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Recently Valve released a new patch that finally introduced us a new hero of Dota 2. Marci is the new hero of the Dota universe. For the first time, players could see her in an animated movie by Studio Mir and Valve, called DOTA: Dragon’s Blood.
The Lore
A cute looking girl who is constantly silent accompanies Mirana and Dragon Knight on their fascinating journey. Marci’s lore is not deep, so we don’t know much about her. Unfortunately, given the lack of voice, there’s not much we can learn either. We can only count on the addition of phrases for other heroes to interact with Marci through dialogue.
A fragment from the DOTA: Dragon’s blood. Marci vs enemies. Video: Youtube Malachi Blood II
The teaser introduced Marci as a female warrior who deftly slays her enemies by flying and showing off her fighting moves and skills. This immediately suggested that Marci will have the main characteristic Agility, because the hero gave the impression of a typical assassin. It seemed that Marci would be similar to Phantom Assassin or Templar Assassin.
However, after the release, players logged into the Dota client and saw that the new hero appeared in the list of heroes with the main characteristic of strength. This already means that Marci will definitely not be an assassin.
Marci has some interesting abilities. You can see that Valve is trying to make heroes more versatile. And although Dota defines Marci more as a carry, players in matchmaking are trying her out for different positions.
Her abilities help with initiation. Marci has control in the form of a stun after a tossing enemy hero. Her buff and ultimate should be used in combination. Then Marci, with the proper items, can do tremendous damage.
Carry Marci
If Dota suggests playing Marci to a carry position, why not listen to her? The problem with Marci is that she’s very slow to get items. Marci’s farm is not the best, especially in the beginning. She can’t clean up creepwaves quickly. Marci has no mass abilities. She has good one-target control in her arsenal. However, it doesn’t help to quickly and efficiently finish off creeps both on the lane and in the jungle. In that case, Marci can buy Phase Boots, Armlet of Mordiggan as a strength hero. When you buy Armlet of Mordiggan, you always start with Helm of Iron Will to get good HP regeneration on the lane. After that, you can buy Maelstrom while playing Marci. This will greatly enhance your farming. This method will be especially effective if you lose your lane and have to go back into the game by jungle farming.
You can take an alternative route by selecting Echo Sabre. This will make your farming a little stronger, and it will also strengthen you during fights with enemy heroes.
It’s important to remember that Skull Basher looks very good on carry Marci, because she has furious attack speed, especially using ultimate. As a hero with the main strength characteristic, Marci can have a lot of green armor. If you want to improve this stat when playing against physical damage heroes, you should consider buying Assault Cuirass.
It’s important to remember that a winning lane won’t provide you a comfortable continuation. Marci really dislikes playing against heroes with control. This is especially true when Marci gets her buff and immediately catches the enemy stun. In this case, her magic with high attack speed and lifesteal just doesn’t work and Marci dies. In such cases Black King Bar is needed. You have to prioritize your play on this hero.
Offlane Marci
One of the most suitable options for Marci is offlane. Marci is a contact hero, she likes team battles and skirmishes with enemies. Offlane is a great lane for any strength hero. Marci can be a great initiator. All she needs to do is buy Blink Dagger. Now the hero can jump on enemies and flip them right into the hands of the team. If we talk about further build for offlane Marci, you can immediately bring an analogy with Dragon Knight or Magnus, where attacking items are combined with initiating ones. For example buying Armlet of Mordiggan and Blink Dagger. Or Echo Sabre and Blink Dagger. There are countless ways to play as offlane Marci. Professional players even buy a Radiance by playing offlane Marci in their matchmaking. By the way, Overwhelming Blink also looks great for offlane Marci.
Support Marci
Marci is also good for the support position. This hero looks much more promising for the fourth position than for the fifth. Marci requires a lot of farm, which means she will be active, but greedy at the same time. When you play support Marci, you can always start with Urn of Shadows. Later on you have to look at the situation and what items your team needs. You can help to initiate. In that case you will need the Blink Dagger. You can also safe your allies using the Force Staff. Support Marci is very variable and its build depends on the game conditions and the opponent’s draft. However, the Blink Dagger is a great matchup for this hero in any case. By the way, Marci is also very powerful on the lane stage. You can kill enemy heroes very easily with the extra control from an ally. If you manage to pull the creepwave and let your opponent close to your tower, you can throw him over you at the worst possible moment for him. The tower will start hitting the enemy hero and you can be active on your lane.
First Look
Obviously, it’s still too little time since the release date, but players are already starting to understand how this hero works. Marci has interesting mechanics and abilities that are very strong at the moment. It’s no secret that any new hero is overpowered compared to the rest, it’s just important to know how to play it right.
Speaking of builds – I’d take a closer look at the high MMR offlaners and carry Marci players. Maybe professional players can give us a hint in builds.
Notably, Marci has already received the first changes in the patch, which came out some time after release. It was a hotfix specifically related to Marci. This means that at first the hero was too imbalanced and strong.
Now Marci is one of the best ways to raise your MMR. And now is the time to learn how to play the new hero in the Dota world. Obviously, Marci will be nerfed over time, but now is the best time to start training this character.