unleash hell upon his enemies when played in the right hands. So go ahead and score those EZ rampages and +25 mmr.